Kaiser Permanente has announced the launch of its latest mobile initiative — a full featured “Health Management” app for iOS.

Like its other mobile offerings, the new app allows members to access many of the same tools already available via its “My Health Manager” tool on kp.org.  Members can email their providers, check lab test results, order prescription refills, manage appointments and more — all from their iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches.  This latest move comes on the heals of Kaiser making the largest electronic health record system in the world accessible via smartphones with the launch of its mobile-optimized website m.kp.org.

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For those in the healthcare industry, the annual HIMSS conference is noted as one of the largest and most influential health-focused events around.  For 2012, the event drew more than 37,000 attendees — breaking all previous records for attendance and exhibitor space.

Now, we’re learning that HIMSS12 broke yet another unique record — which is setting the world record for tweet volume at a health conference.  To celebrate this feat, HIMSS created a beautiful infographic to visualize the social media dominance the event achieved.  Enjoy.

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ATA 2012, the largest trade show dedicated entirely to telehealth, telemedicine, mHealth and remote healthcare technologies announced today that it’s grown even larger for this year’s event — now boasting nearly 200 vendors and showcasing thousands of telemedicine products and services — many of which debuting for the first time.

The event has grown 20% in terms of total exhibit space and has become one of the largest mHealth trade shows in existence.  ”The entire spectrum of the telemedicine industry will gather at ATA 2012,” said Jonathan Linkous, Chief Executive Officer of the American Telemedicine Association.  ”From hardware manufacturers to software developers, healthcare providers to telecom vendors, established industry players to innovative upstarts, the 2012 trade show is the complete world of telemedicine, telehealth and mHealth.”

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It’s been revealed that more than $439M has been poured into 70 different Web 2.0 healthcare startups that develop mobile health apps and tools for online social networking and collaboration in 2011.

In 2010, a little more than $305M was raised for 43 different deals, meaning 2011 showed a 44% increase in dollars invested and a 63% increase in deals funded compared to 2010.  ”We are at the very early stages of an evolution in the entire healthcare system,” Jessica Canning, global research director for Dow Jones VentureSource, told InformationWeek Healthcare. “We are essentially witnessing the democratization of healthcare where detailed information is being collected both from healthy people as well as individuals trying to improve their physical wellness.”

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With a lot of ambiguity surrounding how SMS can be properly implemented in healthcare messaging, the folks at mHIMSS have produced an excellent quick-reference guide that covers five frequently asked questions regarding the use of SMS in healthcare.

Covering everything from the technology needed to deploy SMS, to the many regulatory standards associated with SMS and the use of Short Codes, and even including “Personal Health Information (PHI)” within text messages, the doc provides an excellent reference point to those seeking more information on SMS in healthcare.

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In a rather interesting move, it’s been revealed that Republican House members are urging both the FDA and FCC to move faster in approving mobile medical apps.

In a letter sent to both agencies last week, House members asked for easier regulatory hurdles facing mHealth app developers, in addition to helping speed up the process of getting new apps submitted, approved and available to users.  The authors pointed out that the number of health-related apps for iOS alone grew by more than 250% from 2010 to 2011.

Looking at the growth, legislators are concerned that the “complex regulatory framework” between the various agencies could “inhibit future growth and innovation in this promising market and could preclude tools that help patients better manage their care.”

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It’s been announced that the Mayo Clinic has once again teamed with mobile app provider Preventice to create an mHealth solution.  Unlike the last partnership the two organizations aren’t working on an app, but rather a remote monitoring device called “Body Guardian” — which is being developed to monitor irregular heart rhythms.

The new device is meant to be worn unnoticeable under one’s clothing and tracks heart and respiratory rates, ECG, physical activity and other vital signs.  Using the patients smartphone, the data is transmitted back to a physician.  The system can be setup to monitor regular rhythms and only send data back to a physician when irregularities and/or cardiac events are detected.

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