Nearly two-thirds of Americans now turn to online and mobile resources to research their medical questions and whatever ails them. Approximately half of these individuals then go on to diagnose themselves.
Understandably, this reality has raised no shortage of concerns among healthcare professionals.
“You need a healthcare professional to break it down for you — that’s what we are trained to do,” says Dr. Chris Balgobin of Fairview Clinics. “Yes, there are delayed diagnoses. Finding that right provider that will listen to you and help engage you in an active discussion about your health. A physical exam is a huge part of this, too.”
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Posted in Technology
Humana Inc. and AMC Health have publicly confirmed a new partnership to forge a telehealth pilot designed to improve congestive heart failure (CHF) outcomes.
Humana, a leading health and well-being company, and AMC Health, a provider of end-to-end telehealth solutions, are launching a nine-month Humana Cares Heart Failure Remote Monitoring Program. During that time, AMC Health will provide in-home monitoring solutions and services to help 450 Humana Medicare Advantage members in Ohio suffering from CHF better manage their conditions and adhere to their care plans.
The remote patient monitoring solutions include Bluetooth-enabled scales and blood pressure monitors, which will be used in conjunction with a cellular modem, and Interactive Voice Response technology.
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Posted in Technology
On Tuesday, the Royal Mental Health Center of Ottawa released a bi-lingual, multi-platform mobile application for veterans, their families and their health practitioners.
Put forward on behalf of the Canadian Operational Stress Injury (OSI) Clinic Network, the formal announcement out of Ottawa indicates that the OSI Connect mobile application will help veterans, military and RCMP recognize and help seek treatment for mental health issues.
The app is available for iPhone, Android and BlackBerry mobile devices. A mobile optimized website was also launched for veterans, Canadian Armed Forces and RCMP, their families and their family doctors to understand the top mental health issues facing veterans, including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety and sleep issues.
The OSI Connect application has a series of assessment surveys that allows veterans to privately and discreetly determine the type of referral they may need to discuss with their health care practitioner, and where they might be able to find those clinics in their region.
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Posted in Mobile App, Technology
While the jobs market remains less than ideal in many places around the country today, mobile and health IT jobs are proving surprisingly plentiful in several large metropolitan areas, including Atlanta, Georgia.
The Metro Atlanta Chamber says that metro Atlanta job postings have “rebounded successfully following the recession,” particularly in the aforementioned category.
According to IT Business Edge, mobile technology and health IT jobs are among the fast growing today.
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Posted in Technology
Bluetooth technology is booming in the realm of modern health and fitness, according to a new report from ON World, a global market research firm.
A new report from the organization projects that the adoption of mobile sensing health and fitness products will increase by 500 percent over the next five years.
“Smartphones with Bluetooth Smart onboard provides mobile sensing developers with iOS and Android libraries, app stores, cloud connected mobile gateways and hundreds of millions of users to target their creations to,” asserts Mareca Hatler, ON World’s research director.
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Posted in Technology
GE Healthcare has confirmed plans to invest $2 billion for the exclusive purpose of accelerating the development of innovative software for healthcare systems and applications.
The investment will take place over the next five years, the company announced late last week.
GE Healthcare – the largest software developer within GE – provides a wide range of medical imaging technologies, IT services, patient monitoring and diagnostic solutions, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies and operational and technological service solutions.
“GE Healthcare has a long history in software with its Healthcare IT business; and this investment is designed to advance current and future offerings in order to address new and pressing operational and productivity challenges faced by healthcare organizations around the world,” a statement provided by press release reads.
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Posted in Technology
The FDA is calling for higher standards across the health IT space in an open call addressed to medical device manufacturers, hospitals, medical device user facilities, health care IT and procurements staff. and biomedical engineers.
“The FDA is recommending that medical device manufacturers and health care facilities take steps to assure that appropriate safeguards are in place to reduce the risk of failure due to cyberattack, which could be initiated by the introduction of malware into the medical equipment or unauthorized access to configuration settings in medical devices and hospital networks,” an announcement from the FDA reads.
The FDA says it has become aware of cybersecurity vulnerabilities and incidents that could directly impact medical devices or hospital network operations, including:
Posted in Technology
