News & Updates
A recent report from Frost & Sullivan predicted that the remote patient market will reach $295 million by 2015. The prediction comes after a study from Berg Insight, which found that about 2.2 million patients worldwide use a home monitoring service. Frost and Sullivan researchers also found that remote home health care and disease management earned revenues of $126.8 million in 2010.
Founders of Sermo, a 130,000 member online physician community, Daniel Palestrant and Adam Sharp launched a new company called par8o (pronounced par-ate-oh after economist Ricardo Pareto of the optimality curve fame). With their new company, the founders aim to empower physicians to have more direct interactions with their patients.
The Food and Drug Administration announced that it’s building an app for mobile devices to track adverse reactions to drugs administered during emergency health situations. The Real-Time Application for Portable Interactive Devices (RAPID) will allow users to take pictures and video of their reactions and to report their medical histories via sound recording. The app will also display geographic trends using iPhone, Android and BlackBerry GPS capabilities.
Physicians Interactive, a provider of mobile and web-based clinical resources for health care providers, announced that it will partner with Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, a unit of the pharmaceutical company Merck. Merck agreed to invest up to $17 million in the deal, and Physicians Interactive said it will use the money to develop its marketing tools, data analytics, online platforms for selling drug samples and its mobile products.
Redspin, Inc., provider of IT security assessments, launched Meaningful Healthcare IT Security, a set of advanced services to improve the protection of health data. The announcement comes after a year of increases in health data breaches. Redspin’s new offerings will include a web-based HIPAA Security Risk Analysis survey tool and a custom business associate risk analysis to help ensure BA compliance with the HIPAA Security Rule.
BASIS Science, creators of the Basis heart rate monitor watch, premiered its web-based personal dashboard for the device at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show. The band tracks heart rate and other personal health data and uploads it to a cloud service. Basis launched at the 2011 Health 2.0 Conference in September, but the band still isn’t available to the public.
Samsung has developed a smart phone that can detect emotions, a recent article from MIT Technology Review reported. It looks at users’ actions like the speed at which they type, how often they backspace or use special symbol buttons and how much they shake the device. The idea is to develop a phone that can deliver a more personalized service. For example, if the phone determines the user is feeling low, it might play a funny cartoon to cheer him up.
Fitbit unveiled Aria, it’s WiFi smart scale that uploads user weight and body fat to a personal online portal. Aria is Fitbit’s first non-wearable health device and is a direct competitor to the popular Withings WiFi scale. Aria is expected to be available in April and will cost $129.95.
Health incubator Blueprint Health announced its inaugural class of startups. Other accelerators hosting winter programs include Rock Health and Healthbox. Blueprint will offer its members access to an impressive list of mentors including Andy Weissman of Union Square Ventures and leaders from Cerner, Aetna and CVS. TechCrunch reports the list of startups here.
Health 2.0 Developer Challenges