Digital Health Summit–Istanbul

September 4, 2013 | by

18-19 September 2013, Maslak Sheraton Hotel İstanbul

Health tech is definitely spreading worldwide and this conference in Turkey is proof.  Full summit agenda and sponsors are at this link (PDF in English). David Doherty, the 3G Doctor, is speaking on an ‘introduction to mHealth’ as well as Rainer Herzog, Managing Director at HIMSS Analytics Europe. But not easy to register…main website is unfortunately in Turkish with no English option and no obvious place to register! Extreme digging turned up one page in English. If you’re intent on attending, best to call Project Coordinator Mert Akbulut: +90 533 598 17 71 or email dhs@dhsturkey.com

The Internet.org initiative and the real meaning for health tech

September 3, 2013 | by

Internet.org — Every one of us. Everywhere. Connected.

[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/gimlet-eye.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]Much has been made of the Internet.org alliance (release). The mission is to bring internet access to the two-thirds of the world who supposedly have none. It is led, very clearly, by Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook. Judging from both the website and the release, partners Ericsson, MediaTek, Nokia (handset sale to Microsoft, see below), Opera (browser), Qualcomm and Samsung, no minor players, clearly take a secondary role.  The reason given is that internet access is growing at only 9 percent/year. Immediately the D3H tea-leaf readers were all over one seemingly offhand remark made by Mr. Zuckerberg to CNN (Eye emphasis):

“Here, we use Facebook to share news and catch up with our friends but there they are going to use it to decide what kind of government they want, get access to healthcare for the first time ever, connect with family hundreds of miles away they haven’t seen for decades. Getting access to the internet is a really big deal. I think we are going to be able to do it”

Really? The Gimlet Eye thought that mobile phone connectivity and simple apps on inexpensive phones were already spreading healthcare, banking and simple communications to people all over the world. Gosh, was the Eye blind on this?

Looking inside the Gift Horse’s Mouth, and examining cui bono, what may be really behind this seemingly altruistic effort could be…only business. (more…)

Medtronic’s telehealth strategy begins to emerge (UK & US)

September 3, 2013 | by

Hot on the heels of our two recent posts (12 August and 27 August) on Medtronic’s takeover of Cardiocom, maker of telehealth devices, came the news in the FT yesterday that Medtronic had won cardiology management contracts with NHS hospitals (University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Trust and Imperial College  Healthcare NHS Trust).  They will also develop local cardiac services.

Now in an article today, Fierce Medical Devices explains how the two fit together (more…)

3millionlives “axed”; long live 3millionlives

September 2, 2013 | by | 2 Comments

A report on the HSJ website headlined “Key telehealth group axed” appears to confirm what many have suspected: the ending of the 3millionlives programme. However reading down the article it transpires that actually all that is happening is a widening of the stakeholder grouping because of a perception that 3ML was too much about industry box-shifting and too little about improving patient outcomes, which should be welcomed greatly by many and should strengthen the programme.  As a result, industry will probably sell more too, so (more…)

When deciding which telemonitoring Code of Practice to adopt, do you use a TeleSCoPE?

September 2, 2013 | by

As promised in our recent post, the European Code of Practice for Telehealth Services has now been published by the TeleSCoPE project. This directly responds to the European Commission COM2008:689 on telemedicine for the benefit of patients, healthcare systems and society. The particular definition of telehealth/telemedicine used here means that it covers both of what are often referred to separately as telecare and telehealth.

It therefore covers the same areas as the TSA Integrated Code of Practice.  As explained in our previous post, TSA codes are (more…)

Are mHealth apps sharing your data with pharma and insurance companies?

September 1, 2013 | by | 1 Comment

As a further postscript to our recent post on mHealth apps, the Financial Times has just published an article offering a worrying new angle. According to the FT, the “top 20” health & wellness apps are sharing data on you with third parties that, the FT reckons, may include pharmaceutical and insurance companies.

They report that: “Regulations bar the tracking and selling of individuals’ specific medical and  prescription records. Yet some companies are figuring out ways around those  restrictions by building digital health profiles about people based on their use  of the web and mobile apps.”

Perhaps a case of reading those Ts & Cs carefully before pressing ‘accept’?

Substantial benefits from telemonitoring trial that avoids patient involvement

September 1, 2013 | by

In a possible pointer to a future of greater benefits from telemonitoring when vital signs information is transmitted to care-givers automatically, eg from smart clothing or subcutaneous probes, Heartwire reports on the successful Dutch IN-TIME RCT involving implant-based home monitoring for patients with advanced heart failure. For those in the intervention group, in-house monitoring significantly reduced the worsening of their condition, and significantly reduced mortality, compared with the control group.

Asked why his study succeeded where others have not, (more…)

3D bioprinting – you may already have benefited

September 1, 2013 | by | 1 Comment

In spite of 3D bioprinting being very far back on the 2013 Gartner Hype Cycle for emerging technologies (just in front of quantified self, and quantum computing), this excellent summary from On 3D Printing points out that 3D printing is already being used extensively to manufacture customised hearing aids, and dental items.  It seems there is much progress too in printing truly ‘bio’ materials too. Well worth a read.

Donna Cusano (aka ‘the Boss’) has kindly also suggested this article on Mashable and this on Inhabitat. She tells me there is a further, not-for-the-faint-hearted, video on Medcitynews although if you are in the UK access is blocked.

If you happen to be in the San Jose area in mid September, there’s also a prize draw on the home page for a ticket for the Inside 3D Printing conference.

 

Telemedicine’s greenhouse gas emissions

August 30, 2013 | by

There’s occasionally speculation about the environmental impact of remote care but not much detailed research. A team from Imperial College London have evaluated  the direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions from 21,000 telemedicine consultations performed over a seven year period in Alentejo, Portugal. The results were dramatic. Telemedicine may have led to a 95% reduction in distances travelled – or 2.3 million kms of travelling by patients – saving a total of 455 tonnes of CO2 equivalent. How we factor such environmental impacts into cost-benefit assessments of remote care remains to be seen. The research was conducted by Tiago Cravo Oliveira, Steffen Bayer and James Barlow, with support from Luis Gonçalves from the Administração Regional de Saúde do Alentejo.

The published paper is available at http://hsr.sagepub.com/content/early/2013/08/08/1355819613492717.full.pdf+html

Or contact j.barlow@imperial.ac.uk for further details.

GP-critical survey sort-of revealed – or is it? (UK)

August 30, 2013 | by

When publications like Pulse manage to insert the historic, and wholly-unrepresentative-of-telehealth, cost/QALY from the Whole System Demonstrator into an article twice in a week (here & here), and the Royal College of General Practitioners produces a vision of a GPs life in 2022 that essentially ignores technological progress, it is hard for a publication such as Telehealth & Telecare Aware to appear fair and unbiased, so it is great to have an opportunity to redress the balance.

The occasion is  (more…)

Audax Health raises $20 million

August 28, 2013 | by

Breaking News

One very substantial bet was placed today on consumer engagement, with CE/mobile/social media-for-wellness developer Audax Health announcing a $20 million Series B funding this afternoon. Navigy Holdings, Inc. a wholly-owned subsidiary of Florida Blue (Blue Cross Blue Shield, Florida’s largest health plan) led the round, which included current board member Jack Rowe (former CEO and chairman of Aetna) and Dan Rose, VP of partnerships at Facebook. Audax’s main product is Zensey, a mobile-based platform for personalized health content, connection with like minds via online communities, challenges, health assessments and games. The funds reportedly will be used for product development, build out the company’s mobile and engineering teams and expand partnerships with health plans, employers and providers. Previous funding has exceeded $35 million since its 2010 founding ($21 million this past January alone). Corporate partners include Cigna and Cardinal Health, with New Leaf Ventures their leading VC.  Press release via Yahoo Finance; Gigaom; Washington Business Journal.  Hat tip to reader David E. Albert, MD of AliveCor via Twitter (@DrDave01) 

Ford and WellDoc give a new meaning to mobile health (US)

August 28, 2013 | by

As a postscript to yesterday’s post on mHealth apps, WellDoc Health have introduced BlueStar, a prescription-only, reimbursable app that majors on encouraging improved self-care by those with type II diabetes. Apart from being the first prescription-only app in the US, it is apparently also downloadable directly into a car (Ford).

Editor Donna comments 29 August: Aside from WellDoc being the only mHealthy company I can think of located in Baltimore, MD (for our ex-US readers, a city perched uneasily between Washington and Philadelphia), wasn’t the idea (or one of the ideas) originally behind Happtique a process to certify health apps, with a prescribing tool (along with patient ed) via their mRx platform? In June, they sought primary care physicians to beta test their catalogue, formularies and mRx prescribing tool [TTA 28 June]. With Happtique now firmly under the GNYHA Ventures wing [TTA 17 May] and a much lower profile, there may be plenty of room for a private competitor with an established name and its own FDA-cleared apps to establish a prescription app model.

Canada’s generic road forward on health tech

August 28, 2013 | by

Canada’s federal government has stated that they have been thinking long and hard about extending digital health to more Canadians. In 2012, they commissioned and funded an independent organization, Canada Health Infoway (Inforoute Santé du Canada in the mandatory bilingual terminology) to study future healthcare needs, determine where digital health could make a difference and propose a strategic plan. After surveying 500 individual Canadians, clinicians, governments and health care administrators, national associations and vendors (a small number, it seems to this Editor), their report (PDF here) centers on five opportunities for action: (more…)