Laurie Orlov’s impressions of this year’s Connected Health Symposium, hosted as usual by Partners HealthCare in Boston, presents the conundrum that telehealth and health tech faces beyond the consumer segment, booming fitness trackers and the apps bought one day, discarded the next. How do you get telehealth beyond the pilot to a permanent program in a health system? Do these systems really want to move healthcare to the home? According to Ms. Orlov, there’s amazingly no change from last year on these questions. They are still testing, not broadly deploying (how do companies like Ideal Life and Care Innovations [ever-funded? really?] which aren’t near substantial adoption continue?); and health systems are moving care from brick-and-mortar to the home but slowly, still. Continuing too is the lack of focus on how technology can work best with older adults. (more…)
Quick Tuesday takes on health tech
Long-term sensors, smart thermometers and the Scanadu Nirvana
The first study of long term use of carbon nanotubes as implanted sensors has been published in Nature Nanotechnology. The nanotubes were implanted for a year in animals to track nitrous oxide (NO), an indicator of inflammation which is important in and of itself, but the level of NO is also not understood long term in cancer. To detect NO, the tubes are wrapped in DNA with a particular sequence and wrapped in an alginate gel to stay in place for a recorded 400 days. The MIT team working on this is also working on nanotubes for real-time detection of glucose levels, towards an accurate insulin pump that would end the diabetic’s perpetual Battle of Stalingrad. MIT News and FierceHealthIT.
The Kinsa smart thermometer for iPhone and Android received a glowing article in Fast Company Design. (more…)
Changes at the top at Tunstall
EXCLUSIVE
A reliable and informed source has told this Editor (1 Nov) that Gil Baldwin, Group CEO of Tunstall Healthcare Group Ltd. will be stepping down, to be replaced by Paul Stobart, the former CEO of CPPGroup plc. Mr. Baldwin joined Tunstall in March 2010 from major insurer Aviva, where he headed Aviva Health. Prior to CPP, Mr. Stobart held various positions over 15 years at global enterprise software giant Sage Group, concluding as their CEO for Northern Europe.
Charterhouse Capital Partners acquired Tunstall in 2008, with former owner Bridgepoint Capital retaining a minority share. However, a sale/VC exit has long been rumored. The company recently received some unflattering attention on its (fully legal) usage of the Quoted Eurobond Exemption in The Independent [TTA 25 Oct].
This Editor notes that Mr. Stobart became CPPGroup’s CEO to manage the fallout after it was revealed in March 2011 that the FSA (Financial Services Authority) was investigating the company for mis-selling their bank card protection and identity theft products. After two years of struggle and a record £10.5 million FSA fine, four major banks dramatically rescued the company in July with an eleventh-hour £38 million refinancing, but the consequence of restructuring was that Mr. Stobart and the CFO both stepped down in August. [Guardian, Sky News via Orange, CreditToday] This was certainly a trial by fire. It should also be noted that to this Editor’s knowledge, Mr. Stobart has no specific healthcare, telecare/telehealth or health insurance experience, which is unusual for a position of this type.
Update 4 November: Tunstall’s release at 2:20 PM UK time, making this official. Our source indicates that Mr. Stobart’s start date is today (Monday) and it transpired quickly with business staff only being notified internally last Wednesday, which makes this an exceedingly quick change.
Patient groups most likely to use mobile phones for health: study
A new Manhattan Research study, which starts off rather pedestrian, contains a surprise. The trend of increased used of smartphones for health is not it, as it follows online use: 95 million Americans now use their mobile phones for health information or tools, up 27 percent from 75 million a year ago, and the Cybercitizen Health US 2013 study of over 8,600 Americans found that 38 percent of online smartphone users consider it “essential”. What sets the study apart from the usual enumeration and semi-puffery is the discovery of which patient groups find smartphones most useful and are most likely to use their phones for health reasons. It is closely linked to medical chronic conditions, but not the ones you think. (more…)
Wellocracy launched to explain fitness tracking, apps
Partners HealthCare’s Center for Connected Health has launched Wellocracy, to explain to consumers how you can get the most out of their fitness trackers, health apps and related devices. It won’t be a ‘Consumer Reports’ of devices or apps (though provides a comparison chart), ‘curate’ them as the now seemingly dormant Happtique once intended to do or screech at you on your ‘issues’ as Cigna’s Go You does, but offers sensible advice on how to get the most out of the kit you just bought and the information it provides. Also it addresses the ‘stickiness factor’–staying with a regimen–connects to outside news and adds a large dollop of social engagement with sharing ‘The New Fit Revolution.’ Coincidentally, The Center’s Joseph Kvedar, M.D. just co-authored a book, Wellocracy: Move to a Great Body, with Carol Colman and Justin Mager, MD. Release includes a useful Harris Interactive survey that indicates that fitness and sleep tracking are seen favorably and perceived as valuable but is still large on potential, short on customers.
Luxe workchair becomes telehealth chair
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Sharp_Telehealth_Chair.jpg” thumb_width=”175″ /]Sit down, relax and let Sharp Electronics‘ Health Care Support Chair do the telehealth work. It will, once you arrange yourself comfortably on the proper sensors, take your body temperature, heart rate, weight, and blood pressure, and put it up there on the big three-part screen to tell you if you’ve been good or bad. The cloud service behind it presumably will store and analyze your information, then send to your doctor if you choose.
Here’s the ‘wow’ view from the chair.[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/sharp-health-chair-6.jpg” thumb_width=”175″ /] Telepresence Options noted that Ubergizmo tracked down the chair to the super-luxe MWE Labs‘ Emperor 1510 workstation–an interesting repurposing which demonstrates that health sensors can be incorporated into furniture. It was unveiled at the September CEATEC Japan show and is perhaps designed to address the needs of the rapidly aging but affluent populations of Japan, Taiwan and South Korea who do not want to mess with mobile devices or apps. Also SlashGear.
Much ado about Airo
A flurry of publicity has descended like early snow in the Rockies promoting the AIRO fitness band. Developed by three graduates of Canada’s University of Waterloo, it is building pre-delivery excitement (and pre-orders) around the band’s claimed unique capability to analyze post-eating effects and make recommendations. A mini-spectrometer built into the band uses light wavelengths to look into a person’s blood stream and detect the metabolites released during and after eating. Their program then analyzes the information and makes nutritional recommendations on your smartphone without any separate input of foods or calories. As far as this Editor knows, this is a first, along with using heart rate and caloric burn to measure exercise intensity and recovery. The ‘only health tracker you’ll ever need’ cuff also measures and reports on stress and sleep. The company is taking pre-orders at $149 in advance of the full DTC price of $200 (not sure if in Canadian or US dollars), but according to the FAQs delivery will not be until Fall 2014. For iPhones and Android.
Could Fitbit and Jawbone Up be getting the treatment they meted out to Zeo within a year? Will the spectrometer and blood analysis mean that the device will need FDA and Health Canada clearance? Inquiring minds want to know. Website, video, Business Insider article, CBS-TV Cleveland. (Editor Donna note that the pre-sale over a year in advance is essentially a crowdfunding strategy, but standalone it feels ‘take the money and run’ dodgy.) Hat tip to reader Lois Drapin of The Drapin Group, New York.
Update 31 October: The somewhat sketchy credibility of this device has increased exponentially, in this Editor’s opinion, since the revelation that there is not a working prototype (due in December, according to the founder) and the spectrometer’s capability and accuracy of detecting blood metabolites non-invasively at the wrist may resemble junk science (MedCityNews). Brian Dolan concludes that as of this point, Airo cannot be what it’s cracked up to be in Mobihealthnews.
In smartwatch 2014 deluge news, Google is also nearing its smartwatch launch within months, according to The Wall Street Journal. The watch will incorporate the Google Now personal assistant.
UCLA telemedicine platform connecting Army medicine and wounded warriors
In a joint program instituted by UCLA Health, Brooke Army Medical Center (AMC), a burn and rehab hospital in San Antonio and the Veterans Administration Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System over the past six years, wounded soldiers undergoing major facial or burn reconstruction at UCLA have had access to telemedicine consults between UCLA and Brooke AMC. This is now being expanded to include other major reconstructions, such as orthopedic reconstruction for severely damaged limbs, urologic treatment, otolaryngological care, examination and treatment of reproductive issues, repair of airways and design of new prosthetic ears. In including Fort Irwin in the Mojave Desert, the program is now including TBI and PTSD. FierceHealthIT on Operation Mend.
Can telehealth kiosks fill the treatment gap?
Telemedicine’s virtual doctor-patient consults have usually been positioned as computer (and now tablet/smartphone over Wi-Fi–American Well’s announcement earlier this month) driven. Kiosks provide an alternate model for a more detailed visit. The relatively new HealthSpot Station has secured a CMS Healthcare Innovation grant of $12.7 million to place kiosks in partnership with three Cleveland, Ohio hospital systems, including University Hospital and for Cuyahoga County employees through a partnership with MetroHealth. One of the UH kiosks is at the Friendly Inn Settlement House, a social services provider in a high-poverty neighborhood on the east side of Cleveland; visits are free for the next three months for kids between 3-18 (accompanied by a parent). (more…)
Is this Tunstall’s ‘taxgate’? Maybe not.
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/taxman_logo.jpg” thumb_width=”170″ /]On Monday, The Independent, one of the UK’s major national papers, turned its attention in a ‘Tax Special Investigation’ to nine healthcare companies which are using a corporation tax reducing scheme, the ‘Quoted Eurobond Exemption’, where they pay loan interest at high rates to their parent companies through a mechanism via the Channel Islands Stock Exchange, rather than their owners further investing by taking additional equity. (How it works–infographic from The Independent)
One of the companies the article focused on was Tunstall and its owners Charterhouse and Bridgepoint. Tunstall’s profits–like the other healthcare companies profiled, Partnerships In Care, Independent Clinical Services, Priory Group, Acorn Care, Lifeways, Healthcare At Home, Spire Healthcare and Care UK–come largely from the public sector and, by using this means to pay less tax, less money is recycled back to the Treasury. The article estimates the amount for each company which would have been paid had this tax exemption not been in place. This Editor notes that a number of the companies profiled have had significant inspection problems and numerous complaints–Tunstall is not one of them, but it is the second largest ‘tax avoider’ (after Spire) listed.
There seem to be three ways to regard this:
1) it’s a commendably clever contrivance
2) it’s a suspiciously shady stratagem
3) it’s a non-story because it is something imposed on Tunstall by its owners
Whatever it may be, we are left wondering if Tunstall’s customers benefit in any way from this tax saving. We will be interested in our readers’ views.
Independent article: Tax Special Investigation: Firms running NHS care services avoiding millions in tax It is equally popular with well known high street (US=Main Street) retailers and restaurant chains: Eurobonds scandal: The high street giants avoiding millions in tax (more…)
mHealth for Behaviour Change
4 December 2013, Holiday Inn Regent’s Park, Central London, UK
SMi’s masterclass hosted by David Doherty of 3G Doctor will cover the following:
• Introduction to how mobile is changing behaviour (positive & negative)
• Overview of available mHealth technologies
• Lessons from previous research efforts
• Ways Healthcare Providers are leveraging Mobile Technology to change behaviour
• Deep dive on world leading program that uses mHealth tech to manage Chronic Disease
• Insights into how to design for sustainable behaviour change
Wireless Health 2013 (US)
1-3 November 2013, Johns Hopkins University-Carey Business School, Baltimore, Maryland
Presented by the San Diego-based Wireless-Life Sciences Alliance (WLSA), the trans-disciplinary focus of the conference, crossing research, development and implementation lines, will bring together members of the medical and health research community, device manufacturers, clinical and health services providers, government leaders and policy makers. Peer-reviewed papers and abstracts, interactive workshops, emerging application demonstrations, and distinguished speakers will be featured. 1 November features pre-conference workshops. Keynoters include Dr. Michael Roizen, Chief Wellness Officer and Wellness Institute Chair at the Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Peter Tippet, Chief Medical Officer and Vice President of the Verizon Innovation Incubator, and computer/healthcare scientist Deborah Estrin of Cornell NYC Tech. Release. Information and registration here.
150 Health 2.0 presentations online
Last month’s Health 2.0 three-day conference in San Francisco appears to be almost totally on video, with presentations ranging from 5 minutes to over 1/2 hour. The 15 pages include demos, keynotes and interviews. Warning–don’t use the categories at the upper right hand corner or the sidebar to try to sort through them, because these group together multiple meetings by topic. Everything you wanted to know about Quantified Selfing, patient communities (PatientsLikeMe, Medivizor), HIT, EMRs, employer wellness programs (Keas), discussing end of life care (Blaine Warkentine’s Vimty) as well as other ‘unmentionables’ like vulnerability, caregiving, social support, death, sex, taxes. Quite a few on the US health insurance exchange which was going to lead Americans to The New Healthcare Jerusalem in a few days. Somehow GetInsured.com manages to calculate possible individual insurance savings in two-three screens, though you have to call about insurance. Tim Kelsey, the NHS National Director for Patients and Information, announces £1 billion in a technology fund here. Health 2.0 San Francisco 2013.
Telehealth round-up: the good, the bad, and the future
Getting the bad news out of the way first, the seemingly-eternal researchers have thrown their grappling iron into the ancient store of data from the now-only-historically-relevant Whole System Demonstrator data pool and dragged out yet another unexploded bomb that they have then endeavoured to detonate, in the form of a short research article.
Thankfully the explosive has deteriorated with age so (more…)
Humana, Healthrageous and some object lessons
The acquisition of the assets of Partners HealthCare spinoff Healthrageous by insurance and health service giant Humana is reverberating in the field in the US, particularly those in the buzziest digital health sectors. Some may look away, but a hard look provides some object lessons at the sheer unpredictability of the field for those who are innovating and attempting to shape consumer behavior and health. (Not behavioral health)
- Healthrageous had an impressive lineage and credibility. Developed over three years at Partners HealthCare, it was spun off in 2010, PHC members on the board, leadership from well-known/regarded figures such as Rick Lee and Mary Beth Chalk–and enjoyed abundant, rapid startup funding–$12.5 million in two rounds, the last exactly one year ago, from equally impressive investors, reportedly $15 million total. No raiding the credit cards here.
- It occupied what everyone for the past few years thought of as a sweet spot–personal health management targeted to employers/benefit managers along with health plans to lower costs that combined sensor-based telehealth data with individualized coaching and feedback–and data from a broad base of 10,000 users. (more…)
Oxitone Medical developing pulse O2 telehealth at wrist
Israel’s Oxitone Medical is one of the Lucky Thirteen participants in the GE/StartUp Health Academy Entrepreneurship Program [TTA 4 April]. By this profile in MedCityNews, it appears they are getting closer to being in market with their wrist-worn device. Current fingertip devices are uncomfortable and not wearable for long periods of time, a major advantage with a bracelet style (if not too clunky). The device is still in prototype, but the system will send out alerts to family, caregivers and a call center if saturation drops below a pre-set level, who can then attend or call for medical assistance. Their first markets are COPD and CHF patients. Device moves continuous oxygen saturation monitoring from the fingertip to the wrist
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