12 Cool Tech Innovations Keep You Healthy
From talking robots to mobile apps that take some pain out of ER visits, health IT innovations abounded at Partners Healthcare's Connected Health Symposium. Take a look.
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Sometimes it's not easy, safe, or necessary for a patient to make a trip to the doctor, even when the patient should be "seen" by a clinician. That's where Video Waiting Room from Stratus Video can help.
Powering the Video Waiting Room is the company's Video Call Center (VCC), which lets doctors route calls from patients to nurses or other clinicians in a medical practice. VCC, which supports video and audio calls, identifies the next available clinician in the practice to consult with the patient. During the telehealth encounter, the clinician can determine if a treatment or care plan is working or whether the patient should come to the office for an in-person exam. The system helps clinicians evaluate the care of those recently discharged from the hospital, individuals diagnosed with the flu, patients suffering from chronic conditions like diabetes, and even patients who've had recent psychiatric evaluations.
VCC is designed to let clinicians to work within their current patient management systems. The doctor and patient need a PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone, Android smartphone, or Android tablet to run the Stratus video phone software, called ViewMe, to make the telehealth calls. The ViewMe software is free and can be downloaded from the iTunes store, Android marketplace, or the Stratus Video website.
Doctor's offices are charged a fixed monthly fee to be connected to the Stratus Video VCC platform. Use of the ViewMe software by the patient to make video telehealth calls is free of charge.
Not sleeping well? Zeo Sleep Manager Mobile might help you get more refreshing sleep. According to the vendor, its mobile sleep management system measures and tracks your sleep patterns, including how much restorative REM and deep sleep you actually get, as well as how many times you wake up--all without having to spend the night in a sleep lab.
A lightweight Zeo Softwave wireless headband uses sensors to record brainwaves, eye movements, and muscle tone to track the patient's sleep stages throughout the night. While the patient snoozes, the system sends the sleep data wirelessly to the individual's smartphone. The system also includes the Zeo mobile charge dock, the Zeo Sleep Manager mobile app, online analytical tools, and an email-based personalized coaching program. The analysis helps Zeo users understand their sleep patterns through a ZQ score, which is a number grade given by the system summarizing the user's sleep quantity and quality. A coaching program provides users guidance on getting a better night's sleep. When it's time to rise, Zeo says the system's Smart Alarm wakes you at the most optimal point, but never late, so that you feel refreshed, not sluggish or frazzled. The system costs $99.99
VGo, a maker of telemedicine robots, can help sick or disabled students attend classes remotely, allow medical specialists to "visit" patients in rural hospitals and clinics without travel, and let doctors make virtual house calls. Priced at about $6,000 each, VGo robots can be used by healthcare organizations, children's hospitals, and remote clinics to make medical staff more efficient while improving patient outcomes and satisfaction.
Through a combination of videoconferencing and robotic technologies, VGo can move and interact with patients, staff, or others on site--the robot is controlled by the remote person that VGo is standing in for. VGo can "see, hear, and speak" through VGo's camera and four microphones that are the "eyes" and "ears" of the remote person. VGo also has a display and speakers that act as the voice and face of the remote person, who controls VGo's movements using a computer mouse and screen.
VGo at school can physically attend the classes a sick or injured student would be attending, even going into the lunchroom so that he or she can remotely interact with friends from afar.
Among other telemedicine applications for VGo are medical training, rehabilitation care, interpreter services, long-term hospitalizations, hospital rounds from doctor's home or office, and second medical opinions.
The Health Information Dashboard is a feature of Benefits Gateway, from Health Advocate, a health advocacy and assistance company. The dashboard uses algorithms to interpret benefits data from multiple sources and provide a snapshot of key member information about benefits use and specific health indicators. The dashboards have the potential to boost employee productivity, lower medical costs and improve health outcomes.
When Health Advocate services are used by members--or employees of Health Advocate clients--members can view what health benefits they've used, as well as key health indicators. Those might include reminders about colonoscopies, other health screenings, and immunizations that the members are eligible for and should have done.
On the benefits administrator side, the dashboard, as pictured above, provides analysis on the company's health-related spending. That includes insights on whether employees are utilizing mail order prescription services and less expensive generic drugs, as well as whether workers are taking advantage of preventative care and wellness offerings in the company's benefits programs.
The Athena GTX mini-Medic, a small, wireless vital signs monitoring system, lets one caregiver simultaneously monitor multiple patients. Weighing just 10 ounces, the system allows for remote patient monitoring at the point of injury, so that a complete data history file can be obtained and more accurate patient assessments performed. Though the system was originally designed for military applications, it's being used increasingly to monitor patients in natural disasters and other emergencies where mass casualties might occur.
Parameters autonomously measured by the device include SpO2, heart rate/pulse rate, skin temperature, and pulse wave transit time.
Data such as administered drugs and fluids, and known injuries, can also be added manually to the patient data file. The system has integrated radios that do not rely on existing networks to transfer data, so monitoring can take place in any location.
LifeImage, a cloud-based medical image sharing system, allows doctors and patients to send, receive, and collaborate on all types of medical images, including X-rays, CT scans, and MRIs. Designed to alleviate the trouble associated with medical image sharing and collaboration, LifeImage requires only an Internet connection to work.
LifeImage requires no special downloads, hardware, or software. Additionally, it lets doctors collaborate on images in real-time, allowing for instant updates and cross-modality collaboration. The capability can help eliminate unnecessary or redundant tests on patients by allowing medical images to be available and shared in a timely manner among a patient's physicians, specialists, and consulting doctors. This saves the patient from costly tests, as well as unnecessary radiation exposure.
Using GrandCare System, a patient's caregiver--an adult child or clinician, for instance--is provided an account on the company's portal. The caregiver can be set up to receive a phone call, email, or text message informing him when a patient has taken a reading with a GrandCare telehealth device at a specific time--or has forgotten to take the reading.
Those devices include a blood pressure meter, glucometer, pulse oximeter, and weight scale. Caregivers can log into the GrandCare system and view the patient's readings. (Currently, for patient privacy reasons, actual readings are not sent directly to the caregiver.) Reminder alerts can also be sent directly to patients.
GrandCare's system also includes daily health assessments to help monitor chronic conditions such as chronic heart failure. A series of physician-recommended questions pop up on the system's touch screen, to help caregivers recognize possible symptoms and take proactive steps in treatment. Among the possible pop-up questions are whether patient has any ankle swelling or is experiencing any dips in energy level.
GrandCare can also be set up for other alerts to caregivers, including patient medication adherence, monitoring of stoves and ovens to prevent fires, safe pathway lighting, and room temperature.
Two ER doctors developed iTriage, a mobile and Web healthcare platform. The free mobile app runs on smartphones including Android and iPhone, and gives users the ability to look up symptoms, find possible causes, and locate the nearest healthcare providers. In addition, users can get turn-by-turn directions to those healthcare providers--which could include ERs, doctor offices, outpatient clinics, or pharmacies. Hospitals ER wait times and pre-registration features are also available for users in certain regions of the U.S.
The GenerationOne Mobile Engagement Platform can send the right reminder to the right user at the right time of day using mobile phones or interactive voice response systems. This can help improve patient engagement, including medication compliance, adherence to treatments, and self-care.
Daily insight into participant's utilization and health status can trigger automated alerts to the appropriate care management stakeholders, including physicians, case managers, nurses, health coaches, and other care givers. This allows for early intervention and the efficient use of clinical resources for populations needing ongoing support, such as patients who are chronically ill, elderly, recuperating, or are receiving various treatment regimens or participating in wellness programs.
Meet QC Bot from Vecna Medical. This healthcare robot aims to address logistical challenges in healthcare settings and to enhance patient-centric care. The robotic platform is multi-functional, allowing QC Bot to be used for many activities ranging from security monitoring, to pharmacy delivery, to hygienic waste removal, to meal delivery. QC Bot features artificial intelligence and a dispatching and scheduling system that allows the robot to navigate autonomously through healthcare facilities.
Clinicians can track and document logistical workflows using QC Bot's onboard touchscreen and its associated software. On the patient side, this same touchscreen facilitates services including self-service check-in, way-finding, bedside registration, and clinical telepresence.
QC Bot is also capable of interfacing with Vecna's infection surveillance software to provide real-time updates for the management and prevention of healthcare-associated infections.
Independa's tablet-based Angela (as in angel) provides social engagement opportunities, as well as visual medication and appointment "Smart Reminders" for patients at home. Reminders are also available by phone or text messages, and the product includes a "Life Stories" feature for sharing memories.
Angela, part of Independa's expanding suite of integrated telecare tools, is intended to provide real-time virtual care to help elderly people continue living safe and healthy lives in the comfort of home, while informing and engaging family caregivers regardless of their location.
Ideal Life offers an array of at-home, mobile monitoring services. Pictured is the Ideal Life Gluco-Manager, which is used to take blood sugar measurements. Once the reading is taken and displayed on the Gluco-Manager, data is automatically communicated through the user's cell phone via the Ideal Life mobile gateway application that runs behind the scenes on a cell phone. There is no need to click "send" or press any buttons, and the cell phone may be in a pocket, purse, or glove box. Information is wirelessly transmitted to the Ideal Life cloud and processed remotely.
The data from the glucose reading may trigger the delivery of relevant, real time, actionable information back to the consumer on her cell phone as an interactive and personalized video. For instance, a higher than expected blood sugar reading may trigger the sending of an educational video to the patient's cell phone.
Ideal Life offers an array of at-home, mobile monitoring services. Pictured is the Ideal Life Gluco-Manager, which is used to take blood sugar measurements. Once the reading is taken and displayed on the Gluco-Manager, data is automatically communicated through the user's cell phone via the Ideal Life mobile gateway application that runs behind the scenes on a cell phone. There is no need to click "send" or press any buttons, and the cell phone may be in a pocket, purse, or glove box. Information is wirelessly transmitted to the Ideal Life cloud and processed remotely.
The data from the glucose reading may trigger the delivery of relevant, real time, actionable information back to the consumer on her cell phone as an interactive and personalized video. For instance, a higher than expected blood sugar reading may trigger the sending of an educational video to the patient's cell phone.
Sometimes it's not easy, safe, or necessary for a patient to make a trip to the doctor, even when the patient should be "seen" by a clinician. That's where Video Waiting Room from Stratus Video can help.
Powering the Video Waiting Room is the company's Video Call Center (VCC), which lets doctors route calls from patients to nurses or other clinicians in a medical practice. VCC, which supports video and audio calls, identifies the next available clinician in the practice to consult with the patient. During the telehealth encounter, the clinician can determine if a treatment or care plan is working or whether the patient should come to the office for an in-person exam. The system helps clinicians evaluate the care of those recently discharged from the hospital, individuals diagnosed with the flu, patients suffering from chronic conditions like diabetes, and even patients who've had recent psychiatric evaluations.
VCC is designed to let clinicians to work within their current patient management systems. The doctor and patient need a PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone, Android smartphone, or Android tablet to run the Stratus video phone software, called ViewMe, to make the telehealth calls. The ViewMe software is free and can be downloaded from the iTunes store, Android marketplace, or the Stratus Video website.
Doctor's offices are charged a fixed monthly fee to be connected to the Stratus Video VCC platform. Use of the ViewMe software by the patient to make video telehealth calls is free of charge.
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