It’s bilingual. Miami-based CareCloud, maker of care management platform Breeze, has just added a new Spanish version, called Breeze en Español. The new version will allow customers to book, check-in and out of appointments, and pay for bills in Spanish.

“A good patient experience is language neutral,” Juan Molina, CareCloud’s vice president of strategy and business development, said in a statement. “We built Breeze because we knew there was a better way for practices to be able to organize themselves around the patient experience. A big part of its appeal so far has been how easy it is for practices to customize what information they ask of patients and how they engage with them at every step. With the launch of Breeze en Español, our clients can offer the same modern experience to their Spanish-speaking patients.”

Breeze was first launched in 2017 and lets users manage doctor's appointments from their phones and fill out insurance and medical information. Breeze is also aviliable at kiosks at doctors' offices. Now all of those mediums will be able to offer the service in both English and Spanish. 

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Study starting. A new Baltimore-based company ICmed has announced that the University of Maryland’s School of Medicine is kicking off a new study based on its app, which aims to help seniors organize their care. The research, which was funded by a $200,000 Maryland Industrial Partnership grant, will study engagement and health outcomes of participants using the new app. The platform has a dashboard for patients, family members, and caregivers, and was designed to help educate and engage users about their care or the care of a loved one. 

“We are proud and honored to have been granted this funding by the Maryland Industrial Partnerships. Our mission is clear: to improve health outcomes and reduce health costs through greater collaboration, education and connectivity among an enterprise, patient, and family caregivers,” Dr. Greg Pelton, ICmed’s chief medical officer, said in a statement. 

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One more task for Alexa. Last week, AI medical appointment booker Nimblr announced that it will be integrating with Amazon Alexa. The news means that Amazon Alexa users will be able to book their medical appointments by using voice commands instead of calling their doctor’s office. Users will also be able to reschedule their appointments through the system and will be given alternative time slots.

“The no-show patient rate is estimated between 10 to 30 percent, and 72 percent of patients who don’t show up never reschedule,” Andres Rodriguez, CTO of Nimblr, said in a statement. “Our customers have seen Nimblr help cut no-shows by 51 percent or more almost instantly by giving patients a really easy way to book and reschedule. Adding Alexa voice commands to our repertoire gives patients another convenient avenue to make medical appointments without having to use the phone.”

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Foucs on the lungs. Medication sensor and digital therapeutics company Amiko Digital Health Limited has announced that it is teaming up with Portuguese healthcare group Luz Saúde. As part of the deal Luz Saúde will integrate its asthma and COPD platform, Respiro. 

“Our partnership with Luz Saúde is a testament to the unique flexibility of Respiro to effectively integrate into drastically different healthcare structures and deliver system-wide value,” Duilio Macchi, CEO of Amiko, said in a statement.  “The unique capabilities of our sensor technology for inhalers address a fundamental unmet need in respiratory care — the sub-optimal performance of respiratory therapies in the real world. We are thrilled to deliver Respiro with a leading European healthcare network that is dedicated to innovation and upgrade their standards of care using connected technologies.”

Respiro is able to capture data on a patient's inhaler and monitor how well a patient uses their medication, according to a statement. 

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Preview. Know Labs, maker of identification, authentication, and diagnostic products, has recently announced a new product that can detect blood glucose non-invasively. Details about the product are still emerging, but in a recent video released by the company, CEO Phil Bosua said studies on the product have had positive results. He also hinted that the product will come in the form of a low-cost wearable. But more is expected to be revealed in the next few weeks. 

“We’re developing a brand-new technology platform that measures blood glucose — non-invasively,” Bosua said in the video. “Our bench tests are proving to be better than expected and we’re really excited about the future.”

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Phone it in. AI-based virtual care platform Bright.md will be joining forces with Canadian virtual health company MyCare MedTech. The former will now be able to offer Bright.md’s Smart Exam, which allows patients to access virtual consultations with clinicians through a computer, smartphone, or tablet. 

“The decision to move to this platform was an easy one; it is a superior service that allows us to continue to offer Canadians a unique way to gain access to medical care,” Liz Bryant, chief operating officer at GOeVisit, said in a statement. “GOeVisit SmartExam is a user-friendly service that has the ability to keep pace with and integrate new and improved technologies in the coming years. We are confident it will outperform all existing virtual healthcare platforms in the market today.”