Oura IPO draws four times the orders; Senate panel advances Klomp; Sentara reads coronary plaque with AI; radiology groups build their own AI
Listen to this post
all episodesTHE SHORT READ
Oura's initial public offering drew about four times as many orders as shares available, Bloomberg reported Friday, ahead of pricing set for Tuesday that would value the smart-ring maker at up to $14.1 billion.
The Senate Finance Committee voted 15-12 on Thursday to send Chris Klomp, the Health and Human Services official who has overseen Medicare, to a full Senate vote as HHS deputy secretary. Cardiologists at Sentara Health described using AI to classify coronary plaque on CT, radiology practices are building their own AI tools, STAT reported, and a Wolters Kluwer Health survey found 26% of patients who researched symptoms with AI sought care sooner.
The weekend brought few new developments. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has until Sept. 30 to act on the health AI bills awaiting his signature, including AB 1979, SB 903 and SB 503; his office's releases through Sept. 27 announced no action on them.
THE DETAILS
- Money Sept 25, 2026The offering of 50 million shares at $40 to $44 was about four times oversubscribed, Bloomberg reported Sept. 25. Pricing is set for Sept. 29, with trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol OURA. The company is selling 13.5 million shares, and existing holders including Forerunner Ventures and Lifeline Ventures are selling 36.5 million. The top of the range values Oura at $14.1 billion, or about $15 billion fully diluted, and the deal would raise up to $2.2 billion, according to the report. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, Allen & Co. and Jefferies are the underwriters.Source: Bloomberg (Yahoo Finance)
- Regulation Sept 24, 2026The committee voted 15-12 on Sept. 24, with Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat, joining all Republicans, STAT and Roll Call reported. Klomp, a former health IT executive, has overseen Medicare, and the nomination now goes to the full Senate, according to the American Hospital Association. At a Sept. 16 hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, he said of Medicare's AI-assisted prior-authorization pilot, the Wasteful and Inappropriate Service Reduction model, that "it must be done appropriately, or it should not expand," according to Sen. Patty Murray's office. Whitehouse said he backed Klomp because he is "good on payment issues," STAT reported. Roll Call's account of the vote describes debate over vaccine policy and drug pricing deals and no discussion of AI.
- Deployment Sept 25, 2026Sentara Health, based in Virginia, uses AI-assisted analysis of coronary CT angiography to sort plaque into calcified, noncalcified and low-density noncalcified types and to measure its burden, Healthcare IT News reported Sept. 25. Dr. Joshua Cohen, an advanced imaging and structural heart cardiologist, said the AI serves to "clarify hemodynamic significance, increase workflow efficiency, and reduce inter-reader variability" for intermediate lesions, and that treatment intensification decisions draw on the plaque findings. The system's cardiologists described a downward trend in invasive coronary angiography and earlier detection of subclinical disease; the article gives no numbers and does not name the software. Cohen said "output is highly dependent on input" and called standardized, high-quality acquisition protocols critical.Source: Healthcare IT News
- Deployment Sept 24, 2026Radiology groups are acquiring and customizing AI for in-house use rather than waiting for outside developers, and some present themselves as "AI-native" to employees and hospital customers, STAT reported Sept. 24 in a story that says the trend blurs the line between technology development and clinical practice. The report notes that Geoffrey Hinton's decade-old prediction that AI would surpass radiologists within five to 10 years has passed its deadline. STAT's newsletter says startups making the case argue that owning a practice streamlines AI development. One of them, Epsilon Health, which pairs AI with physician oversight to speed image interpretation, raised $27.6 million this month from AlleyCorp, Uncork Capital and others, according to Fierce Healthcare's funding tracker. The full STAT story is behind a paywall.
- Evidence Sept 24, 2026Ipsos surveyed 254 U.S. patients and 355 clinicians, 203 physicians and 152 nurses, for Wolters Kluwer Health from March 11 to 14, the company said in a Sept. 24 release. Among patients, 54% used AI to research medication side effects, 52% used it to look up a diagnosis and 26% said they sought medical care sooner after AI research. Some 74% worried about the privacy of their health information, including 83% of rural patients, 89% called human expert validation of AI answers important and 81% expected their health system to formally approve AI tools used in clinical decisions. Confidence in AI reliability was 81% among men and 66% among women.Source: Wolters Kluwer Health release
- Workforce Sept 25, 2026General Practice Registrars Australia, which has about 22,000 members, will name up to nine members as clinical ambassadors and form a national working group with Lyrebird Health, Healthcare IT News reported Sept. 25. Members get 12 months of free access to Lyrebird Pro starting in 2027, along with training on safe practice, billing and portfolio careers, and the ambassadors will give structured feedback directly to the company's clinical and engineering teams. "They are forming the clinical and technology habits that will shape how medicine is practised for decades to come," said Dr. Ray Boyapati of Lyrebird.Source: Healthcare IT News