More Samsung ‘we try harder’ telehealth moves

June 2, 2014 | by

Is Samsung playing Avis “We try harder®” to Apple’s Hertz?

Samsung’s other, less noticed end-run in addition to the Simband reference hardware and SAMI ‘open ecosystem’  is an initiative creating a joint research center with the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) called the Center for Digital Health Innovation (CDHI). It is being headed by Michael Blum, a medical doctor who is the UCSF assistant vice chancellor of informatics. From the statements made to The Atlantic, Dr Blum’s intent is to clinically validate the sensors and algorithms produced within the Samsung ecosystem. Already featured are four initial projects: CareWeb (a collaborative care platform built on Salesforce.com), Tidepool (infrastructure for diabetes apps), Health eHeart (clinical trial app on heart disease) and Trinity (‘precision team care’). On the frontier: ‘novel vital signs’ which he predicts will come out of the analysis of standard vital signs, “…new markers of health and wellness that come out of these large datasets.”  Is Samsung, rather than going head-to-head with Apple on Healthbook [TTA 22 Mar] is leapfrogging into something akin to Telehealth 2.0 or 3.0? Yet this Editor notes that we haven’t figured out, for the most part, the FBQs (Five Big Questions)* of 1.0….

* The Five Big Questions (FBQs)–who pays, how much, who’s looking at the data, who’s actioning it, how data is integrated into patient records.

Samsung’s ‘shot over bow’ in health

May 30, 2014 | by

Watched closely as part of Samsung’s various moves in health (here in the US heavily promoting the S5’s heart monitoring capabilities) is their unveiling of a reference hardware called the Simband, a wristband designed for interchangeable body sensor modules yet in fact to be developed. Its platform is dubbed Samsung Architecture for Multimodal Interactions (SAMI) and is part of an open ecosystem which invites developers “to design and integrate their own sensor technology and, through the SAMI platform, develop applications and algorithms for wearables.” The design was in partnership with the biosensing institution Imec and will be available before end of 2014.(Gizmag) Coming before Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) and the rumored announcement of the Healthbook iOS app [TTA 22 Mar]…the Samsung-Apple wars continue, and not in court. Also Gizmodo

Apple-ologizing Healthbook

March 22, 2014 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/healthbook-book.jpg” thumb_width=”300″ /]With the same obsession that Kremlinologists had during the Cold War, the Apple-ologists at 9to5Mac observe emanations and permutations emitting from Cupertino. Based on their inside sources, they have the lowdown on how Apple will Go Big into healthcare monitoring and fitness tracking.

  • ‘Cards’ in the Healthbook allowing entry for vital signs such as blood pressure, blood glucose, breathing rate, weight, hydration and oxygen saturation (O2). (photo at left above a ‘recreation of screenshots’ by 9to5Mac)
  • Sleep tracking. Apple in February hired Roy J.E.M. Raymann, one of the world’s experts in sleep tracking including wearables and sensors, out of Philips.
  • Emergency Card with customer’s name, birthdate, medication information, weight, eye color, blood type, organ donor status, and location.

The rumors tie it to the introduction of iOS 8, the iWatch or both. But beyond the sensors on the phone and/or the iWatch–there’s no information on how telehealth apps, devices or sensors would wirelessly transmit the information. “While Healthbook is capable of tracking, sorting, and managing various types of health and fitness-related data, it is currently uncertain where this data will actually be sourced from.” But Editor Toni noted in February (link below) that Apple just patented headphones which are capable of monitoring temperature, heart rate and perspiration levels. This is Healthbook, Apple’s major first step into health & fitness tracking (9to5Mac). And Wired thinks Apple’s Upcoming Health App Is the Start of Something Huge (Wonder if South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety will impound it as an unapproved medical device!)

Previously in TTA: Apple-ologists discern ‘new’ interest in health tech and telehealth [20 July 13], Apple’s tarnished luster, Round 2 [29 July 13], Apple purchasing 3D gesture control developer PrimeSense [19 Nov 13], Apple patents health monitoring headphones with ‘head gesture’ control [19 Feb]