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Tired of iPhone hype? Palm Pre cometh
 For every iPhone skeptic I’ve met in the health industry (these are the types that like to stake the fate of wireless health on the “not everyone has an iPhone” argument), I’ve met at least two execs at big companies that pinpoint the launch of the 3G iPhone last year as the tipping point for their company’s decision to explore wireless health. So, hype or not, it’s inspired this industry.
Ever since the 3G version of the device launched at Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference last June, a chorus of medical industry voices have called out: “What’s our mobile strategy?”
Of course, June is nearly upon us again, but this June will bring much more than an updated iPhone 3.0 with support for Bluetooth-enabled medical peripheral devices, like Johnson & Johnson’s LifeScan glucometer. Next month will also herald the launch of the Palm Pre, by many accounts, the first true contender to Apple’s iPhone. What’s more, Palm is a longtime friend to the medical industry. Doctors have depended on Palm’s software and PDAs throughout the early years of mHealth.
The Palm Pre will launch on the Sprint network on June 6. Just two days before Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference. Pure coincidence, right?
So, is it worth jumping off the iPhone bandwagon to try out the Pre? Depends on what you’re looking for, but the Palmdoc Chronicles blog has done a nice job of sussing out the differences between iPhone 3.0 and Palm Pre with an eye on how doctors might decide between the two. The number of physicians using iPhone doubled between 2008 and 2009. Could the Pre stem the phone’s rising popularity? Here’s a few ways TPC suggested Palm Pre might court doctors better:
1) Offer a true local desktop sync solution so doctors can access their desktop files while on-the-go.
2) Work with key partners in the medical software publishing business to entice them to port their applications to WebOS. (i.e. Epocrates, Skyscape, USBMIS, Unbound, Uptodate, Lexi and others.)
3) Get the Palm Pre out early to physician advocates.
4) Certify as many legacy medical apps as possible — make sure that the classic Palm applications for the medical community will work on the Palm Pre through a simulator, if necessary.
Here’s The Palmdoc Chronicle’s take on what the iPhone lacks when compared to the Palm Pre:
1) Lack of a physical keyboard.
2) Lack of multi-tasking. The Palm Pre/WebOS may prove to be the best multi-tasking phone to date.
3) No emulator for Garnet/PalmOS. As a result, many legacy medical Palm apps cannot run on the iPhone.
While doctors have a number of concerns, the Palm Pre’s over-arching success will likely be determined by how well it attracts developers to the platform — why go with Pre if 37 million iPhones and iTouches have been sold worldwide. What’s to motivate a developer looking to enter the wireless health or medical industry to code for the Pre over iPhone, which already supports more than 1,500 health, fitness and medical applications?
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JAAPA: Mobile platform is ideal for CME
Emory University’s School of Medicine’s Allan Platt penned an article in The Journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants that concludes that personal digital assistants (PDAs) and smartphones “are becomining an essential clinical tool that can help clinicians engage in lifelong learning as part of their daily routine.” Mobile devices allow for fast access to evidence-based information and can help prevent medical errors and improve care.
“Today’s practicing clinicians must be able to use these tools to keep up with the rapidly growing volume of medical knowledge,” Platt writes. “Students should be taught early in their studies how to use the tools just as they learn to use their stethoscope. Educators must become familiar with the equipment and software programs to teach the next generation of e-connected clinicians.”
The JAAPA article points out the mobile devices are the ideal platform for continuing medical education (CME) programs because:
> Printed textbooks typically require a year of processing — may be out dated once published.
> Colleagues’ medical knowledge base may be lagging depending on what they use to stay current.
> The Internet provides sources that are updated, but some patient care settings don’t have access.
> CME programs are costly and remove the clinician from practice.
Good points all. Platt then concludes that “the ideal information tool should contain quick, portable, updated, authoritative content available in any clinical setting. Personal digital assistants (PDAs) are convenient reference tools that help clinicians keep up with new treatments, practice lifelong learning, reduce medical errors, and prepare for recertification examinations.”
We have written about a number of CME mobile applications in the past, including ReachMD CME and WebMD’s MedScape.
Click here to read the entire JAAPA article, which includes a table of about 35 PDA and mobile phone applications.
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Hospitals sound off on wireless health challenges
The results of a recent survey conducted by HIMSS Analytics and sponsored by NetMotion Wireless identified five challenges for wireless healthcare: physical connectivity issues, technology connectivity issues, extensive user demand, security, and network management. The survey also resulted in a number of interesting and telling quotes and testimonials about both the promise and frustration that early wireless health endeavors bring to these medical centers.
Do any of these ring true?
“Doctors go out and buy phones. They expect everything to run through the phone and they want to get the information they need when they need it.” – Jim Hauenstein, Enloe Medical Center
“We have noticed a significant improvement in patient care due to the fact that physicians do have immediate access to the results where they’ve been able to change their medications or order additional tests. Having the ability to order instantly wherever they are, and to see those results is very important for patient care.” – Phyllis Paris, Hannibal Regional Healthcare System
“In total, we’re about 600 wireless phones, tags, carts, laptops, PDAs, whatever you want to call them running on our wireless network.” – Mike Mistretta, MedCentral Health System
“The basement and the first floor, about half of those two floors have no coverage at all. We call it the cone of silence. We’re currently working through that problem.” – Chris Ossenbeck, McAlester Regional Health Center (Read More)
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Are you smartphone-focused or patient-focused?
As the number of physicians using smartphones continues to rise, a report in the Washington Post predicts that protocols will soon evolve in how to use the phones with patients — for now, common sense will have to govern it. The article explores the tension between using a smartphone with a patient to increase patient engagement vs. using a smartphone with a patient in the room and losing one’s focus on the patient.
Georgetown University Medical Center family practitioner Steven Schwartz told the Post that his iPhone has become indispensable to his practice. He uses it to share instructional diagrams and videos with patients, to write electronic prescriptions and to check basic information.
“I’m just double-checking on my phone to make sure I don’t make a mistake,” Schwartz said. (That’s “Dr. Schwartz” in case you missed it — who said doctors never admit they make mistakes?)
The report mostly focuses on Ohio State University’s medical school, which pledged last December to give every medical student an iPod Touch. By the fall all students and residents — 1,400 in total — will have one of the devices and the school’s leaders believe the trend will come to dominate medical education.
“We as medical educators have to teach students to use technology and still stay patient-focused,” said Ohio State’s vice dean for education Catherine Lucey.
For more on the rise of smartphones among physicians: read the entire article here.
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Google: It’s like 1994 for telemedicine co’s
 After attending the American Telemedicine Association’s event in Las Vegas last month, Google’s Open Source Program Manager Chris DiBona gave a spirited (read: some profanity) talk at the Ignite Seattle event the following week. DiBona is also known as a former editor at popular news site Slashdot.
Interesting but snippy comment about the level of innovation at the event: “It’s like 1994 for a lot of these systems,” DiBona quipped toward the end of the video.
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HopePhones: Recycle phones for global health
Frontline:SMS founder Josh Nesbit emailed in to let us know he launched an inspired mHealth intiative today: HopePhones. The program encourages everyone to recycle their old mobile phones, which are then sold to raise money to send phones to health workers in developing markets likes Malawi.
According to the HopePhones site, “When your old phone is received by the recycling center, it is given a value. We’ll use this value to purchase appropriate, usable cell phones for community health workers at the medical clinics. The average donated phone in the US will allow us to purchase 2-3 cell phones for clinics.”
“Every cell phone given to community health workers connects distant patients to a medical clinic. A $10 cell phone will give 50 families access to emergency medical care, health information, transport services, and clinic resources,” the site explains.
Jen McCabe’s Healthcare Management RX blog breaks down the process for donating the phones into five easy steps.
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Slideshow: Wireless Life-Sciences Alliance mtg
During the first day of the Wireless Life-Sciences Alliance meeting, called the Convergence Summit, Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs defined convergence as the overlapping of computer devices, consumer electronic devices and wireless technology, according to Tim Gee’s Medical Connectivity blog.
Jacobs pointed to the Amazon Kindle, as a prototype for the future: a device with built-in wireless (cellular not WiFi) connectivity. Qualcomm’s Don Jones has also referred to the wireless health industry at times, as the Kindle-ization of healthcare. Seems to be a popular lens to view the emerging market through over at the San Diego-based company.
To view the rest of the slideshow of images and captions from the WSLA, click here.
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Tech can no longer ignore “Nana” Generation
If designed and marketed under the right conditions, America’s seniors are actually very receptive to technology, in fact, they already have adopted many consumer electronic devices, according to a report from the Miami Herald.
As we have noted before, one of the biggest drivers of mobile healthcare solutions is the aging Baby Boomer generation, which is the group of Americans born between 1946 and 1964. The older members of that group are only two years away from celebrating their 65th birthdays.
”It’s that cohort, the 74 million strong, that has been the tipping point,” says Elinor Ginzler, a senior vice president for AARP. “They want things for their parents and for themselves. The market is simply responding to the demand of sheer volume and spending power.”
Here’s a rundown of some of the metrics from the article:
78 percent of 50- to 54-year-olds are online
45 percent of 70- to 75-year-olds are online
More than 7 million Baby Boomers own gaming systems
29 million Baby Boomers own digital video recorders
Currently 12 percent of the U.S. population is 65-years-old or older
By 2030, 20 percent of the U.S. population will be 65+
By 2030, 31 percent of the U.S population will be 50+
‘”Our research shows that they’re anxious to participate,’” says Sara Czaja, co-director of the Center on Research and Education for Aging and Technology Enhancement at the University of Miami. “But they’re looking for specific things: usefulness and not too complicated features.
For the entire article, read the Miami Herald story here
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TripleTree awards: Proteus, Jitterbug, IntelliDOT
Last week the mobihealthnews team attended part of the Wireless Life-Sciences Alliance meeting out in La Jolla, California. One of the founding members of the Alliance, mid-market investment firm TripleTree, announced its inaugural wireless life-sciences innovation/insight/initiative awards: the I Awards.
TripleTree explained that the awards aim to “showcase companies that are delivering and developing disruptive technologies and services that demonstrate innovation, insight and initiative in the wireless life-sciences sector.”
This year TripleTree awarded Proteus Biomedical, GreatCall/Jitterbug and IntelliDOT as the first recipients of the firm’s awards.
The list of finalists reads like a who’s who of top companies in the emerging wireless health sector. Here’s the full list with links to each company’s website. Click here to see the list of finalists.
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WebMD to launch CME iPhone app soon
WebMD plans on launching a Medscape iPhone application during the last week of May or in early June, according to a report over at Medical Marketing & Media that cites a WebMD spokesperson. WebMD already has a free iPhone app for symptom navigation.
The Medscape app will feature a drug reference database and drug interaction checker along with Medscape’s specialty-focused professional news. As expected, Medscape continuing medical education (CME) resources will be available as well and these mobile CME credits will be tracked by the app. (Read More)
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Diabetes app: Glimpse of the mHealth future
Diabetes Mine just announced the winner of its 2009 Diabetes Design competition: the LifeCase and LifeApp solution for the iPhone. Two students designed the iPhone case and accompanying application that takes connected diabetes management beyond “a single logging, data calculation or learning application,” which Diabetes Mine said characterized most other iPhone-based entries. Diabetes Mine said this service represents a “glimpse of the future” since its takes “the integration of diabetes devices to its fullest conclusion.” iPhones outfitted with this case and app enables the device to function as a glucose meter, controller for your pump and data logging application all in one. It also has the built-in capability to share the data across various platforms. Finally, the case includes a lancet and testing strip storage.
Of course, the first question is why iPhone only? Well, it’s not. The creators claim the case could be modified to work with any smartphone. Also, the prototype device is not only a glimpse of the future, as Diabetes Mine put it, but also an actual working model.
Check out a video demo of the device in action.
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CardioNet tackles sleep apnea market
CardioNet, the only pure play wireless health company that has gone public, began selling a sleep disorders clinical indicator, called SomNet. The company believes that SomNet has the potential to identify patients with a high likelihood of sleep disorders by measuring cyclic variation of heart rate (CVHR), a rhythm that is caused by repeated arousals from sleep because of the disorders.
“There is a high prevalence of sleep disorders like sleep apnea in the cardiovascular and arrhythmia population,” said Randy Thurman, CEO of CardioNet in a company press release.
“Although slightly less sensitive than more labor intensive human overreading, the MCOT system and SomNet may provide a platform for efficiently identifying patients with severe sleep disorders, like sleep apnea, in a large population,” said Dr. Phyllis K. Stein, Ph.D., Research Associate Professor of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine, after overseeing a pilot of 80 patients.
mobihealthnews reported on rumors around the time of CardioNet’s acquisition of Biotel that the company was looking to leverage its technology for diagnosing sleep apnea.
For more on SomNet, check out the company’s press release.
Sleep apnea was also on Dr. Eric Topol’s list of top ten targets for wireless health — click here to read about the others.
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June 16-17, Ft. Lauderdale:
8th CCS Summit
Transforming Healthcare through Health Information Technology
Designed to help top-level executives, legislators, physicians, regulators and technologists come to grips with the swirling forces of health information technology change, policy development and changing business models, the CCS HIT provides an intimate, high-level forum that facilitates open avenues of communication amongst executives and stakeholders in healthcare.
Register
June 22-23, Seattle, WA:
Sixth Annual Healthcare Unbound Conference & Exhibition
Healthcare Unbound will have a strong focus on use of remote monitoring / home telehealth technologies for wellness promotion and disease management, with a special emphasis on Baby Boomers and the elderly population. The agenda will also cover topics such as the emerging role of mobile/wireless technologies, legal/regulatory developments and reimbursement issues, strategies for success for Healthcare Unbound vendors and much more.
Register
July 27-28, Boston, MA:
The World Health Care Congress Leadership Summit on Wireless Health
This two-day Summit convenes policy-makers, payers, providers and medical group practices from across the nation to discuss business and clinical opportunities for integrating mHealth, Remote Monitoring and Telehealth solutions into existing care systems. Real-life, case studies and the results to-date from pilots at several leading provider organizations will be shared..
Register
October 6-9, San Diego, CA:
CTIA WIRELESS I.T. & Entertainment
No matter what your business is – healthcare, entertainment, fleet management or financial planning – wireless can transform how you do business. International CTIA WIRELESS I.T. & Entertainment brings this possibility to life. With a focus on applications, network architecture and technologies such as LBS, machine-to-machine and WiMAX (just to name a few), this international event brings a community of users, carriers, developers and manufacturers together to generate dialogue, share ideas and debate the economics of MOBILE BUSINESS.
Register
October 27-30, San Diego:
TEDMED 2009
The fifth in a series created by Marc Hodosh and Richard Saul Wurman, TEDMED celebrates conversations that demonstrate the intersection and connections between all things medical and healthcare related: from personal health to public health, devices to design and Hollywood to the hospital. Together, this encompasses more than twenty percent of our GNP in America while touching everyone’s life around the globe.
Register
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