British Journal of Cardiology (BJC) Digital Healthcare Forum’s inaugural meeting

February 2, 2017 | by

28 April, 9:30am-5pm, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, London 

Henry Purcell of the BJC was kind enough to post us with information on the first-ever BJC Digital Healthcare Forum. Organized by the BJC in association with the NHS, the Digital Health and Care Alliance (DHACA), and the Telehealth Quality Group, it is a novel ‘hands on’ meeting to assess if digital medicine can fill gaps in healthcare provision throughout the NHS. It is also in response to the massive pressures which winter has wrought on NHS health and social services. The Forum was designed by clinicians and leaders in healthcare informatics for UK commissioners, doctors and other HCPs involved in the management of long-term conditions (cardiovascular, obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes etc.), as well as those engaged in health informatics, IT, and Trust CEOs. Speakers include Dr Malcolm Fisk of De Montfort University, our own Charles Lowe of DHACA, Professor Tony Young, National Clinical Director for Innovation (NHS England) and many more experts in digital health and care. For the latest information and to register, see the event website or the attached PDF.

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.

UKTelehealthcare’s updated event schedule

January 19, 2017 | by

UKTelehealthcare’s new Managing Director Gerry Allmark was kind enough to advise Editor Donna of upcoming events either organized by UKTelehealthcare, or where they will be represented. His note is reproduced here with minor edits and emphases. Click their advert on the right sidebar or here, which directly links to their special About/Upcoming Event page, for more information.

Our next MarketPlace will be in Carlisle on the 1 March 2017 (registration link); this is an historic occasion for us as this is our first event in the North of England. (Information on the programme is here.)

As part of our national expansion of events and membership we plan to hold MarketPlaces in Luton, Bristol, Nottingham, Dudley and Halifax as well as a high profile London event in 2017/18.  Please see the “Coming up at a glance” section on the first page of our website (see link here) for the latest news on these events.

We will also be exhibiting at Naidex 2017 from the 28 to 30 March and at the Health + Care Show on the 28 and 29 June 2017.  At both these shows we will be offering special show price membership rates to both provider and supplier members as well as our new membership categories for Clinical Commissioning Groups, Consultants and RPI members.

In conjunction with the H + C Show we will also be expanding our successful Telehealthcare Awareness Day which we have run for the last two years to Telehealthcare Awareness Week which will run from 26 – 30 June 2017.  During this week we encourage our members and other TEC providers and suppliers to run local events to raise the profile of health technology in their areas and we will publicise these events though our social  media links and website.  A Telehealthcare Awareness Day pack / toolkit will be available on our website shortly for both members and non-members who would like to take part in this important event.

The King’s Fund Digital Health and Care Congress ’17–update

January 18, 2017 | by

The latest from The King’s Fund on the upcoming Digital Health and Care Congress, 11-12 July (only six months from now!) is in this video now available on Vimeo. It gives a great overview of how digital health has to be integrated to improve care in the NHS and also in other countries, and the scope of its effects on clinicians, HIT, and patients. This Editor has also received word that the successful projects submitted in the meeting’s call for papers will be announced on Friday 20 January, and that the full programme will be announced at the end of this month.

The King’s Fund’s event page; the Digital Health Congress fact sheet includes information on sponsoring or exhibiting. To make the event more accessible, there are new reduced rates for groups and students, plus bursary spots available for patients and carers.  

Hat tip to KF’s Claire Taylor for the information and the update. TTA will be a media partner of the Digital Health Congress 2017. Updates on Twitter @kfdigital17

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…)

NHS Scotland launches Attend Anywhere video consult trial

December 14, 2016 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/VC_Infographics_WaitingAreaOverview01_600pxwide.png” thumb_width=”200″ /]Announced earlier this month by Shona Robison, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport, Scottish Government at the Scottish Digital Health & Care Week and Conference is the pilot of the Attend Anywhere virtual doctor visits. The consults are through a patient’s computer, smartphone or tablet using a Google Chrome web browser. The patient logs in to the website, waits in a private video room, the provider is notified that the patient is in the queue, and when the doctor is available, the video visit will start. (See illustration at left)

Initially, the service will target video call access to up to 50 health care providers including primary care, specialist services, speech and language therapy as well as pharmacy prescription reviews. According to Attend Anywhere, the service is available now to Scots in both rural and metropolitan areas. The service was developed as part of a collaboration between NHS Scotland’s Technology Enabled Care (TEC) Programme, Melbourne Australia-based video consulting specialists Attend Anywhere, and Healthdirect Australia, supported by NHS 24 Scottish Centre for Telehealth and Telecare. The press release links to a video of the consults in use in western New South Wales, including a care home. Scottish Centre demonstration site, Scottish Digital Health Week page.  Hat tip to Chris Ryan of Attend Anywhere Australia for the original articles and corrections. His LinkedIn post here shows the Scottish Centre’s table at the conference.

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…)

PCHA Connected Health Conference in Washington–book soon!

December 2, 2016 | by

11-14 December, Gaylord National, National Harbor MD (Washington DC area)

Hosted by the Personal Connected Health Alliance, the Connected Health Conference was renamed in 2015 to reflect an increasingly consumer-centered, technology-enabled and collaborative approach to improving health, and builds on the success of the mHealth Summit. There are three days of programming with over 300 speakers, four tracks, a new and innovative exhibit floor, and specialty events. Each component — from keynotes, panel discussions, interactive sessions, roundtables and the dynamic exhibit floor — focuses on new research and actionable knowledge such as best practices, lessons learned and conclusive case studies.

  • Pre-conference sessions providing a deep dive into key topics
  • Four content tracks bringing diverse perspectives, sparking meaningful discussion and advancing new solutions around key issues such as behavior change, real time intervention, design, collaboration, data science, disparities, policy, interoperability, ethics, privacy and security, and more
  • Numerous opportunities for networking

Co-located at the Conference is the Global Digital Health Forum, which addresses digital health in low- and middle-income countries.

Click on the advert in the right hand sidebar or the link above to learn more. When you register, use code TELE100 for $100 off registration. TTA is a media partner of the PCHA Connected Health Conference.

#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.

NYeC Digital Health Conference (NYC)–next week

November 29, 2016 | by

NYeC Digital Health Conference, 6-7 December 2016 | New World Stages, New York, NY
The New York eHealth Collaborative’s Digital Health Conference brings together 500 senior-level healthcare industry leaders to learn about new innovations and to foster dynamic conversation addressing how healthcare is being redefined through technology. It is well on track to fill completely, so if you’ve been delaying your booking, now is the time. And our readers enjoy a 10 percent discount.

Updated and expanded agenda here.

Keynote speakers:
• Robert Wachter, MD, Professor and Interim Chairman of the Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, author of “The Digital Doctor: Hope, Hype and Harm at the Dawn of Medicine’s Computer Age” [TTA 16 Apr 15]. (To this Editor, this is a must-see keynote!)
• Steven Johnson, PBS Host and Bestselling Author, “How We Got To Now” and “Where Good Ideas Come From”

Some other speakers: Carol Raphael, the former CEO of Visiting Nurse Service of NY; Kristopher Smith of Northwell Health; James Mault of Qualcomm Life and Aron Gupta of Quartet Health. This year a who’s who of New York’s healthcare and health tech community will gather for two days of networking, lively intellectual exchange, and exploration to see what’s new, what’s cutting edge and what will shape the future of healthcare.

It’s worth taking the trip to NYC for this right before the holidays! For more information, click here for the website.

Telehealth & Telecare Aware Readers receive a 10% registration discount. Click on this link or the sidebar advert. Important–use code TTA when registering. For updates, @NYeHealth. TTA is a conference partner/media partner of the NYeC DHC.

North West Telecare event, 23 November

November 21, 2016 | by | 4 Comments

Wednesday 23rd November 2016, 9:15am – 4:30pm
Village Hotel Club Ashton Moss, Pamir Drive, Ashton-Under-Lyne UK (close to Ashton Moss Metrolink Station)

This is a free event for housing and healthcare professionals with a full day of workshops on telecare in supporting independent living, case studies of best practices and demonstrations of the latest products. There are four workshops which run both in the AM and PM sessions. There are also three guest speakers: Dr Malcolm Fisk, Director of the Telehealth Quality Group, De Montfort University, Leicester; Gill Drummond, Dementia Lead for Greater Manchester West Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust; Alyson Scurfield, Chief Executive of the TSA. More information and registration here. Hat tip to reader Dawn Thornber of Contour Homes. UPDATE If you have last minute difficulty booking, please contact directly Andrew.Townsend@contourhomes.co.uk

Exciting new sessions, more startup funding at #MedMo16 NYC–now 25% off! (updated)

November 18, 2016 | by

New Venue!
City Winery, 155 Varick Street, New York, NY
9am – 3:30pm (cocktail reception after) Monday 28 Nov; 9am – 3pm Tuesday 29 Nov
Information. Registration. TTA Readers use code Telecare25 for a 25% discount.

[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/MedStartr_red_grey_sm.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]MedStartr and Health 2.0 NYC present Momentum, a full two-day conference focused on finding, partnering, piloting, and investing in the best new ideas in healthcare. Here are some updates on this event the Monday and Tuesday after Thanksgiving Weekend:

  • The MedMo16 Mega Challenge is awarding to participating startups in up to three pitch contests showcasing some of the coolest new early stage companies. 20 will be competing for over $750,000 (up from $500,000) in funding. Review the finalists here.
  • 70 speakers, five panels and nine talks from healthcare leaders like Rich Park of City MD (urgent care), Khan Siddiqui of Higi (gamified health kiosks), Regina Holliday of the patient activist Walking Gallery and more, featuring:
    – The Unicorn Panel with leaders from some of the hottest companies like Pager (on-demand doctors) and Change Healthcare (revenue cycle management)
    – Healthcare Innovation in the Trump Era, moderated by Fard Johnmar
    – Ask the VC where we will let the crowd pose questions to leading investors in healthcare

Tickets are regularly priced as below–but our Readers get 25% off the full rates below. Use code Telecare25 when registering:

  • $75 for early stage startup founders, students and patient advocates ($56.25)
  • $155 general – expires 21 Nov–$395 thereafter ($116.25/$296.25)
  • $250 healthcare ecosystem stakeholders, investors and care providers ($187.50)
  • $450 non-healthcare ecosystem stakeholders ($337.50)

Tables and sponsorships available from $750.

MedMo16 is also the kickoff for the MedStartr Venture Fund which adds to the crowdfunding impact of MedStartr–now up to 94 health projects. TTA is a supporter of MedStartr and Health 2.0 NYC and Editor Donna is a MedMo16 event host. Hat tip to Alex Fair of #MedMo16 and MedStartr. Tag #MedMo16 and follow @MedStartr.

UK HealthTech Conference, Cardiff, 6 December (UK)

November 16, 2016 | by

6 December, Mercure House Hotel, Cardiff, Wales

Exploring critical strategic trends in both health tech and biotech is this full day conference in Cardiff that is expected to have 300 participants. This year’s conference theme is patient safety. Keynote speaker is John Wilkinson, Director of MHRA. Full information, speaker and programme information, registration and sponsorship starts here. Hat tip to Dr Malcolm Fisk (@malcolmjf) via Twitter.

Health Wildcatters Pitch Day event

November 8, 2016 | by

Wed 16 November, 2:30 PM – 5:00 PM CST, Dallas Texas

Texas accelerator Health Wildcatters is presenting its Pitch Day 2016 featuring 10 early-stage companies: Amity Cloud, ClinicalSolutions, Endogenesis, Friendly, HealPal, HealthNextGen, KnKt’d, MediBookr, Optologix, and Oqulus. More information and tickets ($10–if you book same day they are $20) can be booked here. This includes a reception afterwards at Health Wildcatters’ offices nearby. Hat tip to HW CEO and co-founder Hubert Zajicek via Twitter