Digital Health Science Digest – Issue 32
New blog series is out, SMS in Iran, telemedicine in prisons and more in this week’s digest!
The Digital Health Science Digest is a bimonthly newsletter compiled by Duke Digital Health. We bring you the most interesting research publications, policy news, and other fun digital health science stuff.
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Issue 32
07/15/2016
Tech
- Telehealth is gaining popularity as a way of delivering remote care to patients with multiple sclerosis. Programs include: physical therapy, fatigue therapy, and mindfulness meditation and are all offered via video conferencing.
- A 5-part blog series from Duke Digital Health and Vanessa Mason from P2Health addresses the promise and challenges of digital health innovation in medically vulnerable populations. Parts 1 and 2 are out already; stay tuned for more!
- Omron, the company that probably provides BP cuffs for your studies, now has an open API. It’s compatible with certain wireless BP and activity monitors.
Research
- Outcomes: A study in Iran found that daily text messages were effective at helping patients with hypertension take their medication, compared to paper reminder cards. #globaldigitalhealth
- Protocol: A randomized controlled trial is described that aims to decrease HIV transmission risk behaviors among HIV-positive gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men. The intervention is comprised of 10 video vignettes that are designed to “elicit critical thinking around issues of HIV transmission and disclosure.”
- Systematic Review: A systematic review examining the use of mobile technology to promote physical activity among people with type 2 diabetes found no published research that examined the effectiveness of mobile technology in monitoring health behaviors and behavior change in this population.
- Special Communication: Barack Obama, JD, has become the first sitting President to get through the arduous process of peer review* and have an article published in a scientific journal. The article, published in JAMA, lays out a proposal for the future of the ACA.
*Nah, we’re joking about that peer review thing. He didn’t have to go through that. Though it was reviewed by a group of senior editors at JAMA and went through formal revisions.
Policy
- ICYMI, CMS will make the Diabetes Prevention Program available to Medicare recipients. It will reimburse providers for a program that includes counseling sessions with a lifestyle coach. These sessions can be delivered either in person or via telehealth. CMS Acting Administrator Andy Slavitt said about the program, “If this rule is finalized, it will put our nation’s money where its mouth is by continuing to recognize the importance of prevention, wellness, and mental health and chronic disease management.”
- Four state prisons in South Carolina will start offering care via telemedicine. SC joins New York, Mississippi, Texas, Florida, and Colorado as states that have implemented telemedicine in prisons. The hope is that telemedicine delivery may help improve health outcomes and reduce both costs and inmate grievances.
- A California health plan has found that a text messaging program can help keep patients out of the ER. Messages were aimed at helping participants find a doctor, schedule care, using a nurse hotline, finding an urgent care clinic, and included some health tips.
Grab bag
- Dr. Christopher Cox, a researcher in the Department of Medicine at Duke received a Supplemental Award from the Duke Translational Research Institute to turn a web-based decision making tool into a mobile app to help families making life-support decisions for loved ones.
- There are still spots open for August 2016 enrollment in Duke’s Master of Management in Clinical Informatics (MMCi) program.
- The Duke Institute for Health Innovations (DIHI) is seeking pragmatic health innovations with immediate application at Duke and/or commercialization potential for their 2nd Innovation Jam! See the events section above for dates.
If you’d like to submit an event or article for us to publish in our digest, please send at least 3 weeks before the event to: erica.levine@duke.edu