#HIMSS17 roundup: machine learning, Proteus, Soon-Shiong/NantWorks’ cancer vax, Uniphy Health, more

February 28, 2017 | by

HIMSS17 is over for another year, but there is plenty of related reading left for anyone who is not still recovering from sensory overload. There wasn’t big news made, other than Speaker John Boehner trying to have it both ways about what the House needs to do about replacing the failing ACA a/k/a Obamacare. Here’s our serving:

  • If you are interested in the diffusion of workflow technologies into healthcare, including machine learning and AI, there’s a long-form three-part series in Healthcare IT News that this Editor noted has suddenly become a little difficult to find–but we did. The articles also helpfully list vendors that list certain areas of expertise in their exhibitor keywords.
  • Mobihealthnews produced a two-page wrap up that links to various MHN articles where applicable. Of interest:
    • a wound measurement app that Intermountain Healthcare developed with Johns Hopkins spinoff Tissue Analytics
    • Children’s Health of Dallas Texas is using the Proteus Health ingestible med sensor with a group of teenaged organ post-transplant patients to improve med compliance
    • the Medisafe med management app has a new feature that alerts users to drug, food and alcohol interactions with their regimen, which is to this writer’s knowledge the first-ever med app to do this
    • Info security spending is rising, according to the Thales Data Threat Report. This year, 81 percent of U.S. healthcare organizations and 76 percent of global healthcare organizations will increase information security spending.
  • Healthcare and sports mogul Patrick Soon-Shiong presented on NantHealth‘s progress on a cancer vaccine that became a significant part of the former VP Joe Biden’s initiative, Cancer Breakthroughs 2020. Dr Soon-Shiong stated that the FDA has given approval to advance the vaccine into later clinical trials, and also unveiled Nant AI, an augmented intelligence platform to high-speed process genome activity of cancer tumors and the Nant Cloud, a cloud server which can generate bioinformatic data at 26 seconds per patient. This is in addition to the NantHealth GPS Cancer diagnostic tool used to isolate new mutations in a given tumor. HealthcareITNews MedCityNews takes a dimmer view, noting two recent cancer vaccine failures. Dimmer still is Stat’s takedown of Dr Soon-Shiong, which reportedly was the talk of HIMSS.
  • Leading up to HIMSS, Newark’s own Uniphy Health announced UH4, the latest generation of its enterprise-wide communications and clinical collaboration platform for hospitals and clinics to facilitate the ‘real-time health system’. Release

Not enough? DestinationHIMSS, produced by Healthcare IT News/HIMSS Media, has its usual potpourri of official reporting here.

HIMSS17 dispatches: Mayo maps neonate telemedicine, Amwell-Samsung, Samsung-T-Mobile

February 23, 2017 | by

Mayo maps out an enterprise telehealth (telemedicine) support structure. Here’s how the Mayo Clinic deployed neonatology remote telemedicine to their sites in Minnesota, Arizona, and Florida. There’s plenty of flow charts and summary points in this presentation deck around team building, staffing consistently and reporting that improves processes. Hat tip to our HIMSS correspondent on the scene, Bill Oravecz of Stone Health Innovations. Update: If you are using Chrome, you may have difficulty downloading session handouts from the HIMSS17 website Schedule pages. Try another browser. If you are interested, you may be able to obtain through contacting the two session presenters, Susan Kapraun and Jenna A. Beck, MHA, directly.

American Well and Samsung are partnering on integrating care delivery. Their joint release is low on details, but towards the end there’s an indication that American Well, its partners, and other providers and payers will be able to offer their services to Samsung customers. Other reports (Healthcare Dive) indicate the partnership is destined to enhance Amwell’s Exchange platform between payers and providers. Partners listed are Cleveland Clinic, New York-Presbyterian Medical Center and Anthem (undoubtedly resting after sparring with Cigna). Also Healthcare IT News.

Separately, Samsung also announced a partnership with T-Mobile for developing IoT in the senior care space. This would pair Samsung’s ARTIK Cloud with T-Mobile’s cellular network for Breezie, a social engagement for seniors interface built on a Samsung tablet which has apps and connects to various peripherals for post-acute care and daily living. It sounds interesting, but once again the release hampers the reporter by being as clear as mud in what it’s all about. See if you can decipher this: ARTIK Cloud permits “Amazon Alexa, Samsung SmartThings, iHealth Feel Wireless Blood Pressure Monitor and the Pulse Oximeter – to intelligently communicate with each other.” “Each Breezie interface has more than 40 preconfigured accessibility settings and sensor driven analytics to adjust for different levels of digital literacy, as well as physical and cognitive ability.” The Breezie website is far more revealing. Healthcare Dive also takes a whack at it towards the end of the above article.

HIMSS17 dispatch: developing a telehealth IT team in health system and multi-site networks

February 22, 2017 | by

Reader Bill Oravecz of Stone Health Innovations is attending HIMSS17 in Orlando, and was kind enough to forward a ‘hot off the presses’ link to this presentation deck given by Jay Weems of Avera eCARE (downloadable as PDF). The subject is ‘Telehealth Workforce Offers Unique Competencies & Opportunities’ and covers how telehealth/telemedicine IT is developed in a health system, mentoring rural originating sites in building proficiencies, and Avera’s experience in supporting a 13-state, multi-system, multi-specialty network. This is more about telemedicine (virtual consults) but offers lessons in developing both in a B2B model.

Update If you are using Chrome, you may have difficulty downloading session handouts from the HIMSS17 website Schedule pages. Try another browser.

Weekend viewing: NYeC Digital Health Conference presentations

January 19, 2017 | by

Now that the bustle of the holidays is over and the frigid days of winter are here, this weekend grab your cup of hot cocoa, an afghan rug or snuggie, and click through a one-page compendium of the NYeC Digital Health Conference in NYC last December. The page links to presentation slides and video; most have both. (Unfortunately, not all presentations nor the lunch breakouts are included.)

This Editor highly recommends the following:

  • The Tuesday keynote on ‘The Digital Doctor’ by Dr Robert Wachter, who is influencing the NHS. (Yes, EHRs and e-prescribing have turned physicians into data entry clerks.)
  • ‘Turning Impossible on Its Head’ on disrupting healthcare with technology: Robert Putrino of Burke Rehabilitation Center on a miracle of 3D printing
  • DSRIP 2017 and readmissions may not sound very interesting, but the presentations by Veyo‘s Josh Komenda on how transportation assistance can also aid compliance, and the discussion on the missing link of population health may be social determinants of health care, are.
  • Wednesday’s ‘Universal Patient Identity’ presentation by Tom Foley of Lenovo Health; a must-see by anyone interested in preventing identity fraud and theft at the provider level
  • “The Patient Room of the Future’ by Joan Saba, partner of NBBJ Architects. Responding to this Editor’s question via Twitter on how design can prevent nosocomial (healthcare-acquired) infections, I was directed to an excellent Becker’s Hospital Review article written by two of their firm’s leaders.
  • The very last presentation, ‘Resuscitating the Child’, was one of the finest and may also break your heart. Peter Antevy, MD, medical director of two EMS in Palm Beach County, Florida, presented the human cost of both EMTs/paramedics in rescue and the frustration of not having the proper tools to calibrate medication and procedures quickly on a patient who cannot be administered full doses, all in emergency situations. His company, Pediatric Emergency Standards, is developing software that can do so quickly and on-scene. Dr Antevy’s passion for his work and for applying technology to this situation is abundantly present.

NYeC Digital Health Conference final presentations page. TTA was a conference/media partner of the 2016 NYeC DHC, and thanks Jesse Giuliani and Andie Egbert for their invitation and coordination assistance.

CES 2017

January 4, 2017 | by

The Consumer Electronics Show is half a century old this year and it [grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/CES_2016.png” thumb_width=”150″ /]is promising to be the biggest show yet. Here are some items that may be of interest to TTA readers.

The conference programme includes a Digital Health Summit and a Wearable Tech Summit (the organisers obviously haven’t been reading the TTA view on wearables so recently produced by Editor Donna). In the Digital Health Summit the top topics are going to be advances in genomics and precision medicine (not sure why this is digital health), Digital medicine and current trends such as “tele-everything”, wearables, aging, digital therapies (what’s that?) and VR. The wearable Summit top topics are the science of wearables, hottest wearable tech thus far and interactive jewelry.

There is a new “Sleep Tech Marketplace” presented by the National Sleep Foundation (no, really, I am not making this up) with 10 companies exhibiting everything from sleep tracking devices (Beddit), a system to mask noise during sleep (Cambridge Sound Systems), ultra thin earphones to wear in bed (Dubs Labs), a water mattress-topper to keep you cool while you sleep, an app to record your dream talking and snoring (Snail App) and a stress reducer.

If you are not attending between tomorrow and the 8th, then you could do worse than follow it on the official CES website or on engadget

Connecting with Connected Health (PCHA Connected Health Conference)

December 20, 2016 | by

[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/JC-with-VGo.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]Guest contributor JC Muyl attended the PCHA Connected Health Conference last week and contributed his thoughts on the event.

Last week I drove down from NYC to spend an afternoon at the Connected Health Conference (#CHC16) at the Gaylord Convention Center outside DC. The majority of my time was spent in the exhibit hall meeting digital health vendors.

I walked away fascinated by just how eclectic the digital health industry is. By approaching it from so many different angles, we’re bound to find some solutions that will stick. I thought I’d spread my optimism by sharing a sample of what I saw for those who couldn’t make it. Here’s my take on my day:

  • The most represented category was patient engagement solutions, probably as a function of the conference itself. Also, when you think about it, a proliferation of proactive patient engagement solutions makes sense in the context of value-based payments. What I like about patient engagement is that it has applications across multiple segments (payers, providers, employers, etc.) which means a bigger market. I met with the folks at Fitango Health (customizable care plans & member engagement), CareWire (member engagement via text), PokitDok (a development platform for care management / patient engagement), Utila (a text-based behavior health engagement solution) and Dacadoo (a cool health score app for patients based on proprietary algorithms).
  • Dacadoo was the play that felt most natively consumer-centric, especially because the user is able to track their health score in the app. The other solutions were for providers looking to manage and interact with patient populations. I like the notion of designing these products from the standpoint of how consumers want to navigate their healthcare experience.
  • In telehealth, I visited SwyMed, a ruggedized telehealth kit for emergency workers (makes a lot of sense), and VGo (see left above), a friendly-looking telehealth assistant that combined a Segway with a camera and a screen. They demoed how they could remotely drive it to the patient for a telehealth consult. I really think this product has legs…well wheels, actually! Seriously, it made me wonder how soon until we use drones to deliver meds & pick up samples?
  • I was surprised by the number of international companies: Medelinked from the UK, EarlySense from Israel, Voluntis from France, Dacadoo from Switzerland, most with a local presence here in the US. These foreign companies are usually pretty big in their home country, with a (clinically) proven product, yet are approaching the US market with the agility but also possibly the financial needs of a startup. I bet they would make good prospects for investors.

(more…)

WLSA merger with PCHAlliance: the digital health conference scene contracts a bit more

December 12, 2016 | by

Over the weekend, the Personal Connected Health Alliance (PCHAlliance) and the Wireless-Life Sciences Alliance (WLSA) announced that the San Diego-based WLSA would be combining its operations with the PCHAlliance. This follows on the earlier announcement [TTA 21 Oct] that the Boston-based and Partners HealthCare- owned Connected Health Symposium would be folding its operation into the PCHAlliance. Both Robert B. McCray, co-founder and CEO of WLSA, and Dr Joseph Kvedar of Partners HealthCare are now Senior Advisers to the PCHAlliance, with Mr McCraw heading Thought Leadership and Dr Kvedar now Program Chair of next year’s event.

WLSA has been largely inactive on the conference scene since 2015, when it staged its last Convergence Summit in May and the Wireless Health event in October of that year. The Convergence Summit has been merged into PCHAlliance’s Connected Health Conference kicking off today near Washington, DC. The Wireless Health event will continue through a collaboration with IEEE/EMBS cooperating with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF).

In their release, PCHAlliance emphasized WLSA’s experience in research within engineering, computer science, biomedical and health disciplines. Patricia (Patty) Mechael, PhD, Executive Vice President, PCHAlliance in the release was quoted that “Their focus on medical and health research communities is a perfect compliment to our commitment to accelerate the adoption of clinical grade technology in consumer-friendly health outcomes- based business models.” Life science companies will be welcomed for membership in the PCHAlliance. PCHAlliance also includes Continua, which for well over a decade has been promoting engineering standards for device interoperability.

As this Editor looked back in October, when most of these organizations and events started about 2007-8, there were few Big Health conferences that took what was then dubbed eHealth and mHealth (later Digital Health) seriously. Now, of course, they do. There are also multiple events, large and small, expensive and popularly priced, every month in many cities–we attended and reported on #MedMo16 which will be branching out to multiple cities in 2017.

In looking back at our articles, the WLSA was engaged with the conference almost from the start, when the mHealth Summitwas one of the first ‘big name/big support’ conferences. Its tack then was governmental policy and what international NGOs were doing as a model for developed nations. It was organized by the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, the National Institutes of Health and the mHealth Alliance up to 2012, when HIMSS took it over.

Grizzled Pioneers, and even the non-grizzled, can testify to the multiple phases in a decade up and down the Hype Curve: device-driven, mobile-driven, sensor-driven, telehealth, wearables, Big Data, population health, patient engagement, analytics, data integration, outcomes-based and a few others. This move confirms that many factors are blending: academic, engineering, software, biotech, genomics, social, behavioral, governmental–and that technology is not standalone or sitting in isolation, but is integrating and manifesting itself in all sorts of interesting places both behind the consumer scene and in policy, and to consumers on mobiles and in the home (IoT, which hasn’t resolved its multiple and obvious security problems).

Also Neil Versel in MedCityNews. TTA is a media partner of the PCHA CHC for the 8th year, starting in 2009 when it was the brand new mHealth Summit. Conference tweets on #connect2health.

Patients as People: creating clinically relevant social insights (part II)

December 12, 2016 | by

Guest Editor Sarianne Gruber (@subtleimpact) continues her interview of Mandi Bishop, founder and Chief Evangelist of Aloha Health. Ms Bishop’s goal with Aloha Health is to put the ‘patient as person’ into the present healthcare model. Ms Gruber interviewed Ms Bishop at #MedMo16 where Aloha Health won the People’s Choice award in the Equity Crowd Challenge. The first half of the interview was previously published in Part I.

How does Social Determinants Of Healthcare (SDOH) data relate to me as a patient?

Bishop: SDOH attributes are available both the individual patient level and a “high propensity that this is you” level via micro-segmentation. Optimally, there will be personalization of information where personalization is possible and micro-segmentation profiles for when it is not.  Also, we are not trying to give the doctor more data since we think that is a big part of the problem.  “What about your lifestyle” matters which respect to you as a patient, and we at Aloha Health convert that data into insights.  When the doctor pulls up an encounter, based on our models, the EHR is populated with the insights that are available about you and your conditions.

As a workflow example, I pull up your encounter.  Aloha then pings the Aloha insights section and gets all this information about you. This is the use case we are going after:  a diabetic patient and this is the demographic information we are going after about that person.  Pertinent and clinically relevant information would be pulled up about you and on your profile.  We are only showing things that matter.  The fact that you are a 40-year woman is information the doctor already knows.  But the fact that you are a single mother, who just got divorced 3 weeks ago, is caring for an elderly parent, and has all of these other “things”, all of these “things” would influence your ability to have an insulin pump.

What makes SDOH data a must have for patient engagement and patient-centered care? (more…)

#MedMo16: finalists, winners, and what they tell us about the state of health tech

December 9, 2016 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/MedStartr_red_grey_sm.jpg” thumb_width=”125″ /]Having attended two conferences in the past two weeks, and squinting to read the tea leaves in the cup, there are some trends that this Editor is picking up. They are quite different from what has been seen over the past year or two. They’ll be expanded on in articles to follow. From the top:

  • Successful companies fit into a bigger picture. Startups into early-stage companies, which were the focus at #MedMo16, are now playing the niches like genetics, patient-focused discovery, condition management and cost-effective specialized clinical innovations.
  • Anything that simplifies a process and saves money is attractive. Complex ‘big data’, analytics and ‘population health/integration’ solutions aren’t in the lead anymore because there are a lot of them and they all look alike.
  • Nothing is revolutionary. The idea that an app, device or software will ‘revolutionize healthcare as we know it’ is now recognized as absurd. (The cocktail/drinks party is ovah!) Cases must be proved first, usually on your self-funded or FFF (families, friends and fools) dime, if you want to partner with the Big Dogs.
  • Value-based care, this year’s darling, is already being seen as a vague ‘catch-all’ in a way that Triple Aim and ‘outcomes/evidence-based care’ were eventually found to be. As a meme, it’s turning out to have the life of a fruit fly.
  • It has to be easy to access, preferably on something the average patient or clinician already has or can acquire easily, like a laptop, tablet or smartphone. The idea of having to place a special purpose-built device in, let’s say, a home, is looking more and more ‘analogue’ indeed, a trend we are seeing in the traditional hub-based telehealth market and even slowly in telecare and traditional PERS.
  • Funding models are changing, with more bootstrapping, self-funding, expand you go and less emphasis on big investment and selling out fast. As funders on a NYeC DHC panel pointed out last Wednesday, don’t raise more – or less – than you need.

At #MedMo16, Crowd Challenge participants were judged by a combination of the interested MedStartr/Health 2.0 NYC community through the MedStartr funding platform, and then by a panel of judges who have leading clinical, technological, patient advocate and funding experience. In short, a group that has seen a lot over the past decade plus, has been up and down the Hype Cycle, and is down to Brass Tacks.

The innovations that bubbled up through the finalists (more…)

#MedMo16 video highlights on YouTube (Day 1)

November 29, 2016 | by

Courtesy of the MedStartr crowd-based healthcare investment fund and HealthTechTalkLive is the first day video of #MedMo16 from City Winery in NYC. It’s a tick over 7 hours of six Momentum talks, two final exams for Mega Challenge competitors in population health and devices/wearables plus three panels. Your Editor is running the presentations so you know the dastardly doer of any ‘goofs’ you see! Day One is on YouTube here. The finalist list in the Mega Challenge presentations differs from the program here–start times are in parentheses:

  • Pop Health, Payers and Pharmatech: Mymee, AudibleRx, EllieGrid, Agewell Biometrics US, Aloha Health (1:03:00)
  • Devices and Wearable Health Tech: GlucoSight, Rx Bandz, HeartIn, tonguenacity, Ceeable (4:56:00)

Day 2 will be posted tomorrow.

Digital Epidemiology: on-demand public health

November 10, 2016 | by

Guest Editor Sarianne Gruber (@subtleimpact) reviews the meta-trend of digital epidemiology, which gathers ‘digital exhaust’ information through social networks, chat rooms and other online media, analyzes it at the population level and tracks localized outbreaks of diseases like the Zika virus and flu. It even has inspired new models of vaccine delivery and patient transportation such as Uber Health and Circulation.

The Internet has a rather detailed picture of the health of the population, coming from digital sources through all of our connected devices, including smartphones. This is digital epidemiology: the idea that the health of a population can be assessed through digital traces, in real time. Digital Epidemiology: Tracking Diseases in the Mobile Age. M. Salathé, J. Brownstein et al.

As a Harvard Medical School Professor and the Boston Children’s Hospital Chief Innovation Officer, the plights of patients and the hurdles in care are Dr. John Brownstein’s starting points for questions and discovery. When the Community Transportation Association study reported “an estimated 3.6 million patients the United States miss at least one appointment due to lack of access to transportation”, Brownstein was determined to make this challenge his own. This fall, he launched the first customizable patient-centric digital transportation system – Circulation – a new vision for non-emergency medical transportation. As a Klick Health Muse attendee and having had the privilege to speak with John Brownstein, Ph.D., co-founder of Circulation, I would like to share what I learned about his journey as an epidemiologist, public health educator, and innovator.

Social Media’s Big Data: Preventing Epidemics and Tracking Drug Safety
Digital epidemiologists think in terms of “digital phenotype” to understanding the health of individuals. Uncovering critical information about what is happening at the population level is collectively called “digital exhaust”. These digital traces that are left behind, help track local outbreaks around the world. “In fact, you don’t need surveys, just mine what people are saying online. We combine social media to get real insights as to what is happening on the ground: facts and sentiment. The ability to understand risk and population health is fantastic with these emerging technologies,” opened Dr. John Brownstein at the 2016 New York City KlickMuse event.

Social media mixed with disparate sources of health data was how Brownstein began solving public health risks. (more…)

Changing care models to connect better with care, age at home

August 3, 2016 | by

While this Editor didn’t get to the second annual d.Health Summit in NYC this past May, the organizers Avi Seidmann, PhD & Ray Dorsey, MD [TTA 20 July] of the University of Rochester have conveniently distilled the day down to a 13-page policy paper on successful aging at home. The keynote speaker set the theme around the core needs of older people:

  • identity (“help me stay me”)
  • routine (“help me stay in control”)
  • sociability (“help me stay engaged”)
  • vitality (“help me stay physically and mentally fit”)

Innovation around healthcare delivery, mobility solutions, assistive technologies that adjust to a wide variety of needs, socialization outlets and home services can improve health and wellness while reducing costs for the healthcare system as a whole.  Impediments are regulatory, interoperability and that old devil, payments. It needs to move to ‘next generational care” where healthcare tech fully becomes an extension of the healthcare system. Can’t come soon enough. Download the PDF here. Also read contributor Sarianne Gruber’s perspectives on the conference in RCM Answers on 18 May and 24 May.

The State of the Connected Patient is a 21-page survey with plenty of bar charts of over 2,000 Americans taken in June by the Harris Poll sponsored by Salesforce, which we’ve noted here is partnering notably with Philips in the HealthSuite digital platform. Analysis is separated by boomers, millennials and Gen X.  62 percent of respondents would be open to some form of ‘virtual care’–and 52 percent of ‘millennials’ would prefer to choose a doctor who uses virtual care tools. Most are content with their primary care doctor, though that doctor may not recognize them in the street. Only a quarter actually keep track of their health records, digital and otherwise. Apps are used, but all age groups are split evenly in using a wearable if an insurance company or provider gave them to wear in exchange for (respectively) lower rates and health information access. Download PDF via EHR Intelligence.

A ‘next generation’ house call from the patient’s perspective

July 10, 2016 | by

Guest editor Sarianne Gruber (@subtleimpact) attended May’s d.health Summit on Aging in NYC. She reflects on moderator Christina Farr’s (immediately prior) direct experience with a virtual visit (convenience, proactive care–and utter frustration with her payer) and what the telemedicine ‘next gen’ provider panelists see as their advantages in fixing a fractured healthcare system.

Christina Farr had a “Next Generation” house call for the first time. The on-demand doctor’s visit provided her care and resolved the possibility of a trip to the emergency room, and best of all she felt great. Ms. Farr, an award-winning health and technology journalist, happen to have had her encounter just days prior to the d.Health Summit. Coincidentally, she was to be the moderator for a panel of prominent telehealth business leaders on this very topic. Curious after having had this experience, she wanted to know whether most cases were like hers wondering if they should go to ER, or were the visits more for routine things like coughs and colds, or did people just want a prescription. The d.Health panelists included Damian Gilbert, Founder & CEO of TouchCare (@touchcarehealth), Oscar Salazar, Chief Product Officer and Co- Founder of Pager (@getpager), Dr. Ian Tong, Chief Medical Officer of Doctor on Demand (@drondemand), and Dr. Roy Schoenberg, Co-Founder, and CEO of American Well (@americanwell).  (more…)

Events last week beyond Brexit: London Technology Week, CE Week NYC

June 28, 2016 | by

The world may have turned upside down (and around) with Brexit, but London Technology Week happened nevertheless. It’s exploded into 400 events and 43,000 attendees, with 300 attending an event at London City Hall on health tech within the NHS. (Attendees invited to contribute in Comments.) Designer Brooke Roberts, an ex-NHS radiographer who advocates the fusion of fashion and tech, debuted her brain scan-inspired knitwear, accomplished by translating scans into digital files capable of programming industrial knitting machines. According to GP Bullhound in their annual European Unicorns report, 18 of Europe’s 47 billion-dollar digital startups are now based in the UK. So who needs the EU?  TechCityNews, CNN, Yahoo Tech

[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/MonBaby.jpg” thumb_width=”200″ /]On the other side of the Atlantic, there was a disappointing absence of wearables and health tech at the Consumer Electronics Association’s NYC summer event, CE Week. It’s been a major feature since 2009 at International CES in January; the NYC summer show and the November CES preview had always featured a mostly local exhibitor contingent and conference content. None this year–a representative cited a mystifying ‘change in direction’. There was one lone wearable way back in the exhibit hall–MonBaby, which came in from 16 blocks uptown. The snap-on button monitor works with any garment (unlike the Mimo onesie and the Owlet sock) (more…)

mHealth Grand Tour: ‘magical’ for cyclists, clinical level information for diabetes

November 13, 2015 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/1111150945.jpg” thumb_width=”200″ /]

From the HIMSS Connected Health Conference (CHC)/mHealth Summit

The last Executive Spotlight/keynote on Wednesday morning stepped outside most of this year’s CHC content, first for presenting a European mHealth program and diabetes patients not as overweight, inactive and co-morbid but as athletes. Presented by Benjamin Sarda, Head of Marketing for Orange Healthcare, the mHealth Grand Tour has developed in three years from a fully organized, challenging 2,100 km Brussels-Barcelona ride primarily (but not exclusively) for cyclists with Stage I and II diabetes as a test bed for blood glucose monitoring under extreme exercise, to a 1,500 km Brussels-Geneva three-stage tour with even greater ascent, extreme monitoring and also a full spectrum of vital signs feedback via smartphone to the riders. This past September, 24 riders accumulated 7 million measurements. The cyclists used these measurements (left) [grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/1111150950.jpg” thumb_width=”200″ /][grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Orange-phone-grand-tour.jpg” thumb_width=”200″ /]to help manage their food intake, blood glucose, performance and overall wellness. The data is currently being analyzed by France’s Society of Diabetes (SFD), but an early result is that medication compliance was 97 percent. Some had difficulty (with a 22,000 meter climb, who wouldn’t?) but the app helped them manage their ride and what they can do that day. Orange’s interest as a telecom is obviously data but their work with multiple research and mHealth partners (including the Personal Connected Health Alliance which is part of the CHC) and with organizations like the JDRF are part of their big scale. It also represents a ‘jump shift’ in thinking about what is possible in living with diabetes.

What happened in between? Plenty! (More coverage to come.)

90% of industries have had PHI data breach: Verizon (HIMSS Connected Health)

November 10, 2015 | by

Reporting from the HIMSS Connected Health Conference (CHC)

Cybersecurity is one of the three central themes of this year’s HIMSS CHC, and excellent timing for releasing the highlights of Verizon’s first ever PHI (Protected Health Information) Data Breach Report. This is a spinoff of their extensive, eight years running international Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR). 

It’s not just your doctor’s office, hospital or payer. It will be no surprise to our Readers that the healthcare sector is #7 in breaches–but that a PHI breach may come from non-healthcare (in US, HIPAA-covered) sources. This Editor spoke with Suzanne Widup, the lead author of the PHI Report and an info security/forensics expert, and included in that 90 percent are workers’ compensation programs, self-insured companies, the public sector, financial/insurance companies and–as a damper on this highly competitive (but hard to gauge results) area–wellness programs. Most organizations, according to Ms Widup, aren’t even conscious that they are holding this information and need to specially protect it from intrusion, as “PHI is like gold for today’s cybercriminal.”

Consistent with other authoritative tracking studies like Ponemon Institute’s and ID Experts’, the threat is from within: physical theft and loss, insider misuse and ‘miscellaneous’ account for 77 percent of theft. And as Bryan Sartin, managing director of Verizon’s RISK team noted in his keynote today, attacks take over a seven-month period on average to even be noticed. The breaches are long term, start small and sneaky. 2/3 of organizations don’t find out on their own, only when it starts to affect other partners. (Surprise!) Despite the proven Chinese and Black Vine involvement in several high profile, high-volume data hacks (Anthem), and ‘brute force’ hacks that make headlines (iCloud last year), the average breach is an inside job where “assets grow legs and walk off” in Dr Widup’s words, or privilege misuse.

When I asked Ms Widup about the Internet of Things (which is moving high on the hype curve, from what your Editor has experienced to the nth degree at this conference), she confirmed that this is an area that needs extra cybersecurity protection. (more…)