An image-sharing mobile platform for physicians and patients, an app that would not only help train people in CPR but also help to build a global database of defibrillators in public places, and a tool for making Phys Ed classes more productive. Those mobile health ideas come from the three finalists in the American Heart Association’s Open Innovation Challenge. About 10 teams together raised nearly $50,000 in the crowdfunding leg of the contest on MedStartr.
The initial 10 finalists were picked based on their product’s potential to satisfy the aims of the American Heart Association’s 2020 Impact Goal — to improve Americans’ cardiovascular health by 20 percent and reduce death from cardiovascular diseases and stroke by 20 percent by 2020. Here’s a description of the three finalists who will compete on March 6 at the American Heart Association’s Health Sciences Investment Innovation Forum in New York. They will compete for grants totaling $25,000.
Captureproof by Meghan Conroy is a smartphone tool that is designed to provide a secure, HIPAA-compliant way to share images and videos between patients and their doctors. It was originally developed for applications such as plastic surgery. A picture of a patient’s burned hand can be viewed at various stages so physicians can see how the wound is healing. It has also had positive results for neurology and orthopedics. The argument Conroy’s pitch makes is that taking photos can improve adherence by making patients feel more engaged in their healthcare.
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A description of the product says patients lack the motivation to control cardiac risk factors. “Our hypothesis, and a number of past studies, have shown that patients who see the impact of their disease through images are more likely to adhere to lifestyle changes and their medication.”
I am most curious about The Spirit System by Jen Ohlson at Interactive Health Technologies as a potential population health tool. It’s designed to make Phys Ed class more meaningful for students, teachers and schools. It involves students wearing tracking devices to show their heart rate and they can then see how they did after each class. Giving students that sort of instant gratification of seeing their own performance could motivate them to challenge themselves and other classmates.
According to the description on Medstartr’s website, the software stores, organizes and delivers individualized daily health data instantly to students and their parents and correlates that data to academics, attendance, nutrition and behavior success, on a daily or annual basis. This data automatically rolls up to the class, school, district, state and national levels for trend analysis.
iRescU Project aims to address both the knowledge gap in performing CPR and the need to locate automated external defibrillators more easily using smartphone apps. The MyHeartMap contest at University of Pennsylvania to map out locations for these defibrillators got a lot of attention when it was started in 2012 and subsequently spread to Seattle. Those who want to add AED locations to its database scan a tag on the defibrillator and add the relevant details. It also offers some basic CRP training. The plan is to develop an algorithm to measure rate and depth of compressions for CPR.
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Although it gives a very detailed description of why this project will help save lives, with links to loads of PowerPoint slides and diagrams, it lacks a visual demonstration. Instead, Nadine Levick leaves the pitching job to her 15-year-old niece who offers a friendly face but gives an uninspired delivery. It’s great that she is an iRescU “scout leader.” But if the point was to prove the app is easy enough for a teenager to use, then how about turning the teleprompter off and showing a demonstration? It simply doesn’t add anything, which is unfortunate because the two other competitors seem to take this part of the pitch a little more seriously. On the other hand, it raised more than $12,245 from 67 people.
