Monday, January 30, 2012
The Market For Mobile Healthcare Applications Will Grow To US$ 1.3 billion in 2012
2011 already showed significant growth for the mHealth app market. In 2012 the market size will nearly double.
The smartphone application market for mobile healthcare will reach US$ 1.3 billion in 2012 – up from US$ 718 million in 2011. Despite this substantial growth, the mHealth market is still in an embryonic state – especially in comparison to the US$ 6 trillion of the overall global healthcare market. Several factors (esp. smartphone penetration), will continue, however, to drive mHealth market growth over the next couple of years. These findings are part of our new Mobile Health Market Report 2011-2016 report.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
TrialX Wins NCI’s Developer Challenge for Cancer App
TrialX, an NYC based health IT company was declared a winner of a developer challenge organized by the National Cancer Institute for its application, Ask Dory. Ask Dory helps cancer patients find and connect with clinical trials near them effortlessly.
New York, NY, January 25, 2012 --(PR.com)-- Applied Informatics (TrialX), a New York based Healthcare Information Technology (HIT) startup was adjudged as a winner of the developer challenge on "Using Public Data for Cancer Prevention" sponsored by the National Cancer Institute. The challenge was organized by the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) of HIT and managed by Health2.0 (see official HHS press release, http://1.usa.gov/AskDory). TrialX won the competition for its innovative application, "Ask Dory" that enables health consumers to find clinical trials near them and connect with trial investigators. The application was presented last week at the Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences 2012 in Maui, Hawaii.
"Ask Dory" uses an intelligent entropy based decision tree algorithm to narrow down the possible matches by leading patients through a step-by-step question answering system. “It is designed to be intuitive and easy for patients to use, unlike many other systems that require patients to fill long forms," explained Dr. Chintan Patel, the lead developer of the application.
Encouraging HIV testing through SMS
Investigation into the Use of Short Message Services to Expand Uptake of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Testing, and Whether Content and Dosage Impact
Objective:
South Africa has one of the highest human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevalence rates in the world, but despite the well-established benefits of HIV counseling and testing (HCT), there is low uptake of HCT. The study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of using short message services (SMSs) to encourage HCT while interrogating the impact of altering SMS content and dosage (the number of SMSs).
Materials and Methods:
About 2,533 participants were recruited via an SMS sent to 24,000 mobiles randomly sampled from a pre-existing database. Recruits were randomly allocated to four intervention groups that received 3 or 10 informational (INFO) or motivational (MOTI) SMSs, and a control group. After the intervention, participants were prompted to go for HCT, and postintervention assessment was done after 3 weeks.
Results:
In comparison with the control, receipt of 10 MOTI messages had the most impact on uptake of HCT with a 1.7-fold increased odds of testing (confidence interval 95%; p=0.0036). The lack of efficacy of three SMSs indicates a threshold effect, that is, a minimum number of MOTI SMSs is required. INFO SMSs, whether 3 or 10 were sent, did not have a statistically significant effect. The cost can be calculated for the marginal effect of the SMSs, that is, the cost to get people to test over and above those who were likely to test without the intervention. Use of 10 MOTI SMSs yielded a cost-per-tester of $2.41.
Conclusions:
While there are methodological issues apparent in our study, the results demonstrate the potential of SMSs to influence the uptake of HCT, the importance of appropriate content, and the need to determine a threshold for SMS-based interventions. These results indicate a potential for SMSs to be used more generally for interventions encouraging people to take health-related actions, and the need for further research in this field. The reasonable cost-per-tester is promising for the scale-up of such an intervention.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
A nice list of hematology/oncology mobile apps by @mtmdphd
Michael A. Thompson, MD, PhD, (@mtmdphd) is Medical Director, Cancer Research ProHealth Care Regional Cancer Center. He has posted his personal list of favorite hematology/oncology mobile apps on ASCO Connection. You can read his commentary here.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Upcoming webinar: "Medical Apps for the iPhone"
Brian Dolan from MobiHealthNews will be speaking about popular medical apps for the iPhone. You won't want to miss this webinar on Jan 31. Register here.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
The Market For MHealth Applications Reached $US 718 Million In 2011
2011 was the first year of substantial business in the market for mobile health services delivered via smartphone applications.
The smartphone application market for mobile healthcare increased by a factor of 7 to reach $US 718 million in 2011. Nevertheless, the mHealth market is still in an embryonic state. Theoretically the market potential is enormous given the overall worldwide healthcare market size of US$ 6 trillion (WHO estimate) and the potential use cases and benefits for mobile patient healthcare support.
Within the last year, the growth in the mobile healthcare market has greatly accelerated. The main drivers for this growth have been the increase in the smartphone user base on the demand side, and the doubling of the number of mHealth applications on the supply side. These findings are part of research2guidance’s new Mobile Health Market Report 2011-2016.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Samsung Galaxy Note with a HUGE 5.3" screen - great for presbyopia
The Samsung Galaxy Note is an Android smartphone (or is this a tablet?) that has a huge 5.3" screen. This device might be great for adults who have presbyopia and need reading glasses. This could be the perfect smartphone for people ages 40+
However, be warned that this is a BIG device!
Also, if you miss pulling out a stylus for your PDA/smartphone, you'll love how the Galaxy Note uses an S Pen (Advanced smart pen) so that you can write/draw directly on the screen. Is the stylus pen making a comeback?
The GALAXY Note provides you with the ability to freely capture and create ideas anywhere and everywhere. The S Pen is combined with the full touch screen to create a best-in-class mobile input experience. It is the most advanced pen input technology featuring an array of functions including pressure sensitivity, preciseness, speed and more. With the S Pen, you can easily sketch drawings or write notes with increased accuracy and ease. Also, the S Pen functionality is deeply integrated into the GALAXY Note’s native applications to provide a richer interactive experience.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Nokia Lumia 900 Windows Phone on AT&T won't appeal to medical professionals
Fast forward to 2012 where the overwhelming majority of medical professionals use the iPhone, an Android smartphone, or a BlackBerry. Palm is out of the picture and some people are wondering what Microsoft is going to do.
Nokia and Microsoft have teamed together to reveal the Lumia 900. This smartphone runs the Windows Phone OS and is going to be available on AT&T. Will this be a smartphone that's going to capture the attention of medical professionals?
The Lumia 900 appears to be a great smartphone for your average consumer, but I doubt that medical professionals will embrace this new device. This new smartphone won't appeal to medical professionals because of the lack of medical apps in the Windows Phone "App Store." Android apps are quickly catching up to iOS. BlackBerry is losing traction in the medical apps space. Windows Phone has a very long way to catch up.
Monday, January 09, 2012
Doximity app - have discussions with other physicians online
What's New in Version 4.1
- Added ability to post images in comments in iRounds
- Added degrees of separation and mutual colleagues to search results
- New an improved Find feature to help you locate other members easier and faster
- Plus, some minor bug fixes and a little logo love
Learn more here
Thursday, January 05, 2012
IDEAL LIFE and Sprint Introduce New Home Health Wellness Communication Gateway
TORONTO – Jan. 5, 2012 – IDEAL LIFE and Sprint (NYSE:S) today unveiled a new cellular pod that will make it easier than ever for users to manage wellness and monitor chronic conditions remotely. The pod, which will make its debut at the Consumer Electronics Show Jan. 10-13 in Las Vegas, uses wireless Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication to share information over the Nationwide Sprint Network, which reaches more than 312 million people in the United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands (inclusive of roaming).
Wednesday, January 04, 2012
Valencell to Demo V-LINC® Health and Fitness Earbud Sensor Technology at 2012 International CES
RALEIGH, NC, January 04, 2012 – Valencell, an innovator in mobile health and fitness technology integrated into audio headset earbuds, today announced it will demonstrate its enhanced V-LINC® sensor technology at the 2012 International CES. Valencell’s V-LINC® solution continuously measures more real-time biometric data, with higher accuracy, in virtually any environment, than any other health and fitness sensor technology on the market.
Sunday, January 01, 2012
Firmware Update for the Verizon Jetpack™ 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot MiFi® 4510L
Over the weekend, I spent some time updating the firmware on my Verizon Jetpack™ 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot MiFi® 4510L. I don't know exactly when Verizon started using the name "Jetpack" with these mobile hotspots. I still just call my device a MiFi.
The 4510L had a problem where it wasn't switching back to 4G mode if you traveled to an area where the MiFi would switch to 3G and then returned to your home area. I don't know all the details behind the problem, but I know that I experienced it fairly consistently. I had to re-enable 4G by manually going into the setup mode and revising the preferred connection mode.
Verizon released a firmware update for the 4510L several weeks (or maybe months) ago. So, if you haven't gone through the process of performing an update, you may want to if you want to avoid the frustration of getting your MiFi stuck in 3G mode.
You can access the MiFi setup by typing 192.168.1.1 and then logging in as administrator.