WirelessDoc

Where's Google Health?

Last I heard, Adam Bosworth had left this project.

Here are some supposed screen shots of the site courtesy of Google Blogoscoped. Does it really go by the codename "Weaver"?

Part of the plan according to a NYTimes article is that the this will be part of the effort to allow the average person to have an online record of his or her healthcare history. If you consider the plans for changing our healthcare system in the US from both the Democratic and Republican parties, what is similar is their belief that consumers of healthcare, meaning everybody, will play a more active role in what some call patient-based, or consumer-based healthcare.

Will this happen soon? Before the various caucuses and primaries? And why not?

To be able to access your health record via your cell phone, where, for example, you could produce your last ECG (electrocardiogram) as a jpeg, in the eventuality you have to visit the ER because you're experiencing chest pains, would be worthy of much praise. It's possible now, but it's not happening. Why not?

The recent media darling, the iPhone touts it ability to allow you to find pizza in a pinch. Why not the hospital that has facilities for angioplasty, or the nearest stroke center?

We as consumer are carefully taught how to discriminate for the the best in technology--the ultimate handheld device.

It's time we expect the major players such as Apple and Google in doing truly amazing, maybe even lifesaving, things with their technology.

Instant health information via SMS

don't 4get ur pills: Text Messaging for Health is an article in today's Wall Street Journal (the online link is behind the cash wall but won't be for long according to Murdoch), which presents several public health projects in various parts of the world that use SMS texting for relaying timely health information:

In England, women have received text reminders to take their birth-control pills. In Australia, texting helped AIDS patients adhere to complicated drug regimens. And German researchers are examining how text messages can offer psychological support to bulimics. A recent study in New Zealand found that smoking-cessation programs were more effective in conjunction with supportive text messages.

The article quotes Jonathan Linkous, executive director of the American Telemedicine Association about this phenomenon. His says that they're developing guidelines for the appropriate use of SMS for discussing health issues. Revealing a diagnosis, such as cancer, would be forbidden.

Here're some American companies with their spin on the concept:

Intelecare Compliance Solutions Inc, based in New Haven, Conn.,can provide to clients a service "that sends text, email or voice-mail messages reminding users to take their pills, refill prescriptions, get to appointments or check vital signs." [Do you have a pulse? Are your breathing?]

Utah-based Smile Reminder allows dentists, spas and other professionals to remind their clients of appointments, or just a way to keep in touch. This could cross the line in being spam instead of wanted information. I wonder how they strike this balance, especially when you have a per message SMS cost from your carrier?

FishPhone lets you "send a text to the number 30644 with the message "FISH" and the species, and then get back a message." It's just a flat file database on different species of fish, and the current thinking about the food safety issues.

The article does mention a study that suggest that the elderly wouldn't benefit from this new technology "according to a 2006 report from Vodafone Group PLC, the British mobile-phone provider."

The are several qualms I might have about such services besides the spam issue. Do you know who is texting you, and what their qualifications are, or whether they know the right information about you? Are they liable if they have you inject a dose of insulin that's wrong?

Will such services put patients in a more passive role as to monitoring their own health? Would it be possible to determine whether a person should go to the ER through an SMS communication loop?

Is this all part of the effort to commoditize healthcare communication?

Sprint, Alltel, USC fined for missed e911 deadline

The FCC has fined Sprint, Alltel and U.S. Cellular a total of $2.83 million for not meeting the December 31, 2005 deadline for enhanced 911 services. By the end of 2005, all wireless carriers had to ensure that 95 percent of their subscribers had location-enabled handsets that could allow 911 responders to find them in an emergency. According to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, the three carriers "failed to meet this critical deadline by a significant margin, despite the clear requirements of the commission and the needs of their consumers."

Sprint, Alltel, USC fined for missed e911 deadline - FierceWireless - Wireless Industry, Wireless Technology News, Wireless Security News

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Mobile diabetes management via a handheld device

This is a story from Health Data Management (Mobile Tech):

London-based Think Positive Diabetes Wireless has developed a diabetes management system that can be used on smart phones.

The device includes a blood glucose monitor, and the device can store and transmit the data to the company's secure Web site.

Technorati Tags: diabetes, smart phones, wireless monitoring

Phone outreach raises minority cancer screens

This study, conducted by researchers at Columbia's Teacher College, examines the effect of using phone contact for education about colorectal cancer (CRC) screening compared with mailed material. The phoned cohort received an average of 5 conversations totaling 23.5 minutes over 6 months. This was directed to a mostly minority population. Of the 456 subjects, 288 were African American, 74 white, and 90 whose race was not specified0.

According to the press release, "Those who received telephone education were more than four times as likely to follow through with CRC screening as those who received printed material."

Other studies have shown the effectiveness of using telephone outreach to motivate people to participate in cancer screening, but this study shows its effectiveness in a predominantly minority population. These statistics point to its importance:

From 1992--2001, CRC incidence for black men was 13.2 percent higher than for white men and 21.7 percent greater for black women than for white women. Annual mortality was 34 percent greater for black men than for white men and 38 percent greater for black women than for white women.

I'd be curious to find out how this relates to the use of cell phones, or how other digital media could be produced and delivered in a personalized fashion. Would people object to giving up their cell plan minutes to here such educational messages? Would SMS be acceptable?

IBM offers its technology to battle infectious diseases

From the online WSJ (behind the cash wall), this story reports on the announcement today by IBM that it will provide computer technology and services to help study and track the potential bird flu pandemic.

IBM said it will combine electronic health information from hospitals, with information from road maps, airline travel schedules, bird-migration routes and other data on an epidemiological modeling framework known as STEM to form a giant picture of how a pandemic flu might spread. The company said it plans to make the framework available as an open-source technology, meaning the larger public-health community could use and update it regularly.

IBM also has "plans to use supercomputers to model influenza viruses, in hopes of trying to predict mutations."