The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) just announced their “Aligning Forces for Quality” (AF4Q) $100,000 “app challenge”. The competition is being conducted among technology developers to create easy-to-use online tools to help consumers find information on the quality of their local physicians and hospitals.
The winning software developers will receive cash prizes to create apps that will enable others to easily access information comparing the quality of care provided by local doctors and hospitals in various regions in the country. The first prize will be $100,000, second place will receive $25,000, and the third place winner will receive $5,000.
Numerous surveys show that people are uncertain about the quality of healthcare they receive and increasingly seek health information online to support their medical decision-making. In April 2011, RWJF commissioned Harvard’s School of Public Health to conduct a poll which concluded that 55 percent of American adults surveyed barely gave the quality of American healthcare a passing grade—a C or D on a standard report card scale.
“Choosing the right doctor or hospital is one of the most important healthcare decisions a consumer will make, yet many consumers don’t know where they can find information to help inform their decisions and improve their communications with doctors,” said Michael W. Painter, J.D., M.D, Senior Program Officer at RWJF.
The app challenge will be done in two phases. Phase one is an open challenge for interested developer teams to create and submit new applications using Aligning Forces data. In phase two, the developer teams will work with AF4Q communities to further refine their applications with independent judges by selecting finalist developers from phase one contestants.
Winners will be announced in June 2012. For more information and to register for the challenge, go to www.health2challenge.or/?p=6506. The deadline for entry submission of phase one is December 31, 2011.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
New Legislation Introduced
The “Safeguarding Access for Every Medicare Patient Act” (HR 3239) was introduced by Representative Tom Marino (R-PA) on October 26th to help providers who will eventually be required to participate in electronic recordkeeping or face a reduction in payments.
“Many providers are reluctant to use electronic records because they believe the practice will make them more vulnerable to unnecessary legal action,” said Marino. “Every time a doctor or hospital chooses not to participate because of these fears, seniors may lose another provider. This legislation would protect access for seniors in the Medicare and Medicaid Programs.”
The legislation would ensure Patient access to Medicare and Medicaid providers, reduce healthcare costs, guarantee incentives to providers to remain in the Medicare and Medicaid programs, and would promote participation in health IT.
HR 3239 would create a system for reporting potential errors that occur when using electronic records without the threat of that information being used as an admission of guilt, places time limits on the filing of lawsuits, and also offers protection against libel and slander lawsuits. It would also prevent electronic records from being used as an easy source for “fishing expeditions,” while making sure that parties responsible for errors are held accountable.
“Many providers are reluctant to use electronic records because they believe the practice will make them more vulnerable to unnecessary legal action,” said Marino. “Every time a doctor or hospital chooses not to participate because of these fears, seniors may lose another provider. This legislation would protect access for seniors in the Medicare and Medicaid Programs.”
The legislation would ensure Patient access to Medicare and Medicaid providers, reduce healthcare costs, guarantee incentives to providers to remain in the Medicare and Medicaid programs, and would promote participation in health IT.
HR 3239 would create a system for reporting potential errors that occur when using electronic records without the threat of that information being used as an admission of guilt, places time limits on the filing of lawsuits, and also offers protection against libel and slander lawsuits. It would also prevent electronic records from being used as an easy source for “fishing expeditions,” while making sure that parties responsible for errors are held accountable.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
BioSense 2.0 Coming Soon
The CDC BioSense program tracks health problems as they evolve and provides public health officials with data, information, and the tools needed to better respond to potential bioterrorism-related illnesses. The CDC BioSense Program launched in 2003 was to establish an integrated national public health surveillance system to provide nationwide and regional situational awareness for all-hazard health related threats that go beyond bioterrorism.
In 2010, RTI was awarded a $16.3 million contract to redesign the BioSense program under CDC’s Office of Surveillance, Epidemiology and Laboratory Services. In the first year, the team developed a BioSense Redesign website at https://sites.google.com/site/biosenseredesign/?pli=1 and held a number of stakeholder input sessions, webinars, focused groups, and one-on-one interviews.
The Redesigned BioSense or BioSense 2.0 will be governed by ASTHO, in coordination with the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, National Association of County and City Health Officials, and the International Society for Disease Surveillance.
Key components of the BioSense 2.0 will:
• Strengthen the health monitoring infrastructure and workforce capacity where needed at the state, local, tribal, and territorial levels
• Coordinate responses and be able to monitor health-related outcomes routinely and during an event
• Build on existing state and local health department systems and programs to maintain the original purpose of BioSense to detect and characterize events
• Expand BioSense data usage beyond early event detection and provide public health awareness, improve outcomes, and increase local and state participation in BioSense
• Expand the utility of BioSense data to multi-use and all-hazard detection
• Improve the ability to detect emergency health-related threats by supporting systems capable of providing alerts
The new BioSense system will take advantage of novel and proven data storage and processing technology to allow users to control their data and will encourage collaboration in a social network-style environment.
CDC will still continue to examine the stakeholder requirements and perform a needs assessment, determine limitations of participating sites, assess Meaningful Use readiness, and work collaboratively with external partners on how to best meet the needs of state and local health departments.
Go to www.biosenseredesign.org to view the draft BioSense Strategic Plan available for comments until November 4, 2011. For more information, contact Taha A. Kass-Hout, MD at TKassHout@cdc.gov.
Be sure to attend the Capitol Hill Steering Committee on Telehealth and Healthcare Informatics session on Wednesday November 16th from 12:00 to 1:45 to hear officials from CDC discuss progress on the BioSense program plus other panelists will discuss how biosurveillance technologies can improve public health. Representative Phil Gingrey (R-GA) will kick off the program. To receive an announcement, email Neal Neuberger at neal@e-healthpolicy.org or call (703) 508-8182.
In 2010, RTI was awarded a $16.3 million contract to redesign the BioSense program under CDC’s Office of Surveillance, Epidemiology and Laboratory Services. In the first year, the team developed a BioSense Redesign website at https://sites.google.com/site/biosenseredesign/?pli=1 and held a number of stakeholder input sessions, webinars, focused groups, and one-on-one interviews.
The Redesigned BioSense or BioSense 2.0 will be governed by ASTHO, in coordination with the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, National Association of County and City Health Officials, and the International Society for Disease Surveillance.
Key components of the BioSense 2.0 will:
• Strengthen the health monitoring infrastructure and workforce capacity where needed at the state, local, tribal, and territorial levels
• Coordinate responses and be able to monitor health-related outcomes routinely and during an event
• Build on existing state and local health department systems and programs to maintain the original purpose of BioSense to detect and characterize events
• Expand BioSense data usage beyond early event detection and provide public health awareness, improve outcomes, and increase local and state participation in BioSense
• Expand the utility of BioSense data to multi-use and all-hazard detection
• Improve the ability to detect emergency health-related threats by supporting systems capable of providing alerts
The new BioSense system will take advantage of novel and proven data storage and processing technology to allow users to control their data and will encourage collaboration in a social network-style environment.
CDC will still continue to examine the stakeholder requirements and perform a needs assessment, determine limitations of participating sites, assess Meaningful Use readiness, and work collaboratively with external partners on how to best meet the needs of state and local health departments.
Go to www.biosenseredesign.org to view the draft BioSense Strategic Plan available for comments until November 4, 2011. For more information, contact Taha A. Kass-Hout, MD at TKassHout@cdc.gov.
Be sure to attend the Capitol Hill Steering Committee on Telehealth and Healthcare Informatics session on Wednesday November 16th from 12:00 to 1:45 to hear officials from CDC discuss progress on the BioSense program plus other panelists will discuss how biosurveillance technologies can improve public health. Representative Phil Gingrey (R-GA) will kick off the program. To receive an announcement, email Neal Neuberger at neal@e-healthpolicy.org or call (703) 508-8182.
Improving Licensure Portability
On October 13, 2011, HRSA’s Office of Rural Health Policy, the Office for the Advancement of Telehealth, issued a funding announcement for the “Licensure Portability Grant Program” (LPGP). The deadline for applications is January 17, 2012. The primary purpose for the grant program is to support State professional licensing boards to enable them to carry out their programs and help develop and implement policies to reduce statutory and regulatory barriers to the use of telemedicine.
The program is designed to leverage the experience of State licensing boards that have a strong record in implementing cross-border activities to help the states overcome licensure barriers that exist that still prevent telemedicine services from being provided across many states.
The grant competition will seek projects that can serve as national models. Contingent upon reauthorization, this program will provide funds for FY 2012 to 2014. Approximately $700,000 is expected to be available annually to fund up to two grantees limited to State professional licensing boards. The estimated average size of awards is expected to be $350,000.
Previously funded LPGP projects have worked to reduce the redundancies that complicate and delay obtaining medical licensure in multiple jurisdictions. Nineteen state medical boards have been involved so far and include Connecticut, Idaho. Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Carolina, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Virginia, and Wyoming.
These states are now using multiple models and tools developed under the LPGP to promote physician licensure portability, including an online uniform application, participation in a centralized credentialing verification program, and states are being helped to endorse physicians outside of their own state.
To view the grant announcement (HRSA-12-091), go to http://grants.hrsa.gov then click on New Grants. For more details, email Carlos Mena, Program Coordinator for the Office for the Advancement of Telehealth, in the Office of Rural Health Policy at cmena@hrsa.gov or call (301) 443-3198.
The program is designed to leverage the experience of State licensing boards that have a strong record in implementing cross-border activities to help the states overcome licensure barriers that exist that still prevent telemedicine services from being provided across many states.
The grant competition will seek projects that can serve as national models. Contingent upon reauthorization, this program will provide funds for FY 2012 to 2014. Approximately $700,000 is expected to be available annually to fund up to two grantees limited to State professional licensing boards. The estimated average size of awards is expected to be $350,000.
Previously funded LPGP projects have worked to reduce the redundancies that complicate and delay obtaining medical licensure in multiple jurisdictions. Nineteen state medical boards have been involved so far and include Connecticut, Idaho. Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Carolina, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Virginia, and Wyoming.
These states are now using multiple models and tools developed under the LPGP to promote physician licensure portability, including an online uniform application, participation in a centralized credentialing verification program, and states are being helped to endorse physicians outside of their own state.
To view the grant announcement (HRSA-12-091), go to http://grants.hrsa.gov then click on New Grants. For more details, email Carlos Mena, Program Coordinator for the Office for the Advancement of Telehealth, in the Office of Rural Health Policy at cmena@hrsa.gov or call (301) 443-3198.
mPhones Helping Diabetics
In a study supported by AHRQ, researchers affiliated with the University of Washington and a local HMO enables patients to wirelessly upload blood-glucose values through mobile phones, communicate through email with a care manager, and access their shared medical record from a system at home. Participants were trained to access the system through a smart phone, personal computer, and through the web.
After interviews with eight patients to discuss their experience, several themes emerged. The researchers concluded that connecting with nurse practitioners was valuable, some individuals are very receptive to using web-based and mobile communication services to help manage their diabetes, uploading data from wireless glucose meters was easy, but using the technology could sometimes be frustrating to self-managing diabetes.
The University of Maryland’s School of Medicine reports in a study published in ‘Diabetes Care” that an interactive computer software program appears to be effective in helping patients’ mange their Type 2 diabetes using their mobile phones.
The study one of the first to scientifically examine mobile health technology found that a key measure of blood sugar control was lowered by an average of 1.9 percent over a period of one year in patients using the mobile health software. The findings support further exploring mobile health approaches to use to manage many chronic conditions including diabetes.
The study enrolled 163 patients with the help of 39 primary care doctors in Baltimore County, Baltimore City, Montgomery County, and Anne Arundel County in Maryland. Patients were divided into four groups based on the research assignment of their physician. Three patient groups received mobile phones loaded with diabetes management software and the fourth group served as a control group. All patients in the study received a free blood glucose meter and testing supplies.
The software examined provided real-time feedback, displayed medication regimens, and served as a “virtual coach”. The system analyzed blood sugar levels and other patient information, sent computer-generated logbooks, and suggested treatment plans to the patients’ primary care doctor.
A clinical trial listed on www.clinicaltrials.gov sponsored by the University of Southern California is looking at using text-messaging based mHealth with emergency department diabetic patients. The trial referred to as “TExT-MED”, uses unidirectional daily text messages consisting of educational materials, trivia questions, and challenges to promote healthy lifestyle choices, along with reminders to check blood sugar and take medications.
The trial is currently recruiting up to 200 participants ages 18 to 80 that have Type 2 diabetes, have a text message capable mobile phone, and speak and read English or Spanish. The study is expected to be completed July 2012.
The principal contact is Sanjay Arora, MD at (323) 226-6667. The ClinicalTrials.gov identifier is (NCT01403831).
In another program sponsored by the McKesson Foundation $1.4 million in research funding was awarded to the second generation of “Mobilizing for Health” grant recipients. The funding will help researchers from six institutions investigate how mobile phones can be used to improve the lives of underserved populations suffering from chronic diseases but the program is especially geared to helping diabetics.
The 2012 grants recipients include:
• Baystate Medical Center is going to field test an integrated mHealth solution to improve daily adherence to medications and blood glucose and blood pressure monitoring among older Type 2 diabetes patients
• Albert Einstein Medical Center will examine how doctors and nurses with regular feedback from their diabetic patients use integrated mobile phone technology to improve blood sugar control
• Center for Connected Health, Partners HealthCare in Boston will integrate a text-messaging program with the existing DSME program at 3 MGH community health centers representing medically underserved and low income populations. The goal is to assess the effect of personalized text messages on clinical outcomes and physical activity in patients with Type2 diabetes. Personalized text messages will include coaching to improve activity levels and reminders and will be offered in English and Spanish
• Medic Mobile will develop and pilot an SMS-based appointment validation tool to automate the process of confirming and rescheduling appointments for low-income diabetic patients
• Scripps Whittier Diabetes Institute will test the effectiveness of using a mobile health application to improve the management of diabetes in a recently diagnosed diabetic Latino population
• Vanderbilt University Medical Center will design and test a mobile assessment and intervention system for low-income adults with Type 2 diabetes
Letters of Intent for the next “Mobilizing for Health” grant cycle will be accepted beginning in January 2012. For further information, go to www.mckesson.com.
After interviews with eight patients to discuss their experience, several themes emerged. The researchers concluded that connecting with nurse practitioners was valuable, some individuals are very receptive to using web-based and mobile communication services to help manage their diabetes, uploading data from wireless glucose meters was easy, but using the technology could sometimes be frustrating to self-managing diabetes.
The University of Maryland’s School of Medicine reports in a study published in ‘Diabetes Care” that an interactive computer software program appears to be effective in helping patients’ mange their Type 2 diabetes using their mobile phones.
The study one of the first to scientifically examine mobile health technology found that a key measure of blood sugar control was lowered by an average of 1.9 percent over a period of one year in patients using the mobile health software. The findings support further exploring mobile health approaches to use to manage many chronic conditions including diabetes.
The study enrolled 163 patients with the help of 39 primary care doctors in Baltimore County, Baltimore City, Montgomery County, and Anne Arundel County in Maryland. Patients were divided into four groups based on the research assignment of their physician. Three patient groups received mobile phones loaded with diabetes management software and the fourth group served as a control group. All patients in the study received a free blood glucose meter and testing supplies.
The software examined provided real-time feedback, displayed medication regimens, and served as a “virtual coach”. The system analyzed blood sugar levels and other patient information, sent computer-generated logbooks, and suggested treatment plans to the patients’ primary care doctor.
A clinical trial listed on www.clinicaltrials.gov sponsored by the University of Southern California is looking at using text-messaging based mHealth with emergency department diabetic patients. The trial referred to as “TExT-MED”, uses unidirectional daily text messages consisting of educational materials, trivia questions, and challenges to promote healthy lifestyle choices, along with reminders to check blood sugar and take medications.
The trial is currently recruiting up to 200 participants ages 18 to 80 that have Type 2 diabetes, have a text message capable mobile phone, and speak and read English or Spanish. The study is expected to be completed July 2012.
The principal contact is Sanjay Arora, MD at (323) 226-6667. The ClinicalTrials.gov identifier is (NCT01403831).
In another program sponsored by the McKesson Foundation $1.4 million in research funding was awarded to the second generation of “Mobilizing for Health” grant recipients. The funding will help researchers from six institutions investigate how mobile phones can be used to improve the lives of underserved populations suffering from chronic diseases but the program is especially geared to helping diabetics.
The 2012 grants recipients include:
• Baystate Medical Center is going to field test an integrated mHealth solution to improve daily adherence to medications and blood glucose and blood pressure monitoring among older Type 2 diabetes patients
• Albert Einstein Medical Center will examine how doctors and nurses with regular feedback from their diabetic patients use integrated mobile phone technology to improve blood sugar control
• Center for Connected Health, Partners HealthCare in Boston will integrate a text-messaging program with the existing DSME program at 3 MGH community health centers representing medically underserved and low income populations. The goal is to assess the effect of personalized text messages on clinical outcomes and physical activity in patients with Type2 diabetes. Personalized text messages will include coaching to improve activity levels and reminders and will be offered in English and Spanish
• Medic Mobile will develop and pilot an SMS-based appointment validation tool to automate the process of confirming and rescheduling appointments for low-income diabetic patients
• Scripps Whittier Diabetes Institute will test the effectiveness of using a mobile health application to improve the management of diabetes in a recently diagnosed diabetic Latino population
• Vanderbilt University Medical Center will design and test a mobile assessment and intervention system for low-income adults with Type 2 diabetes
Letters of Intent for the next “Mobilizing for Health” grant cycle will be accepted beginning in January 2012. For further information, go to www.mckesson.com.
Multitasking is Distracting
“Fragmented attention is the norm—people today are continually multitasking”, reports Clifford Nass PhD, Thomas M. Storke Professor at Stanford University and Director for the Communication between Humans and Interactive Media Lab. In our present media saturated environment, media multitasking which is a person’s consumption of more than one item at the same time is very popular among the young.
He continued to tell the attendees at the Partners Healthcare Center for Connected Health Symposium held in Boston in October 2011 that more and more young people listen to music, text, chat, check email, use tablets, tend to be socially connected 24/7, and therefore are considered chronic multitaskers. However, studies show that heavy media multitaskers are poor at number of cognitive control processes.
Researchers have studied whether chronic heavy multitaskers process information differently than individuals who do not multitask on a frequent basis. In other words, has chronic multitasking changed our brains and affected top down thinking and produced a society less concerned with task completion.
People today are bombarded with several streams of electronic information and as a result, they do not always pay adequate attention, are easily distracted, have difficulty controlling their memory, and have difficulty switching from one job to another as compared to those individuals who prefer to complete one task at a time.
In an experiment, two groups were shown sets of two red rectangles alone or surrounded by two, four, or six blue rectangles. Each configuration was flashed twice, and the participants had to determine whether the two red rectangles in the second frame were in a different position than in the first frame. They were told to ignore the blue rectangles and the low multitaskers had no problem doing that, but the high multitaskers were constantly distracted by the irrelevant blue images.
The issue today is how to communicate health issues to chronically distracted users. Researchers will probably have to present information to multitaskers in different ways such as scattering information across windows, using product placement for multiple hits, using asides to present key information, continually update social networking software, and always present the newest information first since multitaskers are focused on the idea that new is better.
Clifford Nass PhD is the author of “The Man Who Lied to his Laptop: What Machines Teach Us About Human Relationships” published in 2010. For more details on the Connected Health Symposium, go to www.connected-health.org.
He continued to tell the attendees at the Partners Healthcare Center for Connected Health Symposium held in Boston in October 2011 that more and more young people listen to music, text, chat, check email, use tablets, tend to be socially connected 24/7, and therefore are considered chronic multitaskers. However, studies show that heavy media multitaskers are poor at number of cognitive control processes.
Researchers have studied whether chronic heavy multitaskers process information differently than individuals who do not multitask on a frequent basis. In other words, has chronic multitasking changed our brains and affected top down thinking and produced a society less concerned with task completion.
People today are bombarded with several streams of electronic information and as a result, they do not always pay adequate attention, are easily distracted, have difficulty controlling their memory, and have difficulty switching from one job to another as compared to those individuals who prefer to complete one task at a time.
In an experiment, two groups were shown sets of two red rectangles alone or surrounded by two, four, or six blue rectangles. Each configuration was flashed twice, and the participants had to determine whether the two red rectangles in the second frame were in a different position than in the first frame. They were told to ignore the blue rectangles and the low multitaskers had no problem doing that, but the high multitaskers were constantly distracted by the irrelevant blue images.
The issue today is how to communicate health issues to chronically distracted users. Researchers will probably have to present information to multitaskers in different ways such as scattering information across windows, using product placement for multiple hits, using asides to present key information, continually update social networking software, and always present the newest information first since multitaskers are focused on the idea that new is better.
Clifford Nass PhD is the author of “The Man Who Lied to his Laptop: What Machines Teach Us About Human Relationships” published in 2010. For more details on the Connected Health Symposium, go to www.connected-health.org.
Experts Speak at AMIA 2011
AMIA’s 35th Annual Symposium “Improving Health: Informatics and IT Changing the World” opened with NIH Director Dr. Francis S. Collins addressing more than two thousand professionals engaged in translational bioinformatics, clinical research informatics, clinical informatics, public health, and consumer health informatics.
Dr. Collins discussed plans for the planned National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), designed to speed up the process of “rescuing and repurposing” drug therapies out of the laboratories and into advanced clinical trials.
The expectation is for NCATS to continue the work of the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) which are required to leverage informatics as a core component of their scientific structure.
Dr. Collins reported “In the ten years since the genome sequence was completed, the economic return has resulted in a return on investment of 141:1 a $3 billion investment leading to $790 billion in economic growth. He continued to point out that that medical research is not only a wonderful way to plan for revolutionizing more effective medicine, but also gives people a chance to live healthy lives and at the same time helps nurture the American economy.
The proposed NCATS Working Group held a meeting in September to make suggestions for some of the key areas ideally suited for NCATS activities. These suggestions include supporting innovative research, new partnerships, and regulatory science and its applications. It is also important to encourage the dissemination of research outcomes, harness the power of the CTSA program and form a strong national CTSA consortium, develop educational programs in translational sciences especially in under-represented fields, and streamline the administrative process to overcome roadblocks to rapid and effective funding and management.
Discussing other new ideas in the health technology field, Gregory Abowd, PhD, Distinguished Professor, School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech, told the attendees how his research interests are centered on finding how to use advanced information technologies of “ubiquitous computing” or referred to as (ubicomp). The researchers are looking at how ubicomp can and will impact ordinary lives when technology is seamlessly integrated into daily living spaces.
Dr. Abowd is very involved with researchers working with body sensors, cameras, microphones, and sensors embedded in objects along with using mobile phones and text messaging to better manage chronic illnesses. His chief goal is to tap into a home’s infrastructure to sense and learn as much as possible about human activity to help manage health activities from a distance. Dr. Abowd projects that within five years, the majority of clinically relevant data will be collected in non-clinical settings.
Dr. Collins discussed plans for the planned National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), designed to speed up the process of “rescuing and repurposing” drug therapies out of the laboratories and into advanced clinical trials.
The expectation is for NCATS to continue the work of the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) which are required to leverage informatics as a core component of their scientific structure.
Dr. Collins reported “In the ten years since the genome sequence was completed, the economic return has resulted in a return on investment of 141:1 a $3 billion investment leading to $790 billion in economic growth. He continued to point out that that medical research is not only a wonderful way to plan for revolutionizing more effective medicine, but also gives people a chance to live healthy lives and at the same time helps nurture the American economy.
The proposed NCATS Working Group held a meeting in September to make suggestions for some of the key areas ideally suited for NCATS activities. These suggestions include supporting innovative research, new partnerships, and regulatory science and its applications. It is also important to encourage the dissemination of research outcomes, harness the power of the CTSA program and form a strong national CTSA consortium, develop educational programs in translational sciences especially in under-represented fields, and streamline the administrative process to overcome roadblocks to rapid and effective funding and management.
Discussing other new ideas in the health technology field, Gregory Abowd, PhD, Distinguished Professor, School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech, told the attendees how his research interests are centered on finding how to use advanced information technologies of “ubiquitous computing” or referred to as (ubicomp). The researchers are looking at how ubicomp can and will impact ordinary lives when technology is seamlessly integrated into daily living spaces.
Dr. Abowd is very involved with researchers working with body sensors, cameras, microphones, and sensors embedded in objects along with using mobile phones and text messaging to better manage chronic illnesses. His chief goal is to tap into a home’s infrastructure to sense and learn as much as possible about human activity to help manage health activities from a distance. Dr. Abowd projects that within five years, the majority of clinically relevant data will be collected in non-clinical settings.
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