After recently sponsoring The Royal Society of Medicine’s ‘Medical Apps: Mainstreaming Innovation’ event on Thursday 4^th April 2019, ORCHA has now been featured in Digital Health’s news report on the event.

Digital Health’s article, available here, discusses the perspective of Liz Ashall-Payne, ORCHA’s CEO, on the problems facing medical apps.

‘Speaking at a Royal Society of Medicine event on medical apps […], Liz Ashall-Payne said awareness, accessibility, trust and governance were the challenges currently facing healthcare apps.’

ORCHA aims to tackle the main barriers to digital healthcare adoption – accessibility, trust and governance – by reviewing apps according to Clinical Effectiveness, Data and Security, and User Experience.

Liz, along with Tim Andrews, ORCHA’s COO, spoke about these issues and ORCHA’s solution at the RSM’s event. Tim mentioned that,

“We are currently doing a huge amount of research on how to get a much more robust set of user experience metrics from a combination of different data sources.”

Improving user experience will simultaneously increase trust and accessibility, which will hopefully allow the uptake of digital health amongst people, professionals and populations to progress.

We are delighted to announce that our CEO, Liz Ashall-Payne, has been selected as a Women in Technology FINALIST for the Inspire Awards 2019!

The Inspire Women Awards, now in its fifth year, celebrate inspirational women in wider Bolton, Greater Manchester and Lancashire. The awards showcase a diverse community of women who have achieved outstanding accomplishments in a variety of sectors through courage, kindness and transformation.

The final round of judging will take place in May, with the winners revealed at the Inspire Women Awards Ceremony on 22^nd June 2019, in Bolton. To find out more and purchase tickets, please click here.

On Wednesday 10^th April, ORCHA’s Clinical Implementation Manager, Lisa Simmons, will be speaking at BusinessCloud’s Best of North West Tech event in Manchester. The event will cover a range of issues facing North West tech firms, from the challenges of launching a start-up, to recruiting, investment, and the impact of Brexit.

Sponsored by Silicon Valley Bank in association with Harper James, an award-winning web design agency, BusinessCloud’s event aims to highlight the growth and success of the North West tech sector’s established digital community.

As the provider of the world’s biggest health app library and the trusted source for health app advice, ORCHA is rapidly transforming the digital health landscape. This makes ORCHA a key contributor to the North West’s expanding tech sector, and we are excited to share our experiences at BusinessCloud’s upcoming event.

To book your free tickets for Best of North West Tech, please visit: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/best-of-north-west-tech-tickets-56399524496       

ORCHA’s Weekly News Roundup brings you an array of interesting articles from the past week so that you can keep up-to-date with everything digital health.

Click the links after each summary to read the articles.

Digital Health:

• Another article about ORCHA’s collaboration with Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust in the launch of app library initiative: http://digitalhealthage.com/nhs-trust-launches-app-library-initiative/

• Liz’s contribution to Technology Innovators, discussing the risks of unregulated health apps and how information can overcome these issues to empower health-app users: https://www.technology-innovators.com/shining-a-light-between-the-rock-and-the-hard-place-the-importance-of-information-to-empower-health-app-users/?fbclid=IwAR1Gbi-bbrWyvkJCsCoDHYuSpxELeLH5QmtzzNpnZ0MEG74eAMPn1l8vATo

• The challenges and barriers to fully utilising AI in healthcare, as good data, demonstrable impact and a change in culture are required if AI is going to avoid becoming just another buzzword: https://www.digitalhealth.net/2019/03/artificial-intelligence-buzzword-useful-tool/

• Digital health company, Liva Healthcare, receives eight million-euro investment, which will allow the company to further execute disease management. Liva combines personal lifestyle coaching with medications: https://www.healtheuropa.eu/digital-health-company-disease-management/90802/

• The importance of remembering that the aim of digitisation is to improve the care provided in the health industry, with the need to balance rapid digital innovation in healthcare alongside ensuring safe and effective care: https://www.hsj.co.uk/technology-and-innovation/digital-health-whats-the-point/7024666.article

• A detailed look into the evolution of digital health, from the viewpoint of Gary Shapiro (CEO of the Computer Technology Association), who believes that ‘Empathy is the new currency of success in healthcare’: https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/ces-chief-gary-shapiro-theres-not-enough-experimentation-healthcare

• An instance in which the marketing of telemedicine faced backlash and raised concerns about remote treatment or prescribed medicine: https://www.crainsnewyork.com/health-care/backlash-anxiety-medication-ad-offers-lesson-digital-health-companies

• Details of a report by the Mental Health Network (MHN), advocating greater funding for digital innovation in NHS England’s mental health services: https://www.digitalhealth.net/2019/03/investment-digital-innovation-mental-health-services/

• Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, said in a recent speech that he believes that, in the future, robotics, personalised medicines, artificial intelligence and genomic sequencing will become a “routine, everyday part of healthcare”, and that we should be embracing change, rather than fighting it: https://www.digitalhealth.net/2019/03/hancock-says-the-tide-of-technology-should-be-embraced/

• Indian pharmaceutical business, Abbott, unveils ‘neutral’ digital healthcare platform that will not be monetised and will adhere to data privacy laws. The initiative seeks to help patients adhere to their medication schedules, bridge communication gaps between consumers and doctors, and dispel medical myths: https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/info-tech/abbott-unveils-neutral-digital-health-plan-for-patients-doctors/article26583383.ece

mHealth:

• The future of digital communication with patients, focusing on digital messaging channels like Rich Communication Service (RCS): https://www.digitalhealth.net/2019/03/the-future-is-now-when-it-comes-to-digital-communication-with-patients/

• Article about the apparent cultural shift away from overworking, making people turn increasingly to wellness apps. Mentioned also is the irony of people using wellness apps, yet feeling that they need a break from their mobile phone: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/consumers-see-wellness-apps-way-meditate-improve-sleep-investors-see-n985011

• Insight into a study validating cardiovascular mHealth technologies for detecting the effects of pharmacological intervention: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/koneksa-health-announces-poster-presentation-at-the-american-society-for-clinical-pharmacology-and-therapeutics-2019-annual-meeting-300814373.html

• New mobile, AI-powered clinical documentation system by start-up, Sopris Health, allows clinical practitioners to use voice technology and Q&As to speed up note-taking processes: https://www.mobihealthnews.com/content/through-ai-text-chats-sopris-healths-new-app-saves-time-clinical-documentation

• The challenges and opportunities of engaging the older generation with new technologies, something which is becoming increasingly important due to the ageing population and the exponentially growing demand on healthcare systems: https://aging.jmir.org/2019/1/e10019/

App Regulation:

• Overcoming digital data quality issues with AI and machine learning, but the concern that AI algorithms may introduce bias: https://physicsworld.com/a/can-digital-healthcare-technologies-resolve-the-challenges-they-bring/

• Study into how medicine-related apps share user data, leading researchers to call for greater regulation and transparency, and emphasising that, when recommending apps to patients, medical professionals should explain the potential loss of privacy: https://sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2019/03/21/data-sharing-by-popular-health-apps-is–routine—research-finds.html

Digital Health Regulation:

• GPs told that digital healthcare is not intended to replace them, but to reduce the burden currently faced by the NHS: https://www.bmj.com/content/364/bmj.l1258

• Discussion of the issues surrounding mental health and social media, and whether or not a tax on social media could help: https://www.verdict.co.uk/social-media-regulation/

• More details on the APPG’s recommendation for more regulations to protect young people on social media: https://economia.icaew.com/news/march-2019/mps-propose-social-media-health-tax

Upcoming Events:

• 25^th March – NHS Readiness
• 26^th-27^th March – Smart Home Expo 2019; Naidex
• 27^th March – Digital Health and Care Explained
• 4^th April – RSM – TEM03 ‘Medical apps: Mainstreaming Innovation’ (ORCHA is sponsoring this event)