A trio of September meetings

September 20, 2014 | by

AAL/Bucharest, The Guardian and Kings Fund

As previously highlighted on Telehealth & Telecare Aware, last week was indeed the week of connected health events. This editor made it to three:

AAL/Bucharest

As very much of a supporting act – presenting to researchers on how to do business with the different health organisations across Europe – my principal challenge was getting to the city after the ‘information’ kiosk in the airport told me the hotel I was booked into didn’t exist. Thankfully they were wrong. What I saw of the conference looked good, though there were some bizarre rules on who could have free WiFi.

The Guardian

Wednesday evening brought the Guardian information sharing event which proved especially interesting. (more…)

A few observations from September’s Health Technology Forum London

September 20, 2014 | by

On Wednesday 17th September, Health Technology Forum members gathered at Baker Botts’ office in London for a couple of key presentations on legal aspects of medical software.

The first, by Joe Hagan-Brown, Regulatory Affairs Specialist at the MHRA, covered the EU’s medical device-specific regulation. The second, by Alex Denoon of Lawford Davies Denoon, was a presentation on the EU’s data protection regulation.

Readers with long memories will recall that I summarised medical device-specific regulation a while back; much of what Joe said added colour to that summary. A few comments he made are perhaps worthy of repetition (more…)

What’s the big thing behind the Cognizant acquisition of TriZetto?

September 18, 2014 | by

The $2.7 billion acquisition of HIT payer-provider services company TriZetto by IT/BPO outsourcer Cognizant indicates the value that large, largely offshored companies are seeing in health data. According to Fortune, “The combined company has more than $3 billion in healthcare revenue, as well as about $1.5 billion of potential revenue synergies over the next five years from which Cognizant can cull further gains.” Cognizant’s healthcare and life sciences sector is about 26 percent of their $8.84 billion total annual revenue, but what they haven’t had is the provider-payer software and TriZetto’s IP.

So why the big number (which exits the investors quite nicely) which nearly equals the value of the combined companies in healthcare? The trend this Editor has spotted (more…)

A five-point rebuttal to ‘Accelerometers, false positives/negatives and fall detection’

September 18, 2014 | by | 1 Comment

One of our most popular articles ever on TTA has been Tom Doris’ analysis of accelerometers in fall detection. His point of view is as a developer in digital health technology. For your consideration, we are posting this extended response from an executive experienced in deployment of both traditional PERS and now PERS with accelerometer-based fall detection in older adult populations.

Andy Schoonover is President of VRI, a leading provider of PERS, MPERS, and telehealth monitoring services founded in 1989. VRI currently actively monitors approximately 110,000 clients in the US–and a long-time TTA reader.

Tom Doris wrote a post on September 17th, laying out the problems with the use of accelerometers and fall detection devices especially in regards to PERS. After reading Tom’s post I felt compelled to respond with the following five points on why it’s important to continue to promote fall detection within PERS and MPERS.

1) In the 1 out of 100 case that my grandma falls and can’t physically press a button (sudden fainting due to hypoglycemia for example) would I prefer she have a regular PERS, which definitely won’t indicate a fall, or a PERS with fall detector which will more than likely indicate a fall? If it were my grandma I’d go with the “more than likely” option.

2) If my grandma had too many false positives then I’d ask her: you can use regular PERS with no fall detection or you can use PERS with fall detection where you will get called a couple more times per month. Which would you prefer? Hint: she’ll say fall detection. About 5 percent of our customers are annoyed by the false positives. (more…)

Dependability Telecare Assessment tool released

September 18, 2014 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/DTA-manual.jpg” thumb_width=”125″ /]From gdewsbury, a joint endeavor of independent consultants Guy Dewsbury PhD and Debbie Ballard, both well-known figures in UK telecare circles, is their development of a unique tool to determine the best telecare support for a person. The Dependability Telecare Assessment (DTA) tool is available in manual form for practitioners and professionals who assess, provide or install telecare, including assistive technology. The DTA is also relevant to the academic sector as a learning resource; currently it is core reading for the postgraduate telecare course at University of Edinburgh. Dr Dewsbury states that it is the “culmination of many years of academic ethnographic research with older and disabled people in the design of telecare technology to support them.” It also advocates the right amount of telecare, and not more: “Only install sufficient telecare to enable a person. Excessive use of telecare could disable a person.” It’s available in spiral-bound form for what seems to be to this Editor a pittance at £19.99 (free shipping in the UK plus postage for international). Order link here; see PDF or Dr Dewsbury’s website above for additional information.

Change needed in ‘Keeping the NHS Great’

September 18, 2014 | by

Technology enabled care services (TECS) are the key, according to this study headed by the Good Governance Institute (GGI) and supported by Tunstall Healthcare. Whatever your thoughts are about the latter, the problem pointed out in the study is valid; that TECS (another acronym to be added to the arsenal encompassing both telecare and telehealth; not a ‘telehealthcare’ in sight) is thought of as ‘too difficult’ and because the system has not changed, people are being denied life-changing support and technology. GGI surveyed healthcare professionals in its networks plus organized a workshop with the Tunstall Clinical Advisory Group for more qualitative information.

According to the report, 85 percent of respondents said that telehealth was “very important” (50 percent) or “important” (35 percent) in developing pathways for patients with long-term conditions and better management of their care in the community. The overwhelming majority (79 percent) responded by saying they would be prepared to contribute to some or all of the costs, or introducing telehealth from their own budgets. (more…)

Lively telecare system adds smartwatch-flavored PERS

September 18, 2014 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Lively_safetywatch_captioned_June-2014.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]The Lively home telecare system, which uses a series of passive activity sensors wirelessly connected to a cellular monitoring hub, announced a ‘safety watch’ addition to its system. The wristband has a watch form factor, is waterproof and contains an emergency button with analog/digital option on its time/date watch face. The smartwatch-ish features are medication reminders and a pedometer for step tracking. When out of home, the wristband tethers to an Android (only) smartphone. Battery is good for about six months. If the button is pushed, there is a ‘countdown’ during which a call center attempts to reach the user by phone (watch is not two-way voice) prior to dispatching emergency (more…)

‘Soft’ exoskeleton gains $2.9 million in DARPA funding

September 18, 2014 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/warrior-web-award-1.png” thumb_width=”120″ /]The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering an additional $2.9 million in development funding for its Soft Exosuit currently in prototype. The Wyss exoskeleton concept uses sensors, fabric that mimics muscles and tendons in addition to intuitive controls and a power supply. DARPA has been supporting several levels of research for some years as part of Warrior Web and other initiatives, which your Editors have been following. Exoskeletons in use right now are designed to assist humans in heavy lifting, or (more…)

Accelerometers, false positives/negatives and fall detection

September 17, 2014 | by | 2 Comments

Tom Doris, KeepUs project founder and technical lead, responds to our recent post [TTA 28 Aug] critiquing Philips Lifeline with AutoAlert’s accelerometer and its possible failure to detect a fall which resulted in the death of a Massachusetts woman. His analysis concludes that accelerometers on their own are surprisingly inaccurate. The false positives/negatives may be minimal but they do exist, and they should not be the only indicator of a fall.

Mr Doris has a PhD in computer science and was formerly an R&D engineer at Intel. Earlier in TTA: 4 Oct 13, 22 July. 

Falling Down is a Surprisingly Hard Problem

More than 250,000 people suffer a hip fracture in the US every year. More than 20 percent will die within 12 months as a consequence of their fall. One in three who lived independently before the fracture will need at least a year of rehabilitation in a nursing home. While rehabilitation methods are improving, the single most important factor influencing the long-term outcome is the length of time between the fall and getting medical attention at a hospital. A few hours more or less makes the difference between life and death.

People are living longer, and current projections make it clear that elderly people will have to live independently in their own homes for as long as possible. You just can’t provide residential care for 20 percent of the population. Smartphones and wearable technology have the potential to dramatically improve eldercare. A relatively cheap smartphone can track activity and location. Modern platforms analyze the data in real-time over the internet and can, in theory, immediately spot when something is wrong and raise an alert.

The theory doesn’t always work however. (more…)

AARP/Intel’s simplified tablet–insulting to 50+?

September 16, 2014 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/gimlet-eye.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]Earlier this month, AARP announced its marketing of the RealPad, a simplified 7.85″ tablet. Its positioning is clearly aiming at the less tech-savvy cohort over 50. With much fanfare, AARP is touting its partnership with Intel in this ” intuitive, easy-to-use software interface for RealPad” on Android KitKat 4.4. It will be available at Walmart this fall at $189 (preorder via AARP) and it has the requisite big icons, front and back cameras and free 24/7 customer service. Release.

The Eye Rolls. We know that the AARP bread ‘n’ butter is creating loyalty for their products by catering to those who pay for their association’s services, but a press release headline like this sounds tinny to many of the younger and not-so-young people in this age group:

AARP ANNOUNCES REALPAD, FIRST OF ITS KIND TABLET DESIGNED FOR AMERICANS 50+ APPREHENSIVE ABOUT TECHNOLOGY

Powered by Intel, RealPad to Serve as Digital Gateway to Over 70 Million Americans 50+ (more…)

A free event for all those interested in medical apps (UK)

September 14, 2014 | by

On Wednesday 17th September the Health Technology Forum in London is meeting again at Baker Botts’ head office at the back of the Bank of England to hear presentations from:

Joe Hagan-Brown, Regulatory Affairs Specialist at the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) who has very kindly agreed to present on a huge range of app-related issues including:

The Medical Devices Directive – definition of a medical device; Software- qualification as a medical device; A brief background to software in the context of medical device legislation; Meddev 2.6/1; The market for Apps; MHRA guidance on software as a medical device; Five categories of apps; Classification; Conformity assessment; Telehealth; Vigilance/Post market surveillance; General requirements; Specific considerations

Alex Denoon, from Lawford Davies Denoon who has very indly agreed to talk to us on the impact of the proposed Data Protection Regulation on biomedical research. The talk will cover the (largely unintended) potentially catastrophic effects on matters are diverse as biobanks, personalised medicine, e-health and the development of new medicines.

The plan is to give both speakers plenty of time both for their presentations and to respond to questions, whilst still enabling all present to enjoy Baker Botts’ legendary hospitality for the networking session afterwards.

There are currently 12 spaces left. More details, and how to book are here

EHRs *do* take more time! (JAMA)

September 12, 2014 | by

If your doctor or nurse is frustrated by their EHR, it’s not because they are a technophobe or klutzy on the keyboard. According to a research letter published in JAMA Internal Medicine (8 Sept), internal medicine physicians reported a loss of time of 48 minutes daily due to EHR use. 411 internal medicine attending physicians and trainees who worked in an ambulatory practice and used an EHR system responded to a 19-question survey in December 2012 by the American College of Physicians. The trainees reported a lower time loss–18 minutes. No conclusion is reached for this difference. Other findings indicated what took more time: (more…)

41 percent of healthcare employees don’t encrypt mobile devices: Forrester

September 12, 2014 | by | 1 Comment

Just after this Editor rhapsodized that one of the unrecognized (except here) wins for Apple’s new iPhone 6 in healthcare will be to give the docs what they want–larger screens–is this sobering stat from Forrester. Only 59 percent of healthcare employees use full-disk encryption or file-level encryption on mHealth computing devices used at work. Yes, here is another hole in the data security dike that needs plugging, because Forrester also cites that 80 percent of data breaches relate to lost or stolen devices. (What, not mulch?)  Author Chris Sherman also quoted street prices for health records to The Wall Street Journal’s CIO Journal blog  (more…)

Shoes that direct you where to go (India)

September 11, 2014 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/shoe-sideview.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]The LeChal casual shoe and insoles are wearables which relate to a ‘job to be done’–guiding you to your destination–as well as using an Android app and Bluetooth transceiver to record steps taken, distance and approximate calories burned. The app uses Google Maps to guide your feet by haptics: the left shoe vibrates when the wearer is supposed to go left and right when the direction is right. Ducere Technologies in Telangana, India originally conceived it for the visually impaired but (more…)

Simplifying engagement in diabetes management

September 11, 2014 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Livongo.jpg” thumb_width=”180″ /]Launched at TechCrunch’s Disrupt SF 2014 was a new wireless glucometer, Livongo Health’s InTouch. A M2M palm-sized cellular glucometer, it transmits not only conventional blood glucose readings from test strips, but also activity information (steps) and how you’re feeling. The user also sets it up for who looks at the data and what they see. Data goes to what they term a ‘smart cloud’ (a/k/a data platform) which reviews it based on clinical rules and accumulated personal health history. It is also backed by a virtual care team of certified diabetes educators. Founder Glen Tullman, who was quoted extensively in our well-read Patients should be less engaged, not more, has an FDA clearance in hand, (more…)