Smartwatches lead wearables, adoption now at 29%: Parks Associates study

October 28, 2022 | by

Health tracking and users are leading the way into smartwatch adoption and wearables popularity. In just one year, (Q2 2020 to Q2 2021), smartwatch ownership increased 13 points from 16 to 29% of US households. Fitness trackers, which once predominated, increased five points to 23%, while GPS sport watches grew four points to 11% in US households.

Overall:

  • Smartwatches are dominated by the Apple Watch (1st left), with Samsung’s devices a distant second.
  • Smartwatch owners are particularly likely to own and use other connected health products, with these consumers reporting owning an average of 6.8 devices (including their smartwatch)
  • Most people buy their smartwatches through ecommerce channels–42%–but 30% still use traditional retail. (15% are gifts!)
  • Intent to purchase in the next six months has rocketed from 18% to 45%
  • Apple and Samsung lead all wearable brands under consideration. Curiously, pioneers Fitbit and Garmin are ranked below LG and Sony, which no longer offer wearables. (Fitbit–2nd left–and Garmin need to do some marketing)
  • Fitness trackers/bands hold their own, but GPS sport watches are the weakest of the three categories. Current owners are most likely to seek a new model, with 88% of owners reporting intention to purchase.
  • Most of the intenders are “very likely” to purchase add-on subscriptions for their watch, such as cellular plans (69%) and at-home fitness programs (47%), as long as they are at $10/month. This overlaps into cellular phone providers who need to keep these subscriptions inexpensive.

Parks Associates surveys every quarter 10,000 U.S broadband households, with additional surveys throughout the year. The results represent the national demographics for US broadband households, which are 88% of all US households. To read the full survey results, go to Parks Associates’ survey page.

News roundup: RPM at 79 ScionHealth hospitals, 74% of employers like virtual care despite concerns, Alma Health garners $130M, NIH’s $25M for cancer care telehealth research, Parks’ virtual Connected Health Summit 30-31 Aug

August 30, 2022 | by

Winding up August with one last roundup…get along lil’ dogies….

Remote patient monitoring coupled with home care debuting at ScionHealth hospitals. Louisville, Kentucky-based ScionHealth, a network of 79 hospitals in 25 states, is working with Cadence Care monitoring to manage qualifying chronic care patients. Cadence’s Care in Sync RPM will first support managing hypertension, heart failure, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease for ambulatory patients in 18 community hospitals across 12 states, with plans to roll out to the full network. Monitoring includes blood pressure, heart rate, pulse oximeter, glucose levels, and weight. These are tracked by care teams backed up by Cadence clinicians and telehealth. ScionHealth was formed from last year’s acquisition of Kindred Healthcare by LifePoint Health to create a network of 61 long-term acute care hospitals and 18 community hospital campuses. Cadence release, HealthcareITNews

What’s not to like about virtual care? 74% of the 135 employers surveyed like the idea, but 84% had real concerns about its ability to integrate virtual and in-person services, leading to duplication of services, unnecessary care, wasteful spending, and a fragmented care experience. These concerns ranged from 57% to 69% of those surveyed. The survey by the Business Group on Health found that these large employers were very interested in virtual primary care, with 32% offering these services in 2022, projecting out to over double — 69% — doing so in three years, 2025. In terms of spending, for the first time cancer care drives more cost than musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions, attributed to pandemic-related care delays. Business Group on Health release, FierceHealthcare

A cheery note to close August is that New York City-based Alma Health has raised a Series D of $130 million in this depressed market. While its website is very much patient-facing, Alma is primarily a membership network for mental health providers to help them be in-network with payers and simplify reimbursement to thrive in private practice. Alma claims guaranteed payback for every session in two weeks and credentialing with major insurance payers in under 45 days. It also provides a practice platform for providers in all 50 states. The Series D builds upon its August 2021 Series C of $50 million, with total outside funding since 2018 of $220 million. Investors include lead on the Series D Thoma Bravo, Cigna’s venture arm, and Optum Ventures, plus lead on the Series B and C Insight Partners, lead on the Series A Tusk Venture Partners, with Primary Venture Partners and Sound Ventures. Valuation is estimated at $800 million. FierceHealthcare, Alma release

NIH’s $25 million for research into telehealth and cancer care. Four universities and institutions will lead NIH/National Cancer Institute-funded research on the effectiveness and demographic makeup of those using telehealth as part of their cancer care:

  • NYU Grossman School of Medicine: the Telehealth Research and Innovation for Veterans with Cancer (THRIVE) Telehealth Research Center will work with the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) to uncover information about the impact of demographics on care delivery
  • University of Pennsylvania: Telehealth Research Center of Excellence (Penn TRACE) takes another aspect, telehealth strategiesand their impact on shared decision-making for lung cancer care 
  • Northwestern University: Scalable Telehealth Cancer Care (STELLAR), which will study how telehealth can be used to manage and limit behaviors such as smoking and inactivity
  • Memorial Sloan-Kettering:  MATCHES (Making Telehealth Delivery of Cancer Care at Home Effective and Safe) Telehealth Research Center, focusing on telehealth’s effectiveness on treatment of breast and prostate cancer, including remote patient monitoring and telehealth. 

mHealth Intelligence, NIH release

Not too late for Parks Associates’ virtual sessions as part of their Connected Health Summit series. Two new Summit Sessions will be online Tuesday 30 and Wednesday 31 August. More information and registration here.

Aug 30 – New Opportunities in Connected Health Services: Monitoring and Home Care
• Health and Safety Monitoring
• Home Care Services

Aug 31 – Successful Strategies for Engaging Consumers
• Choice in Care: Telehealth, Kiosks, and Retail Clinics
• AI in Health: Creating Personalized Insights
• Wellness and Consumer Engagement

Part of Wednesday’s session will include “Who’s Paying for Healthcare? New Business Models”. There’s a surprising finding–74% of US internet households with children at home have used telehealth services in the past 12 months versus 32% without kids at home, and 70% are likely to use telehealth the next time they are sick. If you cannot make these sessions, their last virtual  TTA is a past supporter of the Connected Health Summit. Parks release.

Comings and goings, short takes, and in other news…: Vivify’s new SVP Sales, Parks’ Connected Health Summit, $35M for 3D portable ultrasound, Oxford Medical Sim new pilot

August 8, 2019 | by

In comings and goings….remote patient monitoring company Vivify Health announced that Chris Fickle has joined them as Senior Vice President, Sales. Mr. Fickle was previously with Qualcomm as senior director, business development including international and in the home health market as general manager of Healthfield and American HomePatient. Vivify currently has customers such as UPMC, Trinity Health, and the Ontario (Canada) Telemedicine Network and provides remote care management through personalized care plans, biometric data monitoring, and multi-channel patient education. Certainly in the umpteenth iteration of their website and June’s MedTech Breakthrough Award, they have apparently bounced back from their bounce-out from their VA award in early 2018 [TTA 14 June 18 and 16 Jan 18].

A reminder that Parks Associates’ Connected Health Summit in San Diego is now open for registration. TTA has been in the past a formal media supporter of the CHS and while not this year, it’s a great way to spend a few days in late August. The location, content around the demand for both clinical and consumer health and wellness solutions aimed at improving the quality of life for people living and seeking support at home, and the speaker list has always been outstanding. Follow their Twitter feed at @CONN_Health_Smt | Hashtag: #CONNHealth19. And register here.

This Editor has been following handheld ultrasound since GE Healthcare debuted the VScan in what seems an eternity ago (only 2010!) –and yes, it’s still around–Mobisante demonstrated at TED by no less than Eric Dishman in 2013–and last year the locally-based Butterfly IQ hit the market at about half the price and raised $250 million. Now Redwood City, California startup Exo Imaging has gained a $35 million Series B round to develop its portable ultrasound that through AI assistance generates a 3D image. Release. Mobihealthnews

The UK’s Oxford Medical Simulation has picked up another pilot of their Oculus Rift VR headsets to simulate in-practice interactive patient treatment at the OxSTaR (Oxford Simulation, Teaching and Research) center, part of  John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxfordshire. We covered OMS in April with their pilot with Health Education England Wessex at the Portsmouth and Southampton Hospitals. Mobihealthnews

 

News roundup: docs dim on AI without purpose, ‘medtail’ a mall trend, CVS goes SDH, Kvedar to ATA, Biden ‘moonshot’ shorts out, and Short Takes

July 27, 2019 | by

Docs not crazy about AI. And Dog Bites Man. In Medscape‘s survey of 1,500 doctors in the US, Europe, and Latin America, they are skeptical (49 percent-US) and uncomfortable (35 percent-Europe, 30 percent-Latin America). Only 20 percent fess up to actually using an AI application, and aren’t crazy about voice tech even at home. Two-thirds are willing to take a look at AI-powered tech if it proves to be better than humans at diagnosis, but only 44 percent actually believe that will happen. FierceHealthcare

This dim view, in the estimation of a chief analytics and information officer in healthcare, Vikas Chowdhry, is not the fault of AI nor of the doctors. There’s a disconnect between the tech and the larger purpose. “Without a national urgency to focus on health instead of medical care, and without scalable patient person-centered reforms, no technology will make a meaningful impact, especially in a hybrid public goods area like health.” The analogy is to power of computing–that somehow when we focused behind a goal, we were able to have multiple moon missions with computing equivalent to a really old smartphone, but now we send out funny cat videos instead of being on Mars. (And this Editor growing up in NJ thought the space program was there to market Tang orange drink.) HIStalk.

Those vacant stores at malls? Fill ’em with healthcare clinics! And go out for Jamba Juice after! CNN finally caught up with the trend, apparent on suburbia’s Boulevards and Main Streets, that clinics can fill those mall spots which have been vacated by retail. No longer confined to ‘medical buildings’, outpatient care is popping up everywhere. In your Editor’s metro area, you see CityMDs next to Walmarts, Northwell Health next to a burger spot, a Kessler Health rehab clinic replacing a dance studio, and so on. The clever name for it is ‘medtail’, and landlords love them because they sign long leases and pay for premium spots, brighten up dim concourses, and perhaps stimulate food court and other shopping traffic. Of course, CVS and Aetna spotted this about years ago in their merger but are working expansion in the other direction with expanding CVS locations and on the healthcare side, testing the addition of social determinants of health (SDH) services via a pilot partnership, Destination: Health with non-profit Unite Us to connect better with community services. This is in addition to previous affordable housing investments and a five-year community health initiative. Forbes, Mobihealthnews

ATA announces Joseph Kvedar, MD, as President-Elect. Dr. Kvedar was previously president in 2004-5 and replaces John Glaser, PhD, Executive Senior Advisor, Cerner. He will remain as Vice President of Connected Health at Partners HealthCare and Professor of Dermatology at Harvard Medical School. A question mark for those of us in the industry is his extensive engagement with October’s Connected Health Conference in Boston, one of the earliest and now a HIMSS event. ATA’s next event is ATA2020 3-5 May 2020 in Phoenix–apparently no Fall Forum this year.

The Biden Cancer Initiative has shut down after two years in operation. This spinoff of the White House-sponsored ‘moonshot’ initiative was founded after the death of Beau Biden, son of Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden. Both Mr. Biden and wife Jill Biden withdrew due to ethics concerns in April. According to Fortune, the nonprofit had trouble maintaining momentum without their presence. However, the setup invited conflict of interest concerns. The Initiative engaged and was funded by pharmas and other health tech companies, directly for Initiative support but mainly for indirect pledges to fund research. Most of these organizations do business with Federal, state and local governments. Shortly after the formal announcement, Mr. Biden the Candidate announced a rural health plan to expand a federal grant program to include rural telehealth for mental health and specialized services. Politico   But isn’t that already underway with the FCC’s Connected Care Pilot Program, coming to a vote soon? [TTA 20 June]

And…Short Takes

  • Philips Healthcare bought Boston-based patient engagement/management start-up Medumo. Terms not disclosed. CNBC
  • London’s Medopad launched with Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust (RWT) in a three-year RPM deal. DigitalHealthNews
  • Parks Associates’ Connected Health Summit will be again in San Diego 27-29 August with an outstanding lineup of speakers. More information and registration here.

And in other news, Matt Hancock holds tight to his portfolio as UK Secretary of State for Health and Social Care in the newly formed Government under new PM Boris Johnson. Luckier than the other 50 percent!

 

 

Late summer and early autumn event updates: Save 20% on Connected Health Summit, SEHTA Health + Space, Lilley’s talk with Ali Parsa, PATH Summit, Connected Health Conference, HealthIMPACT

August 15, 2018 | by

It’s always a little sad to realize that summer is winding down. Some (like your Editor) stretch the summer past Labor Day (the DMZ in the US) into early autumn, taking the philosophy that woolies are way too warm till November. Here are eight substantial events on your calendar to look forward to:

Connected Health Summit, 28-30 August next week, San Diego–Readers Save 20%!

Parks Associates have offered our readers 20% off registration at ‘Connected Health, Independent Living and Engaging Consumers’, the fifth Connected Health Summit organized by Parks Associates. The conference will analyze the roles of connected health technologies and innovations in driving changes in consumer behaviors and business models. Lead speakers are from IBM Watson Health, Alarm.com, Uber Health, and Qualcomm Life. More information and registration here. As a preview, download their latest white papers:  Market Snapshot – Consumer Health Attitudes and IoT Home Living Features and Sleep Tech and IoT. #CONNHealth18

Healthcare and Space Funding Call Brief, 4 September, Cocoon Networks, 4 Christopher Street, London, EC2A 2BS, 10:00 – 13:00

Sponsored by SEHTA, The Knowledge Transfer Network, and MedCity, this will cover funding opportunities for converting innovation from the space sector, from exploration to satellite communications, to new solutions for the health sector and medical applications that improve NHS treatment and care. At this event attendees will hear about them plus have the opportunity to network with organizations from both the health and space sectors. This event is part of the MedTech London programme supported by the GLA. For further information, contact Clare Ansett, Head of Communications, SEHTA

Health Chat with Ali Parsa of Babylon Health, 10 September, RSM, 1 Wimpole Street, London (new venue!)

This Health Chat conducted by Roy Lilley of nhsmanagers.net promises to be eventful. “Has the tide turned in primary care? What effect might Babylon produce? Who are the beneficiaries? What is the future for the traditional primary care GP model?” Tickets are a modest £19.95 – £39.95 and are going quickly. Sponsored by UK HealthGateway, the publishers of nhsmanagers.net. Register here.

PATH Summit, 30 September – 2 October, Omni Shoreham Hotel, Washington DC

Those of us who wondered what long-time CEO Jonathan Linkous of the American Telemedicine Association has moved on to now have their answer: CEO of PATH, the Partnership for Artificial Intelligence and Automation in Healthcare. Their first Summit will attempt to answer questions like: “Is artificial intelligence, automation, robotics and sensors the future of healthcare or a passing fad?” It will cover AI innovations, best practices, and barriers to beware (boo!) Find out more and register here, but this Editor’s advice (not that it will be taken) is to drop the silly home page quote from the buffoonish and irrelevant Mark Cuban. 

Connected Health Conference, 17-19 October, Boston

The second year of the combined PCHAlliance Connected Health Conference and the Partners Connected Health Symposium at the impressive Seaport World Trade Center kicks off with co-located conferences followed by two full days of events and expo. Preview it and register here. 

HealthIMPACT has three events from September into December:

HealthIMPACT Midwest – Rev1 Ventures, Columbus, OH, September 27

NODE.Health Evidence in Digital Medicine Roundtable – Microsoft Technology Center Boston – October 16

NODE.Health Digital Medicine Conference – Microsoft Technology Center, New York, NY – December 5-7

Rounding up July: Teladoc’s new name and earnings, Hitching a Lyft, GlobalMed with FCC, Proteus and HIV sensing, Parks Associates, Welbeing

August 1, 2018 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Lasso.jpg” thumb_width=”125″ /] [grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/teladochealth_logo_plumaqua_rgb.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]Telemedicine giant Teladoc today formally unveiled its name and logo change to Teladoc Health. Citing its worldwide reach and a broad portfolio of services, CEO Jason Gorevic stated “…we will further accelerate the adoption of virtual care and enhance our technology-enabled services to make high-quality healthcare a reality for more people and organizations around the world.” The name will officially change on 10 August but there is no change in their NYSE ticker symbol TDOC. Release on MarketWatch  Their earnings call on Wednesday reported a second quarter loss of $0.37 per share which was substantially less than the projected $0.43. Revenue was $94.56 million for the quarter ended June 2018, more than double that of CY 2017. Zacks.com

The burgeoning area of non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) got a Lyft with the publishing of two studies indicating reductions in costs and no-shows. Lyft rideshare partner Hitch Health which integrates EHR data, to identify patients, worked over 12 months with the Hennepin Healthcare internal medicine clinic in Minneapolis. The no-show rate dropped from 31 percent to 22.5 percent, with an estimated increase in revenue of $270,000. In Camden, NJ, Rideshare worked with a branch of the MD Anderson Cancer Clinic to schedule on-demand transportation, reducing direct transportation costs by 30 percent with the service and no-show rate down to four percent. Mobihealthnews

GlobalMed, a previous Perspectives contributor, was represented by its CEO on a four-person panel discussing the FCC ‘s proposed Connected Care Pilot Program, a new $100 million program to support telehealth for low-income Americans, attended by  FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr. Here’s a video from the 24 July meeting. Hat tip to Marcia Rhodes of Amendola Communications

Proteus Digital Health’s sensor-equipped pills, transmitter patch, and app may have a new market with prophylaxis (PrEP) treatments for the prevention of HIV transmission. A study by University of California, San Diego researchers with Truvada (Gilead Sciences) found that the sensor-equipped drug was well-received by most users and pharmacokinetically equivalent to Truvada alone. Proteus is the first FDA-approved digital ingestion tracking system with Abilify MyCite [TTA 14 Nov 17]. Mobihealthnews

Parks Associates has two upcoming opportunities for speakers at their hosted events at two large conferences. Click on the links for more information:

CONNECTIONS Europe: Strategies for Smart Home & Consumer IoT – Deadline: 1 Sept
Amsterdam – 13-14 Nov 2018  Event website

CONNECTIONS Summit at CES – Deadline: 15 Sept 2018
Las Vegas – 8 Jan 2019  Call for papers and more information.  

Welbeing in the UK announced on Wednesday 1 Aug their Rehabilitation Project in Cumbria. The program is designed to help patients who have had a fall or similar trauma leading to a hospital stay. When they are discharged, patients can now receive Welbeing’s alarm service for up to 13 weeks, free of charge. The service is being funded by Eden District Council. Welbeing recently acquired Eden Housing Association’s alarm and response services in Eden and Carlisle. (Link to press release to come)

Rounding up more Events of Summer–plus speaker submissions closing soon!

June 7, 2018 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Lasso.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]Time flies and so does your calendar! In addition to the important RSM event next Wednesday (maybe more so than the G8 Summit or the NoKo talks, but neither are introduced by Editor Charles!), here are more for your consideration.

Wednesday, 13 June: New York State Chapter’s annual miniHIMSS, “Healthcare on Broadway,” has a full day of speakers in four acts with an emphasis on healthcare advances in NY State and technology applicability. New World Stages in Manhattan starting at 8am. More information here, registration here.

Tuesday, 26 June: Mission Physician Transition into healthcare tech hosted by Health 2.0 NYC and MedStartr, 6-8 pm. More information on Meetup.

Wednesday, 27 June: Newark Venture Partners hosts their 3rd annual Demo Day for their 2018 class at Prudential Center, Newark NJ. Doors open at noon, presentations start at 1:30pm. Investors in NVP span tech, financial, and healthcare with Amazon, Prudential Financial, Dun & Bradstreet, RWJ Barnabas, Horizon BCBSNJ, TD Bank, and Panasonic. Free registration and more details here. 

Saturday, 30 June: Deadline for speaker submissions for the Connected Health Summit: Engaging Consumers on 28-30 August in San Diego.  The online form is here. TTA is a media partner of the CHS.

Tuesday-Wednesday 10-11 July: The King’s Fund Digital Health and Care Congress. More information here. TTA is an event supporter of the Congress. 

Friday 10th August: Deadline for entries/nominations for the ITEC Awards 2018, to be awarded at the TSA’s annual International Technology Enabled Care Conference 2018 16-17 October in Birmingham. The winners in five categories will be announced on 16 October during the Gala Dinner. 

Events roundup: The King’s Fund, SEHTA, RSM, VR4REHAB, Parks Associates, HealthIMPACT, Telemedicine SPS

May 17, 2018 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Lasso.jpg” thumb_width=”125″ /]It’s spring into summer, prime time for healthcare and related conferences.

If you are in the UK, prime territory on your calendar will be marked for 10-11 July in London at The King’s Fund 2018 Digital Health and Care Congress. Content and case studies include creating the right culture for large-scale digital change, using digital technology to improve quality of care, prevention and changing behaviors, population health informatics, tools for self-management, and much more. Find out more here. It includes a drinks reception on Tuesday 11th. Follow The King’s Fund on Twitter here: #KFdigital18. TTA is a media partner of the Digital Health Congress.

Hacking for Solutions is the prior week (4-5 July). It’s part of the three-year VR4REHAB project, with partners including The Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust and Teesside University, with the objective of developing new VR applications that promote better function and outcomes for patients and children with disabilities. Find out more on the UK Hackathon here and the international program here. At Brunel University London, Department of Clinical Sciences, Mary Seacole Building, Kingston Lane. 

SEHTA’s 2018 AGM & Annual Conference is 13 June at the Mary Sumner House, 24 Tufton Street, London. More information here.

The RSM has two upcoming events presented by the Telemedicine and eHealth Section: The 4th Annual Future of Medicine: The Role of Doctors in 2028 on 13 June and the timely Health Data: Who Owns It and How to Keep It Safe on 24 September.

And last, the Digital Healthcare Show will be 27-28 June at ExCeL London as part of Health+Care, positioned as Europe’s largest integrated health and social care event. More information on their very flashy website here. The TSA will host their Summer Forum at the Technology Enabled Care Theatre including updates on key areas for TEC and why regulation and standards are so vitally important for TECS. TSA members can receive discounted passes. UK Telehealthcare will also have members’ activities during the show.

For more upcoming UK Telehealthcare events starting 7-8 June, click the advert at the upper right. 

In the US, Parks Associates’ 2018 Connected Health Summit: Engaging Consumers will be held 28-30 August at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego, California. This year will analyze the role of innovative connected health solutions in driving changes in consumer behaviors as well as how healthcare systems, insurers, and hospital networks interact with consumers.  Speaker submissions are open until 1 June–more information is here. Early registration is open. TTA is a media partner of the Connected Health Summit and there will be more on this as we move closer to the event.

HealthIMPACT East moves to Washington, DC’s National Union Building 18-20 July with deep dives, re-think tanks, and re-boot camps. Their goal is to improve healthcare through technologies making a meaningful impact on patient outcomes and experience through honest and candid best practice sharing. The new format provides a TED-like experience to senior health system leadership. Register before 1 June with promo code HIEEB2018 to save 30%. The Digital Medicine Conference will return to NYC on 5-7 December. TTA is a past media partner of HealthIMPACT.

The Telemedicine & Telehealth Service Provider Summit (SPS) is annually organized by the Arizona Telemedicine Program, one of the pioneering organizations of practitioners in the US. This year the meeting is 8-9 October in Glendale, AZ, but abstracts for poster presentations are still open till 30 June. 

The health tech events of summer: The King’s Fund (London) and Parks Associates (San Diego) (Updated)

April 24, 2018 | by

Summer is coming, even if it’s difficult to believe that April Showers (or Snow) bring May Flowers. Here’s a preview of two health tech events to put on your calendar later on this year in mid and late summer.

The King’s Fund Digital Health and Care Congress 10-11 July, at their location in London. Content and case studies include creating the right culture for large-scale digital change, using digital technology to improve quality of care, prevention and changing behaviors, population health informatics, tools for self-management, and much more. Speakers include Matthew Swindell of NHS England and the Rt. Hon. Paul Burstow of the TSA. Information and registration are now available here. (Updated this week!) Follow The King’s Fund on Twitter here: #KFdigital18. TTA is a media partner of the Digital Health Congress.

Parks Associates’ 2018 Connected Health Summit: Engaging Consumers will be held 28-30 August at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego, California. This year will analyze the role of innovative connected health solutions in driving changes in consumer behaviors as well as how healthcare systems, insurers, and hospital networks interact with consumers. Updated: Confirmed keynotes are Deborah DiSanzo, General Manager, IBM Watson Health and–just added–Christopher Weber, General Manager of Uber Health [see this Editor’s thoughts on Uber from last month]. Speaker submissions are open until 1 June–more information is here. Early registration is now open. TTA is a media partner of the Connected Health Summit.

Connected Health Conference 25-27 October, Boston–save $100! (updated)

September 27, 2017 | by

Connected Health Conference, 25-27 October, Seaport World Trade Center, Boston Massachusetts

The eighth annual Connected Health Conference, is now presented by the Personal Connected Health Alliance (PCHAlliance) in partnership with Partners Connected Health, with a combined and rebooted annual meeting in Boston. The largest global conference in connected health has surfed many changes from the time it was started as the mHealth Summit (and Telecare Aware was one of the first media sponsors) in Washington, DC. This year’s theme, The Connected Life Journey: Shaping Health and Wellness for Every Generation, is centered around the future of technology-enabled health, wellness and what innovation means for over 2,000 providers, researchers, healthcare executives, and developers. CHC17’s location is now in Boston’s Innovation District versus a fairly remote part of Foggy Bottom–and early fall! (For more on CHC’s evolution, see here.)

Wednesday the 25th has a full day of pre-conference specialized sessions here, such as the Society for Participatory Medicine and Parks Associates‘ workshop, with the full conference and open exhibit hall on Thursday and Friday. Continua has a running Plugfest for those involved with Continua standards on Thursday and Friday. Also on those days is CHC’s own Health Tech StandOut! Competition featuring a group of ten finalists, free for conference registrants and the Connected Health Innovation Challenge (CHIC) (information here).

For the main website and for registration, click on the ad in the sidebar. TTA Readers save $100 on registration–use code CHC17TELE100. TTA is a media sponsor of CHC17. For updates, see on Twitter #Connect2Health and @PCHAlliance

Update: The PCHAlliance published today a research paper, Personal Connected Health: The State of the Evidence and a Call to Action. This is a meta-study of 53 studies and trials for setting an initial baseline for evidence in personal connected health. The key findings on the current state will come as no surprise–that better studies are needed that show evidence in clinical trials and real-world use. Release, study (download links)

Connected Health Summit 2017 San Diego — last chance to book!!

August 24, 2017 | by

29-31 August, The Omni Hotel, San Diego

[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/CH17-Banner_20Discount_300x145.jpg” thumb_width=”200″ /]Starting tomorrow, but not too late to book! Take a trip to Southern California for the end of the traditional summer season (sob!). This year’s Connected Health Summit, organized by research organization Parks Associates, spotlights health technologies as part of the Internet of Things (IoT) and the transformational impact of these connected solutions on the US healthcare system. Presentations are organized around:

  • Remote health monitoring for accountable care
  • Consumer-centric wellness and fitness solutions
  • Independent living technologies and services, including reinventing home health
  • Innovative virtual/convenience care models

Keynoters include 

  • John W. Cosgriff, Chief Strategy Officer, UnitedHealthcare
  • Saquib Rahim MD, MBA, Chief Medical Officer, Aetna
  • Vidya Raman-Tangella, Senior Vice President, and Head, UHC Innovation Center of Excellence, UnitedHealth Group
  • Dale Rayman, Senior Vice President, Actuarial Consulting & Business Development, Sharecare
  • Chanin Wendling, AVP, Informatics, Geisinger Health System

Latest press release info on the conference and the convergence of connected health, IoT, and smart home is here.

For more information and to still save 20 percent, click on the Connected Health Summit’s link here. Telehealth & Telecare Aware is pleased once again to be a media supporter of CHS 2017. Twitter at #CONNHealth17

TytoCare remote diagnostics comparable to in-person exam results: study

February 8, 2017 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Mom_using_on_child_ear.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]A study of the Tyto Care remote diagnostic device, conducted by Schneider Children’s Medical Center and the Sackler School of Medicine, found that the quality of readings by Tyto Care was ‘on par’ with in-person medical exams using conventional otoscopes and stethoscopes. Ears, heart, lungs and throats of 137 children aged 2-18 seeking care from the emergency department of a tertiary care facility were examined first conventionally and then again by a second remote physician using exam data captured by the TytoCare all-in-one device and attachments. Using standard statistical methods, the results were compared and the study reported “good to excellent agreement for all exams conducted using TytoCare and conventional exam tools, with a p-value <.001.” The study also recorded a separate five-point measure of patient experience and results averaged 4.4 and 4.5 out of 5 (excellent). No adverse events were recorded.

What is lacking in the release are the diagnoses of the young patients, but presumably those results will be presented with the final study. Formal presentations will be at the Israel Society for Clinical Pediatrics (HIPAK) meeting on 8 February in Tel Aviv and at the American Telemedicine Association (ATA) conference 23-25 April in Orlando, Florida. This positive report on efficacy will also aid their rollout with American Well, announced at the end of 2016 [TTA 2 Dec]. Harry Wang at Parks Associates in their blog also named TytoCare one of the two standouts of CES 2017–and the other, Partron (Croise) is not yet on the market.

Put them on the calendar: upcoming US IoT, connected health events (updated)

September 13, 2016 | by

September means that we come back from vacations and holidays. The calendars come out and we start to fill in the gaps for the next few months into (gasp!) 2017. Here’s a forward look through to next August for US healthcare and IoT  conferences, including International CES.

If you’re in Dallas this coming Thursday, the Health Wildcatters accelerator is premiering their new office at Pacific Place with a bash starting at 5:30pm. Reserve tickets quickly and find out more #HWGrandOpening Hat tip to Hubert Zajicek

Since TTA’s been a media supporter of Parks Associates’ Connected Health Summit for the past two years, here’s a sample of their other IoT and connected home events.

CONNECTIONS™ Europe  (Smart home, IoT and the connected consumer)
November 2-3, 2016, Amsterdam     www.connectionseurope.com

CONNECTIONS™ Summit at CES
January 5, 2017, CES, Las Vegas    www.connectionssummit.com

CONNECTIONS™: The Premier Connected Home Conference
May 23-25, 2017, San Francisco   http://www.connectionsus.com

Connected Health Summit: Engaging Consumers
August 29-31, 2017, San Diego  www.connectedhealthsummit.com

December is a big month for US conferences; three of note (and likely partners again) are:

MedStartr Momentum (MedMo16) (more…)

Connected health: what’s different than last year?

August 31, 2016 | by

This Editor was interested in what the organizers of the annual Connected Health Summit, now taking place in San Diego, are seeing as the differences in the digital health and remote monitoring sector over the past year. This year, Parks Associates promoted it as “spotlight(ing) health technologies as part of the Internet of Things (IoT) phenomenon and the transformational impact of these connected solutions on the US healthcare system.” I’ve been reading Parks’ research since 2006, when telecare was riding quite high, but the marketplace between consumer and enterprise-focused tech, monitoring and analytics has exploded. I asked Stuart Sikes, President of Parks Associates, for toplines on the key differences in the market and the conference between last year and this. It’s shifting to implementation, how to streamline processes around data, making data useful….and still finding someone to pay for it.

What is different this year than 2015?
The primary difference this year is that we will be discussing case studies and implementation and engagement issues, shifting the focus from “what elements are needed to encourage engagement” to “how is implementation working.” In addition, the emphasis on the power of data to provide meaningful data that empowers both consumers and care providers will increase, as secure collection and management of data is a central theme to most of the solutions on the agenda.
Regarding the agenda, one difference this year will be presentations by emerging companies to members of the investment community, who will offer some feedback on the company concepts and approach.

Do you see progress in adoption by physicians, healthcare organizations, consumers–and who is paying? (more…)

Connected Health Summit 30 August (updated)

August 24, 2016 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/CHS2016-Banner_125x125.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]It’s not too late to visit sunny and historic San Diego to attend Parks Associates’ Connected Health Summit. Click the sidebar advert at right for more information and to register. Read the two latest releases here:

The keynote and presenter lineup is here–plenty of hot topics being presented/discussed by those engaged in the daily business of health tech.

Telehealth & Telecare Aware is a media supporter of the conference for the second year. Their Twitter feeds at #CONNHealth16 @CONN_Health_Smt. 

Can technology help to bridge the Loneliness Factor?

February 4, 2016 | by

The Guardian’s impassioned article on how common and harmful loneliness is among older adults led to some reflection by this Editor on how difficult and ‘multi-part’ an approach to help can be, even if you call it ‘The Campaign to End Loneliness’. “Studies have found loneliness can be more harmful than smoking 15 cigarettes a day, increases the risk of premature death by 30% and the chances of developing dementia by 64%. More than one million people aged over 65 are thought to be lonely – around 10-13% of older people.”–statistics from the article and AgeUK’s press release on their recent study, ‘ Promising approaches to reducing loneliness and isolation in later life’.  GPs see a lot of them, and some more for an ‘event of the day’ than actual medical need. Loss of hearing, sight and mobility further isolate the older person, particularly those in rural areas where everyone and everything is at a distance requiring driving, creating dependency among those who can no longer. Even among the middle-aged, loss of hearing reduces engagement in social situations. (And the article does not include the disabled.) It closes with suggestions that councils need to budget for and organize programs to reach out to lonely adults, including carers, and that not one approach can fit all, but emphasizes more personal approaches such as groups and one-on-one support. Hat tip to Malcolm Fisk via Twitter

Is a way to fight the Loneliness Factor located in technology, even remote patient monitoring? That’s been the primary reason for some systems such as GrandCare, but even in RPM, whether hub-based or smartphone/tablet based, the reminders and active clinician monitoring part of chronic care management can and do engage. Older people are using smartphones and tablets–perhaps not as fully as a 40 year old, but they are using Skype, calendaring and social media (Facebook, LinkedIn and news/opinion sites). A big help here, according to Laurie Orlov, would be voice recognition and integration into safety/alarm technologies. This Editor also sees proactive alerting to changes in condition as a still-untapped area.  There’s $279 billion of potential in ‘silvertech’ as estimated by AARP and Parks Associates–it’s a matter of getting young techies/entrepreneurs excited about it, and the Sand Hill funder crowd realizing that yes, it’s sexy too. Long Term Living