Content about MHealth

CAMP HILL, Pa. — Rite Aid has expanded its telemedicine service to 58 more stores, the retail pharmacy chain said Friday.

Rite Aid said the NowClinic Online Care service were available at stores in Baltimore, Boston, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. The service gives customers access to care, via a secure online video connection, from OptumHealth doctors and nurses. The company originally unveiled the program at nine stores in Detroit in 2011.

WATERTOWN, Mass. — A company that provides cloud-based electronic health record, practice management and care-coordination services is buying a developer of point-of-care mobile health applications for physicians.

Athenahealth announced Monday that it would buy Epocrates for about $293 million, or $11.75 per share. The deal for Epocrates, used by more than 330,000 physicians, is expected to close in second quarter 2013, pending approval from Epocrates' shareholders and other conditions.

ANDOVER, Mass. — More than 10% of Americans consider Web-enabled, mobile health apps a part of their health care and key to living long lives, according to a new survey by a division of electronics manufacturer Philips.

Royal Philips Electronics commissioned Opinion Research to conduct a survey of 1,003 adults, finding that 11% said that were it not for Web-based health information, they might already be "dead or severely incapacitated."

New applications based on advances in telemedicine and mobile health technology are proliferating as pharmacy providers, physicians and health plans find new ways to connect with patients who are homebound or in remote locations. The result is to extend access to care, improve convenience and lower health delivery costs.


Whatever dazzling visions science fiction may offer of the widgets of the future, the long, uphill road of technology inevitably leads to the smaller and the simpler. The horse and carriage gave way to the automobile; vacuum tubes gave way to transistors; and computers that took up entire rooms and required intricate climate-control technologies now fit in one’s pocket. 


Technologies used in health care have undergone a similar transition, and much of that has happened in the last few years thanks to the spread of mobile technology. 


MENLO PARK, Calif. — Rep. Mike Honda, D-Calif., of the Silicon Valley is preparing to introduce legislation that will create a new division within the Food and Drug Administration to govern fast-developing healthcare applications, according to a report published by Kaiser Health News last week. 

It's big business — according to projections made by Research2guidance, the healthcare mobile app market, dubbed mHealth, could total $1.3 billion by year's end, up from $718 million in 2011. 

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — Big news for SoloHealth as the number of consumer interactions made at its health-and-wellness kiosks surpassed 2.5 million while the company works toward its goal of 2,500 retail kiosks by mid-2013. But it is perhaps even bigger news for the future of the overall U.S. healthcare system.

(THE NEWS: SoloHealth surpasses 2.5 million consumer interactions. For the full story, click here.)

NEW YORK — More patients are actively looking for and expecting to find mobile health solutions, according to the global Economist Intelligence Unit report, which was commissioned by PricewaterhouseCoopers and released Thursday.

Roughly one-half of patients surveyed for this report predict that mHealth will improve the convenience, cost and quality of their health care in the next three years. Meanwhile, 6-in-10 doctors and payers believe that its widespread adoption in their countries is inevitable in the near future.

MORRISVILLE, N.C. — Poor medication adherence is a national problem, but it can be particularly problematic among populations with low health literacy or limited English proficiency.

A deal between two companies aims to provide mobile medication adherence services to both groups. Polyglot Systems and CellepathicRx have partnered to use CPRx's mobile health platform to deliver Polyglot's Meducation content to hard-to-reach patients through mobile Web and email technologies and smart phone applications.

WASHINGTON — The Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Minority Health, the American Association of Diabetes Educators and AT&T on Monday announced an initiative to evaluate the use of mobile devices to deliver diabetes self-management training within an underserved minority community in Dallas.

SAN JOSE, Calif. A&D Medical on Wednesday introduced three new wireless telehealth and wellness devices featuring ANT technology.

A&D Medical's monitoring devices with ANT wireless technology are essential feedback components for wellness coaching and health tracking, the company stated. Suitable for Web-based employee health programs, disease management, prevention programs and consumer wellness solutions, A&D Medical's ANT devices enable a richer, more data-driven experience for both program administrators and end users.