Digital Health Coffee Time Briefing ☕

Your morning summary of digital health news, information and events to know about if you want to be “in the know”.

👇 News

👩‍🦳 The South East has emerged as the UK’s leading region for care home transparency, according to OpenScore’s care home rating system. Almost 1,000 providers in the region now publish real-time performance data to help families navigate the social care sector. The figures reveal that the region accounts for 21.8% of the national total. The regional surge reflects a broader shift across the social care sector toward live data adoption, OpenScore claims.

💊 Quantum simulation for drug discovery, which helps identify the most promising drug candidates by simulating how they behave to cut the time and cost of research, has been named an important emerging technology in a report by The World Economic Forum and Frontiers. The Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2026 report identifies the technologies most likely to shape industry, policy, and society over the next five years.

🔎 Researchers at the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have developed a platform that combines 3D bioprinting, advanced imaging and AI to better monitor how cancer responds to treatment. The technology could help researchers identify promising cancer therapies more rapidly and provide a way to test treatments on a patient’s own tumour cells, helping guide more personalised treatment decisions.

🖥 The Mohammed VI Foundation for Science and Health and ABA LIFE, the healthcare arm of ABA Technology, have announced the creation of a joint venture dedicated to developing smart healthcare infrastructure based on AI and digital technologies in Morocco. According to the partners, the initiative aims to combine clinical expertise, scientific research, and technological innovation to improve the performance and resilience of healthcare systems from October 2026.

🔊 G2 Speech has announced the launch of SpeechReport 4.4, which features the integration of Aida, its AI Digital Assistant, into the clinical documentation workflow. Aida aims to accelerate document turnaround by transforming recognised text into patient- and GP-friendly correspondence, reducing the time clinicians and support teams spend reviewing and refining documents.

❓ Did you know that?

The HealthTech industry can insulate itself from domestic and global supply uncertainty using modular technology and recyclable components, according to a UK sustainable electronics company.

Emma Armstrong, In2tec’s group commercial director, says component reuse has become an important strategic issue as it allows the tech sector to reduce its reliance on volatile international supply chains and the fluctuating cost of materials and components.

She said: “Using modular components that are designed to be disassembled so components can be easily repaired, replaced, and recycled, is a pivot to a circular economy that will reduce the health tech sector’s reliance on imported materials and ensure secure supply chains are less vulnerable to an increasingly unstable world.

“Sustainable and modular technology both reduces the environmental, economic, and health impact of ewaste and enhances the bottom line, to say nothing of future-proofing manufacturers against looming legislation that incentivises the recycling, reuse, and repair of electronics.”

📖 What we’re reading

A study by researchers at NYU Langone Health found at least 12% of Americans now communicate with their healthcare providers about appointments, test results, and ongoing treatments via secure online patient portals and health apps.

The team’s analysis involved more than 140 million patient records from 2,067 hospitals and 47,100 health clinics in the US. As part of the study, the researchers evaluated more than eight billion patient-provider interactions that took place between January 2020 and December 2025.

Publishing in the Journal of the American Medical Association online on 22 June, the study team found that online portal messages more than doubled between 2020 and 2025. By contrast, total telephone calls decreased by six per cent over the same period.

The number of Americans with an active Epic health record went from 94 million in 2020 to 140 million in 2025. A total of 30 per cent of active patients on Epic sent a portal health app message to their clinician during the first three months of 2025.

🚨 Upcoming events

16-17 July 2026, University of Nottingham – Digital Health Summer Schools