Timed for the HIMSS annual conference kickoff today in New Orleans, health information giant WebMD announced a collaboration with Qualcomm Life’s 2Net platform to integrate mobile device data for consumers with WebMD’s information resources. The press release phrases buzz and buzz: “drive mass adoption of a quantified-self environment” (yes), “apps, devices and tools… to better understand and manage their health”, “connected, automated and seamless data collection experience”, “first-in-class health channels to enhance our multi-screen experiences.” But given WebMD’s sinking relevance as the go-to place for consumer and provider health information, and its PHR (which may or may not be included with this) under fire for patent infringement by MMRGlobal [TA 20 Feb], is all this added “context and insight” too little, too late? (Even with Eric Topol, MD now Editor in Chief of WebMD’s Medscape) WebMD/Qualcomm press release, mHIMSS
Royal Marine veteran can access telemedicine help from home at touch of a button (UK)
A local news item from the Bradford Telegraph and Argus shows just how publicity can be a two-edged sword – or should that be Marines’ dagger? On the ‘up’ side is the first paragraph: “Airedale General Hospital’s telehealth hub is helping its 1,000th patient – a 101-year-old former Royal Marine.” However, it then reveals that he does not really need it: “‘I haven’t used the telemedicine kit yet as I haven’t had much wrong with me apart from a chesty cough – I like to keep myself fit,’ said Mr Joyner”. Hmm… Royal Marine veteran can access telemedicine help from home at touch of a button.
Satellites to bring more telehealth to the bush (Australia)
Two long-term and fast broadband satellites to be launched in 2015 will enable people living in Australia’s rural and remote areas to access more video-based health services according to NBN Co’s CEO Mike Quigley. Details in Pulse+IT item: Satellites to bring more telehealth to the bush.
Doro launches mobile telecare phone (EU)
Doro has revealed its latest handset – the Doro Secure 681.” According to an item in Mobile Magazine, the phone will launch in the second quarter of this year and is “aimed at people who currently rely on the support of a fixed-line telecare services, allowing them greater mobility outside the home.” The 681 is said to be the first mobile phone to feature an embedded ‘class one’ telecare radio receiver that is compatible with Doro’s wearable wrist, neck and fall sensors. Alerts can be sent to monitoring services via the internet or SMS. To this editor, if the photo in the above item is to be believed, the clamshell design and screen/keyboard layout is going to be too complicated for many people in the target market. It also looks like big-boy Doro has been learning a few lessons about the need to check and report battery charge levels automatically from UK small-guy Carephone. However Doro will have the advantage of being part of Bosch’s offering to the public. It will be interesting to see which gets traction with the public first, the Doro/Bosch combination or O2’s Health at Hand.
New lower fees for CUHTec telecare courses (UK)
CUHTec have announced new ‘early bird’ booking fees of £195 for CUHTec Strategy Courses for managers and commissioners and £95 for the CUHTec Training Courses for operational staff. Further details of the four Strategy Courses and one Training Course currently advertised can be found at http://www.cuhtec.org.uk/courses/.
Practice Fusion EHR buys a ‘nudger’
Practice Fusion, a leading US EHR which is free to practices, bought predictive modeler 100Plus. Besides sharing a founder (Ryan Howard) and a focus on healthcare data, 100Plus uses individual data to ‘nudge’ (there’s that word again) people into healthier behaviors. The interest of Practice Fusion of course, is that it is awash in patient data–but HIPAA privacy regulations limit direct, identified use. 100Plus plans to stay safe by focusing on medication adherence and tools that doctors and patients can use together to encourage engagement. Forbes
What it takes to deliver sustainable global health: sustainable financing
The mHealth Alliance and consultant/research company VitalWave have published a globally-oriented study detailing what holds back mHealth from scaling up in low to middle-income countries, centering on financing. Hundreds of projects are in the field, but practically all are dependent on short-term financing or grants, and few have viable plans beyond the next grant. Projects also by their nature are stand-alone and don’t integrate in their design and delivery with other often similar projects. This study evaluates five financial models and transferring from external funding to a revenue stream from buyers. Case studies include VillageReach (maternal SMS/phone support), Switchboard (free calling network for health workers), Sproxil (drug verification), SMS for Life (SMS for anti-malarial drug distribution) and Changamka (affordable health care). Sustainable Financing for Mobile Health (42 pages)
Smart tech=dumber people?
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/bincam_l.jpeg” thumb_width=”220″ /]Is the real goal of ‘smart gadgets’ not to help solve our problems or keep us from harm, but to fix, per the Google paradigm, the “broken” place that is the real world and the bad behavior of fools like us? (For example, not recycling properly, having too much trash, eating too fast, too much chocolate? Then tattling to our Facebook friends so they can chide us?) Evgeny Morozov, in this discomfiting Wall Street Journal article, cuts through the Silicon Valley hype around gadgets that marry cheap sensors, software and social networks to ‘nudge’ (that hateful word)/reward/shove us to the New Jerusalem of social engineering and some developer’s nannyish idea of ‘better behavior’. Yes, there are ‘good smart’ devices that help us make decisions, lifesaving tech such as gait sensors that monitor the elderly for propensity to fall, and breath analyzers that cut the car’s ignition when the driver’s had too much alcohol, but these are being drowned out in both the public consciousness and the VC wallet by shame-making trash cans and HapiForks. Rather than empowering us, it may be… Is Smart Making Us Dumb?
Another perfect example of condescension to the end user is observed in Google’s Sergey Brin’s recent remarks during his endless flogging of Google Glass, now just Glass. Now looking down at your smartphone is ’emasculating’ (interesting choice of words) because you are ‘walking around hunched up, looking down, rubbing a featureless piece of glass’ rather than interacting. Aside from the fact that you can put it away, and that Google’s made a fair amount of coin from Nexus smartphones and tablets, it’s obvious that Glass is meant to be worn ALL THE TIME, serving up whatever Google wants you to have ALL THE TIME. Surely the California TEDx folks raved at this maximum cool, but this Editor is skeptical that this world will be actually be better with all Google, all the time. In other words, enough. Google’s Sergey Brin rips smartphones, shows off Glass (Computerworld)
Alyson Bell appointed TSA managing director (UK)
The successful candidate for the post of managing director [TTA item Jan 2013] is Alyson Bell, who now resigns her appointment as Chair of the Association. She will be taking up the post in May. In a letter to TSA members making the announcement, Trevor Single, TSA Chief Executive, was at pains to point out that she was selected from an initial field of 30 applicants, 5 of whom were interviewed.
Rewiring the brain through electrical stimulation on the tongue
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/PoNS-e1362016577311.jpg” thumb_width=”200″ /]We don’t think much about it, but the rich network of nerves (and musculature) on the human tongue is also a direct route to the brain. Now the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC), collaborating with the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the NeuroHabilitation Corporation is developing and testing the Portable NeuroModulation Stimulator, or PoNS, for treatment of brain injury and related disease: TBI, stroke, Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis. The PoNS is an electrode-covered oral device which is used for 20-30 minutes of stimulation therapy, called cranial nerve non-invasive neuromodulation (CN-NiNM). Specific stimulation patterns are paired with physical, occupational, and cognitive exercises customized for each patient. Effectively it helps to rewire the brain’s neural pathways and mitigate damaged functioning. NeuroHabilitation will be commercializing it but the US Army is testing it at hospital and veterans’ facilities, and will be spearheading FDA approval. Three articles with different looks at this: the US Army website, Popular Science and GizMag.
Health apps finally get a certification body (US)
Happtique has now published the standards it will use to certify apps under what they have dubbed the Happtique Health App Certification Program (HACP). The published final guidelines include both the Certification Standards and associated Performance Requirements, which assess operability, privacy, security, and content. Happtique, a subsidiary of GNYHA Ventures, has also brought in initial HACP Partners to serve as subject matter experts for evaluating apps: the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), CGFNS International, and Intertek. While Happtique is not yet ready to evaluate medical, health or fitness apps, companies can register for a submission form and be notified when the application portal is opened for submissions.
Effect of telehealth on quality of life: Another WSD research publication (UK)
Quick on the heels of the telecare study from the Whole Systems Demonstrator (WSD) Programme reported here today, comes another research report, this time from the BMJ: Effect of telehealth on quality of life and psychological outcomes over 12 months (Whole Systems Demonstrator telehealth questionnaire study): nested study of patient reported outcomes in a pragmatic, cluster randomised controlled trial.
Here are a few quotes from the abstract:
Objective: To assess the effect of second generation, home based telehealth on health related quality of life, anxiety, and depressive symptoms over 12 months in patients with long term conditions.
Conclusions: Second generation, home based telehealth as implemented in the Whole Systems Demonstrator Evaluation was not effective or efficacious compared with usual care only. Telehealth did not improve quality of life or psychological outcomes for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, or heart failure over 12 months. The findings suggest that concerns about potentially deleterious effect of telehealth are unfounded for most patients.
So can we now not even say ‘Never mind the business case, that can be improved – it’s very good for patients’ sense of well being’? Heads-up thanks again to Mike Clark who is keeping an updated list of the reports as they are published.
UPDATE Thurs 28 Feb: Pulse does its usual thing with this study, but note the comment from the GP at the end: DH-commissioned report finds telehealth fails to improve quality of life.
February Telecare LIN newsletter published (UK)
Out now, the February edition of the Telecare LIN newsletter. It, together with the separate supplement, contains “over 1200 news and events links over the last month” and a reminder that if you have not registered for the ALIP showcase event in Liverpool on 5/6 March or the Healthcare Innovation Expo on 13/14 March you need to act quickly. The newsletter has more details. PDF newsletter. Links supplement. NHS reforms supplement.
Good Governance Institute: Telecare QA programme for Birmingham report (UK)
The Good Governance Institute (GGI) has been working with Birmingham City Council (BCC) to develop a quality assurance programme for Birmingham’s telecare service. In October 2011 Birmingham contracted with Tunstall to increase its user numbers to 25,000 (now 27,000 according to the latest press release) in three years. Independent quality assurance was part of the commitment then. [TTA Oct 2011] The GGI has now published a report Birmingham Telecare Service: Establishing an independent quality assurance process which “documents in full the first stage of this work, and the framework for the ongoing programme.” Although dated October 2012 it has only just been cleared for release. This may be of use to the 3ML Pathfinder sites as well as telecare services. The GGI also has some user interviews on video, here. Download the report here (PDF)
Effect of telecare on use of health and social care services: latest WSD findings publication (UK)
The latest journal article containing results of the Whole System Demonstrator (WSD) programme has just been published and the conclusion is “Telecare as implemented in the Whole Systems Demonstrator trial did not lead to significant reductions in service use, at least in terms of results assessed over 12 months.” We note the “as implemented” caveat. Article, from where it can also be downloaded as a PDF: Effect of telecare on use of health and social care services. Age and Ageing. Heads up thanks to Mike Clark.
UPDATE: 6 March 2013. The GP paper Pulse’s take on the study: No evidence telecare can cut costs, says DH-funded study.
Microsoft Surface dives into mHealth, telehealth tablet market
“Not only Lync but Skype as well are becoming fairly predominant platforms for what I call ‘commodity’ telemedicine and telehealth services,” Dr. Bill Crounse, Microsoft’s senior director for worldwide health, told Pulse IT Magazine during a promotional visit to Australia. “We are seeing amazing progress at an institutional level, with people understanding and mapping out where are their patients coming from and how far are they travelling. How can we leverage this technology to better serve that population [of] patients who are being asked to travel three hours across town for a snippet of information or reassurance, when in fact this technology can be applied.”
It’s a good point, but as EHR Intelligence goes on to point out: ‘In contrast to the iPad mini, which fits neatly into lab coat pockets and has the advantage of millions of apps in the mature Apple ecosystem, the Surface Pro is a bulkier product, weighing in at two pounds and saddled with an $899 price tag. In the era of bring your own device (BYOD) healthcare, Microsoft faces an uphill battle when it comes to attracting individual physicians looking to pick up a supplementary device for their office work.’ EHR Intelligence item: Microsoft Surface dives into mHealth, telehealth tablet market.
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