AARP is launching a new digital health initiative called Project Catalyst that provides developers of popular and emerging products insight into how Americans 50-plus use technology in order to identify ways to improve the devices for mature consumers. The first study will be focused on popular activity and sleep trackers performed in conjunction with UnitedHealthcare and Pfizer Inc. It will serve as the first of several technology studies that AARP will conduct with the goal of accelerating
Read More
Livongo Health Nabs $20M to Expand Diabetes Management Program
Livongo Health, a consumer digital health company that is empowering people with chronic diseases to live better has raised $20 million in Series B funding from investors including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), DFJ and previous investor General Catalyst.
The capital will enable the company to further develop its chronic disease management ecosystem and accelerate the adoption of the company's digital diabetes management program, Livongo for Diabetes, among self-insured
Read More
MEDITECH Selects Validic To Integrate Patient-Generated Data
Validic, a leading interoperability platform for aggregating digital health data, announced an alignment with MEDITECH to integrate clinical, fitness, and wellness data to help deliver more efficient remote patient monitoring, home care, patient discharge management and wellness initiatives.
"Today's healthcare environment is value-based and outcome-driven, which means healthcare providers need to evaluate every aspect of their patients' health, not just those factors that contributed to their
Read More
Weight Watchers Acquires Weight-Loss Selfies Startup Weilos
Weilos, an online social platform for people to share their fitness updates to inspire others and receive support has been acquired by Weight Watchers, TechCrunch first reports has learned. The purchase price is reportedly is in the single-digit millions, according to a source.
Launched out of startup accelerator Y Combinator back in August 2013, the startup initially focused on fitness coaching pairing its users with amateur coaches with a previous weight loss history of their own. The
Read More
Study: Leveraging Health IT to Improve Patient Drug Safety Through Alerts
Health IT can play an important role in ensuring the optimal use of pharmaceuticals and improving patient safety in an accountable care organization (ACO), according to a new study by the Marshfield Clinic and the National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC) in the April 2015 issue of the Journal of Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy (JMCP). The study, “Best Practices: An Electronic Drug Alert Program to Improve Patient Safety in an Accountable Care Environment,” describes Marshfield
Read More
Healthentic Earns Intel-GE Validation for Health Analytics
Healthentic, an analytics company that easily identifies health savings for employers has earned validation from Intel-GE Care Innovations and the Validation Institute. The validation makes Healthentic the first and only company to be validated in the health analytics category by the CI Validation Institute.
Healthentic’s database holds de-identified claims information on the lives of almost 40 million individuals, and its unique data analytics provides employers with valuable
Read More
HBMA, AHIMA Establish Partnership To Share Educational Benefits
The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) and the Healthcare Billing and Management Association (HBMA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding that will allow the associations to collaborate and share educational benefits with their members.
The agreement increases the amount of resources available to members of each association and provides opportunities for collaboration on best practices and procedures to ensure the quality of health information. “Both AHIMA and
Read More
Apple, IBM Release 4 iOS Enterprise Healthcare Apps
Apple and IBM's MobileFirst for iOS initiative has added four new enterprise healthcare apps through the iOS platform for iPhone and iPad. The IBM MobileFirst for iOS apps is designed to deliver unprecedented support that allows hospitals and home-based healthcare workers to coordinate patient care and reduce costs for everyone. IBM plans to provide more details about these four healthcare enterprise apps at the upcoming HIMSS15 conference later this month, Techcrunch reports.
Designed to
Read More
Medsphere System, Phoenix Health Systems Merge Together
Medsphere Systems Corporation and Phoenix Health Systems today announced the merger of the two companies, effectively adding Phoenix’s comprehensive and diverse information technology (IT) expertise to Medsphere’s existing focus on VA VistA and VistA-derived systems. Moving forward, Phoenix Health Systems will retain its name and operate as a division of Medsphere; the expanded company will now offer a broader menu of IT services, including hosting and cloud-based interoperability,
Read More
Vocera Expands Clinical Integration with Epic’s EHR System
Vocera Communications, Inc., a provider of intelligent, real-time communication and collaboration solutions for mission-critical mobile environments, announced a two-way clinical integration with Epic’s EHR system, furthering the company’s commitment to connectivity across the continuum of care. The enhanced functionality enables interactive communication between EHR systems and the Vocera Communication System.
This will be the first of several two-way clinical integrations with EHRs, and
Read More
