This Editor had a quick catchup this week with Medivizor’s CEO and co-founder, Tal Givoly, at the introduction of Eco-Fusion (a personalized wellness/tech fusion service founded by Dr. Oren Fuerst, Medivizor executive chairman and co-founder; more on this when it goes to market). One of the better discoveries of our July 2013 CE Week NYC coverage and the H20NYC/Healthcare Pioneers evening [TTA 3 July], Medivizor’s USP is that it provides free, personalized, research-level information on serious or chronic health conditions based on specific user information. The user benefit is increasing pertinence to the specific condition and less time spent researching. Still in what they term a ‘public beta’, they have expanded (as promised) to cover 400 medical conditions in 10 domains, such as cancer, cardiovascular, infertility and diabetes, and are growing their community of users and forum interactions. Medivizor has also published a compendium of 10 of the most important breast cancer research papers published in 2013 into a free eBook.
The role of spiritual care in PTSD and TBI
Online ‘ChatWithAChaplain’ service also debuts
In our focus on technology, particularly on how it can assist in determining risk or helping patients to better manage the effects of PTSD and TBI, we neglect the critical role of personal spiritual care. In the military, the first line of this type of care are chaplains. This excellent 100 page handbook issued by the US Navy’s Chaplain Corps and their Bureau of Medicine and Surgery is a brief for chaplains explaining the medical and psychological nature of PTSD and TBI, how they can provide service members with culturally appropriate spiritual care, and how they integrate it with the mental health team’s work. For those outside the military working with approaches to these conditions, it is a wealth of medical and treatment information in one place–and will influence your thinking. It was co-authored by The Rev. George Handzo, VP for Pastoral Care Leadership and Practice at The HealthCare Chaplaincy Network, a nonprofit healthcare organization which helps people in distress from illness and suffering find comfort and meaning. HCCN is a leader (more…)
How insecure can health data get? Very.
Gigaom is one of our go-to sites for enthusiastic whiz-bang health gadget coverage (and more), but here’s the downside of all those devices: all that data. And it’s not only not secure, but also getting more insecure. Grégoire Ribordy of Swiss encryption company ID Quantique makes some key (and scary) points on the data breaches looming–and he doesn’t mention that block of Swiss cheese Healthcare.gov once:
- One-stop storage for your total health records and data, an idée fixe among government and single-payer theoreticians, just makes it one-stop-shopping for hackers.
- Richer health data means more to steal and exploit. There’s also the illegal use of genetic information for employment discrimination–hard to enforce regulations, easy to misuse personal data.
- Biological crime isn’t just a future plot of ‘Law & Order.’ Criminals can target patients with specific conditions–or healthcare workers can make money on the side by supplying accident victim data to personal injury attorneys, as recently happened in NY. For prominent people, their sensitive health information can be leaked to the press for profit. (more…)
AKTIVE Conference 2014
Technology, Care and Ageing: Enhancing Independence
8-9 April, University of Leeds, UK
Sponsored by AKTIVE, a project that started at the University of Leeds’ Centre for Care, Labour and Equalities (CIRCLE) in 2011, next week’s conference it is focused on understanding the impact telecare technology has on the everyday lives of older people who are prone to falls or who suffer from cognitive impairments (including dementia) and the people who support them to live at home. AKTIVE 2014 brings together researchers, industry, voluntary sector and local authorities interested in the role of telecare and other technologies in supporting older people at home. Our Contributing Editor Charles Lowe will be presenting on Wednesday the 9th, 11:15am – 12:30pm, on ‘How Activity of Daily Living (ADL) Monitoring is at last coming of age’ as part of a Forward Vision for Telecare. Full program. Information and registration (may still be available–we are checking)
Dermal patch senses, releases meds as needed
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/nnano.2014.38-f1.jpg” thumb_width=”175″ /]A research team from several institutions in South Korea and University of Texas, Austin have developed a dermal patch that not only delivers medication, but in the right dose and right time based upon muscle activity and body temperature. They developed a 2-inch rectangle made of stretchable nanomaterials containing heat-activated silica nanoparticles. The patch monitors muscle activity and body temperature, then releases a controlled dose of a drug. This would make it ideal for conditions such as Parkinson’s Disease where the drug should be timed when muscle tremors begin. At this point, there is no digital health/wireless component for recording, which is also needed. But given the long lead time–it won’t be ready for sale for five years. The Verge. Nature Nanotechnology (abstract only)
West Health busy on digital health investment, sale front
The West Health Investment Fund, the for-profit which is part of the West Health combine, has invested further in Reflexion Health‘s Kinect-based physical therapy system [TTA 15 Jan 13] and sold off the Sense4Baby prenatal (fetal) monitor [TTA 8 Nov 10]. Both devices were spun out of the non-profit West Health Institute in 2012. Reflexion’s total from West Health Investment is $11.8 million between seed ($4.25 million) and now $7.5 million in Series A rounds. Their Vera physical therapy system uses interactive, video game style full-body exercises and instruction. It was originally piloted with the Naval Medical Center of San Diego and now is in test with Partners HealthCare in Boston and San Diego’s Rady Children’s Hospital. The Sense4Baby sale (undisclosed amount) was to AirStrip Technologies and covers the Sense4Baby assets (more…)
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