Medtech Impact On Wellness

December 08-11, 2023

MedTech Impact 2023

Venetian/Palazzo Resort

Las Vegas, NV

(561) 893-8633

[email protected]

Category: Insights

    The World’s First Digital Medicine

    By Sarenka Smith | November 15, 2017 | , , | 0 Comments

    U.S. regulators recently approved what is being termed the ‘world’s first digital medicine’: a pill with an inbuilt sensor that can be tracked inside the stomach, and communicates data surrounding whether—and when—patients have taken critical medication. The Food and Drug Administration are permitting the device to be used in an antipsychotic medication, with the overall goal of increased medication adherence, and the hope that the data can be used to help both doctors and patients better manage treatment.

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    Speaker Spotlight: Amanda Goltz

    By Luis Diaz | November 9, 2017 | , | 0 Comments

    Amanda L. Goltz, MPA is the Vice President of Digital Innovation at BTG, a global medtech firm, managing the portfolio of digital initiatives combining clinical interventions, device technology, and digital services to incorporate the patient experience and improve measurable outcomes.  Previously, Amanda was the Director of Product Strategy and Innovation at Aetna, sourcing emerging solutions from the digital health and innovative networks marketplace, pairing them with employer clients, and directing implementation of the solutions at scale.

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    The Financial Potential of Digital Health

    By Sarenka Smith | November 8, 2017 | , | 0 Comments

    New research indicates that digital health has the potential to save up to $46 billion in annual healthcare spending, according to a new report from IQVIA (Quintiles/IMS Health). Murray Aitken, Executive Director of the IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science, describes a new landscape of healthcare, in which a model that looks across five different patient population groups has seen a proven reduction in acute care utilization–typically hospitalization–when consumer mobile apps are used.

    “Diabetes prevention, diabetes care, asthma, cardiac rehabilitation, and pulmonary rehabilitation: in each of those five areas we took the results from published research and modeled that to estimate that if these available apps today were used by all patients who could benefit from them, the US healthcare system could save $7 billion per year. So that’s just for five areas. If that level of savings was achievable across all disease areas, we’re looking at annual savings of something like $46 billion.”

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    Speaker Spotlight: Nikhil Krishnan

    By Luis Diaz | November 2, 2017 | , | 0 Comments

    Nikhil Krishnan is a research analyst at CB Insights. His research focuses on biotechnology/drug development, digital health, autonomous vehicles, and consumer products. He is a graduate from Columbia University, and has worked at several other startups in the past, including Relationship Science, Global Thermostat, and Uber. His research has been featured several times in the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, New York Times, and Reuters.

    Nikhil Krishnan, CB Insights

    Nikhil publishes a weekly digital health newsletter, with content focussed on examining how startups and corporations are approaching the intersection of healthcare and technology.

    Sign up for access to these briefings:

    Apple in Healthcare

    Genomics, CRISPR, and the Future of Personalized Medicine

    The Digital Hospital: 80+ companies Reinventing Medicine in One Infographic

    The Disruption of Digital Health

    Nikhil will host a session, Healthcare 2.0: Macrotrends Shaping Healthcare Delivery, on Thursday, December 14 (9:05 a.m.) at the upcoming MedTech Impact Expo & Conference.  For more information and to review the full agenda, click here.

    Applying Artificial Intelligence to Suicide Prevention

    By Sarenka Smith | November 2, 2017 | , | 0 Comments

    This week, a group of researchers published a new study that demonstrates how a novel brain imaging technique can identify people who have suicidal thoughts, simply by presenting them with certain key words, asking them to reflect on their meanings, and using machine learning to analyze that brain activity.

    The results of the study, published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, challenge the common stereotype that suicidal people could change their perspective if they exerted more effort; the data suggests that suicidal feelings and thoughts are deeply intertwined with the way the brain processes information.

    “Suicidality isn’t that you can’t cope with life; it’s that you’ve somehow gotten into a pattern of thinking that leads you to consider suicide,” states Marcel Just, a cognitive neuroscientist and the study’s lead author, and a professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon University.

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    Speaker Spotlight: Amy Dixon

    By Luis Diaz | October 25, 2017 | , | 0 Comments

    Amy Dixon is a Patient Advocate, Elite Paratriathlete, and motivational speaker, speaking on television and radio and at seminars around the world, on subjects pertaining to triumph over adversity, leadership, team work, rare disease management, patient advocacy, and how to achieve a full life despite devastating setbacks.

    Amy Dixon, Patient Advocate, Elite Paratriathlete, and motivational speaker

    Amy lost 98% of her sight due to a rare type of Uveitis (an inflammatory autoimmune eye disease), and now travels the world with her guide dog Woodstock by her side, speaking to groups about her passion for empowering patients to educate and advocate for themselves in the face of illness and disease. She is the Vice President of Glaucoma Eyes International Organization, where she serves as a coach and mentor to many visually impaired athletes, eye disease and autoimmune disease patients, helping them live lives beyond their disability and disease through her vast resources and expertise.

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    Wearables Potential Impact on the Top 10 Causes of Death

    By Luis Diaz | October 19, 2017 | , | 0 Comments

    In 2012, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) indicated about half of all adults (117 million people at the time) had one or more chronic health conditions. By 2014, seven of the top 10 causes of death were chronic diseases, with heart disease and cancer accounting for nearly 46% of all deaths each year. The costliest (86% of the nation’s $2.7 trillion annual health care expenditures) chronic health problems like heart disease, stroke, cancer, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and arthritis, are among the most prevalent, and continue to be on the rise. Considering lack of exercise or physical activity, poor nutrition, tobacco use, and excessive alcohol consumption is linked to most of these diseases – they also are the most preventable and reversible. However, compliance in lifestyle change, monitoring and medication management of chronic disease has proven to be a great challenge for clinicians and patients alike. Thanks to innovations and advancements in technology, this is becoming more accessible and convenient for both patient and clinician. Read More

    Physical Activity & Psychological Health

    By Sarenka Smith | September 20, 2017 | , | 0 Comments

    While research has long confirmed the strong correlation between exercise and psychological health, a recent study utilizing cellphone data to track activities and moods has confirmed that people who move are overall more content than people who sit.

    While previous epidemiological studies have found that people who are active are less prone to depression and anxiety than sedentary people, the majority of these studies solely focused on negative moods. They generally relied on people recalling how they had felt, in addition to how much they had moved or sat in the previous weeks—with little concrete, tangible data to support their recollections.

    The new study used a different approach, focusing on correlations between movement and the most positive emotion: happiness. The researchers also looked at what people reported about their respective activities, comparing it with objective measures of movement.

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    Virtual Reality & Pain Reduction

    By Sarenka Smith | August 31, 2017 | , | 0 Comments

    Virtual Reality (VR) has been increasingly used to manage pain, trauma, and distress–particularly during painful medical procedures–as investigators hypothesize that VR acts as a nonpharmacologic form of analgesia by exerting “an array of emotional affective, emotion-based cognitive and attentional processes on the body’s intricate pain modulation system.” While originally recognized for its entertainment value, the application has expanded to a number of clinical areas.

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    Wireless & Wearable: Why Wait?

    By Sarenka Smith | August 31, 2017 | , | 0 Comments

    The market of wearable medical technology is one of the most rapidly growing and advancing sectors in the global marketplace, now comprised of devices that have the potential to alter and enhance lifestyle, provide diagnostic and therapeutic support, and aid in injury prevention. With new evolving and transforming models in healthcare, these devices pave the way for new alternatives to traditional ways that practitioners & providers have collected data, performed diagnostic tests, and interacted with patients.

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