Search Results for hacking

Hacking your way to managing your illness

[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Health-Hacker.png” thumb_width=”125″ /]Health + Hacking doesn’t necessarily mean another data breach. In another context, it means Patients Are Doing It For Themselves and not waiting for an app to help them manage their medical situation. They are self- constructing, deconstructing or repurposing software (or hardware like Fitbits, smartwatches and smartphones) to create customized solutions for themselves and to share with others. A lively young Swedish engineer, through building her own mobile apps to help manage her Parkinson’s disease, is building apps for others and finds her biggest challenge is the wide variety of symptoms.Stage 1 diabetes is a health... Continue Reading

Apps, apps, apps – health, care, wellbeing: must-reads for developers

...(in the case of treatment for depression, anxiety and pain relief). Workstream 1.2 of the National Information Board has now published their roadmap (disclosure: this editor is on the Advisory Board of 1.2 and two others) which describes how they plan to tackle this topic. At the same time MIT has now announced the establishment of the Hacking Medicine Institute. This will assess whether digital health products and services really work and, if they do, help them to prove their efficacy to consumers, doctors, and insurers, possibly introducing a little competition which should speed things up nicely. (For a more... Continue Reading

The pileup of Federal ‘titanic serial IT disasters’ (US)

[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/keep-calm-and-secure-your-data-4.png” thumb_width=”150″ /]Don’t feel bad, HIT execs–the Feds are even worse. Complementary to our coverage of the increased danger of hacked health IT systems and data breaches (the trail of tears is here and here) is the oddly muted press clamor around the 4 June hacking report of the Federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Chinese hackers roamed around two OPM databases–personnel and security clearances–for nearly a year, according to CNN’s Senate briefing coverage. The breach likely exceeded 18 million records, though the real number may never be known. Privacy Rights Clearinghouse summarizes it and provides an interesting link... Continue Reading

The leaky roof of healthcare data (in)security–DARPA to the rescue?

This week’s priceless quote: “A lot of the response was, ‘We live in a cornfield in the middle of Minnesota,’” he said. “’Who wants to hurt us? Who can even find us here?’”–Jim Nelms, Mayo Clinic’s first chief information security officer, We know where you are and what you do! The precarious state of healthcare data security at facilities and with insurers, plus increased external threats from hacking has been getting noticed by Congress–when you see it in POLITICO, you know finally it’s made it into the Rotunda. It was over the horizon late last summer with the FBI alert... Continue Reading

Do startups truly threaten the ‘healthcare establishment’?

...with a great idea’. **The new standard is ‘where does it fit’— into workflow, healthcare business model, saving money, improving measurable outcome goals, knitting together data and communications–and more–and does it solve real, measurable problems. **FDA and government involvement, security/hacking threats and that your IP really does need to be protected further favors some critical mass and caution. The smarter parts of the Healthcare Establishment are buying innovation: note the purchases and alliances recently made by Humana, Anthem, GE (Ventures-StartUp Health and Care Innovations’ certifications), Optum (Alere Health) and Medtronic (Cardiocom), Mayo Clinic backing Better, and HealthSpot/Xerox (only ‘to hand’... Continue Reading

Ford disconnects research on heart attack-sensing car seat

...apps. German Engineering not to be outdone, BMW had also toyed with a stress app in its steering wheel to monitor perspiration. This would be of great use on a hot day or in average city traffic. The Google/Apple/Tesla hype, and threat to the main automakers, has turned to the self-driving car, which has its own advantages (enabling mobility for those who cannot or no longer can drive, an adjunct to urban transit) and disadvantages (hacking and for the truly paranoid, limitations on mobility equivalent to geo-fencing). Once all about apps, it’s now about autonomous cars, security, privacy and managing... Continue Reading

58 percent of health data breaches due to simple theft, not hacking: JAMA

[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/keep-calm-and-encrypt-your-data-5.png” thumb_width=”150″ /] Criminal activity is the cause of nearly 6 out of 10 data breaches, according to a study published in JAMA last week (subscription required). Cyberbreaches–the infamous hacking attacks–produce breaches in the millions, but the far more typical and frequent breach, if smaller, is caused by simple theft of records–electronic and paper. HealthLeaders We’ve reported previously that stolen records (over 500) have ranged from laptops to paper records as landfill and even old-style X-rays in dead storage sought after for mercury content. So if Hackermania is not always running wild, except when it is, how to keep... Continue Reading

The hypealicious, hyperluxus Apple Watch debut–what the healtherati are interested in

...and we hope for rare/orphan conditions could be major. Adam Estes in Gizmodo gets Gimlety on the privacy concerns, databases on databases and the hacking potential. (Parkinson’s app: TNW) How these iPhone apps will interface with the Watch, and how the Watch itself develops unique aspects of health tracking, will be breathlessly speculated on by the healthdigerati. Right now, Press Eyes are on Apple Breaking the Sound Barrier to be a $1 trillion company. The Guardian does a fine job of summarizing the Android smartwatch ‘feh’ to date with about 7 million (mainly Pebbles) shipped. Yet analysts estimate 8-40 million... Continue Reading

Moving past the hype on mobile, wearables for consumer health

...quite sure you'd also get a very different answer from their carers eg. look at this BBC profile of the dexcom and try and appreciate the personal expense and effort a paramedic mother has gone to simply monitor her daughters BG levels while attending school: http://mhealthinsight.com/2015/02/09/the-bbc-reports-on-how-parents-are-so-fed-up-with-unconnected-care-that-theyre-hacking-the-medical-devices-being-used-by-their-children/ Monique Levy Hi both - thank you for the thorough article and comment. These are complex and layered topics that are hard to have via comments made at a conference for Beginner Pharma Marketers. A few thoughts that may help clarify and add: 1. The context of the comments that mobile is primarily used... Continue Reading

Hackermania running wild, 2015 edition

[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Hackermania.jpg” thumb_width=”300″ /] Do we need the Hulkster Running Wild against Hacking? It’s so heartwarming to see the mainstream press catch up to what your Editors have been whinging on for the past few years: that healthcare data is the Emperor With No Clothes. Here we have Reuters and the New York Times with a case of the vapors, seeking a fainting couch. Reuters dubs 2015 ‘The year of the healthcare hack’. The FBI is investigating the AnthemHealth breach, while their counterparts UnitedHealth, Cigna and Aetna are in full, breathless damage control mode. The Times at least delves into... Continue Reading