Registration is now open for the first Social Media Residency

Author: Thuc Huynh, MD

Social Media in medicine has been steadily increasing.  Twitter began in 2006 but it wasn't until 2009 that  healthcare engaged in it truly.  That was when the #hcsm twitter hashtag was created for all people interested in healthcare social media.  Steadily, conferences added lectures pertaining to it in order to bring awareness to this new field.  Conferences like HIMSS had a special social media booth where Dr. Kim has been a regular speaker.   Even mainstream conferences like SXSW had tracks in healthcare social media.

Now, Mayo Clinic is launching their inaugural 2011 Social Media Residency.  The residency will provide didactic lectures and hands-on experience to quickly implement social media strategies that work.

Medify makes medical research easy

Author:  Thuc Huynh, MD

Finding reputable health information online is no easy task. Do a search for "medical research" on google and you'll get 101 million web pages. Narrow it down to a disorder like "acne medical research" and you still get 3.5 million hits. Medify believes they have an answer.

Their website aggregates data from well-known research facilities like the National Institute of Health and then extracts key information from research articles to create an organized, easy to understand summary page equipped with interactive graphics. From there, users can quickly compare the thousands of research articles by a number of variables.

Take our example of "acne." Medify identifies that 448 treatments have been studied for acne vulgaris by 1,317 experts. It also displays the hottest research topics on acne vulgaris and a list of newly released patient studies.

A powerful feature of Medify is it's charting tool. From our acne vulgaris search, clicking over to comparison shows us a graph of current research based on their strength of evidence. Medify determines this strength by an algorithm which takes into account factors such as progress in clinical trials, number of studies, and number of patients. Users can further personalize their search with demographics or adding more search terms.

MedHelp Reaches More than 1 Million Health Application Users

Author: Thuc Huynh, MD

MedHelp, the world’s most prominent health social network, has announced its recent achievement of reaching 1 million health application users since its launch in 2008. This makes MedHelp the biggest portal of self-reported medical data.

It has innovated the consumer health industry by giving people the power to have more active control on things related to their health. Over 12.5 million users turn to MedHelp every month to address their health problems.

Healthcare Experience Design Conference

Author: Thuc Huynh, MD

Many of us strongly believe that the healthcare system is broken. There are long waits, poor access to doctors, poor reimbursement and overall discontent with the current system. As a result, we’re experiencing increasing numbers of poor health. Obesity is increasing. Diabetes is increasing. Cardiac risk factors are increasing. We need an intervention.

Amy Cuerva, the founder of Mad*Pow have teamed up with Claricode to answer the call. They are launching the first annual Healthcare Experience Design Conference. Their mission is to “improve health through human-centered design and technology” by “bringing together the best and brightest to explore the toughest challenges, present new solutions, foster collaboration, and empower attendees to continue to push the envelope for the betterment of healthcare recipients and providers.”

Amy Cuerva founded Mad*Pow which is a design-experience consulting company. The company’s portfolio includes high rolling names such as Google, Aetna, Intuit, and even ESPN. Amy is a passionate believer that through research-driven design, anything can be great. She’s given talks at HIMSS, Word Healthcare Innovation & Technology Congress, IA Summit, and UPA International conference. The Healthcare Experience Design conference is a culmination of all of her experience and talent in the field.

A look inside Hello Health's EMR platform

Author: Thuc Huynh, MD

Last month, Nat Findlay gave me a personal interview about the company's current standing and future goals.  It definitely whet my appetite for more so I reached out to Steven Ferguson, the Vice President of Product Development for Hello Health and he took me through a tour of the platform.  The platform is pretty modern and clean.

The design interface reminds me of Facebook with a little bit of Google Calendar and Foursquare.  As a physician, you start off at the physician dashboard.  Here you'll see an overview of tasks you need to do, from reviewing labs, new patients, or incoming faxes.  You can also get a birds eye view of all patient appointments for the day on the right side of the screen.  I appreciated that the patient's photo is displayed as well to bridge that association between a name and a face.   That's what reminded me of Foursquare.

The Availability tab is where physicians can set their hours with simple click and drag features just like in Google Calendar.  I found it very easy to use.  There are checkboxes and scroll wheels for every option you can think of.  For example, you can choose to be in office during the weekdays and offer virtual or telephone visits on the weekends only.  Whatever you select as your hours on this tab will automatically reflect on the patient's side when they go to make an appointment.

Get ready for "Wireless Health Day" on March 23

Author: Thuc Huynh, MD

Here's a press release from International CTIA Wireless :


INTERNATIONAL CTIA WIRELESS® 2011 DEDICATES MARCH 23 AS “WIRELESS HEALTH DAY”

Keynote Speakers, Educational Seminar and Exhibits to Focus on Mobile’s Impact on Healthcare

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 2, 2011 – As mobile connectivity becomes nearly ubiquitous, International CTIA WIRELESS® 2011 will feature innovations demonstrating how mobility is transforming the health sector. On Wednesday, March 23, CTIA’s “Wireless Health Day” will include a variety of activities, including a keynote, educational seminar and special reception. Throughout the show, CTIA’s Wireless Health Pavilion will showcase mHealth technologies on the exhibit floor. International CTIA WIRELESS will take place March 22-24, 2011 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando. Pre-conference seminars will begin on March 21.

The Wireless Health Pavilion, produced by CTIA and strategic partner Qualcomm, will feature products and services from a variety of companies: BodyMedia, Continua, Diversinet, Doro, Keynetik, LifeComm, Optumhealth, Preventice, Telcare and the Wireless-Life Sciences Alliance, among others.

Interview with Nat Findlay, CEO of Hello Health

Author: Thuc Huynh, MD

I had the great pleasure of talking to Mr. Nat Findlay last week at length about his company, Hello Health.  We talked about what the company is now and where it was heading.

For those who don't know, Hello Health is a web based EMR that launched 2 years ago in 2009.  It was founded by Mr. Nat Findlay, Dr. Jay Parkinson, and Dr. Sean Khozin in an effort to change the electronic medical record space.  And in my opinion, it did.

Before Hello Health, the best looking EMR interface was something that looked like a flashback to Windows 3.1.  With Jay Parkinson's eye for design and photography, the company created a modern, clean, stream-lined EMR that paralleled Facebook and Mint.  Now, more med-tech companies have realized that design is an important part of user function and thus, Practice Fusion and CareCloud were born.

Industry leaders to present at 2nd Annual Burrill Digital Health Meeting

Author: Thuc Huynh, MD

Burrill & Company is a merchant bank and venture capitalist firm that focuses exclusively on companies in the life sciences. They are holding their 2nd Annual Digital Health Meeting to "showcase the underlying issues, emerging business oppor­tunities and cutting-edge innovations" in Digital Health.

The conference will be at Burlingame, CA from February 23 - February 24, 2011.

Here's a description of the conference :

In the not too distant future, nearly all of healthcare will be digitized. Technology is being developed that will connect patients and physicians in real-time. In turn, doctors will be able to practice medicine from virtually anywhere at anytime, with instant access to the information and systems they need.

The digital health world is rapidly evolving with the convergence of wireless technology and the proliferation of mobile devices, giving rise to new practices and products. With continual, real-time information on patient health, the healthcare system will be moving from focusing on simply treating sickness to maintaining wellness. Featuring world-class presenters, The Burrill Digital Health Meeting will showcase the underlying issues, emerging business oppor­tunities and cutting-edge innovations.

Industry leaders to present at 2nd Annual Burrill Digital Health Meeting

Author: Thuc Huynh, MD

Burrill & Company is a merchant bank and venture capitalist firm that focuses exclusively on companies in the life sciences. They are holding their 2nd Annual Digital Health Meeting to "showcase the underlying issues, emerging business oppor­tunities and cutting-edge innovations" in Digital Health.

The conference will be at Burlingame, CA from February 23 - February 24, 2011.

Here's a description of the conference :

In the not too distant future, nearly all of healthcare will be digitized. Technology is being developed that will connect patients and physicians in real-time. In turn, doctors will be able to practice medicine from virtually anywhere at anytime, with instant access to the information and systems they need.

The digital health world is rapidly evolving with the convergence of wireless technology and the proliferation of mobile devices, giving rise to new practices and products. With continual, real-time information on patient health, the healthcare system will be moving from focusing on simply treating sickness to maintaining wellness. Featuring world-class presenters, The Burrill Digital Health Meeting will showcase the underlying issues, emerging business oppor­tunities and cutting-edge innovations.

I took a look at their agenda and saw that several industry leaders will be presenting at the conference.  Among them were Dan Jones - VP of Qualcomm Wireless Health, Jeff Smith - VP at CVS Caremark, and  Dr. Jeffrey Davis, Director of Space Life Sciences at NASA.

GlowCaps are the next iteration in helping patients remember their pills

Author: Thuc Huynh, MD

One of the largest problems we see in the clinic is medication non-compliance.  All too often, patients forget to take their pills and their health suffers as a result.

The cheapest and most popular remedy has been the Pill Box which is a simple plastic box labeled with the days of the week and meant to remind patients to take all their pills that day.  But what if you're the kind of person who even forgets to look at the pill box?  Or what if you have to take pills twice a day?  How do you split the Monday pill slot into two time periods?  You can't.  The Pill Box has many limitations.

GlowCaps is going to lay the Pill Box to rest.  This device will flash a light when it's time to take your medicine and if you don't, it will call your phone and remind you verbally.  If your pills start to run out, GlowCaps will order refills from your pharmacy.  And to add accountability for taking your meds, a summary report is mailed to you and your doctor every month.

How does it work?  There's a tiny computer chip in the cap that senses when a patient opens or doesn't open the cap.  It then transmits the information wirelessly to a receiver that will either light up or call you.

Practice Fusion is more than just a free EMR. They also do research

Author: Thuc Huynh, MD

We all know that Practice Fusion is a free EMR.  But did you know they also do general health research?  I didn't.

Not until I recently read on their company blog that they've found a link between a person's Body Mass Index (BMI) and Farmer's Markets!

According to their Research Division, the availability of a Farmer's Market was correlated with lower BMI.    They go on to say that eating fresh fruit is also associated with a lower BMI.  Is it because of the availability of healthier foods?  What other factors may be contributing?  

Nonetheless, the information is interesting and the infographic is very telling of our nation's health as a whole.

For a visual interpretation about Practice Fusion's research data on BMI & Farmer's Markets, make sure to visit their company blog.

Digital Health at the Consumer Electronics Show

Author: Thuc Huynh, MD

Fantastic. Useful. Strange. What?

Those were the words that came to mind as I walked down the aisles of the trade show's Digital Health section.

iHealth and Withings were there. You may remember them from when we wrote about their newest inventions, a blood pressure cuff that attaches to the iPhone. Seeing the devices in person and trying them out really was exciting. It made me become hopeful for having a truly portable, good-looking, accurate device in my travel medical bag for house calls.

Among the useful were a slew of slim-lined fitness sensors based off of ANT+ technology, a small chip requiring ultra-low power to wirelessly network with applications. You could run, cycle, row and be able to record your cadence, power, speed, and heart rate in real time and then review the information on a mobile platform or website. Good for those who are into fitness and training.

The Digital Health Summit recap

Author: Thuc Huynh, MD

I attended the Digital Health Summit last friday and had a great time. The room was completely packed with avid listeners. It was standing room only in the back. It was that popular.

And for good reason. The Summit covered trending topics like mobile health, remote monitoring, and patient empowerment.

Dr. Cheryl Pegus, Chief Medical Officer for Walgreens, spoke to the audience about their plans for improving medication management ranging from e-prescribing, drug interaction, and telephone support. Those aren't new or innovative ways of changing the medication management space but they are helpful additional resources for a large population of patients. The most interesting new thing Walgreens is developing is a mobile app that utilizes barcode scanning. Patients will be able to scan a barcode at any time and have their medications refilled at a Walgreens of their choice. That's pretty convenient.

By far my favorite moment of the Digital Health Summit were Dr. Harry Greenspun's analogies:

Why is that when we visit a doctors' office, we feel like we’re in an episode of the Flintstones? Why can't we have the same quality service that our cats and dogs have? Why is it that you can order a Chipotle Burrito on your iPhone app, have it paid and waiting for you, but if you get hit by a bus, good luck trying to find an orthopedist who will accept your insurance?!

Are you going to the Spring Fling?

Author: Thuc Huynh, MD

The 2011 Health 2.0 Spring Fling, that is.

Health 2.0 is the one of the largest health information technology conferences in the US. This year, the conference will be in San Diego, California from March 21 - March 22.

The themes this spring are :

* Making health care cheaper
* The evolution of research
* Prevention, wellness, exercise, and food

Here’s another way to give this holiday season, sponsored by Practice Fusion

Author: Thuc Huynh, MD

Practice Fusion, the leading free web-based electronic medical record in the US, is sponsoring a Care for the Holidays campaign.

For every new family practice, internal medicine, pediatrics, or general practitioner that signs up to try Practice Fusion, the company will donate $1 to Doctors Without Borders.

And because the product is free, there really is no downfall to signing up and looking around at their features. I’m currently a registered trial member and I don’t receive any spam mail from them; just an occasional newsletter called “Progress Note”.

Here’s your chance to help this holiday season. Doctors Without Borders teams with Google for Social Good.

Author: Thuc Huynh, MD

This year, Google has really created an innovative Social Good campaign. Anyone who uses the Chrome Browser and downloads the Chrome for a Cause extension, will be able to help one of five charities.

Here’s how it works. Browse the internet using the Google Chrome browser with the extension installed. Open a new tab for every site you go to. That’s it.

The Chrome for a Cause extension cleverly tracks the amount of tabs you open and allows you to donate to one of five charities at the end of the day based on your usage.

ZocDoc is nominated for Best Social Media Customer Service

Author: Thuc Huynh, MD

ZocDoc is a service that allows patients to book doctor appointments online with ease. The service is free for patients. Physicians pay a fee to have their listing in the ZocDoc database. Patients love it.

The company has been nominated for Best Social Media Customer Service and will be vying for the title against 4 other companies at the Mashable Awards Party in Las Vegas. According to this post on TechCrunch, it seems as though ZocDoc treats its customers right; even giving away a 20 dollar Amazon Gift Card if the doctor decides to reschedule a patient’s appointment that was previously set using the ZocDoc system.