MeYou Health
MeYou Health is a ‘well-being company’, in their own words. Their offerings help users engage in a healthy lifestyle, using their social network support. If you are like me, that doesn’t really tell you what they do. So I decided to find out more. MeYou Health started in 2009, and is funded by Healthways, Inc. Healthways is a 30-year old, publicly traded health services company...
Read MorePictureRx
As I’ve written before, medication adherence is an undeniably critical problem for the healthcare system. Most startups in this area have taken the approach of finding novel ways to remind or monitor the patient about medication, with the assumption that the problem is forgetfulness. Instead, PictureRx offers something that tries to solve a much more fundamental cause of poor adherence-...
Read MoreMedWatcher
Drug safety surveillance (more formally, pharmacovigilence) is a serious and complex issue. Once a drug is FDA-approved and on the market, it needs to be constantly monitored for long/short-term side effects. That process is currently rigid: once observed conclusively, these effects are reported by providers to relevant authorities and disseminated back to all medical community (after some lag...
Read MoreScanAvert
In the last few years, bar code scanning with smartphones has become much more robust and dependable functionality. Predictably enough, it’s main application has been in real-time comparison shopping and product information area, giving rise to new services like RedLaser (recently acquired by eBay). ScanAvert is an interesting paid application of the same functionality. It allows users to...
Read MoreGlowCaps
Of all the consumer healthcare device ideas, this may be the most ingenious one. In August 2009, Massachusetts-based Vitality announced availability of GlowCaps- a web-enabled $99 cap for prescription bottles that helps remind patients to take their medications on time. GlowCaps fits the standard pill container, and uses short-range wireless communication to talk to a gateway hub at home that is...
Read MoregDitty (Zamzee)
Now I’m finding so many ideas being tested or marketed in the actigraphy space, that I’m inclined to make a tag for related posts (did). gDitty comes out of HopeLab, a Redwood City based non-profit organization. gDitty is targeted towards promoting physical activity in kids. The product combines an activity meter device (on belt or in pocket) with an online rewards program that...
Read MoreText4Baby
Text4baby is a service that delivers periodic text messages to expecting mothers reminding them of basic healthcare needs. It’s a free mobile information service designed to promote healthy pregnancy, and given that US that the second worst IMR of all developed countries, it makes sense. Women who sign up for the service by texting BABY to 511411 will receive free (i.e. not charged to the...
Read MoreWithings
I’ll admit right away that this post is more about the trend, and not the product itself. Withings is a french start-up that introduced a wi-fi enabled weight scale in late 2009. The device can send your data (weight, BMI, body fat, lean mass etc) wirelessly over the internet. So you can track it for free either online on Withings.com website or through an iPhone app. It made some waves...
Read MoreZumeLife
Zume Life is a San Jose start-up that is planning to develop its own dedicated device to allow individuals to keep track of and manage their own care regimen. It’s target users are individuals with complex care requirements- taking a multiple medications, specific diets, frequent measurements, daily exercise etc. What they offer is a ‘Zumi Life Service’ that helps coordinate...
Read MoreDirectLife
Royal Philips International seems to be placing its bets on some innovative healthcare IT markets. Here are some that I’ve noticed in the past couple of years: VISICU (a remote ICU monitoring technology company acquired in 2007) Digital Pathology (commercial offering in 2009) Motiva (Remote patient management and education delivered through television) TeleStation (In-home hub for two-way...
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