News roundup: docs dim on AI without purpose, ‘medtail’ a mall trend, CVS goes SDH, Kvedar to ATA, Biden ‘moonshot’ shorts out, and Short Takes

July 27, 2019 | by

Docs not crazy about AI. And Dog Bites Man. In Medscape‘s survey of 1,500 doctors in the US, Europe, and Latin America, they are skeptical (49 percent-US) and uncomfortable (35 percent-Europe, 30 percent-Latin America). Only 20 percent fess up to actually using an AI application, and aren’t crazy about voice tech even at home. Two-thirds are willing to take a look at AI-powered tech if it proves to be better than humans at diagnosis, but only 44 percent actually believe that will happen. FierceHealthcare

This dim view, in the estimation of a chief analytics and information officer in healthcare, Vikas Chowdhry, is not the fault of AI nor of the doctors. There’s a disconnect between the tech and the larger purpose. “Without a national urgency to focus on health instead of medical care, and without scalable patient person-centered reforms, no technology will make a meaningful impact, especially in a hybrid public goods area like health.” The analogy is to power of computing–that somehow when we focused behind a goal, we were able to have multiple moon missions with computing equivalent to a really old smartphone, but now we send out funny cat videos instead of being on Mars. (And this Editor growing up in NJ thought the space program was there to market Tang orange drink.) HIStalk.

Those vacant stores at malls? Fill ’em with healthcare clinics! And go out for Jamba Juice after! CNN finally caught up with the trend, apparent on suburbia’s Boulevards and Main Streets, that clinics can fill those mall spots which have been vacated by retail. No longer confined to ‘medical buildings’, outpatient care is popping up everywhere. In your Editor’s metro area, you see CityMDs next to Walmarts, Northwell Health next to a burger spot, a Kessler Health rehab clinic replacing a dance studio, and so on. The clever name for it is ‘medtail’, and landlords love them because they sign long leases and pay for premium spots, brighten up dim concourses, and perhaps stimulate food court and other shopping traffic. Of course, CVS and Aetna spotted this about years ago in their merger but are working expansion in the other direction with expanding CVS locations and on the healthcare side, testing the addition of social determinants of health (SDH) services via a pilot partnership, Destination: Health with non-profit Unite Us to connect better with community services. This is in addition to previous affordable housing investments and a five-year community health initiative. Forbes, Mobihealthnews

ATA announces Joseph Kvedar, MD, as President-Elect. Dr. Kvedar was previously president in 2004-5 and replaces John Glaser, PhD, Executive Senior Advisor, Cerner. He will remain as Vice President of Connected Health at Partners HealthCare and Professor of Dermatology at Harvard Medical School. A question mark for those of us in the industry is his extensive engagement with October’s Connected Health Conference in Boston, one of the earliest and now a HIMSS event. ATA’s next event is ATA2020 3-5 May 2020 in Phoenix–apparently no Fall Forum this year.

The Biden Cancer Initiative has shut down after two years in operation. This spinoff of the White House-sponsored ‘moonshot’ initiative was founded after the death of Beau Biden, son of Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden. Both Mr. Biden and wife Jill Biden withdrew due to ethics concerns in April. According to Fortune, the nonprofit had trouble maintaining momentum without their presence. However, the setup invited conflict of interest concerns. The Initiative engaged and was funded by pharmas and other health tech companies, directly for Initiative support but mainly for indirect pledges to fund research. Most of these organizations do business with Federal, state and local governments. Shortly after the formal announcement, Mr. Biden the Candidate announced a rural health plan to expand a federal grant program to include rural telehealth for mental health and specialized services. Politico   But isn’t that already underway with the FCC’s Connected Care Pilot Program, coming to a vote soon? [TTA 20 June]

And…Short Takes

  • Philips Healthcare bought Boston-based patient engagement/management start-up Medumo. Terms not disclosed. CNBC
  • London’s Medopad launched with Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust (RWT) in a three-year RPM deal. DigitalHealthNews
  • Parks Associates’ Connected Health Summit will be again in San Diego 27-29 August with an outstanding lineup of speakers. More information and registration here.

And in other news, Matt Hancock holds tight to his portfolio as UK Secretary of State for Health and Social Care in the newly formed Government under new PM Boris Johnson. Luckier than the other 50 percent!

 

 

Successful large-scale deployment of Telehealth: a “cookbook”

November 19, 2015 | by

Following a two and a half year evaluation of data from different connected health programmes in five European regions, a report [grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/ACT-programme-logo.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]was released this week described as a “cookbook” for large-scale deployment of coordinated care and telehealth. The work was carried out by a consortium led by Philips Healthcare and included participants from The Netherlands, Greece, the UK, Spain, Italy and Germany.

After monitoring coordinated care and telehealth initiatives in five EU healthcare regions – Lombardy (IT), Basque Country (ES), Catalonia (ES), Northern Netherlands (NL), and Scotland (UK) – the EU-funded Advancing Care Coordination & Telehealth Deployment (ACT) Programme has produced this ‘cookbook’ of good practice to facilitate their deployment across Europe. (more…)

Philips Healthcare partners with Amazon Web Services, adds more IoT

October 16, 2015 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Philips_AWS-IoT-infographic.jpg” thumb_width=”200″ /]The once-quiet Philips is expanding its connectivity for HealthSuite through a partnership with Amazon‘s recently announced collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS). The objective in connecting through AWS is to expand to hundreds of million devices through a secure, stable IoT ‘device cloud’ that securely collects and analyzes data from apps (like the diabetes app in test with Radboud University, TTA 18 Sept), medical devices and EMRs/PHRs. The Philips HealthSuite Digital Platform is a product of Philips’ collaboration with Salesforce, and is also (for now) targeted to senior care for adults. Philips’ release and case studies are, unfortunately, buried in this very busy page. It’s another move for Philips that confirms their ‘Hospital to Home’ repositioning.

Philips tests diabetes app developed with Radboud UMC, Salesforce (NL)

September 18, 2015 | by

Philips Healthcare unveiled a prototype of a diabetes tracking app that also links to a secured social ‘community’ at this past week’s Dreamforce 15 conference in San Francisco. It was developed in conjunction with Salesforce and the Radboud University Medical Center (NL). Philips claims the app is the first to collect and connect data from EMRs, multiple personal health devices and patient self-reported data, with the patient directing sharing via private messaging and shared posts with providers and fellow patients (‘community’). It is built on the HealthSuite Digital Platform which is a product of Philips’ collaboration with Salesforce. The app provides tracking information to the patient on blood glucose levels, insulin use, nutrition, physical activity, mood and stress. The patient also receives data-driven feedback and coaching guidance. It will be ready before end of this year in select non-US markets. At Dreamforce, Philips demo’d their joint Virtual Health Record initiative, which is being promoted as “a digital toolkit that makes it easy for health systems, institutions and care providers to utilize the power of the HealthSuite Digital Platform technology in dedicated localized solutions.” Release