Study quantifies "healthcare wastefulness" for the first time, according to the study's leads: "Researchers have calculated that more than half of the 354 million doctor visits made each year for acute medical care, like for fevers, stomachaches and coughs, are not with a patient’s primary physician, and that more than a quarter take place in hospital emergency rooms." While mobile health is not a panacea, hard to argue that some "routine" visits would be better taken care of via home health technologies. New York Times

Expectant parents in Ghana get mHealth SMS from Grameen : "In the past two months, Grameen has registered 500 expectant parents in the Kassena-Nankana area of Ghana, near the border with Burkina Faso, to receive free, regular phone calls and text messages guiding them through pregnancy. At week seven in the pregnancy, a parent receives a text reminder to take a malaria vaccination. At week 37, the parent is told that contrary to myth, eating fruits such as mango and proteins such as eggs is nutritious and won't harm the fetus." Washington Post

Diversinet adds to its board: Secure mobile health application provider Diversinet has appointed Dr. Richard Eidinger, a physician who has held executive positions at a a number of healthcare organizations, including Aetna Health Plans as well as United Health, to its board of directors. Release

Dragon for EHRs: Nuance Communications announced Dragon Medical Enterprise Network Edition, an offering for large physician practices and hospitals that adds Nuance's voice recognition technology to electronic health record (EHR) systems. Release

STD Hotline information adds SMS option: The Minnesota Family Planning and STD Hotline is now sending information about sexually transmitted diseases and infections via text message, too. RH Reality Check