Mobile Health 360

Apple Does it Again

Mhealth360 Admin — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 22:21:14 +0000

An amazing quarter for Apple, selling over 37M iPhones and 15M iPads. Simply amazing.

mHealth Summit: The Movement Continues

Mhealth360 Admin — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 03:15:00 +0000

Today was the kick-off of the mHealth Summit outside of Washington, DC. The first panel of speakers included among others Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary US Department of Health & Human Services, Eric Topol, Vice Chairmen West Wireless Institute, and Robert Kaplan, Director Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research at NIH. Dr. Kaplan made the assertion that the mobile landscape is “essential to the future of health” and urged an expanding set of data to drive the movement even further with good evidence of its efficacy. Dr. Topol gave a talk entitled, “The Creative Destruction of Medicine” in which he described the idea of “Kairos”, or that supreme moment, which is when great things happen. He explained how the field has metamorphosed from population-based medicine to individual-based approaches and then demonstrated a number of examples on stage of how devices can provide real-time information such as echocardiograms and EKGs. He discussed advances in eye care and then delved into the interconnection of genomics with mobile health, pointing to a myriad of examples indicating how powerful the genome will be to dictating individual health in the future. He concluded with a vision of apps that could transform the way medicine is approached, by coalescing genomic data with viable ways to manage conditions.

Kathleen Sebelius began her talk by discussing the incredible surge in smartphone use over the last few years, stating how beneficial they can be in tracking, managing, and improving health. She pointed to banking to draw the corollary to 24/7 service, always in the hands of consumers. She spent some time discussing how meaningful use is changing the landscape, providing an infrastructure from which to proceed with EMRs. She also pointed out specific approaches, like Circle of Six, meant to help college women who are victims of sexual assault and articulated a strong case for “patient-centered care” with a call for a system in which patients can easily “take care of health everyday, not just in the doctor’s office.”

Over the course of day 1, there have been a number of interesting sessions, made up of panels discussing various topics within the mHealth arena. Just some of the sessions I attended were:

Harnessing the Power of Social Media and Mobile Technology to Engage Consumers

Search and Use Patterns: Case Studies in Patient Adherence Through mHealth

Examining the Value of mHealth: Clinician Perspectives on mHealth Technology

Making Health Data Useful for Successful Clinical Decision Support

The Evolution of Gaming and its Effect on Prevention and Wellness

All of these represent a small part of what is occurring in the world of mobile health, and not just in the US but globally. In the Exhibit Hall, there are dozens of companies dedicated to using this technology to improving health outcomes, from well-established ones like Qualcomm who is expanding its presence in this domain daily, to start-ups who are trying to gain traction. There were also 100 posters, one of which I am proud to say belonged to me and my colleagues from NYU and is entitled “Examining the Utility of Mobile Health in a Real-Time Clinical Setting Through the Use of iPads: Part One of a Multi-Phase Study”. Most of the posters examined SMS technology and its applications to a variety of different scenarios.

Overall, the conference offers some excellent insight into what is shaping up to be the future of mobile health. In its nascent state, there are still many holes that need to be filled and clearly much room for refinement and expansion, but it is exciting to see how it has progressed and where it is going. Tomorrow there are number of other speakers and sessions which should continue to shed light on the path forward for mHealth.

mHealth Summit: Continuing the Journey

Mhealth360 Admin — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 13:34:36 +0000

The mHealth Summit starts this morning, and it is exciting to be part of it. We will be exploring the myriad of companies and approaches that are shaping the future of mHealth.

Innovation Challenge

Doug Elwood — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 05:37:41 +0000

The Department of Health and Human Services recently launched a competition in which up to $1 billion dollars will be awarded to innovative projects that test creative ways to delivery high quality medical care to reduce costs and improve outcomes.

Top Health Industry Issues of 2012

Doug Elwood — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 05:31:40 +0000

A new PWC report highlights the main issues in health in the coming year. Topics include how health industry organizations will connect in new ways with each other and their consumers as they wade through economic, regulatory, and political uncertainty. According to the report, trends will shift value from theory to reality, investments will ramp up in informatics, insurers will gear up to compete in a new insurance exchange marketplace, pharmaceutical companies will slim down, and healthcare will increase its social media presence.

Health IT and safety

Doug Elwood — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 05:01:48 +0000

A new report by the Institute of Medicine highlights how advances in technology can benefit patient safety. Sharing information, providing it in a timely manner, and point of care tools are merely some that are mentioned — all very applicable and relevant to mobile health.

The Rumble — Patients and Doctors in Modern Health Care

Doug Elwood — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 04:58:46 +0000

There is a sound in nature that is unmistakable — the rumble of thunder. Cantankerous, yet mellow, thunder reverberates and awes. In health care, there is a similar rumble that is growing in strength and permeating society to a greater extent seemingly on a daily basis: that of consumers empowering themselves and becoming more involved in their care. However, this shift has not been to personalized health records as many thought when the Internet first became mainstream; rather, patients are accessing information in new ways, working with each other, and challenging physicians and other healthcare staff to remain current and understand the dynamics of the real world.

A new IOM report details this notion, examining the effect patients have on the system and how their input can help drive care. The authors list common themes to “patient-anchored” care:

• Listening. Each patient-clinician interaction starts with uninterrupted attention
to the patient’s voice on issues, perspectives, goals, and preferences.
• Participatory. Health outcomes improve when patients are engaged in their
own care.
• Reliable. All patients should expect proven best practice as the starting point
in their care.
• Personalized. With proven best practice as the starting point, science-based
tailoring is informed by personal biological traits, circumstances, and preferences.
• Seamless. Care delivered by multiple providers in multiple settings should be
fully integrated and seamless.
• Efficient. Patients, their families, and clinicians should expect care to be appropriate
to the need, available resources, and time required.
• Accountable. All relevant aspects of the clinical experience, including patient
perspectives, should be captured and routinely assessed against expectations.
• Transparent. Information on the outcomes of care — both effectiveness and
efficiency— should be readily accessible and understandable to patients
and their families.
• Trustworthy. Patients should expect a strong and secure foundation of trust on
all dimensions—safety, quality, security, efficiency, accountability, and equity.
• Learning. In a learning health system, the patient is an active contributor to
and supporter of the learning process.

A number of these elements are of course encapsulated by shared decision making and reflect a growing understanding of how important it is to have physicians and patients communicate.

Patients are not alone, healthcare professionals are also clamoring for more information, better education, and easier access to the materials they want when they want them. Check any recent survey of physicians especially and you will notice a massive movement toward mobile devices and a clear call for relevant, personalized, and customizable material at their fingertips. Social media has played a large role in this progression, for both patients and physicians. A recent report by QuantiaMD and the Care Continuum Alliance points out the following:

• The vast majority of physicians are already using social media; Facebook tops the list for personal use, while online physician communities are driving professional use.
• Physicians familiar with online patient communities believe they positively impact patient health; however, awareness of these sites is low.
• Some 28% of physicians already use professional physician communities, with the highest enthusiasm around using them to learn from experts and peers.
• Clinicians see the potential in online interactions with patients to improve access to and quality of care, but concerns around patient privacy, liability and their compensation for such activities must be addressed.
• There is significant need for secure, convenient forms of electronic communication that clinicians can use to communicate with each other, and with patients.
• Over 20% of clinicians use 2 or more sites each for personal and professional use; these “Connected Clinicians” are the most eager to use social media to improve health care.
• There are opportunities for constituents across the health care system to use social media as a tool for improving patient care.

An interesting book released in 2007 identified the importance and power of the movements originating by a multitude. Groundswell, which focused on social media, was redone in 2011 to reflect many of the changes over the last few years. The notion of crowdsourcing in many ways is the health version of the Groundswell concept, as patients may just end up driving the delivery of care in the near future.

The intersection of technology and health is suddenly adopting a magnificent relevance to the larger questions surrounding quality of care, cost containment, and outcomes. Mobile health is increasingly at the center of this discussion, as the effects of mHealth programs are uncovered and applied in novel ways. The ever-expanding rumble of physicians and patients leading a massive shift in health is in fact growing louder and may soon lead to changes unimaginable just years ago. I, for one, have always enjoyed a good thunderstorm and look forward to these changes.

Patient Satisfaction = Money?

Mhealth360 Admin — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 02:02:52 +0000

A recent report reveals that about half of all health execs use patient satisfaction as a key metric in incentives for physicians. With value-based reimbursement, the emphasis on this area of health will continue to grow.

EHR: More Training Needed?

Mhealth360 Admin — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 05:05:00 +0000

A recent report by AmericanEHR Partners reveals that most physicians do not feel they receive enough training to effectively use EHRs. From much experience with hospitals rolling out EHRs, the training is not quick or easy and while they may need it, most physicians do not want to endure it due to busy schedules. Rather than adding more training, making systems easier might be a better strategy.

The No-Wait ER

Mhealth360 Admin — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 00:58:12 +0000

In Washington state, a new ER design might eliminate waits. With a novel approach, the teams utilize a new vision of triage to move patients along while improving outcomes. Very interesting and completely in line with patient satisfaction and quality.