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After decades as a technological laggard, medicine has entered its data age. Mobile technologies, sensors, genome sequencing, and advances in analytic software now make it possible to capture vast amounts of information about our individual makeup and the environment around us. The sum of this information could transform medicine, turning a field aimed at treating the average patient into one that’s customized to each person while shifting more control and responsibility from doctors to patients.

 

The question is: can big data make health care better?

 

“There is a lot of data being gathered. That’s not enough,” says Ed Martin, interim director of the Information Services Unit at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine. “It’s really about coming up with applications that make data actionable.”

 

The business opportunity in making sense of that data—potentially $300 billion to $450 billion a year, according to consultants McKinsey & Company—is driving well-established companies like Apple, Qualcomm, and IBM to invest in technologies from data-capturing smartphone apps to billion-dollar analytical systems. It’s feeding the rising enthusiasm for startups as well.

 

Venture capital firms like Greylock Partners and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, as well as the corporate venture funds of Google, Samsung, Merck, and others, have invested more than $3 billion in health-care information technology since the beginning of 2013—a rapid acceleration from previous years, according to data from Mercom Capital Group. 

  more at http://www.technologyreview.com/news/529011/can-technology-fix-medicine/ ;
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If 2013 was the year of wearables and health apps, what’s on tap for 2014?

 

Here are five exciting health tech trends to keep an eye on for the new year.

 

1. Data in the Doctor’s OfficeAccording to Pew Research, 21% of Americans already use some form of technology to track their health data, and as the market for wearable devices and health apps grows, so too will the mountain of data about our behaviors and vitals. Next year, we may see more of this data incorporated into our day-to-day medical care.

2. Smart Clothes

If a wristband or clip-on tracker isn’t part of your look, there’s hope for you in 2014, because a new wave of wearable smart garments will be hitting the stores next year. In fact, market research company Markets and Markets expects sales of smart clothes and fabrics to reach $2.03 billion by 2018.

 

3. Augmented NutritionOf course, if you want to fit into the latest smart fashion, you might need to keep better tabs on what you’re eating. We’ve already seen popular apps such as Fooducate make things easy by letting you scan the barcodes on packaged foods to gather nutrition data. In 2014, we’ll see new technologies that take even more of the guesswork out of counting calories. 4. Virtual House Calls

Virtual house calls also just got a big boost with the recent launch of Google Helpouts, a new marketplace for getting personalized help over live video chat. Although it’s still early days for the new service, you can already browse the Google Helpouts Health marketplace for medical advice, mental health issues, nutrition counseling, weight loss and more. You can even get wellness advice for your pets.

 

5. Health Rewards

If looking and feeling good isn’t enough of a payoff, how about getting paid for getting healthy?

 
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A newly published Apple patent application that details ways to improve a wrist-based pedometer could represent another piece of evidence pointing to an iWatch.

 

The application, “Wrist Pedometer Step Detection,” came out of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office today. This is part of the standard patent process toward issuance. It details ways to improve step detection when someone is wearing a pedometer on a wrist.

 

In the patent application’s implementation, the pedometer might be able to “automatically determine that the pedometer is being worn on a user’s wrist.”

 

Pedometers, the application points out, are often attached to a user’s trunk – on the waist or pants or shirt pocket. A commonly used algorithm to measures steps, however, doesn’t work as well when the pedometer is on a wrist, because the arm’s movement can interfere with the measurement of acceleration.

 

 

Apple’s patent application would overcome this by filtering the measured movement or inferring steps from previous measurements, leading to more accurate step counts and distance estimation. Additionally, the document notes, “users do not have to specify where the pedometer is being worn” because the software will compensate.

 

 more at http://venturebeat.com/2014/03/13/new-apple-pedometer-patent-may-hint-at-a-future-iwatch/ ;
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72% of consumers across the eight countries are willing to see a doctor via telehealth video conferencing for non-urgent appointments, according to Intel survey.

 

The study, “Intel Healthcare Innovation Barometer” was conducted across eight countries by Penn Schoen Berland in Brazil, China, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan and the United States from July 28 to Aug. 15, 2013 among a representative sample of 12,000 adults ages 18 and older.

 The findings concludes that most people are optimistic about technology innovations advancing healthcare, are open to sharing healthcare information for the greater good and receptive to using sensors for personalized care.
As the technology of remote patient monitoring solutions and mobile health applications improve, consumers now have the ability to connect with their providers in a variety of ways to embrace new behaviors

Other key findings of the Intel Healthcare Innovation Barometer include:

 

Improving Personal Care and Self-Monitoring with Technology

Sixty-six percent of people say they would prefer a personalized healthcare regimen designed specifically for them based on their genetic profile or biology.Fifty-three percent of people say they would trust a test they personally administered as much or more than if performed by a doctor. 

Sharing Anonymous Digital Health Records for the Common Good

People are more willing to anonymously share their health records or genetic information than their banking information or phone records.More than three-quarters (76 percent) of respondents over the age of 55 would be willing to anonymously share results of lab tests or health monitoring to contribute to research databases compared with 64 percent of millennials.India is the country most willing to share healthcare information to aid innovation. 

Emerging Technology Tools for Increased In-Home Health Management

Half of those surveyed would trust a diagnosis delivered via video conference from their doctor.Seventy-two percent are receptive to communication technologies that allow them to remotely connect to their doctor.The innovation least likely to be incorporated by the global population is a robot performing surgery.Almost half of respondents (43 percent) globally would trust themselves to monitor their own blood pressure and other basic vitals.

more at http://www.hitconsultant.net/2013/12/11/72-of-consumers-are-willing-to-see-a-doctor-via-telehealth-video-conferencing/
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The doctor isn’t in, but he can still see you now.

 

Remote presence robots are allowing physicians to “beam” themselves into hospitals to diagnose patients and offer medical advice during emergencies.

 

A growing number of hospitals in California and other states are using telepresence robots to expand access to medical specialists, especially in rural areas where there’s a shortage of doctors.

 

These mobile video-conferencing machines move on wheels and typically stand about 5 feet, with a large screen that projects a doctor’s face. They feature cameras, microphones and speakers that allow physicians and patients to see and talk to each other.

 

 

“Regardless of where the patient is located, we can be at their bedside in several minutes,” said Dr. Alan Shatzel, medical director of the Mercy Telehealth Network. “Literally, we compress time and space with this technology. No longer does distance affect a person’s ability to access the best care possible.”

 

 original: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/telemedicine-robots-let-doctors-beam-into-hospitals-to-evaluate-patients-expanding-access/2013/11/17/7219dda8-4f96-11e3-9ee6-2580086d8254_story.html#

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