Consumers & Mobile Health IT

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Mobile health IT has the capacity to provide consumers with the right data, at the right time, and the right place to remain healthy – or return to health. Today’s consumers use mobile technologies (like smart phones) to communicate, monitor, manage and improve their own health. By engaging consumers, mHealth provides a new platform managing health, chronic, and acute conditions.

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Ringadoc is ready for the spotlight May 16, 2013 |
Eric Wicklund
 The San Francisco-based developer of an after-hours answering service for physicians has closed its seed round of funding, and is looking to make its mark in the mHealth landscape.  More
Post-discharge plans get an mHealth boost May 15, 2013 |
Eric Wicklund
 Vree Health's TransitionAdvantage program is being launched in Montana and Connecticut, in an effort to show that the mHealth solution can work in both rural and urban settings.  More
Status quo doesn't sit well with the innovation team at Boston Children's Hospital May 14, 2013 |
Erin McCann
 At a recent Institute for Health Technology Transformation event in Boston, the hospital's chief innovation officer, Naomi Fried, explained how four new mHealth tools are improving the inpatient experience for patients, families and clinicians.  More
UPMC doc states his case for ROI in telemedicine May 7, 2013 |
Mike Miliard
 In a session at the ATA's 18th Annual International Meeting & Trade Show, Andrew Watson examines the value derived from UPMC's programs to show 'how one model can work for telemedicine.'  More
ATA breakfast panel takes a look at connected care - and 'Super Docs' May 7, 2013 |
Eric Wicklund
 A Monday morning discussion hosted by Healthcare IT News at the ATA's 18th Annual International Meeting & Trade Show touts the benefits of telemedicine in four of the nation's largest healthcare networks.  More
Qualcomm Life acquires HealthyCircles May 6, 2013 |
Eric Wicklund
 The San Diego-based developer of the 2net hub will add HealthyCircles' care management platform to its portfolio, creating an environment for all members of the post-acute care team to share data.  More
ATA's first-ever venture fair features innovation - and a few words of caution May 6, 2013 |
Eric Wicklund
 The Sunday morning session brings together entrepreneurs and venture capital experts to see the latest in telemedicine ideas and discuss the positives and pitfalls of VC funding.  More
ATA kicks off its annual meeting with a call for Mercy May 6, 2013 |
Mike Miliard
 The American Telemedicine Association highlights the Missouri-based healthcare network in Sunday's opening plenary to kick off the 18th Annual International Meeting and Trade Show.  More
Applying mobile health strategies to drive greater patient engagement and provider accountability. May 3, 2013 |
David C. Bjork
 In this contributed commentary, Telcare President David Bjork identifies the value of mHealth in the patient-provider dynamic and explores how this can be used to shape the future of healthcare.  More
ATA to hold its first venture fair May 3, 2013 |
Jeff Rowe
 The American Telemedicine Association will gather inventors and investors for the first-ever event on Sunday, helping to kick off the ATA's 18th Annual International Meeting & Trade Show.  More
LyfeChannel wins HHS mobile app challenge May 1, 2013 |
Erin McCann
 The California-ased company wins the $50,000 grand prize for its myfamily app, which is designed to help family members better manage an entire family's health by using healthfinder.gov content.  More
mHealth mergers: BodyMedia, FitPal find new owners April 30, 2013 |
Eric Wicklund
 The two companies, well known for developing mobile sensors that collect and assess health and fitness data, are scooped up in a one-day mHealth acquisition frenzy.  More
A diabetes prevention coalition meets in NYC - will mHealth be on the agenda? May 15, 2013 |
Eric Wicklund
 Like any chronic condition, diabetes is a disease that must be managed continuously - not just when you're visiting with your endocrinologist or doctor. A care management plan, therefore, must involve family members, other caregivers, schools and employers.  More
 
Innovation in telemedicine: An entrepreneur's perspective May 7, 2013 |
Yulun Wang
 The need to provide high-quality healthcare to everyone while reducing costs has reached a crisis level, where it's a major focus of the highest government offices. More and more politicians and healthcare leaders are realizing that telemedicine is clearly a cornerstone of the solution. This is tangibly seen by the increasing number of healthcare systems that are adopting telemedicine, by the growth of ATA and by industry investments in telemedicine products and services.  More
 
The year ahead for the ATA and telemedicine May 7, 2013 |
Edward M. Brown
 Telemedicine as we know it has been around for almost 50 years. It has moved from humble beginnings as an experimental curiosity delivering rural healthcare to become something on track for mainstream acceptance across the healthcare system.  More
Discrimination May 7, 2013 |
Matthew Grob
 I've gone through life thinking, "It could never happen to me." But now it has. And it hurts. I've become the subject of discrimination. Mobile device operating system discrimination, that is.  More
Remote patient monitoring will lead value-based healthcare April 25, 2013 |
David Lee Scher, MD
 Traditional health insurance reimbursement to providers (though "payment" is a more appropriate word) for healthcare services and products is at the root of our healthcare crisis.  More
Serendipity and personalization and connected health April 25, 2013 |
Joseph C. Kvedar, MD
 In a world where most folks change jobs every couple of years, people are often amazed to hear that I started work in connected health 19 years ago. Implicit in their amazement is a question: "Why did you stick with it so long?" The quickest response is that the work we started back then is not yet finished. A more accurate answer is a bit more complex.  More
Mobile Shmobile April 18, 2013 |
Matthew Grob
 Mobile health is hot. It's innovative. It's impactful. It matters. But it isn't everything.  More
Marrying the BYOD phenomenon to HIPAA compliance April 15, 2013 |
Lindy Benton
 In today's mobile-friendly culture, few people think twice before pulling out their phone or tablet to take a picture. Recently, this cultural affinity for mobile technology has appeared in healthcare settings through the form of 'Bring Your Own Device' (BYOD) initiatives, which allow employees to use their personal smartphones and tablets to connect to a hospital's network. In fact, the Ponemon Institute reports 81 percent of healthcare providers have adopted some form of a BYOD policy.  More
Size matters April 5, 2013 |
Matthew Grob
 Does size really matter? I suppose it depends on whom you ask. For those in technology, size is what is driving innovation in mobile health.  More
Five imperatives of patient-centric healthcare April 4, 2013 |
David Lee Scher, MD
 In previous posts I discussed how patient-centric care differs from patent-centered care and how patient empowerment must precede patient engagement. I would like now to delve into what I consider critical elements of patient-centric care. They all involve technology to various extents.  More
2013 digital health funding update April 1, 2013 |
Halle Tecco
 No joke, digital health funding this quarter was up yet again.  With 37 deals valued at $365M, that’s 35% higher than Q1 of last year, suggesting that 2013 will be another record year for the digital health industry.  More
Is Facebook a predictor of your health? March 28, 2013 |
Joseph C. Kvedar, MD
 I've written before about the power of analyzing what you write in order to predict things about your health. As more and more 'big data' companies and projects get publicity, it is fascinating to see how rapidly the field is growing.  More
Video: Leslie Saxon: Better tech for better health April 1, 2013 |
"What's Next" CNN blog
 What if tracking your heart rate and blood pressure was as simple as getting your e-mail?  More
Video: Eric Topol talks about his new book March 28, 2013 |
The Colbert Report
 Cardiologist Eric Topol talks about his book, "The Creative Destruction of Medicine: How the Digital Revolution Will Create Better Health Care."   More
Transfering money with SmartMoney March 26, 2012 |
Menekse Gencer
 This video shows a demonstration of sending money to another user of SmartMoney.  More
mHealth Summit 2011 - Special Session // Evaluating mHealth adoption barriers: Human Behaviour March 20, 2012 |
mHIMSS
 Dr Axel Nemetz, Global Head of Vodafone mHealth Solutions, will present on one of the greatest barriers to mHealth adoption, human behaviour.  More
mHealth Summit 2011 - Special Session // mHealth Alliance: Participatory Design for mHealth March 20, 2012 |
mHIMSS
 Join the mHealth Alliance’s Participatory Design for mHealth event to learn from a mixture of design firms and experts with field experience in the design of mobile applications aimed at addressing key health challenges. These panelists stand on the forefront of fostering local innovation, open source technologies, and working with diverse partnerships in emerging markets.  More
mHealth Summit 2011 - Special Session // Design Mobile Apps That Healthcare Consumers Will Love — Or At Least Use March 20, 2012 |
mHIMSS
 This video provides best practices for designing health apps through optimized user experience (UX) techniques to assist with increasing adoption and reducing abandonment. Topics covered include person and scenario development, formative evaluation, and competitive analysis.  More
Connected Heath Sensors March 13, 2012 |
Rock Health
 This report sources data and feedback from interviews conducted with entrepreneurs working in the space.  More
Featured
Delivering Accountable Care with Remote Monitoring for Chronic Disease Management
Resource Central
 In an effort to bend the cost curve and address chronic conditions, leading healthcare organizations have implemented various solutions. This white paper outlines why now is the ideal time for healthcare organizations to move past the pilot stage and roll out and scale remote monitoring for chronic disease management. In addition, it explores how remote monitoring can improve the patient’s lifestyle, help patients with better self-management of conditions and reduce expenses for providers.   More
PCI Compliant Data Centers February 19, 2013 |
mHIMSS
 Healthcare providers increasingly adopt applications and devices allowing patients to make payments for their service online. In addition to the need to meet HIPAA compliance, transmitting, storing, or processing processing cardholder data necessitates PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards) compliance. This white paper elucidates PCI DSS compliance, pinpointing concerns and standards companies should be aware of when determining how to secure cardholder data in a compliant manner.   More
Turning Chaos into Calm: Three Ways Smartphones Improve the ED Throughput Process February 11, 2013 |
mHIMSS
 Hospital clinicians tackle an array of critical tasks every day, yet nowhere are these tasks more rampant than in the ED. Patients arrive 24/7, requiring around-the-clock registration and triage. ED nurses must oversee the transfer of patients to providers, to diagnostics, to critical laboratory and pharmacy, and to therapies. They must also coordinate admission or release. This white paper will help you understand the causes of inefficient ED communication and identify ways to improve your throughput process.  More
Crawl, Walk, Run: Three Steps to Improving Clinical Efficiency and Effectiveness February 11, 2013 |
mHIMSS
 Hospitals recognize the importance of communication. They realize clinicians must be able to connect easily with each other, their patients, laboratory and radiology staff, and other providers. However, many hospitals equip clinicians with tools like legacy wireless phones, pagers, PDAs and voice badges, creating a communication tool belt and weakening communication.   More
Unified Communications and Surveillance in the Clinical Setting October 1, 2012 |
mHIMSS
 For the modern healthcare delivery model to operate efficiently there is an undeniable mandate for seamless, comprehensive and real-time communications across the continuum of care. In this paper we will look at the link and need for collaboration and clinical information amongst various stakeholders from acute care hospitals, primary care physicians, long-term and sub-acute care providers, and to patient’s family care providers to ensure they receive the right care at the right time.  More
Coordinating Care Across The Healthcare Continuum: The Value and Importance of a Connected Healthcare Platform September 20, 2012 |
mHIMSS
 Healthcare delivery in the US is undergoing massive changes and while much of the discussion has centered around how best to reach National goals on quality, safety and clinical efficiency, one thing is clear. The vast amount of data elements from multiple and disparate clinical sources is compounded when patients receive care from multiple providers and the ability to provide comprehensive and real-time patient clinical information to every healthcare provider is an essential requirement to reduce costs and provide better care process.  More
The 5 Rights of Clinical Decision Support: Mobile Platforms Succeed Where EM/HRs Fail September 20, 2012 |
mHIMSS
 Since the first electronic medical record(EM/HR) was proposed nearly 5 decades ago, the importance of integrating pertinent clinical data focused upon relevant patient information has become increasingly important. Recognizing that when this first EM/HR was developed desktop PCs were not available, the internet was not even being considered and mobile real-time data access was science fiction, the advances we see being placed on data and the importance of structuring this into meaningful information are becoming the driving force behind healthcare informatics.  More
Five Ways Instant Communications Among Doctors Benefit Your Entire Hospital June 1, 2012 |
Amcom Software
 This whitepaper looks at the five ways doctors and their hospitals can benefit from the ability to achieve instant communications routed per physicians’ preferences. With the improved ability for doctors to coordinate care through well-routed communication requests, patient care gets a boost, staff satisfaction goes up, and the healthcare system can achieve overall greater efficiency.  More
PERMISSION, PRIVACY, MEASUREMENT: The Way Forward March 23, 2012 |
Mobile Marketing Association (MMA)
 Over the last five years, the mobile space has undergone revolutionary change. From simple mobile communications devices, mobile phones have become smartphones with extended feature sets, offering mobile access to the web and other functions. The Apple iPad and its successor, the iPad 2, together with a slew of upcoming tablets running on Android and other operating systems, makes tablet computing as another mobile option. Lower broadband costs and technological advances have helped this mobile revolution to happen at an increased pace, and improved mobile infrastructure throughout the Asian region is enabling mobile phone take-up in less developed countries.  More
Understanding Mobile Social Behaviour Using Smartphones March 13, 2012 |
Fehmi Ben Abdesslem
Tristan Henderson
 In this paper, the researcher presents an approach for studying users’ behavior with regards to mobile devices. A number of survey questions were asked to elicit responses for a number of topics, including end user perceptions to geo-location use, privacy and security issues, and other relevant mHealth related topics concerning patient preferences.   More
A New Prescription for Chronic Disease: Remote Monitoring Devices February 20, 2012 |
mHIMSS
 This original HIMSS Analytics research seeks to understand the consumer perspective with regards to the use of wireless devices in the home health setting. The report includes information on consumer readiness, barriers and benefits of home monitoring adoption. The privacy and security of home health aids remains an area of high concern for many respondents.   More
Enabling Collaborative Healthcare Delivery: Care Coordination Strategies with 21st Century Technology December 15, 2011 |
Intel
 This paper, based on a roundtable session featuring John Mattison of Kaiser Permanente, identifies the building blocks of care coordination and the innovative technologies being deployed to support continuity of care by visionary health systems and the healthcare IT vendor community.  More
Txt4Health: Using Mobile Health Technology in the New Orleans Beacon Community February 15, 2012 |
Anjum Khurshid PhD, MBBS (MD), MPAff
 The New Orleans Beacon Community is currently using Txt4Health approaches to reduce healthcare costs, improve population health, and enhance patient experiences when engaging in healthy practices. This program assists individuals with diabetes through SMS texting to educate and improve patients dealing with chronic disease.   More
Featured
Mobile Health Solutions In Support of ACO Initiatives
mHIMSS
 Health care providers today are under increasing financial and regulatory pressure to improve patient outcomes and continue to give quality care, while simultaneously reducing costs. ACOs in particular are focused on improving the quality of care and outcomes of health across their entire patient population, while at the same time lowering per capita costs. There is a significant opportunity for healthcare providers to leverage mHealth solutions to achieve these goals.  More
Secure, Enterprise Ready Text Messaging and Collaboration for Care Coordination February 11, 2013 |
mHIMSS
 Text messaging has expanded beyond the realm of a simple message between two individuals. As Physicians and nurses are increasingly using smartphones to communicate and collaborate with their team members, the need for a secure and enterprise-wide platform that handles all form of communications – text messages, calls, alerts & tasks is crucial for patient care coordination.  More
June 4th @ 1PM ET -- Standalone Universal Viewing Platform: A practical and affordable approach to image enabling the EMR May 15, 2013 |
mHIMSS
 Accessing a patient’s complete longitudinal medical record is frequently a cumbersome process that frustrates physicians and diminishes quality of care. The inclusion of the patient’s medical images in that record is complicated by an absence of interfaces to the various data repositories and the lack of a single multi-modality viewing application. The recent explosion of Electronic Medical Record system deployments suggests that most healthcare organizations are preparing themselves to meet Meaningful Use mandates, but a sound strategy for image-enabling the EMR remains elusive. Join us to review the many issues associated with image-enabling the EMR and see how an advanced image viewing technology can meet the numerous technical challenges as well as satisfy the physician’s performance expectations.   More
Next Generation Messaging and Collaboration Strategies for Smartphones and Tablets April 4, 2013 |
mHIMSS
 Physicians and nurses are increasingly using mobile devices to communicate and collaborate with their team members, the need for a secure, integrated and enterprise-wide platform that handles all form of communications – text messages, calls, alerts & tasks is crucial for patient care coordination.  More
Leveraging Mobile Technology to Reduce Hospital Readmissions February 6, 2013 |
mHIMSS
 During this webinar, we will review a recently published HIMSS Media white paper discussing how prominent hospitals and health systems are using remote monitoring devices and applications in their programs as a way to connect patients and clinicians and to impact care outside of the organization. We’ll also review results from the 2nd Annual HIMSS Mobile Technology Survey and talk about the benefits of mobile technology on patient care, barriers to mobile technology use and clinicians’ concerns about the use of mobile technology.   More
Delivering Accountable Care with Remote Monitoring for Chronic Disease Management November 19, 2012 |
mHIMSS
 Health expenditures in the United States neared $2.6 trillion in 2010, accounting for 17.9 percent of the U.S. GDP, with chronic disease capturing the lion’s share of the cost. In an effort to bend the cost curve and address chronic conditions, remote monitoring for chronic disease management has been widely tested; however, it has been stuck in pilot mode due to lack of economic incentive.  More
Text Messaging in Healthcare – A Clinical Perspective June 20, 2012 |
mHIMSS
 Engaging targeted audiences with text messaging has become a cost effective tool in health and wellness management. Utilizing encryption technology in support of HIPAA compliance allows PHI to be shared for maximizing the value of information to improve self-care behavior.   More
George Washington University Course: Innovations in Telemedicine and mHealth April 2, 2013 |
mHIMSS
 Advances in wireless broadband networks, almost ubiquitous mobile phone penetration, and data compression technologies are providing new avenues for radical change in the way doctors practice medicine and patients access care.  More
Health IT and Home Health Care May 23, 2012 |
HHS (US Dept. of Health and Human Services)
 This audio program features current news and information from the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).  More
Health IT Enables DIY Health Care: The convergence of Consumers and Health IT January 27, 2012 |
mHIMSS
 Presented by Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, MA, MHSA of THINK-Health. This presentation provides an in depth discussion of consumer engagement with HIT including the use of mobile technologies to manage their own health and healthcare.  More
Video Presentations from The 2011 mHealth Summit, December 5 - 7 2011 January 18, 2012 |
mHIMSS
 This webpage hosts all of the video presentations from the The 2011 mHealth Summit, December 5 - 7 2011.  More
Featured
Impact of mHealth on Quality and Patient Care Outcomes
mHIMSS
 This Fact Sheet defines how mobility (mHealth) creates an environment of continuous engagement addressing wellness and care. Level of engagement provides opportunities for enhancing safety and quality in care across all settings. This effect captures the ability for mHealth to facilitate integrating clinical information with patient-reported data across the care continuum. Result is linking patient and person in creating a holistic participant for wellness and care.  More
Definitions of mHealth
mHIMSS
 A collection of mHealth definitions from key healthcare organizations.  More
Policy Brief: APPS Act March 14, 2013 |
mHIMSS
 The Application Privacy, Protection, and Security Act (APPS Act) was introduced in a discussion draft form to the 113th congress by Congressman Hank Johnson (D-GA) on January 16th, 2013. This act, which continued themes from similar recently introduced legislation, would require application developers for various mobile devices to maintain privacy policies, obtain consent from consumers prior to collecting data, and securely maintain the data that they collect.  More
Policy Brief: SET Act October 2, 2012 |
mHIMSS
 The Safe, Efficient, and Transparent Medical Device Approval Act was introduced in the Senate by Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and Bob Casey (D-PA) on February 1, 2012 during the 112th Congress.  More
How is Proactive Health Impacting Healthcare Delivery? September 7, 2012 |
Sapna Dalal
Thomas Martin, MBA
 Medical information is becoming portable, participatory and personalized. This increased availability of information allows patients to become more involved and more proactive in their own healthcare process.  More
Case Study: Txt4Health: Using Mobile Health Technology in the New Orleans Beacon Community July 19, 2012 |
mHIMSS
 In June, 2011, after brief meetings with ONC Beacon Program staff, Voxiva, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the American Diabetes Association (ADA), were signed up for testing a text4baby-like diabetes program. Of the 17 Beacon communities, New Orleans and Detroit were the first two (later to be joined by a third, Cincinnati) Beacons to announce plans to test a public health diabetes awareness program that will use Voxiva’s mobile health technology and work with the CDC and ADA to develop the right content for such a public health program.  More
Updated: 6 FAQ's on SMS Text Messaging Implementation in Healthcare June 26, 2012 |
mHIMSS
 This updated FAQ addresses common questions when implementing SMS (text) messaging within a clinical environment. The FAQ addresses important information related to privacy and security, implementation, and post implementation support related to texting.   More
Healthcare “Friending” Social Media: What Is It, How Is It Used, and What Should I Do? Advice to Consumers (Patients, Families and Caregivers) March 15, 2012 |
mHIMSS
 Social media is playing an increased role in how patients acquire knowledge about healthcare and communicate health related topics with others. From Facebook to Twitter, patients are increasingly looking to social media outlets. This whitepaper is intended to outlined a few questions patients, families and caregivers will want to consider as they leverage social media to be more active in their health care.  More
Healthcare “Friending” Social Media: What Is It, How Is It Used, and What Should I Do? March 15, 2012 |
mHIMSS
 The variety of available social media tools is growing exponentially, and includes resources such as: Apps, Blogs, Collaborative Projects, Content Communities (e.g., YouTube), Crowdsourcing, Device Integration, Enterprise Social Media, Games/Virtual Game Worlds, Location Based Apps, Microblogs (e.g., Twitter), Product/Service Rating Sites, RSS, Social Networking (e.g., Facebook), Virtual Worlds, Widgets and advanced user tools. This paper provides health care professionals with definitions of social media tools, examples of their use throughout healthcare, and recommendations for providers and consumers (patients, families or caregivers) getting started in the exciting world of #HCSM (Health Care Social Media – in “Twitterspeak”).  More
Glossary of Terms February 6, 2012 |
mHIMSS
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Smokefree Teen: teen.smokefree.gov December 2, 2011 |
HHS (US Dept. of Health and Human Services)
NIH, (National Institutes of Health)
 The Tobacco Control Research Branch, (TCRB) is currently developing a teen smoking cessation site. Given teens’ unique usage patterns of emerging technologies, text messaging, mobile device optimization, and downloadable mobile applications will be integral for a teen site. Indeed, the use of text messaging to deliver cessation treatment is seen as a core feature of the teen site.  More
Text4baby November 29, 2011 |
HHS (US Dept. of Health and Human Services)
Johnson & Johnson
 To help more pregnant women and new moms get information about caring for their health and giving their babies the best possible start in life, the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition (HMHB) launched text4baby, the first free health text messaging service in the U.S.Text4baby supports moms by providing accurate, text-length health information and resources in a format that is personal and timely, using a channel she knows and uses.  More