Monday - February 8th, 2010 - 03:00pm EST by Brian Dolan | Apple | Epocrates | iPads | iPhone | iPhone medical applications | physicians |
Epocrates, one of the top selling medical smartphone applications, recently published results from a survey of its physician users that found about 20 percent of them, or one in five plan to buy an Apple iPad when the device hits store shelves. Epocrates also announced it will create a special version of its app for the iPad.
The survey found that 9 percent of survey respondents plan to buy the iPad when it was immediately available; another 13 percent plan to buy it within the year; 38 percent of respondents are interested in the iPad but want more information about it before they commit to a decision.
Epocrates noted in a press release that of its more than 900,000 clinician users some 275,000 clinicians use Epocrates on their smartphones, including iPhone, BlackBerry and Palm devices. Read more from the release here.
SoftwareAdvice Survey: Which features are “must haves”? Continue >>
Monday - February 8th, 2010 - 01:51pm EST by Brian Dolan | Anson Group | Bradley Merrill Thomson | EpsteinBeckerGreen | FDA | medical devices | MedTech | mHealth regulation | wireless health regulation |
Strategies for mHealth Companies Wishing to Avoid FDA Regulation
By Bradley Merrill Thompson
(I would like to thank Leah Kendall of EpsteinBeckerGreen and Dane Stout of the Anson Group for their comments on a draft. The views expressed, right or wrong, are only the author’s and should not be attributed to anyone else.)
Most people know the difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion. Tax avoidance is the lawful planning of such things as charitable contributions to minimize taxes, while tax evasion is the unlawful and usually deceitful actions taken to hide income. In this article, I will share some tips for the avoidance of FDA regulation, not the evasion of FDA regulation.
This article is the fifth in a series of seven planned articles. The first three articles dealt with understanding the scope and nature of FDA regulation for mHealth, and the fourth article advanced the notion that IT companies wanting to make money in health ought to consider entering the FDA-regulated zone. Nonetheless, subjecting your company to FDA regulation is not for everyone, so this article is designed to help those who have decided to stay out of the production of FDA-regulated finished medical devices. In particular, I explain four ways to connect to health markets, and the pluses and minuses of each such approach.
The Binary Misunderstanding Continue >>
Monday - February 8th, 2010 - 09:48am EST by Brian Dolan | blood pressure | chronic disease management | Google Nexus One | IMEC | iPhone | Philips | Philometron | sleep apnea | SunCrest Healthcare | telehealth | Verizon Wireless | West Wireless Health Institute | wireless sensors |
Wireless sensors for sleep apnea, caloric intake: At a recent event in San Diego, The West Wireless Health Institute’s Mehran Mehregany told attendees that soon smartphones like the iPhone or Google’s Nexus One would record snoring to detect sleep apnea, use barcodes on food packages to track calories, and use inertial sensors to track activity and caloric expenditure. Philometron CEO Darrel Drinan demo’d two wireless sensors for attendees: One that detects atrial fibrillation and another that measures caloric intake and expenditure. More
CNN rounds up “tattle tale” medication reminder devices and services. More
Newsweek asked four leading cardiologists to weigh in on how best to combat heart disease: Dr. Eric Topol, Chief Medical Officer at the West Wireless Health Institute: “I think the point has been well made that there’s been progress. But I think it’s worth emphasizing that heart disease is still the leading cause of death and disability. Beyond the things that have already been cited, part of the problem is we’re not able to characterize things very well for prevention. For example, [high] blood pressure, which is notoriously underdiagnosed and inadequately managed—we rely on spot blood-pressure checks rather than continuous assessment, which is now possible in the era of wireless medicine. That’s something we can do a much better job on.” More Continue >>
Thursday - February 4th, 2010 - 01:05pm EST by Brian Dolan | CTIA | General Mills | infant mortality | maternal care | MTV Networks | SMS | text message appointment reminders | Text4Baby | Voxiva | White House |
Text4Baby, a free mHealth service that “provides timely and expert health information through SMS text messages to pregnant women and new moms through their babies’ first year,” has officially launched today, White House Federal Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra announced during a plenary session at the National Health IT Summit in Washington, D.C.
“I am very proud to announce that the US government is formally announcing the launch of Text4Baby, [a free health service] designed to take advantage of the capabilities of cell phones, which have 90 percent penetration in the US. Starting today, women can text the word “BABY” or in spanish “BEBE” to 511411 and be automatically enrolled at no charge. The service provides at least three free text messages each week and [lasts during and shortly after the pregnancy]. The messages explain some of the experiences they may be going through and suggests ways for them to” [keep themselves and their baby healthy], Chopra said. Continue >>
Thursday - February 4th, 2010 - 06:54am EST by Brian Dolan | Center for Connected Health | Google Health | HealthVault | mHealth adoption | Microsoft | physicians | wireless health adoption |
It’s a simple question: Do mobile health tools require a doctor’s prescription? Or will the main driver for mHealth services bubble up from consumers and patients largely without care providers weighing in?
Throughout the keynote sessions at the mHealth Initiative’s event in Washington D.C. this week, the focus was squarely on care providers’ adoption of mobile technologies, their integration to EMRs and the opportunity that subsequently created for patients and consumers. While yesterday’s morning keynote presentations mentioned patients’ self-directed interest in mHealth, it was more in passing, as an after thought or as a consequence of physicians’ adoption.
Rob Havasy, an mHI event attendee and business analyst at the Center for Connected Health in Boston reacted to the focus on providers with a succinct message to his Twitter followers: “When providers adopt consumers will engage.” That message was also apparent in his recent blog post on the larger mHealth opportunity a few weeks ago (revisit it here).
During lunch another attendee agreed that it needs to start with care providers — the lackluster adoption of PHRs, like those offered by Google Health and Microsoft’s HealthVault, demonstrate that most consumers aren’t likely to quickly adopt connected health solutions. These online platforms are most useful when used in conjunction with connected health devices that can populate them with personal health information. Care providers need to educate patients about these devices and services. Continue >>
Wednesday - February 3rd, 2010 - 11:37pm EST by Brian Dolan | Airtel | global health | Idea Cellular | India | mDhil | Reliance | SMS | text messages |
“Text messages — SMS — Can you create powerful content in 140 characters or less?” mDhil’s founder Nandu Madhava asked during his presentation at the mHI event in Washington D.C. “My answer: Yes. Look at Twitter. Basic texts are not only for creating information, but also for creating change. I launched our service in March 2009 and we now 150,000 paid users have accessed our content. Do you know of a more successful mHealth company? Let me know if you do.”
mDhil offers text messages with information on various health topics, including: diabetes, H1N1, maternal health, female reproduction and male reproduction. While these subjects are commonly taught in the U.S., mDhil is currently exclusively operating in India, where some of these topics, particularly sexual health topics are not commonly discussed. mDhil charges approximately 65 cents per message. The startup partners with wireless operators including Idea Cellular, Airtel, Reliance, which get a substantial cut of revenue from each message sent.
Madhava and the team at mDhil is working toward 1 million users by the end of 2010 and hopes to hit 3 million by the end of 2011. Consider that there are currently 525 million mobile users in India (that number is growing very quickly 12 million to 14 million more each month) and Madhava’s ambitions may not seem so out of reach. Continue >>
