Health Disparities

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mHealth is more than just a topic, it may represent the key to reducing the digital divide among populations and serves as a catalyst for reducing health disparities around the world. 90% of the world’s population lives within reach of a cell phone signal. Whether it is compliance with medications via text messaging or delivering care to populations outside the reach of traditional care settings, mobile health IT is changing the way the world approaches health care. Mobile technology is a pathway to reduce disparities and promote healthy living regardless of where an individual lives in the world.

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The ONC's Lygeia Ricciardi: Speaking for the consumer June 19, 2013 |
Anthony Brino
 In a Q&A with Contributing Editor Anthony Brino, the director of the ONC's Office of Consumer eHealth talks about consumer engagement, mobile health ... and pregnancy apps  More
American Well pulls 2 more Blues into the fold June 14, 2013 |
Eric Wicklund
 The Massachusetts-based developer of the Online Care telehealth platform has added to its portfolio with deals with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts and BlueCross BlueShield of Louisiana.  More
Humana launches CHF-based mHealth pilot in Ohio June 13, 2013 |
Eric Wicklund
 The insurer is partnering with AMC Health to provide in-home monitoring solutions to 450 Medicare Advantage members, with real-time data measured against national standards of care.  More
CHCF adds to its investment in Asthmapolis June 10, 2013 |
Eric Wicklund
 The California HealthCare Foundation has put more than $1 million into the Wisconsin-based developer of an mHealth platform for people with asthma and COPD.  More
HHS names finalists in cancer support app challenge June 5, 2013 |
Erin McCann
 The challenge, launched by the ONC in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute and MedStartr, a healthcare crowdfunding portal, will award the grand prize to the app creator who develops the best tool to help cancer survivors better manage their transition from oncology specialty care to primary care.   More
Digital Health goes global June 3, 2013 |
Eric Wicklund
 Last week's WLSA Convergence Summit put the spotlight on the global digital health ecosystem - including Dean Kamen's efforts to "do something really big for the world."  More
WLSA attendees launch Catalyst Initiative May 31, 2013 |
Eric Wicklund
 The project, spearheaded by Open mHealth, seeks to create a platform on which mHealth projects can be launched using multiple apps.  More
WLSA's Convergence Summit: Putting the "fun" back into healthcare May 30, 2013 |
Eric Wicklund
 The two-day conference kicked off Wednesday in San Diego with an impressive lineup of speakers and presentations, all focused on pushing the boundaries of traditional healthcare and making digital health and wellness to goal.  More
Malware, hacking pose a threat to device safety May 27, 2013 |
Mike Miliard
 It may seem like something out of a sci-fi movie, but the threat is real: Personal medical devices can be hacked or infected and compromised by outside forces, putting the patient's life in jeopardy.  More
Aventyn, mHealthWRx announce partnership May 27, 2013 |
Eric Wicklund
 Unveiled at the WLSA's Convergence Summit this week in San Diego, the deal integrates the WRx Health Hub with the Vitalbeat cloud system - which, offered along with wearable sensors, enables consumers and their physicians to monitor vital signs and other biometric data on the go.  More
UCSF study eyes voice IT's benefits for diabetics May 24, 2013 |
Mike Miliard
 The 27-week study found that interactive voice recognition technology could help identify safety triggers among patients with type 2 diabetes.  More
mHealth is attracting (unwanted) attention May 24, 2013 |
Eric Wicklund
 New York authorities are warning seniors of a scam that has its roots in mHealth.  More
Taking the pulse of mobility in cardiovascular services June 18, 2013 |
Matt Patterson
 Mobility is making an impact on cardiovascular services - ranging from expedited STEMI care pathways to readmission reductions for congestive heart failure (CHF) and intermittent dysrhythmias. Taking a step back to reflect on the state of the cardiovascular service line at large illustrates some key pressures that health systems are experiencing and why mobile technology solutions are taking off in this area.  More
 
Three examples of mHealth success – European style June 14, 2013 |
David Collins
 The mHealth Symposium in Dublin was an eye-opener for me, as it brought to light the reality that there are some universal challenges in mHealth, but there are also some big wins in mobile integration in countries outside the United States.   More
 
Synergistic impacts of healthcare and social media June 3, 2013 |
David Lee Scher, MD
 There have been many articles written on the impact of social media on healthcare. Likewise, healthcare is transforming social media into a 'place' to obtain information on specific diseases, creating patient and provider support in online communities like PatientsLikeMe and Treatment Diaries and improving communication among providers and between providers and patients.  More
Is the end of search the beginning of personalized prevention? May 23, 2013 |
Joseph C. Kvedar, MD
 This past week, Google held its annual developers conference, Google I/O. One of the more provocative talks, called "The End of Search as We Know It," was by Amit Singhal, who is in charge of search for Google.  More
A call for patience May 22, 2013 |
Eric Wicklund
 As the mHealth world anxiously awaits the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's final ruling on how it will regulate mobile medical apps, a new blog from Kaiser Health News shows just how important that ruling will be --and may shed some light on why it's been slow in coming.  More
Is design important in healthcare? May 21, 2013 |
Joseph C. Kvedar, MD
 I've been in the healthcare delivery business now for 30 years and I can confidently say we've paid almost no attention to design. Systems are built around physicians' desires and workflows, and physicians tend to be quantitative, content-focused and able to handle multiple variables at once.  More
Let’s play word association: I say 'mobile,' you say … May 20, 2013 |
David Collins
 I recently watched the latest 007 flic, "Sky Fall", in which Bond "comes back to life" after being killed by one of his fellow operatives. However, Bond stays out of pocket for quite some time "enjoying" his assumed death.  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
Getting at the heart of readmissions May 14, 2013 |
Alan Portela
 I will always stay true to my belief that health systems need to take an enterprise-wide approach to mobility. But at the same time, I'm often asked by hospital CEOs and CIOs how they should prioritize mobility when it comes to different care areas. My first answer is to look at your current challenges and strategic initiatives and then ask how mobility can help you to get there. While I always emphasize the benefit of mobility across all departments, cardiology is where I see the potential for mobility to make the most immediate impact - especially when it comes to improving outcomes and reducing readmissions.  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
5 questions about mobile heath (mHealth) and defining what it is. April 26, 2013 |
Jonathan Levoy
 With the emergence of mHealth, telehealth has become a sub-category inside the definition of mHealth.  More
mHealth Summit 2011 - Special Session // EHealth: Exploring Innovation and Collaboration in The Americas March 20, 2012 |
mHIMSS
 The purpose of this panel is to present two innovative and collaborative initiatives, destined to address the issues of inequities in health, in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Health disparities between groups with different levels of underlying social advantage are the product of the action of factors know as the social determinants of health, which include, among many others, poverty, gender and ethnicity.  More
mHealth Summit 2011 - Special Session // Deloitte: A New Model for National-level mHealth Planning March 20, 2012 |
mHIMSS
 mHealth Summit 2011 - Special Session // Deloitte: A New Model for National-level mHealth Planning This panel addresses the establishment of a public-private partnership for creating a national mHealth plan in Tanzania. The panel discusses barriers, solutions, and considerations when developing a national strategy to implement mHealth solutions.   More
mHealth Summit 2011 - Special Session // mHealth Alliance Strategy Launch March 20, 2012 |
mHIMSS
 The mHealth Alliance was established in 2009 to promote the enabling environment that allows mHealth to support the achievement of health priorities in low and middle income countries. Please join Executive Director, Patty Mechael, as she unveils the mHealth Alliance’s refreshed strategy for 2012 and beyond. With the help of the mHealth community, the mHealth Alliance has redefined its core set of priorities and reworked its approach to partnerships. The Alliance and its partners will continue to expand upon its role as a broker and an advocate for stakeholders across the mHealth ecosystem and around the world.  More
Mobile Health for Reducing Health Disparities. Does it Work and How Will we Know? March 13, 2012 |
Ida Sim, MD, PhD
 Seminar given at the Medical Effectiveness Research Center, University of California San Francisco, June 2011. The presentation addresses emerging mHealth trends in relation to the current state of the mHealth industry.  More
mHealth Summit 2011 - Research Track // HIV January 19, 2012 |
Foundation for NIH
 Session presentations describe a range of international and domestic studies examining the effects of mobile health applications for medication adherence to HIV medications, data mining of text messages for evidence of behavior change, and efforts to improve sexual health.  More
Featured
Delivering Accountable Care with Remote Monitoring for Chronic Disease Management
mHIMSS
 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
Securing Mobile Devices in the Business Environment May 7, 2012 |
IBM
 As employees bring their mobile devices to the workplace, while it may increase productivity and reduce cost, it also causes security weaknesses. IBM has authored a white paper, "Securing Mobile Devices in the Business Environment." Download this paper to learn more about mobile security device threats and how to establish a mobile security strategy.  More
Latinos and Digital Technology, 2010 November 22, 2011 |
Pew Research Center
 This study, conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center, evaluates the use of digital technology among the Latino community and compares across various ethnicities. Key findings include the fact that Latinos lag behind other communities in terms of home broadband access but have similar demographic rates of internet and cell phone use.  More
Improving the Health of Hispanics Using Mobile Technology November 17, 2011 |
HolaDoctor
3Cinteractive
 Nearly 50% of Hispanics own a smartphone (compared to 27% for non-Hispanic whites) and a higher percentage of Hispanics (25%) have used their mobile phone to search for health information than non-Hispanics (15%). In short, the opportunity for deploying mHealth with Hispanics is immediate and significant.  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
BYOD in Healthcare Organizations: Top 6 Risks & How to Avoid Them June 18, 2012 |
mHIMSS
 The BYOD movement has been helpful to health care organizations because it increases productivity and convenience for staff while allowing cost savings for the organization. However, these employee mobile devices need to be controlled securely when used for business reasons. If not, unauthorized users could enter your network and access sensitive data. In addition, if controls are not put into place, these employee devices could provide a risk to your entire infrastructure.   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
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
60 Minutes Features Autism Apps November 30, 2011 |
mHIMSS
 In its October 23 episode, the CBS News magazine "60 Minutes" reported on software for the Apple iPad and other tablet computers that allows people with autism and other communication disabilities to use the iPad as a communicator. Correspondent Lesley Stahl interviews people with autism as well as family members, doctors and therapists on the benefits these apps have had for many people.  More
Featured
mHIMSS Research Map
mHIMSS
 The mHIMSS Research Map identifies global mhealth research projects around the world.   More
Definitions of mHealth
mHIMSS
 A collection of mHealth definitions from key healthcare organizations.  More
The mHIMSS International Ecosystem Map May 20, 2013 |
mHIMSS
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Apps to Aid Healthcare Delivery in Disparate Communities: A Guide from mHIMSS April 25, 2013 |
mHIMSS
 Mobile devices and smartphones are increasingly being leveraged as a platform for patient engagement. These devices continue to show promise in reducing barriers to care worldwide and here in the United States.  More
K4Health: mHealth Toolkit March 21, 2012 |
K4Health
 The mHealth Toolkit provides knowledge management to clarify the opportunities and uncertainties of this rapidly evolving field. Selected resources are presented to suggest promising approaches for the high potential of mHealth.  More
Glossary of Terms February 6, 2012 |
mHIMSS
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mHealth for Development, The Opportunity of Mobile Technology for Healthcare in the Developing World January 3, 2012 |
United Nations Foundation
Vodafone
 This report examines issues at the heart of the rapidly evolving intersection of mobile phones and healthcare. It helps the reader to understand mHealth’s scope and implementation across developing regions, the health needs to which mHealth can be applied, and the mHealth applications that promise the greatest impact on heath care initiatives.  More
Johns Hopkins University Global mHealth Initiative December 8, 2011 |
Johns Hopkins University
 The Johns Hopkins Unviersity Global mHealth initiative is a universitywide community of excellence, connecting faculty, staff and students in transdisciplinary collaborations in the field of mobile health. JHU GmI serves faculty, staff and students at Johns Hopkins, as well as global public and private sector partners, in identifying appropriate mHealth strategies for global health challenges and providing expertise in technology development, health content, efficacy research and program evaluation.  More
HHS Text4Health Projects November 28, 2011 |
HHS (US Dept. of Health and Human Services)
 The rapid proliferation of mobile phones and text messaging offers unprecedented opportunities to potentially improve the health of the U.S. population and reach traditionally underserved groups. The Task Force identified innovative health text messaging programs that currently exist or are currently in development. Below are descriptions of these programs. This list is not comprehensive, but highlights key HHS activities in health text messaging and mobile health.  More
New Horizons for Health through Mobile Technologies November 17, 2011 |
World Health Organization
 The use of mobile and wireless technologies to support the achievement of health objectives (mHealth) has the potential to transform the face of health service delivery across the globe. A powerful combination of factors is driving this change. These include rapid advances in mobile technologies and applications, a rise in new opportunities for the integration of mobile health into existing eHealth services, and the continued growth in coverage of mobile cellular networks.  More