Drugstore chain Walgreens launched a new text message (SMS) powered prescription alerts service for its customers. Prescription Text Alerts notify customers when their prescriptions are ready. In other mobile-related news, Walgreens also re-launched its iPhone app as well as its mobile site, m.walgreens.com.
"We strive to lead the market in bringing new and innovative technology to our pharmacies...
There were 50 million smartphones and wirelessly-enabled PDAs in use in the US at the end of 2009, according to CTIA, the wireless association's semiannual survey which it announced here in Las Vegas at the CTIA Wireless 2010 event. There are also now more than 285 million wireless connections in the US, which seems to include mobile phones as well as wireless aircards for laptops.
Wireless data...
Last year the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimated that the global trade in fake pharmaceuticals would top $75 billion by the end of 2010, marking a 90 percent increase since 2005. Nigeria-based Sproxil, which was founded in 2005, uses scratch off codes and text messages to help consumers authenticate medications using the same process many use to add airtime minutes to their...
Some 35,000 patients in Buffalo, NY with BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York plans will soon have 24 hour access to their physicians via web cams, phone or secure text messages, according to the healthcare insurance provider. BCBS is working with American Well for some of the technology and integrating with Microsoft's HealthVault personal health platform to better connect patients and...
"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...
We have been tracking the soft launch of the White House's free mobile health service for expectant mothers, Text4baby, since early last year. While the service was planned to launch in the fall of 2009, a recent presentation from the Text4Baby team explains that the service launched this month and plans to begin marketing through partners in February. The service appears to have soft launched in...
Ireland's national Food Safety Authority recently launched an email and text messaging service that aims to inform food allergy sufferers about foods that have not appropriately labeled their products for the presence of common allergens. Warnings like "may contain nuts" or "manufactured on a line that also uses nuts" are not useful for allergy sufferers, according to the agency.
Once the...
Frontline:SMS, one of the more well-known mobile phone-based global health start-ups announced via Twitter this morning that it had scooped up additional funding for 2010. The team looks to be building out its developer capacity in the new year. Here's the Twitter announcement:
"The FrontlineSMS team secures additional 2010 funding to strengthen its developer capacity. More news next month! \o/"...
New wireless Irish group has wireless health SIG: A new wireless industry networking group, WirelessLAB, aims to promote Ireland as a center of excellence for wireless technology and provided members with a "platform to increase their visibility both at home and internationally." Among the founders is Dr. Conor Hanley, co-founder and CEO, BiancaMed, a wireless health start-up focused on...
Earlier this month at the Mobile Healthcare Industry Summit, Vodafone Group CEO Vittoro Colao announced that the carrier was working with pharmaceutical company Novartis on a program called SMS For Life in Tanzania. Vodafone, Novartis and their partner IBM announced the program officially today.
As Colao noted, the program covers some 135 villages (more than 1 million people) in Tanzania after...
