Medical home diagnostic tools

from gizmag:

Using online medical resources to diagnose our various aches and pains is just as likely to send someone rushing to the doctor in the belief they have some incurable, life-threatening disease as it is to put any fears to rest. Medical startup Scanadu, which is based at the NASA-Ames Research Center, is set to provide a set of home diagnostic tools that are designed to let users monitor their health over time and provide a better indication of whether a trip to the doc is actually necessary.

While Scanadu continues working on a tricorder-like device capable of capturing key health metrics and diagnosing a set of 15 diseases in an attempt to claim the US10 million Qualcomm Tricorder X Prize, it has just revealed its first three consumer health products that are designed to put a doctor in your pocket.

Full text at:

http://www.gizmag.com/scanadu-scout-scanaflu-scanflo/25240/?utm_source=Gizmag+Subscribers&utm_campaign=8727133184-UA-2235360-4&utm_medium=email

Oregon State University engineers develop tiny, inexpensive chip to monitor vital signs

from Oregon Live:

Call them toys or call them training tools, electronic fitness monitors can offer intriguing insight into everything from the rate at which your heart beats to the number of steps you take or calories you expend over the course of the day. 

Typically they're not cheap, though. Take, for instance, Nike's $150 FuelBand, or Fitbit brand monitors costing $55 to $99 that can track your activity or sleep.

Now, electrical engineering students and faculty at Oregon State University hope to give such gizmos a run for their money. They've developed, are patenting and planning to take to market technology that can monitor vital signs with sensors so miniscule and inexpensive they could fit on a small adhesive bandage, cost less than 25 cents and be disposable.

In collaboration with private industry, they expect to move the sensor-packed microchip, the size and thickness of a postage stamp, into the consumer marketplace, perhaps by mid 2013.

Plus, they'll pursue U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval so the system could one day be used in everyday medical care.

Full text at:

http://www.oregonlive.com/health/index.ssf/2012/11/oregon_state_university_engine.html

Implants that don't need an external charge could make it easy to aid hearing.

from arstechnica.com

key words: cochlea chip,  self-sufficient, self-powering implants

Inner ear implant uses biological battery to self-charge. A team of surgeons, neuroscientists, and electrical engineers has developed a cochlea chip that extracts electrical signals from the inner ear to power itself. The chip is the latest in a series of inventions aimed at creating entirely self-sufficient, self-powering implants that will remove the need for external power and enable permanent surgical implantation in some cases. This year alone, Stanford University announced the creation of its radio wave-powered heart implant and infrared light-powered retinal implants.

Cochlear implants have been around for decades, with the first electrical stimulation of auditory nerves taking place in the 50s. Though the implant has been a great success, with hundreds of thousands of people with severe hearing difficulties receiving the implant each year, they still run on batteries so are fairly cumbersome. MIT hopes to change all that by taking advantage of a natural battery that lies dormant within the ear.

"In the past, people have thought that the space where the high potential [in the ear] is located is inaccessible for implantable devices, because potentially it's very dangerous if you encroach on it," said Konstantina Stankovic, an otologic surgeon at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. "We have known for 60 years that this battery exists and that it's really important for normal hearing, but nobody has attempted to use this battery to power useful electronics."

Full text at: 

http://arstechnica.com/science/2012/11/inner-ear-implant-uses-biological-battery-to-self-charge/

Lionsgate Technology turns Smartphones into medical monitors

from ep&t:

Accessible, real-time measurement of body through mobile devices

Vancouver-based Lionsgate Technologies Inc., leading provider of mobile health (mHealth) technology, will launch a universal interface that transforms Smartphones, tablets and laptops into mobile medical diagnostic tools capable of real-time vital signs monitoring.

Using standard medical sensors connected directly through the universal audio port of virtually any mobile device, the proprietary interface, called the Vital Signs DSP (Digital Signal Processor), provides precise monitoring of blood oxygen levels, blood pressure and body temperature which are displayed on the mobile device's monitor.

The availability of an accurate, affordable mobile medical diagnostic tool has sweeping applications in the medical/clinical and consumer markets as well as in the developing world where 64% of mobile phone users are found.

Full text at:

http://www.ept.ca/news/lionsgate-technology-turns-smartphones-into-medical-monitors/1001779401/

mHealth Challenges

from Telecare Aware:

Rather surprising in their synchronicity were two new reports--the first from research company Frost & Sullivan, the second an academic study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR)--detailing problems and concerns with mobile health from the perspective of those who are considering or currently working with it.

Frost & Sullivan's Advances in mHealth Technologies surveyed approximately 60 healthcare executives, academics and developers currently implementing mobile health systems in the US, Canada, Europe and Asia/Pacific. Their top concerns were security of patient information, integrating the technology into providers' monitoring systems, and a lack of best practices. F&S projects that "developers will gain a superior understanding of the nature of security breach concerns and take necessary precautions" as mHealth is adopted by providers over the next 3-4 years. The F&S release provides an overview and of course encourages readers to purchase their study; Information Week's article has more details.

The JMIR study interviewed 27 US 'key informants' primarily from Federal agencies and integrated health systems. Concerns expressed here centered on the policy and regulatory environment (privacy, data security and regulation as medical devices); the wireless network environment (mobile cost and proprietary platforms); the health system environment (funding, lack of demonstrably successful business models); mHealth in current practice (not meeting consumer engagement needs); and mHealth research (evidence early, weak and generally lacking in quality). The study also included, from some respondents, approaches for these issues.Issues in mHealth: Findings From Key Informant Interviews Also: FierceMobileHealthcare article.

Full text at:
http://www.telecareaware.com/index.php/mhealth-challenges-two-perspectives.html#axzz29kOIPeV1A

Safety product: Automist - Affordable domestic fire sprinkler alternative

from Telecare Aware:

Will the Automist device (video below) become a standard addition to telecare (plesiocare?) providers' product offerings? However they incorporate it into their business models (via referral commissions or as an accredited installer?), the device is an interesting proposition for them and for care homes too.

Full text at:
http://www.telecareaware.com/#ixzz28o7avklL

5 trends will reshape Health IT in 2013

from InformationWeek Healthcare:

Look for growth in mobile health, telemedicine, clinical analytics, and personal health records—and an EHR vendor shakeout.

Ultimately the goal of all healthcare--IT included--is to put itself out of business. That may sound a bit strange but medicine's primary objective is to cure disease, or prevent it from occurring in the first place. And as the profession gets better at these two tasks, the public should become increasingly self-sufficient and have less and less need for its services.

How far down this path will we be in 12 months? Probably not too far. But we are making progress on five fronts: Mobile Health, Personal health records, Telemedicine, EHR vendor shakeout and Clinical Analytics.

Full text at:
http://www.informationweek.com/healthcare/leadership/5-trends-will-reshape-health-it-in-2013/240006254#

Automatic Stove Turn-Off Devices

from thisCaringhome.org:

These electric stove turn-off products can increase cooking safety for those with dementia who still have good stove skills and judgment but are liable to forget occasionally. These devices come with a timer, a motion sensor, and an automatic stove shut-off. Gas stove shut off devices are in development; we currently know of only one manufacturer that offers this product but we have not reviewed it yet. Below you will find three reviews of devices for electric stoves. All three turn off the stove top and the oven, but each one works a little differently. Some features may be safer or more convenient for your needs and/or the person you care for. Here are 4 things to consider...

Full text at:
http://www.thiscaringhome.org/products/auto-stove-turn-off-devices.php

Chips will monitor your body

from info - trending blog:

Doctor and Ph.D. in Computer Science, the chief scientist of the division of research and development at IBM in Brazil, Fabio Gandour, says that the intensive use of chips in clothing, furniture and even the bathroom will generate enough information so that each person can monitor in detail the functioning of his health.

Full text at (in Portuguese):
http://info.abril.com.br/noticias/blogs/trending-blog/geral/os-chips-vao-monitorar-seu-corpo/

The Future of Home Care Technology

from Aging in Place Technology Watch:

Sponsored by LivHome, Microsoft and Philips, the report entitled "The Future of Home Care Technology" looks at current technology use and processes, suggesting changes required to better serve recipients of care in the home.

Executive Summary

Experts agree that the home care industries (non-medical home care, home health care, and geriatric care management) are at the early stages of maximizing benefits of technology. Information about the individual client is not yet passed effectively or electronically between the various locations a care recipient may visit. In a survey of home care managers responsible for a total of 34,509 workers, telephone and email dominate the communication toolkit. Little in-home use is made of telehealth and chronic disease monitoring tech, even less use of video communication with either the care recipient or the family. As non-institutional home care plays a growing role along the care continuum, a Home Care Information Network (HCIN) will form, enabling important information to follow the care recipient across building boundaries, boosting quality and informing and reassuring families.

Full text at:

http://www.ageinplacetech.com/files/aip/Future%20of%20Home%20Care%20Technology%20Final-07-31-2012.pdf

Kaiser Permanente shares their vision of the future of Healthcare at NASA mHealth Conference

from mHealth Insight:

Shown for the first time at the recent NASA mHealth event held at KP’s Center for Total Health in Washington DC, this video was designed to help set out what the world’s first major healthcare brand to take a Mobile First focus thinks the US healthcare experience might look like in the not-so-distant future:

Full text at:

http://mhealthinsight.com/

An innovative iPhone App for touch-free heart rate monitoring

from iMedicalApps:

Cardiio has launched their first, much anticipated, biosensor that uses an iPhone or iPad camera to provide touch free heart rate measurements and related health predictions.

The app, priced at $4.99, is beautiful, intuitive, and claims to accurately assess resting heart rate to within three beats per minute of standard medical pulse monitors.

Cardiio and its PhD Co-Founders Ming-Zher Poh and Yukkee Poh spun out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab, where the core technology was developed and published in multiple peer reviewed journals (see here, here, andhere). Cardiio is also a recent graduate of the digital health acceleator Rock Health.

While Cardiio’s technology is based on validated, cutting edge research–the application itself is deceptively simple and elegant to use. You literally place your face within a red circle on a stethoscope image, enjoy a few seconds of quotes celebrating science or childhood rhymes, and then receive your heart rate reading.

Full text at:

http://www.imedicalapps.com/2012/08/cardiio-iphone-touch-free-heart-rate-monitor/

Continua Alliance to help Denmark with telemedicine standards

from HealthcareITNews:

The homeland of Hans Christian Andersen, Tivoli Gardens and Hamlet is considered one of Europe's leaders in telemedicine. Now Denmark is relying upon the Continua Health Alliance to make sure that effort follows a uniform set of standards.

Officials at Continua, the Beaverton, Ore.-based non-profit organization focused on end-to-end, plug-and-play connectivity for personal health devices and services, say Denmark will be using Continua's design guidelines to develop an "Action Plan for Telemedicine." That plan will establish reference architectures and national standards for health IT "in areas including the secure collection, transmission and storage of personal health data from patients’ homes, sharing medical documents and images, and the management of health records, medical appointments and other related information."

Full text at:

http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/continua-alliance-help-denmark-telemedicine-standards?topic=08,16,19,26

Experimental weigh scale also checks your heart

from gizmag:

People being monitored for heart conditions currently have to go into a hospital or clinic on a regular basis, to have an electrocardiogram performed on them. That may be about to change, however, as researchers from Spain’s Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya have developed a bathroom scale that performs the procedure right in the user’s home.

Full text at:

http://www.gizmag.com/weigh-scale-electrocardiogram/23519/

Honda uses Asimo technology to get the elderly on their feet

from gizmag:

Honda has been working on walking robot technology since the 1980s and the 130 patents that resulted in its ASIMO robot have allowed the automotive giant to expand into creating a new range of assisted mobility devices, including the Stride Management Assist. This lightweight, surprisingly simple-looking device is designed to help those with weakened leg muscles due to age or other causes, yet who are still able to walk. It does this by giving a robotically controlled boost to the upper legs that allows the wearer to walk faster for longer.

Full text at:
http://www.gizmag.com/honda-stride-management-assist/23512/

M-health infographic

from enterprising business blog:

All the telehealth you need, 'in' your phone

from Telecare Aware:

If the Lifewatch V does what it claims to do, hubs and connected devices may be on their way to obsolescence. Using sensors on and apps in an Android-based smartphone, it measures ECG (one lead), body temperature, blood glucose, heart rate, oxygen saturation, body fat percentage and stress levels (heart rate variability), delivering the test results to a cloud-based server accessible for analysis and sending to the monitoring physician or clinician. For blood glucose, your strips are actually inserted into the phone. There's also a med reminder, a pedometer application, diet plans and logs for exercise and weight.

Full text at

http://www.telecareaware.com/index.php/all-the-telehealth-you-need-inq-your-phone.html

Telecare monitoring is not ‘disembodied’ work

Calling for Care: ‘Disembodied’ Work, Teleoperators and Older People Living at Home

Abstract: The provision of ‘distant’ care to older people living at home through telecare technologies is often contrasted negatively to hands-on, face-to-face care: telecare is seen as a loss of care, a dehumanization. Here we challenge this view, arguing that teleoperators in telecare services do provide care to older people, often at significant emotional cost to themselves. Based on a European Commission-funded ethnographic study of two English telecare monitoring centres, we argue that telecare is not ‘disembodied’ work, but a form of care performed through the use of voice, knowledge sharing and emotional labour or self-management. We also show, in distinction to discourses promoting telecare in the UK, that successful telecare relies on the existence of social networks and the availability of hands-on care. Telecare is not a substitute for, or the opposite of, hands-on care but is at its best interwoven with it.

Authors:
Celia Roberts, Lancaster University, UK

Maggie Mort, Lancaster University, UK
Christine Milligan, Lancaster University, UK

Full paper at:

http://soc.sagepub.com/search?author1=Celia+Roberts&sortspec=date&submit=Submit

Remote monitoring of patients with heart implants

Can we get eight billion hearts on speed dial? Leslie Saxon of the USC Center for Body Computing shows the diagnostic and data potential of marrying smartphone tech with heart monitors.

E-reminders improve med adherence in patients with chronic conditions

from FierceHealthIT:

Sending electronic reminders to patients is a simple yet effective way to improve medication adherence of patients with chronic conditions, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association.

The researchers, from several institutions in the Netherlands, noted that one of the primary reasons that patients with chronic conditions have a hard time adhering to long term treatment is forgetfulness. While reminders may help, personal reminders from providers require an extensive time investment, while "reminder packaging" doesn't actively remind patients. The researchers hypothesized that electronic reminders may be a better option.

Full text at:
http://www.fiercehealthit.com/story/e-reminders-improve-med-adherence-patients-chronic-conditions/2012-04-30

Telehealth on mobiles rolling out to thousands of patients in Somerset (UK)

from Telecare Aware:

NHS Somerset has begun rolling out telehealth equipment to thousands of its patients as part of a scheme that will allow them to monitor long-term health conditions from home. As part of a three-year, £1.2m contract, 4,000 NHS patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), heart disease and diabetes will be able to monitor their health and vital signs remotely. The scheme uses the system from Safe Patient Systems with touchscreen mobile phones programmed with personalised care plans. Each day the phones will prompt patients to answer key questions about their health and will automatically capture their vital physical signs. Telehealth has been used in Somerset for some time, but this is the first time mobile devices have been involved. Some patients have said they prefer using mobile phones instead of the previous Tunstall system which used a 'box' located in the living room.

Full text at:
http://www.telecareaware.com/index.php/telehealth-on-mobiles-rolling-out-to-thousands-of-patients-in-somerset-uk.html

What is ehealth?

A description of eHealth produced by Wales NHS Informatics Service:

Health at a fingertip

from ISTOÉ:

The use of applications in medicine, physical training, nutrition and wellness makes cell phones and tablets the newest features to enhance the body and mind care.

Full text at (in Portuguese):
http://www.istoe.com.br/reportagens/197736_A+SAUDE+A+UM+TOQUE+DOS+DEDOS

First the Smart Phone, Now the Smart Home: Technology Anticipates, Meets Our Needs for Health, Efficiency

From SciencyDaily:


We have all heard of the smartphone and, any day now, most of us will have one. Not far behind: the smart home

Writing in the latest issue of the journal Science, Washington State University's Diane Cook says it won't be long before our homes act as "intelligent agents" that use sensors and software to anticipate our needs and tend to tasks that improve our health, energy efficiency, even social media. (...)

Cook has been applying artificial intelligence in test homes since coming to WSU in 2006. Sites around the Northwest, including 18 apartments in Seattle, already show that the technology can help monitor aging-in-place elderly residents and alert caregivers if they are not completing ordinary activities like rising, eating, bathing and taking medications.

Full text at:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120329170435.htm

Home Healthcare Technology Gaining Momentum

from Design News:


Medical technology is moving from the clinic to the home, even as the healthcare industry struggles to adjust to the home-based business model, one expert told Design News.

"The challenge in remote patient monitoring today is not the technology," said Steven Dean, global healthcare segment lead for Freescale Semiconductor. "The technology has been available for at least a decade. Now, it's more an issue of the reimbursement climate."

Speaking on a recent Design News radio broadcast, "Embedded Angles for Medical Products," Dean said that memory, processing, and communications technology have reached the point where many patients could be adequately monitored at home.

Full text at:

http://www.designnews.com/document.asp?doc_id=239746&f

Mobile Industry Views Health Care as Growth Opportunity

from iHealthBeat:

Most executives in the mobile technology industry say health care represents the biggest growth opportunity for 4G services, according to a new survey from Deloitte, MobiHealthNews reports.

For the survey, Deloitte interviewed about 250 senior executives who worked for mobile device manufacturers, mobile network operators, software application developers and other mobile technology firms. Researchers finished analyzing the data in August 2011.

Full text at
http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2012/3/22/mobile-industry-views-health-care-as-growth-opportunity.aspx#ixzz1pwN3EtsK

Home Monitoring for Heart Failure Management

from JACC (Journal of the American College of Cardiology):

A new state-of-the-art paper: Home Monitoring for Heart Failure Management

Abstract:

With a prevalence of 5.8 million in the United States alone, heart failure (HF) is a common syndrome associated with substantial morbidity, mortality, and healthcare expenditures. Close to 1 million HF hospitalizations occur annually in the United States, with the majority of these resulting from worsening congestion in patients previously diagnosed with HF. An estimated $37.2 billion is spent each year on HF in the United States. These statistics emphasize the need to develop and implement more effective strategies to assess, monitor, and treat HF. It has also become increasingly apparent that interventions geared toward identifying and monitoring subclinical congestion would be of value in the home management of chronic HF. Earlier identification and treatment of congestion together with improved care coordination, management of comorbid conditions, and enhanced patient self-management may help to prevent hospitalizations in patients with chronic HF. Such home monitoring extends from the promotion of self-care and home visitations to telemedicine and remote monitoring of external or implantable devices. This paper discusses the challenges in monitoring patients with HF, reviews clinical trials testing different monitoring strategies in HF, and highlights ongoing investigations into the optimal approaches to home monitoring for HF.

Link to the paper:

http://content.onlinejacc.org/cgi/content/short/59/2/97

Fall Monitoring Device Could Help Keep Seniors Safer

from ScienceDaily: 

It's a scenario played out all too frequently: Adult children, worried about the safety of their aging parents, foist devices on them to monitor their safety. And their parents, resentful of having their privacy invaded and losing their independence, resist fiercely.

Now a team of researchers at the University of South Carolina has developed and is testing a simple, innovative program that might just end such standoffs -- and create a safer environment for seniors.

Lead USC researcher Juan Caicedo has taken standard sensors that monitor bridge safety and developed an algorithm that can detect and possibly prevent falls by sensing vibrations associated with an individual's movement. The matchbox-sized sensors, which are placed on a floor or a baseboard of a room, can detect any movement or vibration and then transmit them to a nearby computer.

"The beauty of the program is that it does not use cameras or microphones, so it is a lot less intrusive," Caicedo, a professor of civil engineering, said. "Someone can't listen to what you are saying or see inside your home. Although sensors are not new, the innovation is in how the different signals are processed."

"In this case, the program detects the vibrations, (a possible fall), the exact spot of the vibrations and then estimates the force of impact of the object hitting the floor," Caicedo said. "It can identify the impact of a small ball bouncing or the weight of an adult."

Full text at:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120207095529.htm

FLORA - a platform for your wearable DIY electronics projects

from gizmag:

A new platform for wearable electronics, known as the FLORA, was announced by its creators Adafruit Industries on Friday. Essentially a small, round, fabric-friendly circuit board that looks a little like a flower, the FLORA will, when ready, be launched with a variety of accessories and software. These will include, we gather, controllers for iPhone, iPad and Android hardware. The FLORA is ripe for wearable DIY electronics projects: announced modules include Bluetooth, GPS, 3-axis accelerometer, compass, and, intriguingly, OLED.

The FLORA is a 1.75-inch (44.5 mm) diameter Arduino-compatible circuit board designed from the outset to be both user and fabric-friendly, as well as safe for beginners. As such, there are no thread-catching sticky-outy things like FTDI headers, plus it includes polarized connectors, protection diodes and an onboard regulator to avoid battery mishap, and it's compatible with an array of battery technologies.

Full text at:
http://www.gizmag.com/flora-wearable-electronics/21184/

Home Monitoring May Help Manage and Reduce Costs for Heart Failure

from ScienceDaily:

Heart failure affects 5.8 million people in the U.S. alone and is responsible for nearly 1 million hospitalizations each year, most resulting from a build-up of body fluid in the lungs and other organs due to the heart's inability to pump effectively. The disease needs to be closely tracked in order to avoid such hospitalizations, and home-monitoring interventions may be especially useful, UCLA researchers say.

Full text at:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120103135552.htm