The researchers of Duke University have established a handheld device for cervical cancer screenings that produces high-quality images on a smartphone or laptop, part of an initiative to make screenings more accessible, convenient to conduct and less expensive than studies using costly traditional equipment.
The wand-like device, which is portable and easier to use, captures high-quality pictures of the cervix. In fact, the pocket colposcope rivals the image quality of the best colposcopes on the market but at a fraction of the weight, size and cost, contends Nimmi Ramanujam, the Robert W. Carr, Jr., Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Duke.
In accordance with Ramanujam, current standard practices for cervical cancer screenings require a speculum (a metal device designed to spread the vaginal walls apart), a colposcope (a magnified telescopic device and camera designed to enable medical professionals to see the cervix), as well as a highly trained expert to administer the test. As an outcome, she notes that cervical cancer is more prevalent in females living in low socioeconomic communities that do not have access to these resources.
“The mortality rate of cervical cancer should absolutely be 0% because we have all the tools to see and treat it—but, it is not,” claims Ramanujam. “That is in part because women don’t get screening or do not follow up on a positive screening to have colposcopy performed at a referral clinic. We require bringing colposcopy to women so that we can decrease this complicated string of actions."
The device, which was established with funding from the National Institutes of Health, has a colposcope design that resembles a pocket-sized tampon with lights and a camera at one end. It also involves an inserter through which the colposcope can be inserted to make the entire procedure speculum free. The channel through the inserter is also accessible to contrast agents used for the cervical cancer screenings procedure.
Researchers are working on automating the screening procedure by utilizing image processing and machine learning to teach computers how to spot signs of precancerous and cancerous cells. Finally, Ramanujam considers women could use the device to self-screen, eliminating the requirement for a trained physician, and hence potentially transforming screening and cure rates worldwide.
The genesis for the device was a trip that Ramanujam, who is director of the Center for Global Women’s Health Technologies at Duke, made to Tanzania in which clinicians in that country reported complications in getting females screened for cervical cancer in the developing country due to the uncomfortable speculums.
“Cervical cancer screenings commonly needs use of a speculum to give a clear view of the cervix. The speculum is one potential barrier to screening because of fear of pain, discomfort and embarrassment,” write Ramanujam and her coworkers in a May 31 article in the journal PLOS One. “This research indicates the feasibility of an inserter and miniature-imaging device for comfortable cervical image capture of females with potential for synergistic HPV and Pap smear sample collection.”
In their research of 15 volunteers at Duke, with self-insertion and physician-assisted cervix image capture, adequate cervix visualization for 83% of sufferers was demonstrated, while 92.3% of women reported that they preferred the speculum-free cervical cancer screening afforded by the device.
The pocket colposcope has been tested with a speculum in clinical trials in the United States, Kenya, Peru and Tanzania, with about 500 sufferers enrolled to date. New researches are planned in Honduras and Zambia. The speculum-free version has been recently launched into a 50-patient study; it will assess how the speculum-free device compares with standard speculum-based gynecology for visualization of the cervix.
“We have applied for extra funding from the NIH to continue these efforts,” Ramanujam summarizes, while noting that the team is working on regulatory clearance for the device, which they hope to get by the end of 2017.
Showing posts with label mHealth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mHealth. Show all posts
Monday, June 5, 2017
Monday, May 29, 2017
University of Wisconsin Establishes Substance Abuse Adherence mHealth Application
Researchers from the University of Wisconsin’s Center for Health Enhancement Systems Studies (CHESS) established a mHealth app for substance abuse adherence mHealth application that is a finalist for an $100,000 grant award from the Harvard Innovation in American Government program.
The substance abuse adherence mHealth application, called A-CHESS, gives users a forum to talk to other recovering addicts, a panic button that notifies friends or family if the individual is having an urge to relapse, and a GPS locator to assist the recovering user stay away from risky areas such as bars.
“Deployed on randomized clinical trials, A-CHESS users are 65% more likely to remain sober after leaving an inpatient treatment service,” claimed David Gustafson, industrial and systems engineering emeritus research professor and the principal investigator at CHESS.
Since A-CHESS has possibility to make better the lives of millions struggling with substance abuse, the team was invited to present the app on at the Harvard Innovations in Government Competition on the day of May 17th.
A-CHESS, along with 6 other finalists, was opted among an entrant pool of 500 programs.
The award generates important national attention, as governments at state and local levels use the finalists’ concepts to drive positive change at all levels of society. Should the A-CHESS team receive the award, they could drastically improve the scope and capability of their app.
The developers of A-CHESS realized the smartphone is a strong medium in promoting adherence due to how accessible and functional apps can be for users.
“You require something like a smartphone app because individuals require getting into a treatment center to get help, but they require help afterwards too,” CHESS Deputy Director Fiona McTavish said.
Other characteristics in the substance abuse adherence mHealth application involve access to articles about addiction, games to distract users from negative thoughts, meditation music, quick tips and refusal skills, counselor messaging, questions that monitor their progress, and other GPS functions that let users know where recovery meetings are available.
Apps and mHealth present a distinctive opportunity to promote adherence, and positive self-care behaviors, as evidence by modern research.
Other behaviors that negatively impact the health, such as smoking, may soon be conveniently mitigated through intuitive smartphone interfaces and digital support.
Adherence apps also have possibility to improve access to care for several patients who may require care services outside of normal office hours, or those who can’t afford or access a provider when necessary.
“The current system is merely incapable of meeting the requirements of the people who are out there,” Gustafson said. “There is not enough staff — there will never be enough staff — so we needed to see what else could be done.”
The substance abuse adherence mHealth application, called A-CHESS, gives users a forum to talk to other recovering addicts, a panic button that notifies friends or family if the individual is having an urge to relapse, and a GPS locator to assist the recovering user stay away from risky areas such as bars.
“Deployed on randomized clinical trials, A-CHESS users are 65% more likely to remain sober after leaving an inpatient treatment service,” claimed David Gustafson, industrial and systems engineering emeritus research professor and the principal investigator at CHESS.
Since A-CHESS has possibility to make better the lives of millions struggling with substance abuse, the team was invited to present the app on at the Harvard Innovations in Government Competition on the day of May 17th.
A-CHESS, along with 6 other finalists, was opted among an entrant pool of 500 programs.
The award generates important national attention, as governments at state and local levels use the finalists’ concepts to drive positive change at all levels of society. Should the A-CHESS team receive the award, they could drastically improve the scope and capability of their app.
The developers of A-CHESS realized the smartphone is a strong medium in promoting adherence due to how accessible and functional apps can be for users.
“You require something like a smartphone app because individuals require getting into a treatment center to get help, but they require help afterwards too,” CHESS Deputy Director Fiona McTavish said.
Other characteristics in the substance abuse adherence mHealth application involve access to articles about addiction, games to distract users from negative thoughts, meditation music, quick tips and refusal skills, counselor messaging, questions that monitor their progress, and other GPS functions that let users know where recovery meetings are available.
Apps and mHealth present a distinctive opportunity to promote adherence, and positive self-care behaviors, as evidence by modern research.
Other behaviors that negatively impact the health, such as smoking, may soon be conveniently mitigated through intuitive smartphone interfaces and digital support.
Adherence apps also have possibility to improve access to care for several patients who may require care services outside of normal office hours, or those who can’t afford or access a provider when necessary.
“The current system is merely incapable of meeting the requirements of the people who are out there,” Gustafson said. “There is not enough staff — there will never be enough staff — so we needed to see what else could be done.”
Sunday, May 21, 2017
VA awards $19.6M contract for patient self-scheduling app system
In an attempt to decrease the wait times for medical care, the Department of Veterans Affairs has awarded health IT vendor Document Storage Systems a $19.6 million contract to give a mobile-based, commercial off-the-shelf patient self-scheduling app system as key part of a VA pilot program.
The Faster Care for Veterans Act of 2016 instructed the agency to inaugurate an 18-month pilot under which veterans could utilize a website or mobile app to schedule and confirm medical appointments at VA facilities. The law needs that the pilot be rolled out to at least 3 Veterans Integrated Service Networks.
The pilot of VA will leverage the DSS ForSite2020 scheduling software, which will be integrated with the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA), enabling consumers to schedule and confirm primary care, specialty care and mental health appointments through a mobile device or computer. The app will enable sufferers to request, schedule, confirm, modify or cancel appointments 24 hour each day.
“The VA is making crucial improvements to veteran healthcare and will always look to leverage creative tools that will put more capabilities in the hands of Veterans,” stated VA Secretary David Shulkin, MD. “Patient Self-scheduling app system is widely used in the private sector and will assist to develop a better experience for veterans and their medical care providers.”
Presently, the agency is pursuing a dual-track modernization approach to its medical appointment scheduling by investing in commercial as well as VA-developed systems. In accordance to the VA’s Office of Veterans Access to Care, it is working to make better both external “veteran-facing” and internal “scheduler-facing” scheduling apps.
Besides the commercial veteran-facing Faster Care mobile app from DSS, the VA has deployed its internally developed Veterans Appointment Request (VAR) app to almost 100 sites nationally.
“VA’s Mobile Veterans Appointment Request app, presently available at 99 sites, also gives most of the primary capabilities required by the Faster Care for Veterans Act and is modeled after victorious mobile applications used for patient self-scheduling app system,” in accordance to an agency statement. “VA intends to sustain development of VAR to incorporate new capabilities.”
The Veterans Appointment Request app makes it possible for veterans to patient self-scheduling app system primary care appointments and request help in booking both primary care and mental health appointments at the VA facilities where they get care. In addition to scheduling appointments, the app is capable to trace appointment details and the status of requests, send messages about requested appointments and get notifications and cancel appointments.
The Faster Care for Veterans Act of 2016 instructed the agency to inaugurate an 18-month pilot under which veterans could utilize a website or mobile app to schedule and confirm medical appointments at VA facilities. The law needs that the pilot be rolled out to at least 3 Veterans Integrated Service Networks.
The pilot of VA will leverage the DSS ForSite2020 scheduling software, which will be integrated with the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA), enabling consumers to schedule and confirm primary care, specialty care and mental health appointments through a mobile device or computer. The app will enable sufferers to request, schedule, confirm, modify or cancel appointments 24 hour each day.
“The VA is making crucial improvements to veteran healthcare and will always look to leverage creative tools that will put more capabilities in the hands of Veterans,” stated VA Secretary David Shulkin, MD. “Patient Self-scheduling app system is widely used in the private sector and will assist to develop a better experience for veterans and their medical care providers.”
Presently, the agency is pursuing a dual-track modernization approach to its medical appointment scheduling by investing in commercial as well as VA-developed systems. In accordance to the VA’s Office of Veterans Access to Care, it is working to make better both external “veteran-facing” and internal “scheduler-facing” scheduling apps.
Besides the commercial veteran-facing Faster Care mobile app from DSS, the VA has deployed its internally developed Veterans Appointment Request (VAR) app to almost 100 sites nationally.
“VA’s Mobile Veterans Appointment Request app, presently available at 99 sites, also gives most of the primary capabilities required by the Faster Care for Veterans Act and is modeled after victorious mobile applications used for patient self-scheduling app system,” in accordance to an agency statement. “VA intends to sustain development of VAR to incorporate new capabilities.”
The Veterans Appointment Request app makes it possible for veterans to patient self-scheduling app system primary care appointments and request help in booking both primary care and mental health appointments at the VA facilities where they get care. In addition to scheduling appointments, the app is capable to trace appointment details and the status of requests, send messages about requested appointments and get notifications and cancel appointments.
Monday, May 8, 2017
Incorrect Heart Rate mHealth Apps Pose Consumer issues
Almost a fifth of measurements recorded by heart rate mHealth apps for users can be incorrect by upwards of 20 beats each minute, compared to clinical monitoring, inn accordance to research from the European Society of Cardiology.
A group of researchers observed 4 different heart rate mhealth apps available on the App Store for iPhone 4 and 5, and discovered that these heart rate mhealth apps were appealing to consumers because of the ease-of-use and accessibility.
Not merely are the apps easily available, but can be tantalizing to consumers regardless of a significant likelihood to give false data.
“Heart rate mhealth apps come installed on several smartphones and once individuals see them it is human nature to use them and compare their outcomes with others,” stated study author Dr Christophe Wyss, a cardiologist at Heart Clinic Zurich, Switzerland.
But incorrect readings may lead to alarm in sufferers and prompt unimportant communications with providers. “Consumers and interpreting physicians require being aware that the differences between apps are huge and there are no criteria to assess them,” cautioned Wyss.
In the research, the researchers assessed the precision of certain heart rate mHealth apps by comparing the results to the clinical gold standard measurements. Clinical monitoring utilizes an electrocardiogram (ECG), which measures the electrical activity of the heart using leads on the chest, and fingertip pulse.
The apps were broken into 2 subgroups: ones that made contact with the user and apps that were non-contact. Apps that made contact with the consumer were much more accurate than the non-contact apps, in accordance to the research team.
Although, even the user-contact apps delivered different results, as one of them was much better at recording heart rate in contrast to the other.
“The one contact app was remarkable, performing nearly like a medically approved pulse oximeter device, but the other app wasn’t accurate even though they use the similar technology,” claimed Dr Wyss.
The researchers attemped to find why the apps were different, but couldn’t even after reviewing camera technology (iPhone 4 versus iPhone 5), age, body temperature, or heart rate itself. The most likely answer includes proprietary information from the developer side of app production.
“The difference in performance between the contact apps is possibly down to the algorithm the app uses to measure heart rate which is commercially confidential,” stated Dr Wyss. “It means that merely because the underlying technology works in one app does not mean it works in another one and we cannot assume that all contact heart rate apps are precise.”
Non-contact apps performed worse than the contact apps overall. Problems in performance were very apparent when consumers had high heart rates and lower body temperatures, as the apps had a tendency to overestimate higher heart rates. The team considers that ease-of-use over accuracy incentivizes users to download the non-contact apps.
“While it is convenient to use the non-contact apps – you only look at your smartphone camera and it provides your heart rate – the number it gives is not as precise as when you’ve contact with your smartphone by putting your fingertip on the camera,” Wyss asserted.
Incorrect claims on heart rate apps have led some government officials to take action on the matter. In the month of March, New York Attorney General Eric G. Schneiderman put sanctions on 3 heart rate mhealth apps that mislead consumers about in-app heart rate monitoring.
“Mobile health apps can benefit users if they function as advertised, don’t make misleading claims and protect sensitive user information,” Schneiderman claimed in a press release. “Although, my office won’t hesitate to take action against developers that disseminate unfounded data that is both false and potentially harmful to everyday consumers.”
Users who use heart monitoring apps should be aware that the tools might not present precise data, Wyss added, and shouldn’t use mHealth applications as a replacement for clinical monitoring of cardiac conditions.
A group of researchers observed 4 different heart rate mhealth apps available on the App Store for iPhone 4 and 5, and discovered that these heart rate mhealth apps were appealing to consumers because of the ease-of-use and accessibility.
Not merely are the apps easily available, but can be tantalizing to consumers regardless of a significant likelihood to give false data.
“Heart rate mhealth apps come installed on several smartphones and once individuals see them it is human nature to use them and compare their outcomes with others,” stated study author Dr Christophe Wyss, a cardiologist at Heart Clinic Zurich, Switzerland.
But incorrect readings may lead to alarm in sufferers and prompt unimportant communications with providers. “Consumers and interpreting physicians require being aware that the differences between apps are huge and there are no criteria to assess them,” cautioned Wyss.
In the research, the researchers assessed the precision of certain heart rate mHealth apps by comparing the results to the clinical gold standard measurements. Clinical monitoring utilizes an electrocardiogram (ECG), which measures the electrical activity of the heart using leads on the chest, and fingertip pulse.
The apps were broken into 2 subgroups: ones that made contact with the user and apps that were non-contact. Apps that made contact with the consumer were much more accurate than the non-contact apps, in accordance to the research team.
Although, even the user-contact apps delivered different results, as one of them was much better at recording heart rate in contrast to the other.
“The one contact app was remarkable, performing nearly like a medically approved pulse oximeter device, but the other app wasn’t accurate even though they use the similar technology,” claimed Dr Wyss.
The researchers attemped to find why the apps were different, but couldn’t even after reviewing camera technology (iPhone 4 versus iPhone 5), age, body temperature, or heart rate itself. The most likely answer includes proprietary information from the developer side of app production.
“The difference in performance between the contact apps is possibly down to the algorithm the app uses to measure heart rate which is commercially confidential,” stated Dr Wyss. “It means that merely because the underlying technology works in one app does not mean it works in another one and we cannot assume that all contact heart rate apps are precise.”
Non-contact apps performed worse than the contact apps overall. Problems in performance were very apparent when consumers had high heart rates and lower body temperatures, as the apps had a tendency to overestimate higher heart rates. The team considers that ease-of-use over accuracy incentivizes users to download the non-contact apps.
“While it is convenient to use the non-contact apps – you only look at your smartphone camera and it provides your heart rate – the number it gives is not as precise as when you’ve contact with your smartphone by putting your fingertip on the camera,” Wyss asserted.
Incorrect claims on heart rate apps have led some government officials to take action on the matter. In the month of March, New York Attorney General Eric G. Schneiderman put sanctions on 3 heart rate mhealth apps that mislead consumers about in-app heart rate monitoring.
“Mobile health apps can benefit users if they function as advertised, don’t make misleading claims and protect sensitive user information,” Schneiderman claimed in a press release. “Although, my office won’t hesitate to take action against developers that disseminate unfounded data that is both false and potentially harmful to everyday consumers.”
Users who use heart monitoring apps should be aware that the tools might not present precise data, Wyss added, and shouldn’t use mHealth applications as a replacement for clinical monitoring of cardiac conditions.
Thursday, May 4, 2017
Harvard Medical School, mPulse Mobile Partners to Improve Medicaid Chronic Care
A new mHealth agreement between Harvard Medical School and mPulse Mobile targets to study the impacts of two-way text messaging on the self-care habits of Medicaid beneficiaries.
Through two distinctive programs, researchers from the Department of Health Care Policy at Harvard will evaluate how text messaging can help newly enrolled Medicaid members with a requirement to enroll in a supplemental chronic care management program.
The first program involves the utilization of interactive text messages that prompt members to sign up for GCHP’s asthma disease management program. This is to see if mHealth intervention has a positive impact at initial point-of-enrollment in Medicaid.
A second program will particularly analyze if tailored text dialogues can affect primary care provider selection, utilization of preventive care services and screenings, and incidence of chronic illness.
Both text messaging programs are funded and supported by the California Health Care Foundation Innovation Fund, and will be available to Medicaid members under the Gold Coast Health Plan (GCHP).
Chronic diseases are immensely problematic, as they comprise 86% of US healthcare charges. An mHealth approach to chronic disease management at this scale could assist other agencies build similar strategies that deliver chronic care to huge populations.
Harvard Medical School researchers consider that the mPulse Mobile technology can assist with much needed improvements in how providers and other stakeholders engage with Medicaid members and their chronic disease management.
“There is a huge requirement for innovation in care delivery and how we can engage patients outside of just the office visit,” stated program researcher and associate professor of healthcare policy and medicine, Harvard Medical School, Ateev Mehrotra, MD, MPH.
“I have spent much of my career studying the capability of different interventions to drive advancements in population health management, and I am excited about the possibility for mPulse Mobile to engage people in their health using tailored and interactive text messaging to make better outcomes and lower charges.”
The companies see language as an obstacle for several newly enrolled beneficiaries to get proper screening and diagnoses for chronic conditions. An analysis of tailored text messaging aims to determine how language hurdles affect a member’s capability to actively seek out chronic care.
“We give members targeted strategies for assisting manage chronic conditions, working with them to acquire their best possible health,” claimed Nancy R. Wharfield, MD, associate chief medical officer, Gold Coast Health Plan.
The partnership depicts an opportunity to advance care delivery across other populations that struggle with access to care.
“Harvard’s interest in studying the efficacy of these programs further validates the requirement for innovative mobile solutions that reach members and drive engagement, specifically with underserved populations,” stated Chris Nicholson, CEO, mPulse Mobile.
“We are thrilled to work with Harvard and our customer Gold Coast Health Plan on this research and sustain proving text messaging’s positive effect on health outcomes.”
Through two distinctive programs, researchers from the Department of Health Care Policy at Harvard will evaluate how text messaging can help newly enrolled Medicaid members with a requirement to enroll in a supplemental chronic care management program.
The first program involves the utilization of interactive text messages that prompt members to sign up for GCHP’s asthma disease management program. This is to see if mHealth intervention has a positive impact at initial point-of-enrollment in Medicaid.
A second program will particularly analyze if tailored text dialogues can affect primary care provider selection, utilization of preventive care services and screenings, and incidence of chronic illness.
Both text messaging programs are funded and supported by the California Health Care Foundation Innovation Fund, and will be available to Medicaid members under the Gold Coast Health Plan (GCHP).
Chronic diseases are immensely problematic, as they comprise 86% of US healthcare charges. An mHealth approach to chronic disease management at this scale could assist other agencies build similar strategies that deliver chronic care to huge populations.
Harvard Medical School researchers consider that the mPulse Mobile technology can assist with much needed improvements in how providers and other stakeholders engage with Medicaid members and their chronic disease management.
“There is a huge requirement for innovation in care delivery and how we can engage patients outside of just the office visit,” stated program researcher and associate professor of healthcare policy and medicine, Harvard Medical School, Ateev Mehrotra, MD, MPH.
“I have spent much of my career studying the capability of different interventions to drive advancements in population health management, and I am excited about the possibility for mPulse Mobile to engage people in their health using tailored and interactive text messaging to make better outcomes and lower charges.”
The companies see language as an obstacle for several newly enrolled beneficiaries to get proper screening and diagnoses for chronic conditions. An analysis of tailored text messaging aims to determine how language hurdles affect a member’s capability to actively seek out chronic care.
“We give members targeted strategies for assisting manage chronic conditions, working with them to acquire their best possible health,” claimed Nancy R. Wharfield, MD, associate chief medical officer, Gold Coast Health Plan.
The partnership depicts an opportunity to advance care delivery across other populations that struggle with access to care.
“Harvard’s interest in studying the efficacy of these programs further validates the requirement for innovative mobile solutions that reach members and drive engagement, specifically with underserved populations,” stated Chris Nicholson, CEO, mPulse Mobile.
“We are thrilled to work with Harvard and our customer Gold Coast Health Plan on this research and sustain proving text messaging’s positive effect on health outcomes.”
Saturday, April 22, 2017
mHealth Apps for Cancer Survivors Are not Effective as they Sould be
Mobile health apps developed for cancer survivors are not the meeting the requirements, in accordance to the Cancer Prevention Institute of California.
A 2016 analysis of dozens of mHealth apps by researchers from CPIC and Stanford University discovered that some “executed empowerment elements, underwent rigorous design approaches or included assessment of use in the cancer survivor population.” The analysis was reflected in the March 24 issue of the Journal for Cancer Survivorship.
“This diminishes the worth for the cancer survivor population but could be conveniently dealt through standardized development and testing processes,” Sharon Watkins Davis of CPIC and Ingrid Oakley-Girvan, of the Stanford Cancer Institute and Canary Center at Stanford for Cancer Early Detection, summarized.
mHealth apps for cancer survivors are an increasing niche in the digital health space, giving online resources for physical and mental health problems, information on side effects, medication adherence and care management information and tools to trace activity, exercise, diet and nutrition, even moods.
With somewhere between 350,000 and 300,000 mHealth apps now available in key app stores, the issue for both healthcare providers and consumers lies in finding the app that works best for them. Clinicians have been historically reluctant to accept or suggest apps that they do not trust, and attempts to curate and evaluate apps are merely now gaining momentum.
Previous summer, a study out of the University of California at San Francisco discovered that few of the most famous mHealth apps are failing because they are too complex to use. Other studies have pointed to uncertainties about privacy and security.
Watkins Davis and Oakley-Girvan say the apps they’re studied were not planned out rightly.
In their research, Watkins Davis and Oakley-Girvan say companies developed apps for cancer survivors are skipping developmental and testing steps in case to rush their product to market – involving collaborating with cancer survivors. They end up missing or overlooking aspects of an app that could prove injurious to cancer survivors or make the app unattractive.
They suggest app developers follow these guidelines:
“There is huge potential for mobile health apps to make better the long-term health results among cancer survivors, but the field of mobile health research is in its infancy,” Lorene Nelson, an associate professor of health research and policy at the institute of Stanford University School of Medicine, claimed in a press release released by CPIC after the study was issued.
A 2016 analysis of dozens of mHealth apps by researchers from CPIC and Stanford University discovered that some “executed empowerment elements, underwent rigorous design approaches or included assessment of use in the cancer survivor population.” The analysis was reflected in the March 24 issue of the Journal for Cancer Survivorship.
“This diminishes the worth for the cancer survivor population but could be conveniently dealt through standardized development and testing processes,” Sharon Watkins Davis of CPIC and Ingrid Oakley-Girvan, of the Stanford Cancer Institute and Canary Center at Stanford for Cancer Early Detection, summarized.
mHealth apps for cancer survivors are an increasing niche in the digital health space, giving online resources for physical and mental health problems, information on side effects, medication adherence and care management information and tools to trace activity, exercise, diet and nutrition, even moods.
With somewhere between 350,000 and 300,000 mHealth apps now available in key app stores, the issue for both healthcare providers and consumers lies in finding the app that works best for them. Clinicians have been historically reluctant to accept or suggest apps that they do not trust, and attempts to curate and evaluate apps are merely now gaining momentum.
Previous summer, a study out of the University of California at San Francisco discovered that few of the most famous mHealth apps are failing because they are too complex to use. Other studies have pointed to uncertainties about privacy and security.
Watkins Davis and Oakley-Girvan say the apps they’re studied were not planned out rightly.
In their research, Watkins Davis and Oakley-Girvan say companies developed apps for cancer survivors are skipping developmental and testing steps in case to rush their product to market – involving collaborating with cancer survivors. They end up missing or overlooking aspects of an app that could prove injurious to cancer survivors or make the app unattractive.
They suggest app developers follow these guidelines:
- Conduct a needs assessment with cancer survivors and healthcare practitioners;
- Include healthcare practitioners and staff throughout the app development procedure;
- Give potential users with a chance to verify the user interface;
- Tailor apps to survivors’ treatment history, stage of readiness to change, exercise ability, age, cognitive capabilities and individual health aims;
- Plan for suitable infrastructure involving IT support, secure data transmission protocols, adequate bandwidth to decrease or eradicate downtime and adoption of legal and privacy requirements like HIPAA; and
- Measure impact over a longer period of time.
“There is huge potential for mobile health apps to make better the long-term health results among cancer survivors, but the field of mobile health research is in its infancy,” Lorene Nelson, an associate professor of health research and policy at the institute of Stanford University School of Medicine, claimed in a press release released by CPIC after the study was issued.
Thursday, March 30, 2017
Cohort looks for cardiovascular information from One million volunteers
More than 100,000 volunteers have agreed to donate their cardiovascular information to assist researchers to better understand, predict and stop heart disease.
Finally, the aim of the Health eHeart Study is to protect at least one million participants and to leverage the power of web and mobile technology to collect data through devices like smartphone apps. Anyone age 18 and older with an active email address is eligible for the global research, and individuals from around the world are already participating.
Researchers at the institute of University of California-San Francisco got a $9.75 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to establish a digital platform—called Eureka—that is both app- and web-based and whose intention is to connect researchers with volunteers internationally for the Health eHeart Study.
“We will invite participants to merge with the Eureka community, which will also involve investigators and people interested in healthcare implementation,” claims Gregory Marcus, MD, a UC San Francisco Health cardiologist and director of clinical research in the UCSF Division of Cardiology.
A virtual infrastructure that taps into the Internet and smartphone technology is the concentration of the initiative, which Marcus asserts can be conveniently scaled and is more cost effective. “A charge of the NIH grant is to make the platform economically sustainable,” he adds. “The target is to develop the infrastructure that lives on for decades to come.”
The overall goal of Health eHeart is to collect more data about heart health or cardiovascular information from more individuals than any research study has done before. Marcus claims that the research is compliant with HIPAA security guidelines, and that the information is transmitted, stored and processed in a protective environment.
Mobile apps will be utilized to trace participant activity or heart measures, like heart rate, while sensors will measure physical factors, such as ECGs, sleep, blood pressure and weight. Additionally, an app will integrate with Facebook to study the affect of social networking on health, while other data gathering will involve collection of DNA, visits to study sites (e.g., UCSF) to get specialized cardiovascular information testing, as well as online surveys.
Among the queries the cohort is seeking to answer: Can technology be used to establish ways to make better cardiovascular information health and rigorously test them to evaluate their effects on health? And, can mobile technology and sensors be used to keep individuals with heart failure out of the hospital?
Toward that end, an initial assessment by UCSF researchers indicates that location-tracking apps on smartphones could be used to assist monitor and manage care for thousands of sufferers who suffer from chronic diseases like heart disease. The app, established by mHealth vendor Ginger.io in collaboration with study investigators, was designed to track known hospital visits.
“Ascertainment of hospitalizations and cardiovascular events is crucial to assess disease occurrence, quality of care and the effectiveness and adverse impacts of various therapies,” claims a paper released previous week in the American Heart Association journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. “Smartphone-based geofencing, a location-based program that defines geographical boundaries, might permit real-time tracking of medical visits and decrease the measurement error of retrospective reporting.”
Tracking hospitalizations via smartphone-based geofencing is crucial because sufferer recollection is unreliable and can be biased, in accordance to Marcus. In the research, the app was discovered to be 65% accurate in identifying when someone was in a hospital and how long they stayed. The precision of app-detected hospitalizations was confirmed by medical record review as the reference standard.
“The accuracy was moderate,” summarizes Marcus. “Under the NIH award, we’re almost done building our own app, and we are going to take several lessons learned from this project. We’ll be executing it in future research from our own homegrown mobile app. With the app that we are building, we’ve few strategies in mind to make it more accurate.”
Finally, the aim of the Health eHeart Study is to protect at least one million participants and to leverage the power of web and mobile technology to collect data through devices like smartphone apps. Anyone age 18 and older with an active email address is eligible for the global research, and individuals from around the world are already participating.
Researchers at the institute of University of California-San Francisco got a $9.75 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to establish a digital platform—called Eureka—that is both app- and web-based and whose intention is to connect researchers with volunteers internationally for the Health eHeart Study.
“We will invite participants to merge with the Eureka community, which will also involve investigators and people interested in healthcare implementation,” claims Gregory Marcus, MD, a UC San Francisco Health cardiologist and director of clinical research in the UCSF Division of Cardiology.
A virtual infrastructure that taps into the Internet and smartphone technology is the concentration of the initiative, which Marcus asserts can be conveniently scaled and is more cost effective. “A charge of the NIH grant is to make the platform economically sustainable,” he adds. “The target is to develop the infrastructure that lives on for decades to come.”
The overall goal of Health eHeart is to collect more data about heart health or cardiovascular information from more individuals than any research study has done before. Marcus claims that the research is compliant with HIPAA security guidelines, and that the information is transmitted, stored and processed in a protective environment.
Mobile apps will be utilized to trace participant activity or heart measures, like heart rate, while sensors will measure physical factors, such as ECGs, sleep, blood pressure and weight. Additionally, an app will integrate with Facebook to study the affect of social networking on health, while other data gathering will involve collection of DNA, visits to study sites (e.g., UCSF) to get specialized cardiovascular information testing, as well as online surveys.
Among the queries the cohort is seeking to answer: Can technology be used to establish ways to make better cardiovascular information health and rigorously test them to evaluate their effects on health? And, can mobile technology and sensors be used to keep individuals with heart failure out of the hospital?
Toward that end, an initial assessment by UCSF researchers indicates that location-tracking apps on smartphones could be used to assist monitor and manage care for thousands of sufferers who suffer from chronic diseases like heart disease. The app, established by mHealth vendor Ginger.io in collaboration with study investigators, was designed to track known hospital visits.
“Ascertainment of hospitalizations and cardiovascular events is crucial to assess disease occurrence, quality of care and the effectiveness and adverse impacts of various therapies,” claims a paper released previous week in the American Heart Association journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. “Smartphone-based geofencing, a location-based program that defines geographical boundaries, might permit real-time tracking of medical visits and decrease the measurement error of retrospective reporting.”
Tracking hospitalizations via smartphone-based geofencing is crucial because sufferer recollection is unreliable and can be biased, in accordance to Marcus. In the research, the app was discovered to be 65% accurate in identifying when someone was in a hospital and how long they stayed. The precision of app-detected hospitalizations was confirmed by medical record review as the reference standard.
“The accuracy was moderate,” summarizes Marcus. “Under the NIH award, we’re almost done building our own app, and we are going to take several lessons learned from this project. We’ll be executing it in future research from our own homegrown mobile app. With the app that we are building, we’ve few strategies in mind to make it more accurate.”
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
Providers, payers testing the digital transformation initiatives
Providers and payers are early in the procedure of commencing digital transformation initiatives, but an important percentage hope to invest in technologies in the coming months to alter the way they serve and interact with sufferers.
Just 10% of providers and payers say they are actively executing digital transformation initiatives, in accordance to a latest survey from IDC Health Insights, one of the lines of business of IDC, an international consultancy. Research appeared in a report termed as, “IDC Survey: Payer and Provider Investment Plans for Digital Transformation.”
In defining digital transformation initiatives, IDC Health Insights studied the ways in which healthcare agencies interact with customers and sufferers, including a wide-ranging approach to change that involves leadership, “omni-experience,” information technology, operating model and workforce transformation. The latest survey mentions digital transformation and infrastructure and operating model transformation concentrating on individuals, legacy systems, culture, partnerships, leadership, and incentive systems.
While just one in 10 providers and payer organizations are presently executing these wide-ranging projects, but by the year of 2018, IDC Health Insights data prove that 42% of providers and 58% of payers plan to have programs in place, claims Jeff Rivkin, an IDC research director.
Presently, most existing digital transformation initiatives are in a pilot testing or research phase. In both industry segments, digital transformation comprises about 30% of new information technology initiatives, data recommend.
Rivkin states that IDC Health Insights conducted the research to gauge provider and payer investment plans for digital transformation, which involves clinical collaboration and communication via mobile devices, connected health, digital transformation, Internet of Things (IoT) devices and a value-based healthcare approach.
About a third of healthcare provider agencies predict they hope to evaluate such programs over the next one to 3 years, with about one in four payers say they are presently evaluating such programs. Rivkin adds that information technology departments are likely to be leading the way in undertaking digital transformation projects, in contrast to other business units.
Technologies that are the focus of digital transformation involve big data, business analytics, cloud services, cyber security, and mobile devices and applications, the survey discovered.
Healthcare provider agencies are searching to digital transformation to drive increased productivity, decrease overall costs and increase revenue. Payers significantly seek digital transformation projects to embrace new distribution platforms, reduce organizational risk and meet compliance requirements.
Just 10% of providers and payers say they are actively executing digital transformation initiatives, in accordance to a latest survey from IDC Health Insights, one of the lines of business of IDC, an international consultancy. Research appeared in a report termed as, “IDC Survey: Payer and Provider Investment Plans for Digital Transformation.”
In defining digital transformation initiatives, IDC Health Insights studied the ways in which healthcare agencies interact with customers and sufferers, including a wide-ranging approach to change that involves leadership, “omni-experience,” information technology, operating model and workforce transformation. The latest survey mentions digital transformation and infrastructure and operating model transformation concentrating on individuals, legacy systems, culture, partnerships, leadership, and incentive systems.
While just one in 10 providers and payer organizations are presently executing these wide-ranging projects, but by the year of 2018, IDC Health Insights data prove that 42% of providers and 58% of payers plan to have programs in place, claims Jeff Rivkin, an IDC research director.
Presently, most existing digital transformation initiatives are in a pilot testing or research phase. In both industry segments, digital transformation comprises about 30% of new information technology initiatives, data recommend.
Rivkin states that IDC Health Insights conducted the research to gauge provider and payer investment plans for digital transformation, which involves clinical collaboration and communication via mobile devices, connected health, digital transformation, Internet of Things (IoT) devices and a value-based healthcare approach.
About a third of healthcare provider agencies predict they hope to evaluate such programs over the next one to 3 years, with about one in four payers say they are presently evaluating such programs. Rivkin adds that information technology departments are likely to be leading the way in undertaking digital transformation projects, in contrast to other business units.
Technologies that are the focus of digital transformation involve big data, business analytics, cloud services, cyber security, and mobile devices and applications, the survey discovered.
Healthcare provider agencies are searching to digital transformation to drive increased productivity, decrease overall costs and increase revenue. Payers significantly seek digital transformation projects to embrace new distribution platforms, reduce organizational risk and meet compliance requirements.
Friday, March 3, 2017
mHealth interventions for diabetic patients might prove to be Efficacious
While there is certain evidence supporting the efficacy of mhealth interventions for sufferers with diabetes, the quality of past researches is substandard and extra research on efficacy is required.
That is the conclusion of a latest study, released on the day of March 1 in the journal PLoS ONE that was designed to critically appraise and consolidate evidence from several systematic reviews on the effectiveness of mHealth interventions for diabetic sufferers.
Researchers undertook a comprehensive search on several databases to recognize relevant systematic reviews released between the time period of January 1996 and December 2015. Based on that search, they independently recognized 15 reviews published between the time period of 2008 and 2014 that were eligible for inclusion in the study, extracted information using an electronic form and assessed the methodological quality of those reviews.
“The quality of the reviews varied considerably, and most of them had significant methodological limitations,” researchers discovered. The overview found that, “on average, mHealth interventions make better the glycemic control (HbA1c) compared to standard care or other non-mHealth approaches by as much as 0.8% for sufferers with type 2 diabetes and 0.3% for sufferers with type 1 diabetes, almost in the short-term (≤12 months). Although, limitations in the overall quality of evidence recommend that further research will likely have a significant impact in these estimates of effect.”
Spyros Kitsiou, an assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical and Health Information Sciences at the University of Illinois-Chicago’s College of Health Sciences and an author of the article, claims that overall the rigor of mHealth research—both randomized controlled trials and systematic reviews—must be improved because it’s “not methodologically sound” and has several weaknesses.
“There are various problems that develop risks of bias in terms of the interpretation of results,” claims Kitsiou.
Despite these restrictions, Kitsiou and his coworkers assert that mHealth interventions represent a promising approach for patients who need to handle their diabetes.
“Based on the available evidence, which is of moderate quality, we observed quantitative effects,” he analyzes, adding that, “mHealth seems to be more effective for type 2 diabetes.”
In accordance to the article’s authors, further research should concentrate on exploring the use and affect of diabetes mobile apps that are publicly available through the Apple and Google Play stores.
“Most trials included in the systematic reviews involved proprietary applications that aren’t available to the general public,” summarizes the article. “Although, as the rates of smartphone ownership and availability of diabetes self-management apps increase, it is significant to inquire the safety and clinical effectiveness of these apps.”
That is the conclusion of a latest study, released on the day of March 1 in the journal PLoS ONE that was designed to critically appraise and consolidate evidence from several systematic reviews on the effectiveness of mHealth interventions for diabetic sufferers.
Researchers undertook a comprehensive search on several databases to recognize relevant systematic reviews released between the time period of January 1996 and December 2015. Based on that search, they independently recognized 15 reviews published between the time period of 2008 and 2014 that were eligible for inclusion in the study, extracted information using an electronic form and assessed the methodological quality of those reviews.
“The quality of the reviews varied considerably, and most of them had significant methodological limitations,” researchers discovered. The overview found that, “on average, mHealth interventions make better the glycemic control (HbA1c) compared to standard care or other non-mHealth approaches by as much as 0.8% for sufferers with type 2 diabetes and 0.3% for sufferers with type 1 diabetes, almost in the short-term (≤12 months). Although, limitations in the overall quality of evidence recommend that further research will likely have a significant impact in these estimates of effect.”
Spyros Kitsiou, an assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical and Health Information Sciences at the University of Illinois-Chicago’s College of Health Sciences and an author of the article, claims that overall the rigor of mHealth research—both randomized controlled trials and systematic reviews—must be improved because it’s “not methodologically sound” and has several weaknesses.
“There are various problems that develop risks of bias in terms of the interpretation of results,” claims Kitsiou.
Despite these restrictions, Kitsiou and his coworkers assert that mHealth interventions represent a promising approach for patients who need to handle their diabetes.
“Based on the available evidence, which is of moderate quality, we observed quantitative effects,” he analyzes, adding that, “mHealth seems to be more effective for type 2 diabetes.”
In accordance to the article’s authors, further research should concentrate on exploring the use and affect of diabetes mobile apps that are publicly available through the Apple and Google Play stores.
“Most trials included in the systematic reviews involved proprietary applications that aren’t available to the general public,” summarizes the article. “Although, as the rates of smartphone ownership and availability of diabetes self-management apps increase, it is significant to inquire the safety and clinical effectiveness of these apps.”
Monday, February 20, 2017
Electronic health records systems are at the threat for disruptive change
Healthcare agencies are increasingly selecting electronic health records systems from among a handful of leading HIT vendors. Relying on how you measure penetration, among the leaders are Epic, Cerner and Allscripts. Electronic health records systems are at the threat for disruptive change.
While the market is being dominated by major vendors now, Eric Topol, MD, recently claimed that he anticipates radical change ahead. “I do not see Epic, Allscripts or Cerner in existence in another decade,” Topol asserts.
Joel Selanikio, MD, analyzes the rationale for prediction of Topol. As healthcare morphs from an emphasis on institutional care to motivating consumers to become active participants in maintaining their health, current vendors require changing or risk irrelevance. Electronic health records systems are at the threat for disruptive change.
Selanikio, a practicing pediatrician and an ex-epidemiologist for the Centers for Disease Control, recommends that electronic health records systems could possibly follow the evolution of other kinds of technology that have been changed in the lifetime of CIOs.
Addressing those top IT executives at the February 19 CIO Forum of the College of Healthcare Information Management Executive in the Orlando, he mentioned the example of Nokia, which rolled out the E61 phone in the year of 2006 to rave reviews and with designs to capture the business cell phone market from Blackberry. That year, Nokia reported $75 billion in revenue, the largest it had ever achieved, stated Selanikio, who’s currently CEO of Magpi, which gives applications for mobile data collection.
That was the high-water for Nokia, as revenues shrunk from then on—instantly, the company was sold to Microsoft for merely $7 billion, a fraction of its 2006 revenues.
The iPhone emerged in the year of 2007, and that changed the cell phone market forever, Selanikio claims. “There was a consumer mobile market back in the year of 2006, but it was quite small,” he says. “Apple identified that the consumer mobile market was going to be capable to grow a lot faster. The things that consumers needed to do on their devices weren’t what Blackberry and Palm were trying to do.”
Apple eventually circled back in the year of 2011 to establish a line of service for business users, but just after transforming, and building a substantial lead in the consumer phone market.
“What we are searching at here is a large company invading the market by looking at a piece of the market that the big boys were not interested in,” Selanikio states.
The competition in healthcare today is that the market for selling healthcare IT to consumers is a small spot in the market, but focus of consumers on health and IT is increasing rapidly. For instance, the Apple Watch is “fascinating,” he claims, “Because it is regarded as a failure. Apple has revenue of over $10 billion a year from the Apple Watch, about the total made by large electronic health records systems companies.”
The Apple Watch and other consumer electronic devices are initiating to give more capabilities that consumers need, and bring together information, like health administration and assisting consumers to track progress in achieving health goals.
“What is most interesting is that they are pulling stuff out of the healthcare system,” Selanikio claims. “Things that used to happen in the doctor’s office or physical therapists’ office are now being offered outside the traditional healthcare system. Consumers can diagnose their own issues, with devices that use artificial intelligence, and prescribe a treatment for themselves. Artificial intelligence is the turbocharger for this new growth.”
Technology will be capable to give better health with less healthcare, and the consumer market will grow. The interest of huge technology companies, like Apple, Google and Amazon, will be piqued at that point, he predicts. “$10 billion is not enough to get Apple interested in going into a market that is so fraught with regulation,” he claims. “But outside the healthcare system, there is a much larger amount being spent on health. It can follow a very simple pattern—the large tech companies will concentrate on low end parts of HIT that incumbents do not worry about, but have huge potential. Then, they will make a lot of money on that and then put it into taking the high end of the market.”
Selanikio claims that his feelings about Topol’s prediction is not intended to induce gloom. “What we are talking about is a better way to maintain and improve our health,” he says. “It is a real chance to meet needs that consumers will want.”
While the market is being dominated by major vendors now, Eric Topol, MD, recently claimed that he anticipates radical change ahead. “I do not see Epic, Allscripts or Cerner in existence in another decade,” Topol asserts.
Joel Selanikio, MD, analyzes the rationale for prediction of Topol. As healthcare morphs from an emphasis on institutional care to motivating consumers to become active participants in maintaining their health, current vendors require changing or risk irrelevance. Electronic health records systems are at the threat for disruptive change.
Selanikio, a practicing pediatrician and an ex-epidemiologist for the Centers for Disease Control, recommends that electronic health records systems could possibly follow the evolution of other kinds of technology that have been changed in the lifetime of CIOs.
Addressing those top IT executives at the February 19 CIO Forum of the College of Healthcare Information Management Executive in the Orlando, he mentioned the example of Nokia, which rolled out the E61 phone in the year of 2006 to rave reviews and with designs to capture the business cell phone market from Blackberry. That year, Nokia reported $75 billion in revenue, the largest it had ever achieved, stated Selanikio, who’s currently CEO of Magpi, which gives applications for mobile data collection.
That was the high-water for Nokia, as revenues shrunk from then on—instantly, the company was sold to Microsoft for merely $7 billion, a fraction of its 2006 revenues.
The iPhone emerged in the year of 2007, and that changed the cell phone market forever, Selanikio claims. “There was a consumer mobile market back in the year of 2006, but it was quite small,” he says. “Apple identified that the consumer mobile market was going to be capable to grow a lot faster. The things that consumers needed to do on their devices weren’t what Blackberry and Palm were trying to do.”
Apple eventually circled back in the year of 2011 to establish a line of service for business users, but just after transforming, and building a substantial lead in the consumer phone market.
“What we are searching at here is a large company invading the market by looking at a piece of the market that the big boys were not interested in,” Selanikio states.
The competition in healthcare today is that the market for selling healthcare IT to consumers is a small spot in the market, but focus of consumers on health and IT is increasing rapidly. For instance, the Apple Watch is “fascinating,” he claims, “Because it is regarded as a failure. Apple has revenue of over $10 billion a year from the Apple Watch, about the total made by large electronic health records systems companies.”
The Apple Watch and other consumer electronic devices are initiating to give more capabilities that consumers need, and bring together information, like health administration and assisting consumers to track progress in achieving health goals.
“What is most interesting is that they are pulling stuff out of the healthcare system,” Selanikio claims. “Things that used to happen in the doctor’s office or physical therapists’ office are now being offered outside the traditional healthcare system. Consumers can diagnose their own issues, with devices that use artificial intelligence, and prescribe a treatment for themselves. Artificial intelligence is the turbocharger for this new growth.”
Technology will be capable to give better health with less healthcare, and the consumer market will grow. The interest of huge technology companies, like Apple, Google and Amazon, will be piqued at that point, he predicts. “$10 billion is not enough to get Apple interested in going into a market that is so fraught with regulation,” he claims. “But outside the healthcare system, there is a much larger amount being spent on health. It can follow a very simple pattern—the large tech companies will concentrate on low end parts of HIT that incumbents do not worry about, but have huge potential. Then, they will make a lot of money on that and then put it into taking the high end of the market.”
Selanikio claims that his feelings about Topol’s prediction is not intended to induce gloom. “What we are talking about is a better way to maintain and improve our health,” he says. “It is a real chance to meet needs that consumers will want.”
Sunday, February 5, 2017
Indiana University School of Medicine startup launches EHR-embedded pediatric software
Digital Health Solutions, a startup initiated by 2 Indiana University School of Medicine professionals, is commercializing software it said will assist pediatricians better target care for their sufferers. The Indiana University School of Medicine startup launches EHR-embedded pediatric software.
The tool, known as Child Health Improvement through Computer Automation, or CHICA, augments electronic health records (EHRs) to assist physicians better assess sufferer risks, identify issues earlier and better document care quality. It was established by DHS President Stephen Downs, MD, section director of Children's Health Service Research at IU, and Tammy Dugan, senior software developer at IU and chief technology officer of Digital Health Solutions. The Indiana University School of Medicine startup launches EHR-embedded pediatric software.
The pediatric population "does not get as much attention due to the reimbursement structures in hospitals," Dugan claimed in a statement.
By licensing CHICA via the Indiana University Research and Technology Corp., the target is to give pediatricians tools that can assist improve care for children.
The technology works by first screening families in office waiting rooms through an electronic tablet that inquires twenty queries.
"Deployed on the responses of family, the software uses its prioritization procedure to opt the most significant issues for the physician to address during the visit," Downs added. "The family can give information on a broad range of topics, involving general preventive counseling, asthma, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, domestic violence, iron deficiency, lead exposure, maternal depression, tuberculosis and more. It also permits physicians to alert sufferers to problems that might otherwise be overlooked."
When physicians access a sufferer’s EHR, the embedded link connects them with CHICA. The Indiana University School of Medicine startup launches EHR-embedded pediatric software.
"Once the doctors have checked all the boxes, demonstrating how they responded to the alerts, the data is submitted as a block of text to EHR software that can then be incorporated into the note of provider, thereby streamlining clinical documentation," stated Dugan.
"Payers of health care are searching for ways for providers to indicate superior-quality care," Downs said. "The system captures data that improves and indicates the quality of care, which could be used to make better reimbursement. It also gathers patient-reported information that cannot be captured any other way."
The tool, known as Child Health Improvement through Computer Automation, or CHICA, augments electronic health records (EHRs) to assist physicians better assess sufferer risks, identify issues earlier and better document care quality. It was established by DHS President Stephen Downs, MD, section director of Children's Health Service Research at IU, and Tammy Dugan, senior software developer at IU and chief technology officer of Digital Health Solutions. The Indiana University School of Medicine startup launches EHR-embedded pediatric software.
The pediatric population "does not get as much attention due to the reimbursement structures in hospitals," Dugan claimed in a statement.
By licensing CHICA via the Indiana University Research and Technology Corp., the target is to give pediatricians tools that can assist improve care for children.
The technology works by first screening families in office waiting rooms through an electronic tablet that inquires twenty queries.
"Deployed on the responses of family, the software uses its prioritization procedure to opt the most significant issues for the physician to address during the visit," Downs added. "The family can give information on a broad range of topics, involving general preventive counseling, asthma, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, domestic violence, iron deficiency, lead exposure, maternal depression, tuberculosis and more. It also permits physicians to alert sufferers to problems that might otherwise be overlooked."
When physicians access a sufferer’s EHR, the embedded link connects them with CHICA. The Indiana University School of Medicine startup launches EHR-embedded pediatric software.
"Once the doctors have checked all the boxes, demonstrating how they responded to the alerts, the data is submitted as a block of text to EHR software that can then be incorporated into the note of provider, thereby streamlining clinical documentation," stated Dugan.
"Payers of health care are searching for ways for providers to indicate superior-quality care," Downs said. "The system captures data that improves and indicates the quality of care, which could be used to make better reimbursement. It also gathers patient-reported information that cannot be captured any other way."
Monday, January 9, 2017
Smartphone apps are developed to mitigate anxiety and depression
A suite of smartphone apps developed by Northwestern Medicine has victoriously mitigated depression and anxiety symptoms in study participants by 50%, an efficacy rate similar to that generally acquired through psychotherapy or antidepressant medication.
That is the conclusion of a research study funded by the National Institutes of Health and recently released in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.
Northwestern’s IntelliCare is a suite of thirteen apps that, when utilized together, target common causes of depression and anxiety, like sleep issues, social isolation, deficiency of activity and obsessive thinking.
“We analyzed that depression and anxiety rates decreased by about half, which is equivalent to what we see with most types of psychotherapy and with medications,” claims Emily Lattie, a postdoctoral fellow in the Center for Behavioral Intervention Technologies, Department of Preventive Medicine at Northwestern University.
The research involved ninety-six participants who had access to the IntelliCare apps and got 8 weeks of coaching to assist with their use. Coaching involved an initial phone call plus 2 or 3 text messages each week over the 8 weeks of the study. An algorithm suggested new smartphone apps per week to assist participants learn different skills and strategies.
Most of the study’s participants utilized the Smartphone apps on their smartphones as many as 3 or 4 times each day, or an average of 195 times total. At the similar time, the average length of use for each app was less than one minute, in accordance to Lattie. “This is a quite low time commitment,” she claims. “There is not a lot reading or content in these apps. It is actually prompts to do things differently.”
However more than 20% of Americans experience important symptoms of anxiety and depression yearly, Lattie points out that the vast majority of those with mental health issues do not get treatment.
“There are many hurdles to treatment, involving cost, availability and people being uncomfortable with traditional treatment methods,” she claims. Although, with more than 70% of Americans presently having smartphones, Lattie consider the IntelliCare apps can make effective solutions more accessible to clients.
The different apps concentrate on several strategies so that individuals can pick and select what is useful for them, as well as get suggestions deployed on their past use of the apps so they can sustain to find new strategies that can be helpful,” states Lattie, adding that the smartphone apps were designed by Northwestern clinicians and based on validated techniques utilize by therapists.
Among the thirteen apps established at Northwestern’s Center for Behavioral Intervention Technologies are:
Individual apps or the whole IntelliCare suite can be downloaded for free from the Google Play online store. In accordance to Lattie, the apps will also be available online later this year at the iTunes Store.
She adds that a bigger randomized control trial funded by NIH has been inaugurated that will involve 300 participants, with a control arm. In that trial, few participants will get coaching and app suggestions deployed on past use while others will not.
That is the conclusion of a research study funded by the National Institutes of Health and recently released in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.
Northwestern’s IntelliCare is a suite of thirteen apps that, when utilized together, target common causes of depression and anxiety, like sleep issues, social isolation, deficiency of activity and obsessive thinking.
“We analyzed that depression and anxiety rates decreased by about half, which is equivalent to what we see with most types of psychotherapy and with medications,” claims Emily Lattie, a postdoctoral fellow in the Center for Behavioral Intervention Technologies, Department of Preventive Medicine at Northwestern University.
The research involved ninety-six participants who had access to the IntelliCare apps and got 8 weeks of coaching to assist with their use. Coaching involved an initial phone call plus 2 or 3 text messages each week over the 8 weeks of the study. An algorithm suggested new smartphone apps per week to assist participants learn different skills and strategies.
Most of the study’s participants utilized the Smartphone apps on their smartphones as many as 3 or 4 times each day, or an average of 195 times total. At the similar time, the average length of use for each app was less than one minute, in accordance to Lattie. “This is a quite low time commitment,” she claims. “There is not a lot reading or content in these apps. It is actually prompts to do things differently.”
However more than 20% of Americans experience important symptoms of anxiety and depression yearly, Lattie points out that the vast majority of those with mental health issues do not get treatment.
“There are many hurdles to treatment, involving cost, availability and people being uncomfortable with traditional treatment methods,” she claims. Although, with more than 70% of Americans presently having smartphones, Lattie consider the IntelliCare apps can make effective solutions more accessible to clients.
The different apps concentrate on several strategies so that individuals can pick and select what is useful for them, as well as get suggestions deployed on their past use of the apps so they can sustain to find new strategies that can be helpful,” states Lattie, adding that the smartphone apps were designed by Northwestern clinicians and based on validated techniques utilize by therapists.
Among the thirteen apps established at Northwestern’s Center for Behavioral Intervention Technologies are:
- Daily Feats: developed to encourage individuals to add worthwhile and rewarding tasks into their day to increase overall satisfaction in life.
- Purple Chill: meant to assist users unwind with audio recordings that instruct them through exercises to de-stress and worry less.
- Slumber Time: created to ease individuals into a good night’s rest.
- My Mantra: intended to assist users create encouraging mantras to mention their strengths and values.
Individual apps or the whole IntelliCare suite can be downloaded for free from the Google Play online store. In accordance to Lattie, the apps will also be available online later this year at the iTunes Store.
She adds that a bigger randomized control trial funded by NIH has been inaugurated that will involve 300 participants, with a control arm. In that trial, few participants will get coaching and app suggestions deployed on past use while others will not.
Saturday, December 31, 2016
FDA not planning to establish guidance on CDS in 2017
Software developers who were expecting that the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health might release draft guidance on clinical decision support (CDS) software have once again been disappointed.
In accordance to the FDA, its Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) is considering establishing a variety of guidance in fiscal year 2017, involving its so-called “A-List” documents, those that the organization intends to publish between the time period of Oct. 1, 2016 and Sept. 30, 2017. Although, draft CDS guidance isn’t among CDRH’s priorities going into next year.
Among those disappointed that Clinical Decision Support (CDS) is not on the agency’s near-term agenda is Bradley Merrill Thompson, general counsel for the Clinical Decision Support (CDS) Coalition, which reflects software developers, providers, healthcare payers and medical device manufacturers.
“For the last 2 years, CDRH has placed in the category A priority list draft guidance on clinical decision support software. It is not on the list this year, despite the fact that CDRH hasn’t released the draft guidance,” says Thompson.
Thompson asserts that industry has been waiting for FDA guidance on CDS since the year of 2011. When it comes to software development, 5 years is an eternity, he asserts.
Without clarification on how the FDA plans to regulate CDS, the software category will sustain to be a gray area, leaving developers struggling to get funding and to put together business plans that precisely depict the expected regulatory path for their products, Thompson explains.
Survey results issued earlier this year by the CDS Coalition indicated that one-third of developers reported having to abandon CDS product development efforts due to the uncertainty over FDA regulations. Of those who pressed ahead despite the uncertainty, nearly two-thirds encountered significant delays.
In a written statement, an FDA spokesperson claimed that the agency is “carefully evaluating” the 21st Century Cures Act that was approved by Congress and signed into law earlier this month by President Obama, and it is “exploring all possible options for executing the responsibilities, involving the provision for clinical decision software, that we have been charged with under the new law.”
Thompson considers the FDA removed CDS from CDRH’s FY17 list of guidance documents because the agency plans to re-evaluate the requirement for CDS guidance in connection with implementing the 21st Century Cures Act.
“That legislation, in section 3060, adds the criterion that to be FDA regulated, Clinical Decision Support (CDS) software must not be transparent. In this context, transparent means that the doctor user can’t see through the software to the underlying sufferer data and the clinical logic applied by the software, such that the physician isn’t required to rely on the software,” claims Thompson. “My hope is that in connection with the legislation, FDA proceeds with the guidance, which is more significant now than ever before.”
Particularly, the CDS Coalition would like to comprehend how the agency plans to enforce the transparency concept. “The statute is very useful, but it will be very significant for FDA to express the agency’s views on how the language is to be interpreted and applied,” adds Thompson.
“I’ll be very anxious to see the FDA’s plans for implementing the Cures legislation,” he summarizes. “I certainly expect that they plan to proceed with this much required guidance.”
In accordance to the FDA, its Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) is considering establishing a variety of guidance in fiscal year 2017, involving its so-called “A-List” documents, those that the organization intends to publish between the time period of Oct. 1, 2016 and Sept. 30, 2017. Although, draft CDS guidance isn’t among CDRH’s priorities going into next year.
Among those disappointed that Clinical Decision Support (CDS) is not on the agency’s near-term agenda is Bradley Merrill Thompson, general counsel for the Clinical Decision Support (CDS) Coalition, which reflects software developers, providers, healthcare payers and medical device manufacturers.
“For the last 2 years, CDRH has placed in the category A priority list draft guidance on clinical decision support software. It is not on the list this year, despite the fact that CDRH hasn’t released the draft guidance,” says Thompson.
Thompson asserts that industry has been waiting for FDA guidance on CDS since the year of 2011. When it comes to software development, 5 years is an eternity, he asserts.
Without clarification on how the FDA plans to regulate CDS, the software category will sustain to be a gray area, leaving developers struggling to get funding and to put together business plans that precisely depict the expected regulatory path for their products, Thompson explains.
Survey results issued earlier this year by the CDS Coalition indicated that one-third of developers reported having to abandon CDS product development efforts due to the uncertainty over FDA regulations. Of those who pressed ahead despite the uncertainty, nearly two-thirds encountered significant delays.
In a written statement, an FDA spokesperson claimed that the agency is “carefully evaluating” the 21st Century Cures Act that was approved by Congress and signed into law earlier this month by President Obama, and it is “exploring all possible options for executing the responsibilities, involving the provision for clinical decision software, that we have been charged with under the new law.”
Thompson considers the FDA removed CDS from CDRH’s FY17 list of guidance documents because the agency plans to re-evaluate the requirement for CDS guidance in connection with implementing the 21st Century Cures Act.
“That legislation, in section 3060, adds the criterion that to be FDA regulated, Clinical Decision Support (CDS) software must not be transparent. In this context, transparent means that the doctor user can’t see through the software to the underlying sufferer data and the clinical logic applied by the software, such that the physician isn’t required to rely on the software,” claims Thompson. “My hope is that in connection with the legislation, FDA proceeds with the guidance, which is more significant now than ever before.”
Particularly, the CDS Coalition would like to comprehend how the agency plans to enforce the transparency concept. “The statute is very useful, but it will be very significant for FDA to express the agency’s views on how the language is to be interpreted and applied,” adds Thompson.
“I’ll be very anxious to see the FDA’s plans for implementing the Cures legislation,” he summarizes. “I certainly expect that they plan to proceed with this much required guidance.”
Wednesday, December 28, 2016
FDA expands the approved use of Continuous Glucose Monitoring System
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has expanded the approved use of Dexcom’s G5 Mobile Continuous Glucose Monitoring system or CGM system, which could instantly replace fingerstick blood glucose testing for diabetes treatment decisions in diabetic sufferers 2 years of age and older.
In accordance to the regulatory agency, it is the 1st FDA-approved Continuous Glucose Monitoring system that can be utilized to make diabetes treatment decisions without confirmation with a conventional fingerstick test. Initially, the Dexcom system was cleared to complement—not replace—fingerstick testing for diabetes treatment decisions.
“The FDA works really hard to assist ensure that novel technologies, which can decrease the burden of daily disease management, are safe and precise," stated Alberto Gutierrez, director of the Office of In Vitro Diagnostics and Radiological Health in the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health. "However this system still requires calibration with 2 daily fingersticks, it removes the requirement for any extra fingerstick blood glucose testing in order to make treatment decisions.
“This might permit some sufferers to handle their disease more comfortably and may motivate them to have routine dialogue with their healthcare providers about the use of real-time continuous glucose monitoring in diabetes management," further added Gutierrez.
Dexcom’s G5 Mobile CGM System uses a small sensor wire inserted merely below the skin that continuously measures and monitors glucose levels, sending real-time results wirelessly every 5 minutes to a dedicated receiver and a compatible mobile device—like the Apple iPhone—running a mobile app. Additionally, alarms and alerts notify consumers when there are glucose levels above or below user-set thresholds.
While the system calculates glucose in fluid under the skin that must be calibrated almost 2 times each day using blood obtained from fingerstick tests, Nicholas Argento, MD, an endocrinologist, claims that extra daily fingerstick blood tests are generally no longer essential because unlike other CGS systems, results from the device can now be used straightly by sufferers to make diabetes treatment decisions without confirmation from a traditional fingerstick test.
“We have seen CGM come from something that was sort of novel and experimental to now actually being the standard of care,” further adds Argento, who has Type 1 diabetes and personally uses the Dexcom Continuous Glucose Monitoring system. “What this system does is reduce the number of fingersticks and increases their level of blood sugar control by motivating sufferers to take action in a safe, discrete, accurate, and timely way.”
Argento points out that in addition to individuals with Type 1 diabetes there are an increasing number of patients with Type 2 diabetes using the Dexcom G5 Mobile Continuous Glucose Monitoring System. He also makes the point that consumers of the system are capable to designate “followers” like family members with whom they can share the CGM data through the app.
“This is a key benefit in specific for parents with young kids and teenagers that are now starting to drive. The technology permits caregivers to have their back and serve as their backups,” in accordance to Argento, who serves as the medical advisor to the diabetes program at the Howard County General Hospital, a Johns Hopkins System hospital in Columbia, Md.
In making its decision to expand the approved use of the CGM system, the FDA verified data from 2 clinical studies during which there were no critical adverse events were reported, according to the regulatory agency.
Nevertheless, the FDA released a written statement that “risks associated with use of the system might involve hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia in cases where data provided by the device is wrong and utilized to make treatment decisions or where hardware or set-up issues disable alarms and alerts, as well as skin irritation or redness over the device’s adhesive patch.”
Moreover, the agency cautioned users that the system “must be calibrated utilizing a fingerstick blood sample at least once every twelve hours and that taking any medications containing acetaminophen while wearing the system might wrongly raise glucose readings.”
In accordance to the regulatory agency, it is the 1st FDA-approved Continuous Glucose Monitoring system that can be utilized to make diabetes treatment decisions without confirmation with a conventional fingerstick test. Initially, the Dexcom system was cleared to complement—not replace—fingerstick testing for diabetes treatment decisions.
“The FDA works really hard to assist ensure that novel technologies, which can decrease the burden of daily disease management, are safe and precise," stated Alberto Gutierrez, director of the Office of In Vitro Diagnostics and Radiological Health in the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health. "However this system still requires calibration with 2 daily fingersticks, it removes the requirement for any extra fingerstick blood glucose testing in order to make treatment decisions.
“This might permit some sufferers to handle their disease more comfortably and may motivate them to have routine dialogue with their healthcare providers about the use of real-time continuous glucose monitoring in diabetes management," further added Gutierrez.
Dexcom’s G5 Mobile CGM System uses a small sensor wire inserted merely below the skin that continuously measures and monitors glucose levels, sending real-time results wirelessly every 5 minutes to a dedicated receiver and a compatible mobile device—like the Apple iPhone—running a mobile app. Additionally, alarms and alerts notify consumers when there are glucose levels above or below user-set thresholds.
While the system calculates glucose in fluid under the skin that must be calibrated almost 2 times each day using blood obtained from fingerstick tests, Nicholas Argento, MD, an endocrinologist, claims that extra daily fingerstick blood tests are generally no longer essential because unlike other CGS systems, results from the device can now be used straightly by sufferers to make diabetes treatment decisions without confirmation from a traditional fingerstick test.
“We have seen CGM come from something that was sort of novel and experimental to now actually being the standard of care,” further adds Argento, who has Type 1 diabetes and personally uses the Dexcom Continuous Glucose Monitoring system. “What this system does is reduce the number of fingersticks and increases their level of blood sugar control by motivating sufferers to take action in a safe, discrete, accurate, and timely way.”
Argento points out that in addition to individuals with Type 1 diabetes there are an increasing number of patients with Type 2 diabetes using the Dexcom G5 Mobile Continuous Glucose Monitoring System. He also makes the point that consumers of the system are capable to designate “followers” like family members with whom they can share the CGM data through the app.
“This is a key benefit in specific for parents with young kids and teenagers that are now starting to drive. The technology permits caregivers to have their back and serve as their backups,” in accordance to Argento, who serves as the medical advisor to the diabetes program at the Howard County General Hospital, a Johns Hopkins System hospital in Columbia, Md.
In making its decision to expand the approved use of the CGM system, the FDA verified data from 2 clinical studies during which there were no critical adverse events were reported, according to the regulatory agency.
Nevertheless, the FDA released a written statement that “risks associated with use of the system might involve hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia in cases where data provided by the device is wrong and utilized to make treatment decisions or where hardware or set-up issues disable alarms and alerts, as well as skin irritation or redness over the device’s adhesive patch.”
Moreover, the agency cautioned users that the system “must be calibrated utilizing a fingerstick blood sample at least once every twelve hours and that taking any medications containing acetaminophen while wearing the system might wrongly raise glucose readings.”
Monday, December 19, 2016
Startup-led team succeeds in FDA opioid overdose app contest
The Food and Drug Administration has chosen a team supervised by a small Venice, Calif.-based startup as the winner of an industry challenge to establish a mobile app to assist connect opioid consumers experiencing an overdose with nearby carriers of the drug naloxone for emergency treatment. Startup-led team has got victory in FDA opioid overdose app contest.
The OD Help app, established by Team PwrdBy, beat 44 other submissions to take home the cash prize of $40,000, claims Peter Lurie, MD, the FDA’s associate commissioner for public health strategy and analysis. Startup-led team has got victory in FDA opioid overdose app contest.
“OD Help is a convenient, easy-to-use mobile app created to connect potential opioid overdose victims with a crowd-sourced network of naloxone carriers,” wrote Lurie in a December 15 blog, further adding that the app “can conveniently be tailored for use in rural or urban regions by expanding or contracting the radius within which naloxone carriers are sought.”
In the month of September, the FDA inaugurated the Naloxone App Competition in an attempt to tackle the dramatic increase in the number of U.S. opioid overdose deaths, several of which could be ignored if people experiencing an overdose had immediately got the life-saving medication, in accordance to the regulatory agency. Although, until now, no app has been available to connect those carrying naloxone with nearby opioid overdose victims.
Among other significant features, OD Help has an optional interface with a breathing monitor to track when a victim’s breathing rate is very low, a symptom of an opioid overdose. “Therefore, if the victim is alone and not able to call for help, OD Help will track the diminished breathing and alert a naloxone carrier of the potential overdose,” Lurie stated.
Other characteristics of the FDA opioid overdose app involve: just alerting people in one’s support network and permitting naloxone carriers to disable alerts when they are not able to respond, as well as giving instructions on how to rightly diagnose an overdose/administer naloxone and contact emergency medical services when assistance is needed.
Lurie asserts that OD Help “has the potential to make a real difference in the fight against opioid overdose.” Representatives from PwrdBy weren’t instantly available for comment.
The FDA hosted a code-a-thon October 19 and 20 at its White Oak campus in Silver Spring, Md., to establish the concepts and initial prototypes. More than 100 people participated either in-person or virtually in the 2-day event.
The rules of the competition needed participants to submit a video of a functional app prototype along with a comprehensive summary of their concept for a crowd-sourced mobile phone app that could assist to accelerate delivery of naloxone to a person experiencing an overdose. The video of the OD Help app can be viewed here.
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
Major industry groups to keenly enhance best practices for mobile app use
3 major provider associations and an advisory firm have devoted to establishing and promoting best practices for mobile app use.
The alliance, known as Xcertia and operating as a not-for-profit corporation, involves the American Heart Association, American Medical Association, Healthcare Information Management and Systems Society, and DHX Group, which works and functions with stakeholders to accelerate development of digital health via industry collaboration. The group seeks more participants, involving developers, consumers, privacy and security experts, and the academic community, among others.
Xcertia will develop and promote best practices for mobile app use selection to foster use of safe, effective and reputable technologies. HIMSS this week debuted Xcertia at its Connected Health Conference at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in Oxon Hill, Md. The alliance hopes to release its 1st content later in the year of 2017.
The driving force behind the step was the need to expand ongoing attempts to foster safe, effective and honorable health technologies to bring clarity and focus to the marketplace, claims Eric Peterson, chair of the American Heart Association Center for Health Technology and Innovation.
The AMA was encouraged to join Xcertia because its House of Delegates has an established policy for the association to assist develop guidance for the mobile space and be part of the digital strategy of the industry, claims Michael Hodgkins, MD, the group’s chief medical officer. “Our significant focus is to make it more convenient for doctors and consumers to choose the right apps.” Those apps, he adds, should be patient-centered, evidence-based and generate actionable information.
Consumers require asking the right questions about mobile app use before buying them, and app developers should support them and provide answers, the AMA asserts. The first job for workgroups will be to look at what kinds of content already are in the market and incorporate instructions, Hodgkins claims. “This is a void that requires being filled given growth in the mobile market and a rapid shift to value-based care.”
Further information on joining Xcertia is available here.
Monday, December 12, 2016
Groups insisting for wireless health technologies compliance
Two major organizations pursuing the wider use of digital, connected and wireless health technologies have combined, consolidating the tasks to foster the utilization of new IT in the healthcare industry.
The Wireless-Life Sciences Alliance (WLSA) has merged its operations with the Personal Connected Health Alliance, a not-for-profit organization developed by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). In return, the Personal Connected Health Alliance has accepted and adopted the WLSA membership model. WLSA’s executive-level engagement and Convergence Summit activities will be enabled into the Personal Connected Health Alliance’s annual conference.
Robert B. McCray, co-founder and CEO of WLSA, has been entitled as a senior advisor of thought leadership for the alliance and will serve on its board of managers.
"This alliance with PCHAlliance and the merger of our activities depicts an exciting chance to more effectively foster international relationships and business opportunities for our members and offer increased visibility in the connected health ecosystem", claimed McCray.
WLSA was developed in the year of 2005 and has emphasized on digital, connected and wireless health technologies driven by science, medicine, technology, and engineering and big data analytics. It developed the Wireless Health Conference series to give a cross-disciplinary research forum for the field. That occasion, hosted in collaboration with leading institutes and academic institutions, will sustain through collaboration with IEEE/EMBS and with the collaboration of the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.
PCHAlliance executives claim that the organization's aim is to assist people to make health and wellness an effortless part of daily life. The Alliance is convening the global personal connected health community—technology companies, payers, governments, healthcare providers and the public—to modify the technical, business, policy and social initiatives essential to advance the field. Among its tasks, PCHAlliance established and promotes technical standards, facilitates collaboration, shares research, convenes conferences and advocates policy to assist advance personal connected health.
Friday, December 2, 2016
Secure Mobile Communication permits shift in practice’s care model
Getting in contact with the physicians of Direct Care Clinic of Northwest Arkansas is convenient—they are only a text or email away. Secure mobile communication with sufferers has become a key source of communication that permits the Rogers, Ark.-based practice to serve patients and provide them personalized care.
The physicians of the practice would not have it any other way.
“This is the way primary care should be done,” claims Dan Weeden, MD, one of the 2 physicians in the practice. “It is a good way to do primary care.”
Weeden and Joel Frankhauser, MD, have modified the practice’s approach, in part enabled by new IT systems. It is changed electronic health records (EHRs) systems, deployed a smartphone app and adopted the secure mobile communication or messaging software to enable better communication.
Direct Care now provides direct primary care to over 700 patients who pay a set amount each month—less than $50—for entire treatment and services. That is moderately different model than concierge service, under which a person or family pays an annual fee for care. And it is a far cry from the conventional fee-for-service model the practice employed before the change, when it treated more than 2,000 patients.
Before the switch, the practice utilized an EHR from Epic, and followed the conventional way of filing claims with insurers, which paid varying amounts for care. In making the switch, it is shifted to the InLight EHR system from Amazing Charts, which has better enabled the shift to direct primary care, assisting it offer the more consistent monthly fee approach.
Weeden claims that the new approach has opened up communication with sufferers, who might need an often visit but frequently just want a rapid answer to a medical query. This year, the practice sought a secure mobile communication or secure messaging application that could be integrated into the InLight EHR and discovered Twistle, which enables sufferers to use smartphones to send messages to the practice.
The app brings ease to the practice and patients, in accordance to Weeden. It mitigates the need for office visits and provides patients peace of mind while, at the similar time, quickly alerting clinicians to potential issues.
Patients who’ve the free Twistle app on their phone can send messages to the practice that go into nurse and physician computers as well as their smartphones.
Direct Care chose Twistle secure messaging because it is HIPAA compliant, but Weeden worries that few other doctors using the direct primary care model don’t follow HIPAA “and it’s imperative that they do so,” he states.
Thursday, December 1, 2016
People Need mHealth Convenience, But Payers Are not Ready
8 in ten consumers would rather see their doctor online than in person, the mHealth convenience survey claims. But insurers are not prepared to make that an easy procedure.
A new study finds that people overwhelmingly prefer online interactions with their doctor over in-person visits, and they will even risk the security of their health information for the mhealth convenience.
In all, 8 out of every ten people surveyed by West Monroe Partners prefer real-time contact through a portal or mHealth app over a visit to the doctor’s office. And 31% have used an mHealth app in the last 2 years to talk to their doctor about a particular medical condition.
In accordance to the survey of more than 1,300 consumers, 86% are using their healthcare provider’s online portal, and two-thirds of those people whose doctors do not have a portal what their doctors to make that leap. The public claim for mHealth is even higher: 91% of those surveyed would use a mHealth app if they could.
The shift in people’s thinking is not lost on doctors.
“Healthcare providers are realizing the affect of digital communication channels and are beginning to adapt,” Will Hinde, senior director of healthcare for West Monroe Partners, claims in the report. “We are initiating to see more providers incorporate the digital experience with their office visit, by moving to more online scheduling of appointments, paperless office interactions, following up through e-mail, portals, and mobile apps and taking measures towards higher cost and quality transparency.”
The issue to mHealth convenience adoption comes not from those providing healthcare, but those holding the purse strings.
In accordance to the survey, 85% of payers are not sure their company has the technology in place to meet the needs of consumer, and 54% are not sure they have the procedures to create a mobile, consumer-centric platform.
Part of the challenge lies in what payers think their members want. Several currently offer awards, like gift cards, and redeemable points to prompt members to share their health data online. But with less than 50% of consumers surveyed saying they trust their doctor with their personal health information, those rewards are not cutting it.
“Provided the volume, scale, and visibility of healthcare-based cyberattacks, it is no surprise less than half of consumers (48%) entirely trust their provider with their personal data,” the study points out. “This deficiency of trust poses an important business hurdle for the roughly 70% of healthcare insurers presently offering rewards programs built around consumers sharing data collected from their health tracking devices and apps – which can assist insurers to provide more individualized care. Confronted with a customer base that is reticent to share personal health information, these insurers can seek their rewards programs stagnating, with customer retention, loyalty, and actionable data collection suffering as an outcome.”
In accordance to the survey, consumers will share their health information with doctors if the rewards are more meaningful – that means better rates, better service or convenient access to doctors.
The West Monroe Partners survey recommends that consumers are demanding mHealth convenience or easier online access to their doctors, and they will even forego a minor bit of privacy and security in exchange for cost savings. But healthcare providers are shifting too slowly to provide them that convenience, and the payer industry is even farther behind.
Wednesday, November 23, 2016
mHealth Use for Long Period Might Improve Patient Self Management
mHealth apps could assist to make better the patient self management as long as sufferers use them for long periods of time, research indicates.
mHealth and electronic patient self management devices might impact positive patient behavior changes when paired with powerful patient engagement and prolonged use, in accordance to a recent research in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.
With 69% of Americans keeping track of few sort of health factor, and another 21% using mHealth to do so, latest study highlights the significance of healthcare experts better understanding how these tools affects the patient self management.
“These proposed factors have led to a fact in integrating novel self-monitoring systems into wellness programs, chronic condition management, and the diagnosis of acute episodes,” Steinhubl et al. wrote. “This makes understanding the health self-monitoring in these proposed systems a vital first action in engaging these technologies into routine patient care.”
The researchers utilized the web-based Walgreens Balance Rewards for health choices program to highly understand how incentives-based patient self management tools impacts the behavior change. The Walgreens app rewards sufferers for recording their healthy attitudes with points they can apply to their Walgreens purchases. Through a portal app, sufferers can also set wellness targets.
Utilizing data gathered from the year of 2014, the team analyzed overall participation patterns and how automatic activity tracking contributes to tool utilization.
Overall, 455,341 consumers enrolled for the Walgreens app in the year of 2014. Although, 34% stopped utilizing the app after their 1st log-in. The researchers discovered that this to be consistent with published literature.
“In this regard, we consider that identification and understanding of the characteristics of these people, and factors that promote interest or encourage behavior change is seriously significant in this quickly evolving field,” the researchers contended.
The research team also recognized sufferer populations who stayed adherent to the program. Overall, 31.2% of consumers quit within 1 week of app use, and 49.88% quit within 1 month of use.
These sufferers might have stopped using the Walgreens app due to the several technological problems. For instance, they might have encountered usability problems, a deficiency of provider feedback, or a perceived deficiency of results.
A very minor percentage of users had powerful and prolonged app use, tracing at least 8 or 9 activities weekly for over twenty weeks.
While most of these sufferers recorded their information manually, those who automatically integrated information from a wearable or other mHealth app were more likely to utilize the app for a more prolonged period of time.
Nevertheless, the researchers claimed that these sufferers had high levels of health engagement, prompting them to utilize the tool and integrate it into their routine lives.
Furthermore, the researchers claimed that these consumers were more likely to see tangible health behavior changes, likely due to their prolonged app use. Healthcare professionals should think how to motivate more app use, in accordance to the research team, thus spurring widespread sufferer behavior changes.
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