CHCF: Rubric for participatory health success
 The California Healthcare Foundation (CHCF) just published a must-read report called Participatory Health: Online and Mobile Tools Help Chronically Ill Manage Their Care, by health economist and management consultant Jane Sarasohn-Kahn.
“Many of the entrants into this market are from outside traditional health organizations,” Sarasohn-Kahn writes in her conclusion. “Health Providers, institutions, and suppliers to the industry will need to adapt to the world of participatory health, in order to be perceived as relevant and useful to those pioneering patients who are embracing self-care.”
Sage advice for an industry facing convergence. Sarasohn-Kahn also offers very concrete advice for those providers looking to offer participatory health services. Here is one rubric she provides that details some of the necessary steps for a successful service:
- Support for the full range of a patient’s health activities, including self-defined regimens;
- Regular monitoring of patient status;
- Ongoing adjustment of health regimen by patient and/or providers based on patient status (through connecting with providers and health coaches);
- Interpretation of patient data in relation to individual treatment goals;
- Timely communication to the patient of tailored and actionable recommendations and advice;
- Repetition of this cycle at appropriate intervals.
The CHCF report authored by Sarasohn-Kahn includes interviews with Dr. Joseph Kvedar from Partners Center for Connected Health, Amy Tenderich from DiabetesMine, Rajiv Mehta from ZumeLife, Dr. Mark Blatt about Intel’s Health Guide and many, many more. The report provides an extensive introduction that includes an analysis of the drivers of the participatory health movement and includes insights into the challenges facing this emerging industry.
Read it here (in .PDF format) over at the CHCF site.
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| Chopra: Regulation, billing and workflow management
“You can enable ubiquitous [wireless health] sensing, but without a services and disease management workflow system in place, who is this data going to?” Duke University Adjunct Associate Professor Gopal Chopra explained to Mobihealthnews in a recent interview. “Who will interpret it? If there are algorithms involved with telling users what to do, well, who is overseeing that? There’s risk in that. You need a care provider to be overseeing it, which then leads us back to who is going to pay for it? I don’t think sensors are the only answer.”
Chopra certainly has opinions about the emerging wireless healthcare industry. Besides teaching health data management to Duke University MBA students, Chopra is also building two wireless healthcare start-ups and is one of the lead organizers of Duke University’s Medical Innovation and Strategies Conference 2009 on Wireless and Consumer Health.
Read on for highlights from Mobihealthnews’ interview with Gopal Chopra. Continue>>
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Japan: Glimpse into wireless health future?
The largest mobile operator by subscribers, NTT DoCoMo, might bring its brand to the U.S. and offer DoCoMo wireless service over T-Mobile USA’s or AT&T’s network, according to reports in Japan Today and Japan Times. The reports claim that the carrier is interested in launching its advanced mobile Internet services for the U.S. market.
The news broke just a few days after NTT DoCoMo announced its ongoing research with the University of Tokyo Hospital into wireless healthcare. The poorly translated press release indicated that the two entities have entered into a four year agreement to investigate wireless opportunities for health informatics.
At last year’s Wireless Japan Expo, Fujitsu and NTT DoCoMo unveiled new “RakuRaku” phones, which means “easy easy,” phones that are intended for use by aging users who are most concerned with keeping connected to their health records and healthcare practitioners. The phone’s camera reportedly could determine the user’s heart rate just by scanning minute movements of the user’s finger when held up to it. The phones also included built-in pedometers and a personal health diary. At least one of the phones is also able to synch up to medical devices made by Omron, including weight scales, to input other health-related information.
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Microsoft HealthVault migrates out of beta
Late last week, Microsoft’s HealthVault platform and personal health data repository, which the company loathes to call a personal health record (PHR), exited from “beta” status. ZDNet broke the news and received an explanation from Microsoft for the removal of the beta tag:
“In order to make the migration out of Beta, Microsoft products need to meet a series of internal compliance requirements across the areas of Accessibility, Interoperability, Security, Privacy, Software Integrity, Geopolitical and Intellectual Property,” Microsoft told ZDNet in an email. “HealthVault made a number of updates, most notably in the area of Accessibility, where the team has placed a tremendous amount of focus over the last two releases, enabling new scenarios in low vision, vision impaired, color blindness, mobility and hearing.”
The company noted, however, that even though HealthVault was out of beta as of August 26th, Microsoft plans to continue to add more features through regularly released new updates. It is a platform after all.
In a recent interview with MobiHealthNews, Microsoft’s Senior Global Strategist for HealthVault, George Scriban explained that connecting wireless health devices to HealthVault was a key strategy for the platform: Continue >>
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| World Economic Forum touts wellness programs
The Aging Workforce: How to Fight the Risks, is the title of a recent article over at CFO Magazine. It highlights some of the findings of a World Economic Forum report that urges the enterprise to take a proactive approach to its employees’ health. CFO Magazine is clearly focused on the bottom line, so it’s an interesting lens to look through when debating the proper role for enterprise in the emerging wireless healthcare industry. Should these tools be a part of corporate wellness programs? We think so. Should more corporations offer wellness programs to their employees? The World Economic Forum believes they must. From the CFO Magazine article:
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Qualcomm lowers power needed for BANs
At the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society event in Minneapolis this week, Qualcomm presented a new algorithm that it says lowers the power of body area networks (BANs). According to a report from EETimes, the presentation attracted the attention of implantable device maker Medtronic’s representatives who were in attendance at the event.
“The sensing of vital signs is still an open problem because the sensors have to work 24/7 in regular living conditions that generate acquisition artifacts,” Harinath Garudadri, an engineer in Qualcomm’s corporate R&D group told the EETimes.
Garudadri said Qualcomm’s Compressed Sensing algorithm is applied at the application layer and can reduce the amount of data acquired and sent through a BAN, regardless of which wireless radio technology is being used. Qualcomm has tested the technology on blood pressure sensors and heart rate sensors so far.
The report is a good reminder that the wireless tools and technologies available today are a great starting point for wireless healthcare, but in many cases they will require mods and tweaks to get them up to snuff for healthcare or “medical grade.”
For more, be sure to read the article over at EETimes
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Halo synchs to Microsoft’s HealthVault
Wireless healthcare technology company Halo Monitoring has connected its personal health monitoring and alert system to Microsoft’s online health data repository, HealthVault.
Halo Monitoring unveiled its myHalo product at the beginning of 2009 during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. myHalo “wirelessly transmits secure vital signs, activities of daily living, and critical event information (such as when a user falls),” the company’s press release stated. “Unlike other monitoring strategies in the past, the system immediately detects when the user falls and automatically transmits that information in real time without prompting by the senior.”
The myHalo device is worn under clothing, as a chest strap, and can send alerts to caregivers and family members via email and text messages. The health data is also sent to Halo’s secure online portal, but with the addition of Microsoft HealthVault as a possible repository, the data has two potential homes online now.
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The Real Top BlackBerry Medical Apps
BlackBerry’s App World is now available online — previously you needed a BlackBerry smartphone to review the applications available through the store — and the number of health and medical related BlackBerry applications has also more than doubled since the App World launched earlier this year. There are now 85 in the Heath & Wellness category of BlackBerry applications. Within that category is a sub-category called Medical Guides, which, with few exceptions, looks to house those applications intended for use by healthcare workers.
Read on below for The Real Top 7 BlackBerry Medical Guides Apps as they rank today on App World. The store has a seemingly real-time listing of apps based on their popularity, here’s the top seven:
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Epocrates’ survey: Nurses still favor Palm
Mobile software developer Epocrates released survey results that polled nurses who use their Epocrates smartphone application. This most recent survey follows a similar format to the one the company conducted recently with medical students — revisit the results from that poll here. Here are the metrics that resulted from the most recent Epocrates survey:
More than half of the nurses express significant concern that a national nursing shortage will negatively effect patient safety and care. Continue >>
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Monitoring and privacy issues beyond HIPAA
UK-based publication, The Engineer, has a short and sweet commentary that raises the issue of privacy — but not in the regulatory, protect-my-health-data sense. The brief editorial wonders where the line should be drawn for remote monitoring of older relatives and friends. The Engineer reported on A&D Medical’s Bluetooth blood pressure cuff and Bluetooth-enabled weight scale attaining Continua Health Alliance interoperability certification a few weeks ago. The potential of home health products and their downsides spurred an editorial from the publication’s Special Reports Editor Stuart Nathan this week:
Of course, there’s a downside. ‘Regular monitoring’ is often a synonym for snooping and if we look further forward, such systems could monitor many more things than personal health. Want to be sure that your elderly relative is okay? You could monitor their home to tell you when they got out of bed (a loadcell under the mattress could deal with that); how often the fridge door opens; and whether the TV stays on late into the night. Is that keeping a reassuring eye, or is it an unwarranted invasion of privacy? That’s a matter of opinion, isn’t it?
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Costs not privacy key for wireless sensor users
A recent article in the International Journal of Medical Informatics that explored the perceptions, attitudes and concerns of elderly persons towards wireless sensor network (WSN) technologies for healthcare found that the participants’ attitudes toward the idea of wireless sensor networks for health monitoring were generally positive.
While the study’s abstract is scant on details, some general findings included: that independence is “highly valued” and so any system that can prolong it is highly regarded; that privacy of the health data collected and transmitted might not be as important as typically considered; that cost may be the most important determinant influencing the acceptance of the technology.
For more on the study, read the entire abstract here
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Uptick in investments in medtech start-ups
According to a report by MedMarket Diligence, investments and other financings into the medical technology market have topped $400 million during both July and August. September is expected to bring another month with more than $400 million in investments.
Wireless sensing and communications developer CardioMEMS was one medtech company that scooped up funding last month: the company announced a $22.1 million round of financing. The additional funds will bankroll its heart failure clinical trial, which was initiated in September of 2007 and is currently taking place in more than 65 heart centers across the U.S.
Here’s a graph from MedMarket Diligence that chronicles overall investments in medical technology companies during the past six months: Continue >>
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Shorts: iTriage portal; CTIA; Outbreaks app
iTriage App drives web-based offering: Healthagen just announced a new web-based portal based on its iPhone application iTriage. The site offers up-to-date healthcare information, new features, and all of the existing features of the company’s smartphone app. Interesting to see start-ups with popular apps leveraging that audience to drive a web-based offering. More
Wireless healthcare becoming key focus of wireless industry: CTIA, the wireless trade association, told Unstrung that its event now has 200 confirmed exhibitors, 26 of which are in the wireless healthcare pavilion. Attendance figures also appear to be 70 percent higher this year. (Don’t forget to attend MobiHealthNews’ Everywhere Healthcare event, which is co-located at CTIA in San Diego next month.) More
Outbreaks Near Me: Children’s Hospital, Google.org and MIT teamed up to develop the “Outbreaks Near Me” iPhone application. The app helps users track and report outbreaks of infectious diseases, including H1N1 (swine flu) in real-time. It’s free. More
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OSU discusses the iPhone as medical tool
Two years ago, Ohio State University College of Medicine’s Vice Dean of Education, Catherine Lucey and a fourth year medical student going into plastic surgery, Justin Harper, spearheaded the school’s use of iPod Touches and iPhones as medical and learning tools on campus. In the video below, (UPDATE: which was created by CurrentMedicine.tv), Lucey and Harper discuss how the program has evolved at the school and the ways in which students apply the devices in clinical settings. As you might expect the devices are used mostly as access points for medical reference apps and sites.
Continue on for the 8 minute video that includes demos of some of the apps the students use: Continue >>
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The Inaugural Medical Device Connectivity Conference & Exhibition
September 10-11, Boston
This innovative conference and exhibition focuses on the integration of medical devices and information systems. The conference will feature in-depth coverage of strategy and implementation as well as legal/regulatory issues. Keynote speakers include: Tim Gee, Medical Connectivity Consulting and Julian Goldman, MD, Partners HealthCare Biomedical Engineering.
Register here
2009 Health Technology Investment Forum
September 22, NYC
The 2009 Health Technology Investment Forum is a one day conference that will provide an opportunity for investors and healthcare leaders to discover the latest trends and investment opportunities. You will have the opportunity to hear from both public and private high growth companies, gaining unparalleled investment insight.
Register here
First annual Medical Innovation and Strategies Conference: The Future of Healthcare
Sept. 23, Duke University
The conference, which is hosted by Gopal Chopra: MD, FRACS, MBA, Adjunct Associate Professor at the Fuqua School of Business and Kevin Schulman: MD, MBA, Director of Health Sector Management and Associate Director, Duke Clinical Research Institute, will focus primarily on ‘Wireless and Consumer Healthcare’ and will address the following topics:
1. Future impact of wireless technology on the healthcare industry;
2. Understanding the future trends of consumer healthcare; and
3. Expert panel discussions on business models and innovation solutions.
Register here
ATA Mid-Year Meeting
Sept. 24-25, Palm Springs
The Third Annual ATA Mid-Year meeting is one great meeting combining two great tracks & showcasing the latest in products and services:
Track I:
Cutting Edge and Off-The-Shelf Technology: Making the Right Decisions
Track II:
4th Annual Pediatric Telehealth Colloquium
Register here
MobiHealthNews PRESENTS:
Everywhere Healthcare
October 8, San Diego
With today’s wireless networks, the doctor is always in. While connecting patients to caregivers has never been easier, the search for the right business models for wireless health devices and services has just begun.
Don’t miss your appointment at the MobiHealthNews Presents: Everywhere Healthcare event during International CTIA WIRELESS I.T. & Entertainment 2009!
OPEN TO ALL REGISTERED ATTENDEES! There is NO separate registration fee for this event and it is included in ALL registration packages. Please see registration form for details.
Register here
CTIA WIRELESS I.T. & Entertainment 2009
October 6-9, San Diego
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 here
Health 2.0
October 6-7, San Francisco
With nearly a hundred speakers and plenty of new healthcare demos and technologies on display on stage and in the exhibit hall, you’ll get a sweeping overview of the ways that information technology and the web are changing healthcare. We’ll be looking at the "traditional" Health 2.0 areas like vertical search, online social networks and tools for consumers. But the conference will also be focusing on how new technologies are connecting patients and clinicians, and examining the impact of Health 2.0 technologies on patients lives.
Register here
6th annual Connected Health Symposium
October 21-22, Boston
Up from Crisis: Overhauling Healthcare Information, Payment and Delivery in Extraordinary Times
hosted by the Center for Connected Health at Partners HealthCare
Healthcare will have its renaissance when it moves beyond the hospital and clinic and into the day-to-day lives of patients and consumers. The Connected Health Symposium asks how information technology — cell phones, computers, the Internet and other tools — can help people manage chronic conditions, maintain health and wellness, and age with independence.
Use invitation code mobihealth to receive a $100 discount!
Register here
TEDMED 2009
October 27-30,
San Diego
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 here
2009 NIH mHealth Summit
Oct. 29-30,
Washington, DC
Foundation for the National Institutes of Health Will Bring Together Researchers, Mobile Technology Experts, Policy-Makers Industry Visionaries
This two-day event, a public-private partnership of the Foundation for NIH, is being produced in partnership with the NIH, the premiere biomedical research institute in the U.S. It is the first Summit focused on exploring the partnership between biomedical research and the use of mobile technologies to improve public health.
Register here
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