Generex Biotechnology Corp.’s wholly owned subsidiary Nugenerex Health partnered with Worldwide Digitech (WWDT) LLC to create a 50/50 joint venture, Nugenhealth LLC. The new company will draw on WWDT’s software to develop an end-to-end software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution for chronic care management using remote patient monitoring.

Practice growth platform Patientpop scooped up $50 million in a series C financing led by HLM Venture Partners. The new funds are earmarked for telehealth and virtual care solutions to help private practices adapt to a rapidly health care environment and the challenges of seeing and treating patients during a global pandemic.

Tech-enabled diabetes and chronic conditions management company Cecelia Health has secured $13 million in a series B financing led by Rittenhouse Ventures and Endo Investors. Other participants in the round included Boston Millennia Partners, SustainVC and G100 Capital. The funds will be used to speed and further scale adoption of the company’s coaching and telemedicine tools and to build out digital health capabilities.

The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown a wrench in routine medical exams, scaring many patients away from in-clinic visits and diverting resources to coronavirus-related needs. For pregnant women, who require frequent checkups but don’t want to risk infection, this can be a particularly trying time. Now, Israeli startup Pulsenmore Ltd. has launched a hand-held device that lets women perform ultrasounds in their own home and relays the results to a doctor or sonographer for evaluation and feedback.

On-demand mental health company Ginger.io scooped up $50 million in a series D round that was led by Advance Venture Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners. Participants also included Cigna Ventures and existing investors such as Jeff Weiner, executive chairman of Linkedin, and Kaiser Permanente Venture.

Following Siemens Healthineers AG’s announcement that it was picking up Varian Medical Systems Inc. for $16.4 billion, another multibillion-dollar deal has emerged. This time, Teladoc Health Inc. and Livongo Health Inc. have inked a definitive merger agreement with a value of $18.5 billion. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the fourth quarter, subject to shareholder approvals and other customary closing conditions.

The Trump administration has issued an executive order designed to improve access to telehealth for Medicare beneficiaries in rural America, making permanent numerous changes that had been temporarily added for the COVID-19 pandemic. The news arrives as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) posted the draft Medicare physician fee schedule (MPFS) complete with expanded use of telehealth for a number of services.

The support for permanent changes to Medicare coverage of telehealth has risen drastically in the months since the COVID-19 pandemic began, but Krista Drobac of Sirona Strategies said on a July 23 webinar that stakeholders will have to help make the case that telehealth is cost effective. That cost effectiveness argument may be absolutely crucial if any of the related legislative proposals are to stand up to budget scoring in a time of skyrocketing U.S. budget deficits, she said.

Digital health bucked uncertainties around the COVID-19 pandemic, reeling in $6.3 billion in funding in the first half of 2020, according to a new report from Mercom Capital Group. The record-setting, global haul was 24% higher than last year’s first-half raise of $5.1 billion.

Novasight Ltd. has scooped up $8 million in a series A financing that’s intended to get the company through a pivotal study of its first U.S. indication, Curesight, as well as to advance other pipeline products. The Israeli startup is tackling a range of pediatric vision disorders using artificial intelligence and eye-tracking technology.