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Will Avatars, Robots, and Video Games Replace Doctors?

Tuesday, December 14, 2010  |  Kent Bottles Private Views Blog

I have never met Dr. Joseph C. Kvedar of Partners HealthCare’s Center for Connected Health, Susannah Fox of Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project, or Professor Andy Clark of Edinburgh University face to face in the real world. And yet they have all profoundly changed the way I think about health care’s most vexing problem: how are we going to take care of all these Baby Boomers who are starting to retire and get sick?

 
 

This fitness ‘coach’ fits on your iPhone

Monday, December 13, 2010  |  The Boston Globe

Healthrageous Inc. wants to make monitoring your blood glucose and blood pressure feel less like a medical routine than a relationship with a personal fitness coach.

 
 

Mass General Cardiologist Brings Clinical Experience to Partners Connected Cardiac Care Program for High Risk Heart Failure Patients

Tuesday, December 7, 2010  |  PR Newswire

The Center for Connected Health announced the appointment of Stephanie A. Moore, MD, as Medical Director for the Center's Connected Cardiac Care program. Dr. Moore is a cardiologist specializing in heart failure at Massachusetts General Hospital Heart Center. Connected Cardiac Care is a program offered to heart failure patients at risk for frequent hospitalizations and is available at all Partners-affiliated hospitals and physician practices.

 
 

The Future of Health: Robots, Enchanted Objects, and Networks

Monday, November 22, 2010  |  e-patients.net

"Chronic disease is exploding in the U.S. The number of primary care health professionals is declining. Behavior change is difficult. But what are we going to do about it? Here are three ideas I’ve brought back from my travels: robots, enchanted objects, and networks." by Susannah Fox

 
 

Connected Health: Patient networks panel

Monday, November 22, 2010  |  e-patients.net

"My research findings and their connection with real-life health care were given new life when I discussed them with Lisa Gualtieri, Josh Bernoff, Tim Edgar, and the audience at the Connected Health symposium." by Susannah Fox

 
 

mHealth program reaches out to community patients

Friday, November 19, 2010  |  SearchHealthIT.com

View a video of the Center for Connected Health's Rob Havasy discuss the Center's trial text messaging program offered to pregnant women and substance abusers. Rob presented data from the study at the recent mHealth Summit.

 
 

Verizon to assist health info exchange

Thursday, November 18, 2010  |  Government Health IT

"Verizon's issuance of medical identity credentials to U.S. healthcare professionals promises to help solve many of the information technology challenges faced by providers and facilitate the secure exchange of health information among credentialed healthcare professionals," said Joseph Ternullo, associate director of the Center for Connected Health.

 
 

Healthrageous Selected as a Dow Jones VentureWire Start-Up to Watch for Its Innovative Personalized Connected Health Platform

Tuesday, November 9, 2010  |  PR Newswire

Healthrageous, which offers consumer health solutions based on technologies developed by the Center for Connected Health, was selected by Dow Jones VentureWire as one of the 50 most promising tech start-ups.

 
 

Texting for healthy babies

Monday, November 8, 2010  |  Boston Business Journal

A text messaging program funded by Partners HealthCare has been successful in encouraging pregnant women in Lynn to get the proper amount of pre-natal care.

 
 

Expecting moms get encouragement, medical reminders via text messages

Sunday, November 7, 2010  |  The Daily Item

A new text messaging program is being offered to encourage expecting mothers in Lynn to get the proper amount of prenatal care and tips to stay on the right track for a healthy pregnancy.

 
 

7th Annual Connected Health Symposium

Tuesday, November 2, 2010  |  Patient Safety & Quality Healthcare

Nice overview of this year's Connected Health Symposium, by first time attendee Mitch Work.

 
 

In defense of mobile health apps adoption

Thursday, October 28, 2010  |  mobihealthnews

At last week’s Connected Health Symposium here in Boston, Kristen Purcell, the associate director for research at the Pew Internet & American Life Project, discussed the findings of Pew's report on mobile health apps adoption as part of an analyst roundtable.

 
 

Do You Really Need A Doctor F2F?

Wednesday, October 27, 2010  |  WBUR - CommonHealth

Dr. Joseph Kvedar wants to talk about Emotional Automation, and I second the motion. He’s a telemedicine expert and director of the Center for Connected Health at Partners. I’m a regular person who would be thrilled if I could just Skype any checkup that requires no laying-on of hands. But I seem to be atypical.

 
 

TeleHealth Still Waiting…

Monday, October 25, 2010  |  Chilmark Research

Chilmark Research principal John Moore reflects on the 2010 Connected Health Symposium: Last week’s Connected Health Symposium was once again an event about a sector just waiting to break-out of perpetual pilot stage.

 
 

Connected Health Symposium 2010

Monday, October 25, 2010  |  HealthBlawg

David Harlow provides a nice summary of this year's Connected Health Symposium.

 
 

Five vendors from Connected Health Symposium (2 of 2)

Sunday, October 24, 2010  |  Aging in Place Technology Watch

Laurie Orlov picks the vendors from the 2010 Connected Health Symposium that stood out for her as important for serving an aging population.

 
 

Doctor-patient persuasion -- Wrapping the Connected Health Symposium (1 of 2)

Friday, October 22, 2010  |  Aging in Place Technology Watch

Different year, same dream, more hope. Connected Health Symposium in Boston sponsored by Partners HealthCare had more than 1000 attendees and an optimistic tone following this past year's congressional investments in health care reform pilot programs that may include the use of telehealth-type technologies.

 
 

Partners HealthCare Text Messaging Program Has Positive Results for Pregnant Women in Lynn

Friday, October 22, 2010  |  Partners HealthCare

A text messaging program by Partners HealthCare, Lynn Community Health Center and Partners HealthCare's Center for Connected Health has been successful in encouraging pregnant women in Lynn to get the proper amount of pre-natal care.

 
 

Cell phone photos tested as diagnostic tools

Monday, October 11, 2010  |  American Medical News

Would you ever make a medical judgment based on a digital photo from a patient's cell phone? Five years ago, many physicians probably would have answered no. But technology has evolved and improved in such a way that cell phone and digital camera pictures are being tested as diagnostic tools.

 
 

Text Messaging Significantly Improved Patient Adherence, Self-Care and Quality of Life, According to New Data From the Center for Connected Health

Tuesday, September 28, 2010  |  Center for Connected Health

A recent study conducted by the Center for Connected Health, was the first to combine medication reminders with educational information, which may lead to the use of text messaging as an important way to educate patients and support positive behavior change.

 
 

Text Messages Boost Patient Outcomes

Tuesday, September 28, 2010  |  InformationWeek

Automated text reminders about medicine and skin care improved dermatology patient outcomes in study by the Center for Connected Health.

 
 

Text Messages May Be Way to Improve Eczema Management

Tuesday, September 28, 2010  |  The Wall Street Journal

There’s a lot of attention paid to why people don’t take prescribed medications or other treatments. Joseph Kvedar, director of the Center for Connected Health, thinks one reason is often underestimated: people just plain old forget.

 
 

Care Continuum Alliance Launches New Brand for Population Health Improvement

Thursday, September 16, 2010  |  Care Continuum Alliance

The Care Continuum Alliance today launched a new name and brand to support its members’ evolution toward comprehensive, coordinated and integrated health services that improve the quality and value of care across all states of health and care settings.

 
 

Partners Center for Connected Health Recognizes Industry Association Rebranding Effort

Thursday, September 16, 2010  |  Center for Connected Health

The Center for Connected Health, a division of Partners HealthCare, today congratulated the Care Continuum Alliance on the launch of its new brand and its ongoing work on behalf of organizations and individuals providing health care at all stages of well-being.

 
 

Second Opinion Program Aims to Help Improve Cancer Care

Tuesday, September 14, 2010  |  AIS Health.com

Recognizing the importance of getting an accurate cancer diagnosis from the beginning, a handful of companies are taking advantage of a program that gives a second opinion to people who have a cancer diagnosis. Offered through Partners HealthCare System, Inc.’s Center for Connected Health, Partners Online Specialty Consultations is a website that offers second opinions from specialists at a Harvard Medical School-affiliated hospital.

 
 

Text messages little help in remembering the Pill

Thursday, September 2, 2010  |  Reuters

The finding comes as a surprise to some researchers who have seen benefits of text message reminders for everything from keeping kids inhaling their asthma medicine to sunbathers applying sunscreen. "We've been surprised at how big a factor reminders can be," Dr. Joseph Kvedar, who is director for The Center of Connected Health in Boston and was not involved in the new study, told Reuters Health. "And it's so simple."

 
 

Kvedar: Three “wild cards” for connected health

Wednesday, September 1, 2010  |  MobiHealthNews

Dr. Joseph Kvedar, the head of the Center for Connected Health, outlined three “wildcards” that face the connected health industry over the next ten years.

 
 

AMA Adopts Position Officially Encouraging Use of - and Reimbursement For - Telehealth Systems

Monday, August 16, 2010  |  Home Care Technology Report

"This will have a significant influence on the relationship between home health care providers and their referring physicians," Dr. Joseph C. Kvedar, MD, Director, Center for Connected Health, told HCTR this week. "When they are approached by a representative from a home care agency that promises improved outcomes and reduced utilization as a result of its home telehealth program, physician skepticism can now be met with the response that 'the AMA is behind it.'"

 
 

US researchers eye mobiles for health

Monday, August 2, 2010  |  All Fitness News

With reminder text messages or more customised two-way interactions, US researchers are trying to harness the power of mobile phones to help fight chronic diseases.

 
 

mHealth: Telemedicine delivers patient decision support

Sunday, August 1, 2010  |  HealthImaging.com

Mobile healthcare technology is delivering decision support right now, but it’s not all for clinicians, according to panelists at the World Congress second annual leadership summit on mHealth in Boston last week. "So much of what we’ve learned from using connected health is that success is about drawing patients into their care and about allowing patients to care for themselves,” said Joseph Kvedar, MD, Director of the Center for Connected Health.

 
 

Mobile Health Requires Grasping Smartphone, User Connection

Friday, July 30, 2010  |  PCWorld

Health-care providers looking to implement a mobile strategy need to understand the strong bond people have with their smartphones, said panelists Friday at the World Congress' Summit on mHealth in Boston. Robert Havasy, an analyst with Partners Healthcare System's Center for Connected Health, also discussed the importance of personalization in mobile health.

 
 

Vitality GlowCaps Adherence Report

Monday, July 19, 2010  |  CNN

The Center for Connected Health's medication adherence study with Vitality GlowCaps was recently featured on CNN. The ongoing study measured a 27% higher rate of medication adherence in patients using Internet connected medication packaging and feedback services compared to controls.

 
 

From Texting To Apps, Using Cell Phones For Health

Tuesday, July 13, 2010  |  The Associated Press

What if my blood sugar's too high today? Is it time for my blood pressure pill? With nagging text messages or more customized two-way interactions, researchers are trying to harness the power of cell phones to help fight chronic diseases.

 
 

Apps for health issues

Tuesday, July 6, 2010  |  The News Journal

While the apps market is crowded with games, music, videos and other entertainment options, there are a growing number of interactive health applications that aim to help consumers better manage the way they eat, exercise, take their medicine and deal with stress.

 
 

Security of medical devices is a concern

Monday, July 5, 2010  |  The Boston Globe

Connectivity is important not just for implantable medical devices. Partners HealthCare’s Center for Connected Health uses simpler tools such as blood pressure cuffs to monitor health of patients at home and keep them in contact with their caregivers. The information is transmitted over the patient’s telephone, using an old-fashioned modem, the center’s director, Dr. Joseph Kvedar, said. The idea is to make the system both easy and affordable, while relying on secure, encrypted connections to ensure privacy.

 
 

Electronic Pill Bottle Increased Medication Use, Study Says

Monday, June 28, 2010  |  eWEEK

Experimental electronic pill bottle caps prompted up to 99 percent of the participants of a study to stay on their medication schedules, says the Center for Connected Health. The pill bottle covers send wireless signals that activate a glowing light, a tune, automated calls, text messages or e-mails to notify patients that it's time to take their medication.

 
 

Health IT in the cloud: A long road

Thursday, June 24, 2010  |  Mass High Tech

Using cloud computing in the health information technology sector makes sense from a cost basis, but it could take years for health-care providers and patients to develop solid confidence in the security of patient data in cloud environments.

 
 

Telehealth Device Improves Patient Compliance

Thursday, June 24, 2010  |  InformationWeek

Use of a wireless reminder instrument led to a 27% higher rate of patients taking their medications on time. The study, conducted by the Center for Connected Health, assessed the impact of the GlowCap developed by Vitality, a Boston-based telehealth company. The GlowCap is a standard-size pill-bottle cap that alerts patients using light and sound, is Wi-Fi enabled, and links to the Internet.

 
 

Wireless Medication Adherence Study Conducted at the Center for Connected Health Shows Promising Initial Findings

Wednesday, June 23, 2010  |  Center for Connected Health

The Center for Connected Health announced today encouraging initial findings from a medication adherence study, using a wireless electronic pill bottle to remind patients with high blood pressure to take their medication. The ongoing study measured a 27% higher rate of medication adherence in patients using Internet connected medication packaging and feedback services compared to controls.

 
 

Study shows promise for electronic pill bottle

Wednesday, June 23, 2010  |  Healthcare IT News

A medication adherence study conducted by the Center for Connected Health yielded encouraging initial findings. The study used a wireless electronic pill bottle to remind patients with high blood pressure to take their medication.

 
 

Study: GlowCaps up adherence to 98 percent

Wednesday, June 23, 2010  |  mobihealthnews

The Center for Connected Health announced that Vitality’s GlowCap service raised medication adherence rates 27 percent for a group of hypertensive patients. The group using GlowCaps achieved 98 percent adherence, while another group using GlowCaps plus financial incentives hit 99 percent adherence.

 
 

Sensor technology to help the ill at home

Friday, June 18, 2010  |  The Irish Times

Sensor technology that can remotely monitor people with chronic illnesses and allow them to stay at home for longer could significantly ease the burden of an ageing population on the healthcare system, said Dr. Joe Kvedar this week at the second European Connected Health Summit in Belfast.

 
 

Healthrageous secures $6 million in startup funding to commercialize personalized health technology solutions

Wednesday, June 9, 2010  |  PR Newswire

Healthrageous, Inc., a personalized health technology company, announced today that it has completed a $6 million Series A financing led by North Bridge Venture Partners along with investment partners Egan Managed Capital and Long River Ventures. The company is based on technologies developed at the Center for Connected Health, a division of Partners HealthCare.

 
 

Healthrageous Snags $6M to Combat Unhealthy Behaviors

Wednesday, June 9, 2010  |  Xconomy

Healthrageous (previously called HopSkipConnect) is a spinout of Partners Center for Connected Health, the unit of Partners HealthCare System in Boston that studies the use of technologies like text messages and the Internet to keep people healthy outside of hospitals and other traditional clinical settings. The startup’s software is designed to automatically give people personalized advice to help them reach health goals such as losing weight, lowering blood pressure, or controlling their diabetes.

 
 

Partners’ spin-off closes $6M Series A round

Wednesday, June 9, 2010  |  Boston Business Journal

The Center for Connected Health spinoff has paperwork pending to incorporate as Healthrageous Inc. It closed a $6 million Series A round, the company reported in a regulatory filing late Tuesday — $1 million more than the target for the round disclosed by Partners’ Center for Connected Health director Joe Kvedar in April.

 
 

HopSkipConnect, now Healthrageous snags $6M

Wednesday, June 9, 2010  |  mobihealthnews

Partners Healthcare spinoff HopSkipConnect (based partially on the Partners blood pressure program SmartBeat) has renamed to Healthrageous and announced a $6 million first round of investment.

 
 

HopSkipConnect renames to Healthrageous, raises $6M series A round

Wednesday, June 9, 2010  |  Mass High Tech

The Center for Connected Health spinoff has paperwork pending to incorporate as Healthrageous Inc. It closed a $6 million Series A round, the company reported in a regulatory filing late Tuesday — $1 million more than the target for the round disclosed by Partners’ Center for Connected Health director Joe Kvedar in April.

 
 

Will health reform move more medical care online?

Tuesday, June 8, 2010  |  FiercePracticeManagement.

Perhaps health reform--and physicians' need to figure out how to squeeze 32 million newly insured patients between the 15 to 30 patients they already see, diagnose, treat, chart, code and haggle over with insurers every day--will help move things along. So far, telemedicine has been a frequently cited strategy, among others, to work around that pesky 24-hour limit to a given doctor's day.

 
 

Study: Remote health care equals on-site office care

Monday, June 7, 2010  |  Mass High Tech

Partners HealthCare’s Center for Connected Health has completed research that it says shows that remote online visits produced the clinical outcomes that were the equivalent of conventional office care.

 
 

New data demonstrates that E-visits achieve equivalent clinical outcomes to traditional office visits

Wednesday, June 2, 2010  |  Center for Connected Health

A recent study conducted by the Center for Connected Health, found that remote online visits with dermatologists, or e-visits, achieved equivalent clinical outcomes for acne patients. Data further revealed that this model of care delivery was popular with participating doctors and patients, ranking e-visits as convenient and time-saving. This study was published in the April issue of Archives of Dermatology (Volume 146, No. 4, April 2010).

 
 

HopSkipConnect: Everyone, everyday, every way

Wednesday, May 12, 2010  |  mobihealthnews

“Healthy behavior. Everyone. Everyday. Everyway.” That’s the ambitious mantra that the Center for Connected Health’s new launch, HopSkipConnect has adopted as its company’s mandate, according to CEO Rick Lee during a presentation at the Wireless Life-Sciences Alliance event in La Jolla, California.

 
 

iRobot sees future in boomers’ infirmities

Friday, May 7, 2010  |  Boston Business Journal

iRobot Corp. is offering the first public details about a new generation of robots under development to help deliver home health care. Dr. Joe Kvedar of the Center for Connected Health weighs in with his thoughts.

 
 

Connected health offerings aim to shake up health-care industry

Wednesday, April 28, 2010  |  Mass High Tech

Insurers and doctors have had their say on Capitol Hill. But Dr. Joe Kvedar wants to put another interest group in the driver’s seat of health-care reform: IT executives and entrepreneurs.

 
 

Telehealth Links Doctors To Remote Patients In Need

Tuesday, April 27, 2010  |  InformationWeek

Our Connected Pediatric Critical Care program, which lets on-call attending physicians examine patients from their homes and communicate with on-site pediatric ICU staff using real-time videoconferencing and robotic gear, is featured in this story.

 
 

Acne patients fare well in virtual office visits

Monday, April 26, 2010  |  The Boston Globe

This study conducted by the Center for Connected Health evaluated whether delivering acne follow-up care via a remote online visit (e-visit) platform produces equivalent clinical outcomes to office care.

 
 

Patients With Acne May Get Electronic Follow-Up Care

Monday, April 19, 2010  |  ScienceDaily

Follow-up visits conducted via a secure Web site may result in similar clinical outcomes as in-person visits among patients with acne, according to a report in the April issue of Archives of Dermatology.

 
 

Tiny Tool, Huge Potential

Monday, April 12, 2010  |  For The Record

The ubiquitous iPhone is dazzling healthcare observers with its versatility, adaptability, and ease of use.

 
 

How Smartphones Are Changing Health Care for Consumers and Providers

Friday, April 9, 2010  |  California HealthCare Foundation

The recent adoption and use of smartphones by both consumers and providers of health care are the focus of this timely report by Jane Sarasohn-Kahn.

 
 

Apps useful, familiar to tiny number of patients

Monday, March 29, 2010  |  mobihealthnews

Pew Internet Research recently published a report that notes that for patients with two chronic illnesses, 52 percent are Internet users. Another Pew study found that 27 percent of patients over 65 years old define themselves as “e-patients”. The director of the Center for Connected Health, Joseph Kvedar, points to the latest Pew Research in the first post of his new Connected Health (cHealth) Blog.

 
 

Lifeline grows with broader patient monitoring

Friday, March 19, 2010  |  Mass High Tech

Philips Healthcare's Lifeline is expanding into home monitoring, including a telehealth service to monitor patients with congestive heart failure.

 
 

Boston-Area Tech Tells People to Take Their Meds, Targets Billions in Wasted Healthcare Spending

Thursday, March 18, 2010  |  Xconomy

It’s tough to find an excuse for forgetting to take your medications nowadays. And if you’re thinking of a good excuse right now, chances are that companies and technologists in the Boston area have already addressed it with an information technology invention.

 
 

Medical Breakthroughs That Will Change Healthcare

Monday, March 8, 2010  |  HealthLeaders Media

The devices, treatments, and procedures that will change the delivery—and the business—of healthcare.

 
 

Why your phone is now the doctor in your pocket

Tuesday, March 2, 2010  |  Times Online

Smartphones will soon be diagnosing illness as well as advising on cures. Will we all become iPho-chondriacs?

 
 

Remote monitoring: Out of sight, right in line

Monday, March 1, 2010  |  ACP Internist

The goal of remote monitoring is to catch problems early and improve patient self-management in order to reduce the need for office visits and hospitalizations. But the technology has to overcome some hurdles to widespread implementation.

 
 

Implementers of connected health must also be students of adoption

Tuesday, February 23, 2010  |  Healthcare IT News

Dr. Joe Kvedar wrote this piece for HealthCare IT News: "My sense, having been involved in the implementation of this and other similar Connected Health programs is that they go through predictable adoption phases. Anyone out there who is starting the journey on Connected Health implementation will probably find comfort and solace in knowing a bit about these phases."

 
 

Telemedicine Links Remote Docs With Ill Kids

Thursday, February 4, 2010  |  InformationWeek

A new telemedicine program at Massachusetts General Hospital is helping doctors manage the care of critically ill children around the clock. The new Connected Pediatric Critical Care program enables on-call attending physicians from their homes examine patient and communicate with on-site pediatric ICU staff using real-time video conferencing and robotic gear.

 
 

Does mHealth need a doctor’s prescription?

Thursday, February 4, 2010  |  mobihealthnews

It’s a simple question: Do mobile health tools require a doctor’s prescription? Or will the main driver for mHealth services bubble up from consumers and patients largely without care providers weighing in?

 
 

Video program puts docs at bedside 24/7 at MassGeneral

Wednesday, February 3, 2010  |  Healthcare IT News

Patients being treated in the pediatric intensive care unit at MassGeneral Hospital for Children now have doctors virtually at their bedside 24/7 via a new home-to-hospital program. MassGeneral Hospital for Children (MGHfC) and the Center for Connected Health teamed up to launched the new program.

 
 

New Home-to-Hospital Connected Critical Care Program at Mass General's Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Puts Attending Doctors at Patient Bedside 24/7

Tuesday, February 2, 2010  |  Center for Connected Health

A new, pioneering home-to-hospital program, Connected Pediatric Critical Care, features real-time video communication, enabling the on-call attending physician, when at home, to personally examine the patient and communicate directly with the PICU staff, other specialists and even the child’s parents. This innovative program was launched by MassGeneral Hospital for Children and the Center for Connected Health.

 
 

Apple iPad: Healthcare industry weighs in

Wednesday, January 27, 2010  |  mobihealthnews

Healthcare analysts, including the Center's Rob Havasy, react to Apple's new iPad and how it may effect the healthcare industry.

 
 

Brown's Senate Win Creates Health Reform Dilemma for Democrats

Wednesday, January 20, 2010  |  HealthLeaders Media

Massachusetts health leaders, include Dr. Joe Kvedar, react with their thoughts on how the election will change healthcare reform efforts.

 
 

Study: 42 percent of U.S. uses a smartphone

Wednesday, January 20, 2010  |  mobihealthnews

Rob Havasy, a business analyst at the Boston-based Center for Connected Health, penned a thoughtful column on the state of the mHealth market. Havasy’s central point is that mobile health solutions need to be “meaningful” and “available” to all patients.

 
 

Want to be an empowered healthcare consumer?

Saturday, January 9, 2010  |  A Healthy Piece of My Mind Blog

There is no magic bullet or quick fix that will allow Americans to participate more fully in their health and wellness or have unimpeded access to their medical data. Instead we chip away at expanding consumer empowerment.

 
 

SmartBeat hypertension self-management program named New England's Best Benefits Practice

Wednesday, January 6, 2010  |  Center for Connected Health

SmartBeat, an innovative new benefits program to help employees self-manage high blood pressure, was recognized as one of New England's Best Benefits Practices of 2009 by the New England Employee Benefits Council. SmartBeat was developed by the Center for Connected Health, in collaboration with EMC Corporation, the first company to participate in the program. Of the 400 participants in the program, 59% showed a reduction in blood pressure.