Data streams of the future analyzed at NYeC Digital Health

December 5, 2014 | by

Guest columnist Sarianne Gruber (@subtleimpact) also attended the NYeC Digital Health Conference and reflects on what to do with all that data patients and devices are generating–a natural for her as she is a consultant in data analytics for Encore Health Resources. 

The New York eHealth Collaborative hosted its fourth annual Digital Health Conference at New York City’s Chelsea Piers on November 17 and 18. There I was joined by 850 health-related professionals to listen, engage and see how life science meets digital technology. No doubt we have become a digital culture. Even seated on an airplane, I noticed the gentleman next to me wearing a Fitbit, and we strike up a conversation on step and sleep data and our dislike of the new dashboard. At the conference, Keynote Speaker Dr. Eric Topol, a Cleveland Clinic cardiologist and a leading practitioner of digital medicine, shared with us his thoughts on what it means be a part of this digital revolution as a patient and a doctor. Technology changes the scope of individual care. Advances in genomics now gives us answers based on our DNA that will genetically determine the success of medications and treatments. Epigenomics, a molecular diagnostics company, can prescreen an unborn baby of a mother with cancer with a simple blood test, sequencing the DNA, to manage her therapy. I was fascinated to hear that a genomic signal sensor can detect heart attacks and warn you of this possibly fatal event, and that necklace for heart failure patients can monitor fluid status averting repeated readmissions for these patients. Dr. Topol believes that digitized 24/7 patient health data will shift the patient–doctor relationship. Bringing in your self-monitored data, eliminates “the how are you feeling questions” and instead the doctor can confirm diagnosis and start treating the patient. “Patient owning data is a foreign concept and the digital revolution ushered this in.“ (more…)

CES Unveiled New York

November 21, 2014 | by

11 November, New York

The annual event that is CES Unveiled in New York City is meant to be a nanoparticle-scale preview of International CES in Las Vegas, 6-9 January.  It’s a smörgåsbord of what used to be called ‘consumer electronics’ and now is all about innovation–a taste of everything from ever-smarter video and audio to sensors, smarter homes with IoT (the cutely named Internet of Things), Big Data, robotics and (drum roll) Digital Health and the Quantified Self (QS). This Editor regrettably missed the opening briefing by Shawn DuBravac, CEA’s Chief Economist and Senior Director of Research which would likely touch on his areas of the innovation economy and disruption along with the other four 2015 trends to watch: big data analytics, immersive entertainment content, robotics and digital health. (CEA helpfully provides the 30-page white paper here.)

The exhibitors at the Metropolitan Pavilion did not fully represent the trends, however. (more…)

Are wearables starting to deliver?

November 13, 2014 | by

If you caught the recent Wired article entitled Wearables Are Totally Failing the People Who Need Them Most, you may have felt a sense of deep depression that a sector growing as strongly as it is is apparently delivering so little real health benefit (you may also be depressed to see the world of apps developers described as “From Silicon Valley and San Francisco to Austin and MIT…” although remember the North American-based Major League Baseball is called the World Series). The thrust of the article is that young people are developing wearables for people like them, who are then stopping using them within a few months, whereas those with long term conditions (LTCs) who are not the target customers are actually the ones using wearables consistently. As they say: (more…)

Australia’s med device ‘Fast Track’ changes–webinar

November 7, 2014 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Australia-flag.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]For over a decade, the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has had a ‘fast track’ expedited review program in place for medical device importers–including mobile health–with existing CE Marks. Now this program, after a long campaign, will be extended to Australian manufacturers–and there are other changes. Arthur Brandwood, who spearheaded this effort, will be conducting a free webinar on Tuesday 18 November, noon Eastern Time (US). It will cover Australia’s aggressive deregulatory agenda, their tax incentive (43.5 percent for R&D expenditure), the simple process for regulation of clinical trials and TGA’s web based submission process for device approvals. (more…)

Life expectancy up, but so is death from falls (US)

October 16, 2014 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/gimlet-eye.jpg” thumb_width=”175″ /]The Gimlet Eye falls outside the box, and is writing this from recovery. Our companion in curmudgeonliness, Laurie Orlov, whacks us upside the head with first the good news then the bad. US life expectancy is up: if you are 65 today, on average you will live to 83 (men) and 86 (women), even with the rise in chronic conditions that affect quality of life, such as diabetes and heart disease. But the bad is that death from falls is also up. This is despite all the systems and gizmos the Digital Health Industry has concocted to detect falls beyond 1970s PERS technology. Once upon a rose-colored Telecare Time we thought we could infer falls purely by sensors detecting lack of activity (the basis of QuietCare, GrandCare, Healthsense, the late WellAWARE). Then with accelerometers, fall detection would be automatic, (more…)

IBM Watson decision tools expand, lands at NYC HQ

October 9, 2014 | by

Confirming that New York metro’s once-devastated (post-dot.com bust) ‘Silicon Alley’ is increasingly attractive to healthcare and tech firms, IBM this past Monday opened its new NYC downtown headquarters at Astor Place for the IBM Watson Group. Our readers have been following the development of Watson in the healthcare decision-making process since 2012 [TTA’s article index here], primarily in oncology (breast and lung cancer), in the UK (via the RSM’s 5 June ‘Big Data’ conference) as well as the US. IBM Watson has smartly created Ecosystem Partners where third parties integrate Watson. The spread is fairly wide: travel (your Editor’s former industry), retail, veterinary care, IT security and support, cognitive computing and of course healthcare. Spotlighted were three companies: @PointofCare, Welltok and GenieMD. (more…)

Is digital health neglecting The Big Preventable–medical errors?

September 6, 2014 | by | 1 Comment

 

Preventable medical errors persist as the No. 3 killer in the US – third only to heart disease and cancer – claiming the lives of some 400,000 people each year.

(US Senate hearing, cited in HealthcareITNews 18 July 2014)

At the end of last month, this Editor questioned the efficacy of our current state of ‘consumer engagement’ in Patients should be less engaged, not more. The ‘less engaged’ was a call for simplification: regimens and devices which were easier to use, less complicated and far easier to fit in everyday life. (Aesthetics helps too.) Back in 2013, HeartSister/Ethical Nag (and Canadian) Carolyn Thomas called for health app (and by inference consumer engagement) designers to ‘skate to where the puck is going’–as in “For Pete’s sake, go find some Real Live Patients to talk (and listen) to first before you decide where you’re going!” Often it seems like these apps and platforms are designed in a vacuum of the entrepreneur’s making. The proof is the low uptake (Pew, Parks, IMS) and the apps’/programs’ lack of stickiness after all this time (Kvedar 8 Sep blog post).

Now Laurie Orlov tells us we were looking at the wrong puck, as analysts do. First, all that ‘nudging’ and all those apps haven’t moved the needle on diabetes and obesity. Second, why are app developers neglecting that third largest killer, preventable medical errors? Add to that 400,000 yearly–over 1,000 per day–the 10,000 estimated patients every day who suffer serious complications. (more…)

Rubber Bands – The next big thing in wearable sensors?

August 28, 2014 | by

Rubberbands

When you’re ten years old, pinging rubber bands across the classroom is fun. Getting caught doing so by your teacher is not. However you have to admit it’s kind of a novel use for those flexible little bands. Now Irish researchers may have upped the game by finding another, even more novel application for them.

The team at AMBER, the Science Foundation Ireland-funded materials science centre, and the School of Physics TCD, working with researchers from the University of Surrey, have discovered a method of creating wearable sensors from shop-bought rubber bands. If you were listening back in class, you’ll remember that rubber doesn’t normally conduct electricity. However, the researchers whose findings have just been published in ACS Nano, a leading international nanoscience publication, discovered that by adding graphene the rubber bands became electrically conductive. In tests, the bands were strongly affected by any electrical current flowing through them if the band was stretched, which means tiny movements such as breath and pulse could be sensed by the technology.

The potential of graphene to be used in wearable sensors was noted by our TTA Editor-In-Chief, Donna, in her Pointer to the Future item back in 2011, Nanosheets and graphene: powering sensors, computers. Because rubber is available widely and cheaply, this latest development could open up major possibilities in the manufacturing of wearable sensors worldwide. Which means we can all look forward to finding graphene infused biosensors in everything from our bras to our bionic underpants.

Read more: TANN Ireland, ENGINEERING.com

Electronic Alerts in EHRs Reduce Urinary Tract Infections (Study – US)

August 27, 2014 | by

According to the World Health Organisation, urinary tract infections (UTIs) win top prize for most frequent health care-associated infection in high-income countries. And the cause?…A massive 75% of all of hospital acquired UTIs result from having a urinary catheter fitted (i.e. a tube inserted into the bladder through the urethra to drain urine). And it’s far from unusual to have this procedure done, for between 15 to 25 percent of hospitalized patients have one fitted during their hospital stay (Source CDC). Having a urinary tract infection can be nasty enough but if left untreated serious consequences can result including permanent kidney damage.

The most effective way to reduce the incidence of UTIs (apart from not having a catheter fitted in the first place) is by removing the catheter as soon as it is no longer needed. Unfortunately, all too often this does not happen. That’s why the findings from this new study from the University of Pennsylvania are significant. Results showed that automated alerts in Electronic Health Records (EHRs) reduced urinary tract infections in hospital patients with urinary catheters.

The EHR alert system worked by prompting physicians to specify the reason for inserting the patient’s catheter. On the basis of the reason selected, the system then helped them decide (a) whether urinary catheters were needed in the first place and (b) alerted them to reassess the need for catheters that had not been removed within a recommended time period. And it was no small-fry study. (more…)

Drawn and quartered: digital health consumer study

August 11, 2014 | by

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Parks Associates’ latest study of potential digital health consumers will come as a confirmation for some of us who’ve been up and down a few hype curves, and be a sobering bucket-of-cold-water for those wedded to the Revolutionary-Transformative-eHealthy-D3H Bandwagon view that digital health will change EVERYONE’s life. Market segmentation is a useful marketing tool for narrowing down your real market to spend those scarce (investor-supplied) funds: those most likely to purchase, and a broad picture of what they look like. As you’ll see in the Parks Associates/TTA graphic above, the market for digital health almost neatly breaks into quarters: the top half has the greatest potential. The report looks at lifestyle/behavior, health, residential and income factors among 2,500 broadband-equipped heads-of-household.

Where’s the surprise party? It’s no surprise that the highest potential market denizens are already health-conscious, good ‘do-bees’ in their diet and exercise and higher in income. The second quarter represents older adults facing health challenges, but already on track with their health ‘mindfulness’–perhaps they are the older, health-challenged versions of the first group. It’s the next two groups and their respective positionings which are the surprise. The Parks study ranks the ‘bad do-bees’ –the already sick with bad health habits and lower incomes–in potential above the young, tech-enthusiastic and healthy–but not health-conscious in their behaviors and also lower in income. Despite all their connectivity, only 28 percent of this group looked up health information online in the past year, contrasting with 38 percent of all responders.

Marketing implications?  I’d be spending my company’s money and time on (more…)

University of Edinburgh MSc in Global eHealth

August 7, 2014 | by

Deadline extended to 8 September for the Autumn term

We are happy to update our readers on this innovative UoE programme with a message from the director, Dr Claudia Pagliari. Please read ’til the end to learn about sponsoring a student from a low-income country. (Ed. Donna)

This fully supported online learning programme provides a unique opportunity to study health informatics with reference to global health challenges. Combining core courses with a rich portfolio of innovative modules delivered by international experts, the programme provides a foundation in the core principles and practice of health informatics whilst considering how innovations and policies are shaping the technology landscape, strengthening health systems and changing professional and patient behaviour.

The programme is interdisciplinary and is suitable for eHealth designers and implementers, healthcare practitioners, global development professionals, government policymakers, healthcare managers and CIOs, and academic researchers with interests in the role of ICT in health. The supported online learning format provides an opportunity to obtain a rich learning experience, interacting with your tutors and peers, whilst remaining in work. (more…)

Colour changing ‘Bruise suit’ shows hidden injuries

July 23, 2014 | by

Students from Imperial College of London have come up with a novel way to help athletes and people with disabilities, who might struggle to correctly assess the severity of an injury. Internal injuries often don’t give visible warning signs such as swelling or marks on the skin and if left untreated can be potentially life threatening. But where an impact occurs in the ‘Bruise suit’ a removable pressure reactive film registers it as a magenta stain. The colour changes to reflect the intensity of impact. Although currently a prototype, the team is exploring further applications for the technology and developing a product line. Read more: Wired 

Editor’s Note: There doesn’t seem to be any sound on the YouTube video for this at the moment!

 

The King’s Fund: International Digital Health and Care Congress

July 13, 2014 | by

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10–12 September 2014 at The King’s Fund, London W1G 0AN

 

This three-day event at The King’s Fund, now in its fourth year, is a truly international Congress in attendance and speakers. It will showcase new ideas, new research and new innovations in digital health, mobile health, telehealth and telecare around these five topics.

  • Sustaining independence as people age
  • Preventing and managing chronic illness effectively
  • Supporting people with mental health issues
  • Digitally enabling service transformation
  • Innovations in technology

Wednesday’s pre-Congress session begins with lunch, a full day on Thursday concluding with an (optional) dinner and a full Friday. Our own Editor Charles Lowe will be presenting on medical apps during the 11:30 breakout session (the T2F section) at 11:30am Thursday. See here for detailed information on the Congress sessions. PDF summary including keynote speakers.

As TTA is a media sponsor of the Congress, we are pleased to offer our readers a 10 percent discount off pricing for all their registration types, including the Thursday dinner. Click here to automatically obtain the discount.

CEWeek NYC (Part 2): wearables, robots, telehealth gone to the dogs!

June 26, 2014 | by

CEWeek NYC, Metropolitan Pavilion/Altman Building (@CEWeekNY)

Part 2

Over in FashionWare-ville….

[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/0625141038.jpg” thumb_width=”170″ /]The Healbe GoBe 100% Automatic Body Manager turned out to be a big draw at this pavilion, for reasons that to the casual visitor were not apparent. Its claim: it automatically estimates both calorie intake and calories burned through measurements taken by an impedance sensor to measure tissue resistance, based on blood glucose being converted to liquid in tissues and the amount of liquid released. Having been through the now-vanished-into-thin Airo affair (with its fictional mini-spectrometer for detecting nutritional blood metabolites from food consumption, TTA 23 Nov 13), I was skeptical of Healbe’s claims and told co-founder and managing director George Mikaberydze (left) just that. He patiently explained how it works to me and seemed to be sincerely understanding of my skepticism. He briefly demoed the display on his smartphone, which was hard to track as it indicated negative caloric burn and was partly in Cyrillic, but these numbers were relative to…?

It turned out that I was not the first to question, and he was well prepared.

Healbe turns out to be quite controversial. The company raised over $1 million on Indiegogo this March/April, prominently featured in its well-produced GoBe materials and in its PR communications. It’s promising delivery in September. On researching this, (more…)