Healthcare-focused mobile communications company mPulse Mobile has released the findings of a three-month study evaluating its interactive, two-way text message program with a Medicare and Medicaid plan in Southern California. The Encino, California-based mPulse teamed up with Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP) and sent text messages tailored to 17,000 newly enrolled IEHP members based on...
Digital health interventions have tremendous potential to help vulnerable and underserved populations, but they're rarely suited for those populations out of the box, according to a new California HealthCare Foundation report authored by Health Populi blogger Jane Sarasohn-Kahn. Instead, digital health developers need to consider the particular needs of low-income, low-literacy, ESL, and Medicaid...
The more than 76 million baby boomers in the US are a ripe market for companies building digital health devices and services, but few such companies have successfully designed their offerings for the demographic. That's one of the preliminary conclusions of a recently published California HealthCare Foundation report called Baby Steps: Will Boomers Buy into Mobile Health?, written by Laurie Orlov...
There are 115 dedicated healthcare accelerators worldwide, with 87 in the United States, according to a new report from the California HealthCare Foundation. The report, authored by Lisa Suennen, a prominent digital health investor who blogs under the name "Venture Valkyrie", includes university and corporate accelerators but doesn't count multiple sites (like Healthbox London and Healthbox...
In a new report from the California HealthCare Foundation, the report's author, health economist and consultant Jane Sarasohn-Kahn concludes that while the increasing amount of consumer wellness and fitness data collected today has a lot of value for personalized healthcare, it also presents new risks for consumer privacy.
For one thing, as healthcare moves out of the hospital and onto the wrist...
The Misfit Shine is an example of a partially passive wearable sensor.
The future of sensors won't be handheld devices like Star Trek's tricorder. It will be invisible sensors in your shoes, floorboards, and cars that quietly collect your health data, analyze it, and alert you, your doctor, or your loved ones only when something goes wrong. That's the prediction in "Making Sense of Sensors: How...
Health-specific incubators and accelerators have been expanding and proliferating for the past two years, and they seem to be making an impact -- Rock Health, for instance, recently announced that their average startup is valued at $5.2 million. But do these relatively new, health-focused accelerators have staying power? That's the question a new report from the California Healthcare Foundation...
The California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF) has invested $1.5 million in iRhythm Technologies, maker of Zio Patch, an FDA-cleared ambulatory cardiac rhythm monitor. The Oakland, Calif.-based foundation also says it will sponsor studies of the technology at two safety-net health systems in the state.
Zio Patch differs from many other wearable monitors in that it does not have built-in wireless...
According to a forthcoming survey from Pew Internet Project, 7 in 10 American adults are self-trackers of some kind.
Sixty percent of Americans are tracking weight, diet, or exercise, said Associate Director of Digital Strategy Susannah Fox, who previewed some results from the survey at the Connected Health Symposium in Boston last week. One third track health indicators or symptoms, and one...
Calling mobile health "one of the most significant health IT developments of the past five years" in terms of treating chronic diseases, a coalition of health IT advocates sees strong potential in mobile and wireless technologies to address the diabetes epidemic, even in "socially disadvantaged" populations.
The eHealth Initiative, a Washington-based group representing a wide range of healthcare...
