October 19th, 2011 by Iltifat Husain, M.D. in News
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Researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute have developed a smartphone app that uses a camera to measure key vital signs. The type of technology used by the Worcester researchers is far and above more useful than a simple heart rate monitor, such as the Instant Heart Rate app.
Recently, the Instant Heart app makers received millions in funding – I hope it wasn’t based solely on the heart rate monitor app they have developed. Having a a patient’s heart rate alone isn’t that useful for a clinician, and it’s extremely easy to measure your heart rate on your own, just put your fingers to your wrist or neck.
But the work by Worcester researchers is completely different, exciting, and unlike the Instant Heart Rate app, Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at iMedicalApps*
September 20th, 2011 by Felasfa Wodajo, M.D. in News
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The publication in July of the FDA Draft Guidance on mobile medical apps was a major milestone in the evolution of mobile medicine. The blazingly rapid growth in interest among physicians, medical software publishers and device manufacturers has made it clear that the mHealth revolution will be a major turning point, not just in health information technology, but likely in many aspects of physician-patient interactions.
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Last week (Sep 12-13), the FDA is held an important public workshop near its Washington DC headquarters to help it answer some key questions raised within the Draft Guidance and gather feedback from important stakeholders in mobile health. We are proud that iMedicalApps was invited to participate as one of the panelists.
We want to hear from you iMedicalApps readers – what do you want the FDA to consider in regulating mobile medical apps ?
Please add your voice in the comment section below and we will assemble them for submission to the official FDA docket on the Draft Guidance. Hurry because the deadline is just a few weeks away.
The FDA needs input from clinicians and others interested in mobile medicine and has identified two topics in particular as needing further specification:
- How to assess the risks inherent to clinical decision support software and
- How to classify mobile software that works in concert with a medical device.
*This blog post was originally published at iMedicalApps*
July 23rd, 2011 by Felasfa Wodajo, M.D. in News
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Since the beginning of this year, there have been clues that the FDA will be heading toward clarification of the complex regulatory issues posed by mobile health devices and software. We have previously reported on testimony and public comments by Dr. Jeffrey Shuren, director of the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) alluding to coming guidelines.
Today, the FDA finally released a detailed draft guidance of how it intends to regulate this rapidly exploding sector of mobile medical devices and software.
This is what the Emergo group, regulatory compliance consultants, has gleaned from today’s FDA press release: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at iMedicalApps*
March 29th, 2011 by admin in Health Policy, Opinion
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According to American Medical News, the U.S. health system is demonstrating better performance on most measures of health care quality, but it’s failing to improve access to care or cut racial and ethnic health disparities, according to two reports released in February by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. “Quality of care continues to improve, but at a slow rate,” said Ernest Moy, MD, leader of the team at AHRQ that produced the reports. ”In contrast to that, focusing on issues of access to care, not much has changed. Focusing on disparities in care, not much changed…Those are bigger problem areas than overall quality of care.” Measures related to hospital quality are showing the most improvement. For example, in 2005, just 42% of patients with heart attacks received angioplasties within the recommended 90 minutes of arriving at the hospital. That figure improved to 81% by 2008.
While the quality improvement indicators are encouraging, the disappointing access and disparities numbers are not very surprising.
The US health care system is still largely focused on acute hospital based care. It says we are doing better at what we are doing. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at CFAH PPF Blog*
February 27th, 2011 by Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. in Better Health Network, Opinion
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This is something. Jay Parkinson on the Future Well blog has suggested that health apps are overrated. Then on Twitter came a remark that the post represented “fightin’ words.” While I think the tweet was in jest, I’m sure there are some who will take offense to the less-than-flattering remarks about our coveted health apps.
We love the concept of health apps for what they represent more than for what they really offer us. We want to feel that we’ve got it all in the palm of our hand. After all, technology might do for us what we won’t do for ourselves.
Like Jay I’m underwhelmed, but I don’t think that’ll always be the case. The post’s criticism should start a conversation about what’s real in mobile health and what isn’t. Even the fantasy of Health 2.0 has been questioned, and that’s a good thing. This dialog about reality versus rainbows and unicorns needs to continue.
Youngme Moon in Different: Escaping the Competitive Herd wrote, “The way to keep criticism from devolving into cynicism is to make it a starting point rather than a punctuation mark.” Jay Parkinson’s post is a starting point.
*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*
