Devices & Diagnostics, Health IT, Hospitals, Pharma, Startups

In Case You Missed It: Top 10 stories from January on MedCity News

Take a look at the most read stories on MedCity News in January. You may have missed news on startups, medical innovations and new healthcare mobile apps.

10. Shoes for seniors go high-tech to prevent falls

Sensors and apps designed for seniors and their caretakers may be able to detect when falls occur, but Dr. Yonatan Manor wanted to take that a step further.

He assembled a team of doctors and engineers to prototype a smart shoe that they think might be able to prevent falls when they’re about to occur. Continue reading here.

9.PhoneSoap should be added to all doctor and visitor lounges at every hospital

PhoneSoap is a box that uses UV light to sterilize your phone. Cleverly, the box includes a charger, so your phone can multi-task while out of your clutches. The company says it takes about 5 minutes to kill all the germs, so the separation anxiety is tolerable. Continue reading here.

8. Fertility app to help women get pregnant taps new audience: the undecided

A mobile health startup launched by PayPal co-founder Max Levchin and led by Mike Huang to help women seeking to get pregnant monitor their fertility has updated its app to broaden its audience. It has added components to its Glow app to make it relevant to women who may want to have a child in the near future or a few years from now. Continue reading here.

7. In gamification milestone, Pfizer will assess video game in clinical trial for Alzheimer’s disease

In a move that could have a significant impact on how pharmaceutical companies view gamification, Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) has agreed to test the use of a mobile video game from Akili Interactive Labs to detect early signs of Alzheimer’s disease. Continue reading here.

6. No sink? No problem. Edible ‘toothbrush’ aims to make oral hygiene easier, more accessible

Most of us probably take the ability to brush our teeth every day for granted. It’s a task that’s not quite so easy for people with a medical condition that affects motor control, or for people who are paralyzed or have had an arm amputated, or for people without access to supplies and running water.

John Gallagher observed that some 40 years ago while serving as an Army medic during the Vietnam War. Finding that it wasn’t easy for him as a traveler to find a sink and supplies to brush his teeth, much less for the patients he was working with who had lost arms to brush their own, he sketched up an alternative toothbrush that required no water, toothbrush or toothpaste. Continue reading here.

5. This resourceful pharmacist built a software startup to help people shop for prescription meds

Pharmacist Michael Rea got his startup idea from one particular customer whose mother was paying so much for her prescriptions that she was considering selling her house or stopping some of her medications. Her fixed income just didn’t support paying for both.

It was an aha moment for Rea – at the time a pharmacy manager at a Kansas City Walgreens. Continue reading here.

4. As hospitals work to improve pediatric patient experience, child life specialists get higher profile

As hospitals look for ways to make care delivery more efficient for children, they are increasingly turning to child life specialists. Although the position has been around for at least 40 years, hospitals are employing them in greater numbers to relieve some of the trauma and unease that children can experience when they’re forced to be at the hospital. Continue reading here.

3. Two great big hurdles for Google’s glucose-reading contact lenses: Accuracy, cost

Not everyone is so convinced when it comes to the contact lenses Google X just announced it’s developing for people with diabetes. Mixed in with a lot of excitement around the cool technology behind the lenses is some reservation that it’s just too early to tell whether Google is any more likely than others to succeed. Continue reading here.

2. 5 insights from digital health CEOs at JP Morgan Healthcare conference

In a discussion among health IT company CEOs at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, some of the most interesting points raised were the ones the healthcare industry is struggling with the most. Of course, there were a lot of sound bites, too. Here are five of the most interesting digital health insights.

1. It looks like UnitedHealth is acquiring Audax Health Solutions

 

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) is poised to acquire digital health company Audax Health Solutions according to a filing with the Federal Trade Commission. The move reflects a growing priority among payers to develop and add tools to boost member engagement. Continue reading here.

Related content: Audax Health confirms UnitedHealth and Audax merger documents

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