ORCHA’s Weekly News Roundup #2

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)