digital health technology Archives • Page 2 of 3 • Medtech Impact On Wellness

Wearables Making Impact on Wellness Program

By David Beck | February 1, 2018 | Insights, News, Wearables | 0 Comments

Employers and insurers are looking to wearable technology to gauge the progress of wellness programs on their workforce.

Firms are turning to wearables not just for participation and engagement data but also to ensure that their plans are more effective in improving outcomes and reducing risks to health, according to a Springbuk Report, “Employer Guide to Wearables 2.0” cited in ProBen.

Second MedTech Impact Expo & Conference reinforced critical connection between technology and healthcare

By Sarenka Smith | December 21, 2017 | News, News Postings | 0 Comments

The second MedTech Impact Expo and Conference took place from December 15-16, co-located with the A4M/MMI 25th Annual World Congress. The event focused on assisting healthcare practitioners and professionals to better serve their patients through the use of medical technology and devices, while understanding the transformative effects of newly developed products and equipment. Speakers and sessions educated attendees on groundbreaking scientific research and education, supplemented by the most progressive equipment and medical technology.

The Cost of Chronic Disease

By Sarenka Smith | November 28, 2017 | Insights, Medical Devices | 0 Comments

The primary issue that consumes the majority of the burden of healthcare costs in the United States is preventable chronic disease: while the most prevalent health conditions are simultaneously the most avoidable, they continue to cost the country’s budget billions of dollars. While overall numbers have decreased since 2010, when chronic disease cost the U.S. a total of $315 billion, morbid obesity rates have continued to rapidly spike—a condition that leads to a range of critical health issues including heart disease, diabetes, and stroke.

Primary care providers have long faced the struggle of determining how to implement best practice care for patients diagnosed with chronic diseases. Recent studies indicate that almost half of the entire U.S. population has at least one chronic health condition—including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity, or arthritis. Statistics designate these health care treatments costs to account for 86% of cumulative national healthcare spending, and the CDC reports that chronic conditions are the leading causes of death and disability in the country.

Healthcare in the Home: Technology & Patient Care

By Sarenka Smith | November 21, 2017 | Insights, Patient Software / Programs | 0 Comments

The increase in human lifespan—currently at an average of 80 years in developed countries—is often attributed to improved medical treatments and technologies, including innovations like the discovery of antibiotics and enhanced care for once-fatal occurrences like heart attacks. Yet advancements in medical technology also impact quality of life, particularly as people age. Many recent breakthroughs have improved seniors’ ability to remain healthy throughout the aging process, while simultaneously improving home care and challenges like overcrowded hospitals and remote populations.

Linking Life Expectancy & Innovation

By Sarenka Smith | November 16, 2017 | Insights, Medical Devices | 0 Comments

Recent data and statistics demonstrate that overall American life expectancy has dropped for the first time in a decade, spurring an urgent and pressing need for the advent and proliferation of medical technology—coupled with scientific progress and laws to encourage innovation.

While the research points to specific factors that have lowered rates of mortality, including increased obesity, long-term unemployment, and a resurgence of chronic diseases, the studies incontrovertibly suggest the critical need to provide enhanced ‘life-saving and life-prolonging’ therapies and treatments.

There is no specific way to address the divergence of issues regarding lowered life expectancy, but there are particular measures that must be undertaken. These include enacting evidence-based policies that spur innovation, and further eliminating any roadblocks to America’s inventors.

The World’s First Digital Medicine

By Sarenka Smith | November 15, 2017 | Insights, Medical Devices, News | 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.

Fitbit Addresses Diabetes Management

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

A recent article in Harvard Business Review details the ways in which digital health care can help prevent chronic diseases like diabetes. One of the most expensive and rampant chronic diseases, treatment for diabetes exacts a staggering cost of $245 billion each year, with an estimated 30.3 million people affected.

A number of digital health interventions can be used to address chronic conditions like diabetes, with the ultimate goals of reducing costs, improving patients’ involvement in their own care, and mitigating the overwhelming burden of chronic diseases in the U.S. Most recently, Fitbit has demonstrated its interest in addressing diabetes management, forming partnerships with medical device giant Medtronic and DexCom.

The Financial Potential of Digital Health

By Sarenka Smith | November 8, 2017 | Insights, Medical Devices | 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.”

Physical Activity & Psychological Health

By Sarenka Smith | September 20, 2017 | Insights, Medical Devices | 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.

FDA Encourages Development of Medical Technology

By Sarenka Smith | August 1, 2017 | News, News Postings | 0 Comments

The Food and Drug Administration has recently announced a program that actively encourages the development of medical digital technology, including wireless wearables and applications that can monitor blood pressure and heart rate, track intake of calories, and measure physical activity.

The program is designed to give pre-clearance to developers working on digital health products, as the approval process for apps sometimes includes burdensome regulations, which can increase costs and limit innovation: the FDA hopes to reduce development costs and give entrepreneurs increased opportunities to develop products.

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December 08-11, 2023

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