Tag: mhealth

Wearable tech initiative for mhealth launched by team of doctors

| September 22, 2014

The hope of this effort is to be able to bring meaningful health data through these devices.

While wearable tech has been gradually rising in popularity, many believe that it wasn’t until the recent Apple Watch unveiling that this type of device was catapulted into the mainstream spotlight.

That said, even before that time, a team of doctors had started a new effort to make them practical for mhealth.

The wearable tech industry specifically for activity and sports trackers is expected to reach $1.4 billion within the upcoming two years . This will allow for a tremendous collection of activity data. A team of doctors feels that this presents a massive opportunity for leveraging that data to develop resources that will help people to be able to make meaningful decisions with regards to their health care. The team is working under the name Vivametrica.

Vivametrica is aiming to develop a wearable tech based analytics platform that will be a first of its kind.

Wearable Tech - mhealth dataThis platform for wearables will be meant for enterprises, health care providers, and patients, alike. Its development is based on several years of clinical research that connects health risks with various types of activities.

The mobile wearable device being produced by Vivametrics is operating system agnostic, which means that it will be compatible with smartphones regardless of whether they run on iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, or any other operating system. This was because the team was seeking to take a standardized approach to the collection and management of the data. The goal was to help to span the gap that currently exists between current wearable fitness apps and actual health data upon which specific action can be taken.

The Vivametrics company has every intention of using wearable tech to be able to provide improvements in the areas of credible, personalized assessment, and research based analytics. The team is made up of health, medicine, and business experts that include: Dr. Richard Hu (the company’s CEO and founder), Dr. Christy Lane (the company’s COO and co-founder), Dr. Matthew Smuck (the company’s scientific advisor and cofounder), and Scott Valentine (the company’s president).

Geolocation technology is bringing doctors and patients together

| August 11, 2014

A new mobile app is using location based tech to make sure that the ill can find the medical services they need.

Geolocation technology has been shown to be successful for use in mobile marketing and in specific programs such as ride sharing services, but this tech is now also branching out into health care as a location based app makes it possible for patients to use their smartphones to arrange for house calls from a physician.

The smartphone service, called Pager, is currently available only to patients living in Brooklyn and Manhattan.

The intention of the service is to start spreading outward into other cities by 2015. This geolocation technology based app has only just launched in May, but is becoming quite popular among mobile device users. The tech behind the application was designed by Oscar Salazar, the co-founder of Pager, who had also previously been an engineer on the team that was behind the creation of the on demand ride share technology that is now used by Uber.

Salazar used his knowledge of geolocation technology to come up with a new service along with two other entrepreneurs.

Geolocation Technology - app for medical servicesTogether, the group of three people managed to raise $3.5 million in investment capital in order to create and launch the Pager mobile app. The marketing director at Pager explained that “We do share some of that [Uber] DNA.” He also added that through the use of this service, “Our doctors come to you. It’s on demand.”

This startup has joined a rapidly growing health care trend that has seen patients looking to try to step away from the experience of primary care clinics and hospitals, in order to receive “convenience care.” That sector involves a number of different types of service, including urgent care clinic based episodic treatments. However, many people are also starting to see the opportunity presented by care offered in a person’s own home through the use of video conferencing, email, remote health monitoring, and – through this service – actual house calls.

Patients and insurance companies, alike, have been working hard to steer health care out of emergency rooms, where the highest treatment costs are generated. With geolocation technology, this is becoming possible, even without having to call ahead to schedule appointments or sit around for ages in a waiting room.