MediBioSense and Blue Cedar take a new approach to secure medical wearable data (UK/US)

January 23, 2018 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/VitalPatch_Header_Photo_Tablet.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]Doncaster UK-based MediBioSense Ltd. has partnered with San Francisco-based Blue Cedar to protect their VitalPatch app on smartphones and tablets. MediBioSense uses VitalPatch in their MBS HealthStream system marketed in the UK in acute care and long-term care setting. Blue Cedar is securing the app through their patented code-injected technology which protects the VitalPatch-collected data from the app to the provider database. The system with Blue Cedar’s security is available directly from MediBioSense.

VitalPatch is a single-use adhesive biosensor patch applied to the patient’s chest (see left above). It monitors eight vital signs and activity signs: heart rate, respiration, ECG, heart rate variability, temperature, body posture including fall detection/severity, and steps as an indicator of activity. MediBioSense contracted with the US-based developer, VitalConnect, to sell the system in the UK. VitalPatch is US FDA-cleared (Class II) and CE Marked for the EU.

One impetus, according to the release (PDF), is the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), the pan-European/UK data-protection law slated to take effect in May. This not only applies to European Union citizens’ personal data but also requires reports on how organizations safeguard that data. 

Blue Cedar, which this Editor has previously profiled [TTA 3 May 17], has developed code-injection technology that secures data from the app to the provider location on their servers or in the cloud. It secures the app without the device being managed. Devices have their own vulnerabilities when it comes to apps even when secured, as 84 percent of cyberattacks happen at the application layer (SAP). Blue Cedar’s security also enables tap-and-go from an icon versus multiple security entries, thus quick downloading from app stores or websites. For companies, the secured app provides granular analytic reports about users, app usage, devices, and operating systems which are useful for GDPR requirements.

Blue Cedar’s latest release of app security is Enforce, to secure existing mobile apps using in-app embedded controls to enforce a broad range of security policies. It is sold on the Microsoft Azure cloud platform and is primarily targeted to the value-added reseller (VAR) market. 

All the more reason to use all means to secure devices and apps. When as of last week Allscripts‘ EHR for e-prescribing was hit with a ransomware attack (FierceHealthcare), yet another hospital (Hancock Regional in Indianapolis) paid $5,000 to hackers to get back online (Digital Health), and Protenus/DataBreaches.net tracks a breach a day [TTA 29 Dec 17], cybersecurity has become Job #1 for anyone in the healthcare field. (And Big Healthcare now votes for security. Protenus today announced their $11 million Series B led by Kaiser Permanente Ventures and F-Prime Capital Partners. Release.)

Do startups truly threaten the ‘healthcare establishment’?

May 19, 2015 | by

Or are successful startups fitting into their game? Chris Seper in MedCityNews paints the picture of one side of a quandary. The ‘healthcare establishment’ fundamentally and to its detriment does not understand and is threatened by the startup and innovation process. A startup may begin with an idea which is, in his words, ‘almost always flawed, sometimes deeply’. If the founders are smart, they will test their ideas, validate them and change them appropriately. If not, they will fail. But it is easier for the Establishment to point at the most egregious of the bad ideas and use them to rationalize the status quo.

But being congenital contrarians, we paint the house on the other side of the street. Has the Establishment caught up with–or in some cases, co-opted startups, making them and their funders ‘do their diligence’ and be more cautious before emerging? This Editor would argue yes, and largely for the better.

**The ‘Wild West’ days are over. A few years ago, a truly bad or deeply flawed health tech idea or could easily find funding, because it was all blank slate, new and ‘transformative’.The sexiest hooks were Quantified Self, sleep, employer health incentives, interactive coaching, genomics, app prescribing and (last) wearables. A lot of founders imagined themselves as the Steve Jobs of Healthcare, down to the black turtleneck. Now there is a history of success and failure. The railroads reached the dusty frontier towns.

**There’s now a ‘Startup Establishment’. National accelerators (more…)

IMS Health enters health app ranking, prescribing

December 15, 2013 | by

Global healthcare informatics provider IMS Health during mHealth Summit announced its entry into mHealth prescribing and evaluation with AppScript. They also are getting into the development standards business with AppNucleus, a hosting platform that from the description, will guide developers in designing secure, HIPAA and HITECH Act compliant apps using IMS Health information and data analytics. AppScript uses a proprietary methodology called AppScore to classify and evaluate apps based on functionality, peer and patient reviews, certifications, and their potential to improve outcomes and lower the cost of care. According to Information Week Healthcare, AppScore includes 25 criteria developed by IMS and its physician advisors (more…)