The American Lung Association and Pfizer is launching a new mobile app and online community called the Quitter’s Circle designed to help smokers face common obstacles associated with quitting through educational, social and financial support. Within a few clicks, smokers can start a quit team with friends and family, find resources to connect with a healthcare provider and crowdsource funds to support the cost of a quit attempt.
A recent survey explored barriers that prevent people from
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Archives for 2015
Virtual Town Hall Meeting Examines Reframing Meaningful Use Regulations
After sending letters to Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Burwell and Office of Management and Budget Director Shaun Donovan last week, the American Medical Association (AMA) and the Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS) will hold a virtual town hall meeting to give physicians and others a chance to discuss concerns with poorly designed EHRs and the impact these systems have on patient care.
The U.S. government has spent $25 billion under the Meaningful Use program to promote a
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5 Best Practices for Healthcare Organizations’ Working on UDI Compliance
Today, the healthcare industry crosses another Unique Device Identifier (UDI) milestone: the deadline requiring all implantable, life-supporting and life-sustaining devices to be labeled with a UDI. Two years ago, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued its UDI Rule. Since then, Global Healthcare Exchange, LLC (GHX) has worked closely with healthcare suppliers to help them navigate the complexities of becoming UDI compliant and to leverage the rule to improve how they manage product
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Leidos Donates $40k to Fund Pilot Healthcare Data Analytics Platform
Leidos, a national security, health, and engineering solutions company, has donated $40,000 to the Georgia Institute of Technology to fund a pilot program in healthcare data analytics. The funding will help support the development of a pilot data analytics platform in the I3L designed to improve the quality and efficiency of healthcare through data transparency. The donation marks Leidos’ third to Tech’s Interoperability & Integration Innovation Lab (I3L) since 2013.
Healthcare Data
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CliniCloud Pulls In $5M For Its IoT Medical Home Kit
CliniCloud, the consumer digital health company bringing healthcare home with smart medical devices anyone can use, has raised $5 million in funding led by Tencent and Ping An Ventures. Additionally, CliniCloud announced a retail partnership with Best Buy to sell its first product, a connected medical kit containing a digital stethoscope, a non-contact thermometer and a mobile app that empowers patients to proactively manage their wellness at home in the U.S. and Canada, starting in
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98% of Med Students Prefer Face-to-Face Visits Over Telehealth Visits
98 percent of medical students would prefer to see their future patients face-to-face for the initial visit as opposed to telehealth visits, according to results from the 10th annual Epocrates Future Physicians of America survey. Even for follow-ups, 89 percent of students favor the traditional face-to-face exam over virtual visits. The survey of more than 1,000 medical students who use Epocrates, finds 41 percent of students turn to a medical app first for clinical answers while
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Portea Medical Raises $37.5M to Expand Home Healthcare in India
India-based home healthcare startup Portea Medical has received $37.5 million in Series B funding led by Accel. International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group; Qualcomm Ventures and Ventureast also participated in this round. Portea works with leading hospitals, experienced doctors, nurses, diagnostic centers and others to provide in-home healthcare for patients in India & Malaysia.
The company will utilize the capital to scale the company’s expansion in India
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Accenture Acquires Sagacious Consultants to Expand Epic Consulting Capabilities
Global management consultant firm Accenture, today announced that it has finalized its agreement to acquire Sagacious Consultants, an Epic-focused EHR consulting firm to expand its capabilities for helping clients to better manage healthcare quality, efficiency and costs. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Founded in 2009 by former Epic consultant Shane Adams, approximately 250 employees from Sagacious Consultants will bring to Accenture their specialized skills in
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Solutionreach, Uber Integrate to Improve Patient Accessibility
Solutionreach, a Utah-based provider of patient relationship management solutions, announced that they have integrated with Uber, the on demand service that connects riders to local drivers through a mobile app. The integration will be used to improve healthcare by making it easier and more convenient for patients to connect to their providers.
The combination of the Solutionreach intelligence, which identifies when a patient needs to be seen by their doctor, and Uber's ability to precisely
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FDA Launches First-Ever Patient Engagement Advisory Committee
On Friday, the FDA announced its first-ever Patient Engagement Advisory Committee (PEAC) that will provide advisory support to the FDA Commissioner on a range of complex issues relating to medical devices, the regulation of devices, and their use by patients. These ultimate goal of the PEAC is to helping to drive more patient-centered medical product development and assessment process.
Other topics the committee may consider include:
- Agency guidance and policies
- clinical trial or
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