US Army mCare app’s most-liked feature: appointment reminders

April 11, 2014 | by

A two-year study on the mCare mobile messaging app used to support ‘Wounded Warriors’, published in the June issue of Telemedicine and e-Health, found that the most popular use of this US Army-implemented program was the appointment reminders (85 percent). 70 percent continued app usage for six months, with the same percentage using it multiple times per week, making the app very ‘sticky’. Other features were wellness tips, care team reminders, care team messaging and announcements. Average participation was 48 weeks. ‘My Appointments’ was created about halfway through the study (January 2010) and other rolling changes were made. The regional US Army Community-Based Warrior Transition Units (CBWTU), which coordinate care for soldiers who receive outpatient care in civilian facilities due to distance from military facilities (and Guard/Reserve status), enrolled 497 veterans in five states who required at least six months of complex care. Satisfaction was high, with 78 percent of soldiers stating that mCare improved their experience in the transition unit, and half of the 75 care teams reporting that they saw an improvement in appointment attendance among patients using mCare.  The results are strong and mCare continues to be used by the Army. The study was headed by Col. Ronald K. Poropatich, MD, Deputy Director of the Telemedicine & Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC).

Unlike most other research studies, this one had some unusual hurdles to overcome. There were significant changes in ownership of mCare’s contracting company during the main study period (May 2009-April 2011, with a follow on study completed December 2012). First developed by AllOne Mobile [TTA 20 Nov 2009] with security provided by partly-owned Diversinet, AllOne ‘zeroed out’ of business halfway through the study [TTA 20 April 2010], with Diversinet picking up the program after a legal wrangle. mCare was named one of the US Army’s ‘Greatest Inventions’ in September 2011. Diversinet itself, after a seemingly successful period having its MobiSecure platform adopted by AirStrip [TTA 24 Feb 2012], a five-year, $5 million Canadian distribution deal [TTA 14 Jan 2011] and continuing military contracts, could not pull itself into financial health and was acquired by ‘velocity of big’ IMS Health for a small $3.5 million last August. Additional study coverage in Mobihealthnews and iHealthBeat.

IMS Health files to raise $100 million in IPO

January 4, 2014 | by

In news late yesterday, IMS Health has filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to raise up to $100 million in an initial public offering of stock. The preliminary prospectus listed JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and BofA Merrill Lynch as the underwriters. We have noted IMS Health’s expansiveness on entering mHealth through app curation, prescribing and data security at the mHealth Summit [TTA 23 Dec] and their previous acquisition of Diversinet [TTA 15 Aug] in mobile app security; the latter was only a small part of their 2013 acquisitions in several areas totaling $105 million. Clearly there are some plans which may very well include health apps and data. Reuters, GeekWire.

2014: the year of reckoning for the ‘better mousetraps’

January 1, 2014 | by

Or, the Incredible Immutability of the Gartner Hype Cycle

From Editor Donna, her take on the ‘mega-trend’ of 2014

This Editor expected that her ‘trends for next year’ article would be filled with Sensors, Wearables, Glasses, Smartwatches, 3D Printing, Tablets and Other Whiz-Bang Gizmos, with splashes of color from Continuing Crises like Healthcare.gov in the US, the NHS’ 3million lives plus ‘whither UK telecare’, various Corporate ‘Oops-ses’, IP/Patent Trolls and Assaults on Privacy. While these will continue to spread like storm debris on the beach, providing continuing fodder for your Editors (and The Gimlet Eye) to pick through, speculate and opine on, what in my view rises above–or is under it all–for 2014?

We are whipping past the 2012-13 Peak of Inflated Expectations in health tech…

…diving into the Trough of Disillusionment in 2014. Crystallizing this certainty (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…)

Fast funding and sale roundup for Thursday/Friday

August 15, 2013 | by

A quick summary of news on both recent funding, another recently released funding analysis to add to the pile and sales–one completed, one potential:

  • The StartUp Health accelerator is now producing its independent analysis of health tech funding deals, presumably to catch the fire of RockHealth’s recognized quarterly report [TTA 9 July]. The July 2013 Digital Health Insights Funding Report is available in Slideshare format on their website with the most reported news being the 47 percent year-over-year growth to date, contrasting to RockHealth’s 12 percent, though the difference in all three may be the sampling. Practice management, big data and body computing/sensors lead the trends, according to their summary.
  • What is intriguing in the July deals is the whopping $40 million Series A funding of Oscar, which will integrate telemedicine (presumably consults) and free generic medications to its members in New York State, where they’ve stated they will be integrated into the Health Exchange in NY State. One wonders how they plan to do so on insurance exchanges which haven’t even started yet and which will be having their own challenges being a retail platform for health plans. Not unexpectedly you’ll find Khosla Ventures and Thrive Capital on the roster. MedSynergies led with a $65 million Series A for their software which will facilitate hospital networks performance monitoring of practices and provider referrals/scheduling. Internationally, Withings raised a $30 million Series A in July. MedCityNews also delves deeper into what they see as trends.
  • Fitbit just raised an additional $43 million to add to their previous $23 million. While they are still lagging fitness monitoring rival Jawbone UP by $84 million, rumors abound on what Fitbit plans to do with it: a more fully featured smartwatch? Additional apps to keep their user base engaged?–at the risk of overcomplication?   Fortune, TechCrunch
  • Toronto-based Diversinet closed their sale to New Jersey-based IMS Health for what seems like a small amount: (US)$3.5 million. Its MobiSecure technology provides government-security level mobile app security to customers such as AirStrip and the US Army. However, they were embroiled in early days in a breakup with a mobile provider, AllOne Health, and despite all their high-level tech clearances, the income realized, according to Mobihealthnews, was only in the $1 million range per year and declining and losses increasing. IMS Health is best known for its healthcare informatics, but has been involved with Ford’s in-car SYNC in development of the Allergy Alert app [TTA 7 Aug 12].
  • The ‘For Sale’ sign is also up at BlackBerry, with a corporate committee now officially exploring alliances and a sale, in the usual depressing drill. In a company once ubiquitous enough for smartphone usage to be dubbed ‘Crackberry’, and which still enjoys major worldwide market share and enterprise favor, they cannot get traction with new models. This Editor never used or liked BB, but it’s still kind of sad. ZDNet.