50% of Americans (prescribed) to take a prescription drug last month-but did they take as prescribed?

Almost half of Americans took a prescription drug in the past month. One of every five kids and 9 of 10 older Americans took at least one prescription drug.

And Jay Parkinson notes that "One of every five kids and 9 of 10 older Americans took at least one prescription drug"

My question: This sounds like the level of prescribed pharmaceutical dosages I read in various estimates. I also read that more than half of the recommended and prescribed doses are not taken as prescribed - never filled, filled but never refilled, not taken in the prescribed time frame, etc. 

 

 

 

 

Tagged medication adherence

The iPad and Healthcare: Tell me less about the device & docs, more about how patients benefit

Fun to read all the mentions, reviews, free and sometimes paid reports about how off the shelf iPads are being used in healthcare. More fun to read between the lines given that the iPad wasn't specifically designed for healthcare use. I suspect there are meetings happening in HIT and dedicated medical device companies which focus on "how do we stop this off-the-shelf device known as iPad from eating our very profitable, high margin proprietary device and application lunch?" Wonder what we can expect when the first generation of Android tablets hit the healthcare market? Will a lower device cost and easier application distribution drive more tablets into use by healthcare professionals?

But here's the real question. Now that we've established there is adoption of the iPad by health professionals (hurrah), could we hear more about how patients are getting benefits from iPad use? How patient outcomes are improved by iPad applications? I know that patient perspectives don't have the same zippy headline and click potential of new shiny hardware stories. I know that doctors telling stories about the iPad hardware use - dust, dirt, cleaning, battery life, etc. - are easier to quote.

But how about sharing the patient perspective on the iPad use in healthcare for a change?

(Credit for graphic: http://mobihealthnews.com/8731/infographic-sizing-up-the-ipad-for-healthcare/ )

 

Live long and live happy? Longevity is the new normal. Who's working on the happy part?

(via ilovecharts) Although this is interesting, it frustrates me that “additional average life expectancy” is featured so prominently. I think it’s a metric that’s outgrown its usefullness. When life expectancy was growing like mad over the past 100 years, it was useful. Now its growth isn’t so dramatic. The real questions are: Do we really want to live as 90 year olds for as long as we can? Should we really keep people alive so that we don’t even know who’s dying anymore? We should be focused more on “additional happiness expected after age 65.” Unfortunately, that’s too waffly for the doctor and statistician types.

(via http://ilovecharts.tumblr.com/)

Jay Parkinson wonders if we should be focus on "additional happiness expected after age 65" versus focusing on "additional life expectancy." According to various sources, more people age 65 and over are alive today than ever in recorded history. People over 80, the "oldest old", are the fasting growing population segment. Wonder why we don't see more visible changes in retail and other basic services matched to creating more satisfaction for those experiencing longer life expectancies? Why aren't local governments coming up with new property tax scenarios for those over 65 so that schools get essential funding but seniors are not forced to move? Seems like the reality of longevity has not been matched by responsible changes in policy, practice and commerce.

 

 

 

 

Tagged aging life expectancy longevity oldest old

South by Southwest Panel Picker Voting Starts Monday 9 August

Last time I checked, there were over 75 SXSW 2011 proposals submitted and tagged for Health. The SXSW staff has been reviewing the proposals. Those proposals that were selected will be published sometime Monday 9 August for voting. Be sure to vote for your favorite Health Track proposals. The process for voting on panels is explained here.

The SXSW staff review counts for about 30% of the selection process. The community based voting counts for 30%.  The advisory board review counts for 40%. The advisory board makes its decisions during late August and early September. (Health Track advisory board members are not allowed to submit proposals in the health category.)

2011 will mark the first year that South by Southwest Interactive Festival has dedicated a Track to Health presentations as well as showcasing top Health Technology startups with patient-centric applications and services in the Accelerator program.

More about Accelerator Health in a post later this week.

Update:

Due to overwhelming response, the voting won't start until Weds 11 August at noon (Central Time.) Here's the update from the SXSW staff.

 

Tagged Health South by Southwest Interactive Festival SXSW

Listening & Lawyers: Making Social Media Work for Healthcare Organizations

David Harlow, attorney and blogger, recently posted an article that summarized his presentation at the Social Communications & Healthcare conference in New York City. Three excellent points:

1. Practicing social media by healthcare organization without a formal plan usually leads to failure and may create easily avoidable legal issues.

2. Listening to what customers, competitors and the public are saying about the healthcare organization (even if it hurts) provides a basic benchmark for building a formal social media plan in a healthcare organization. (In old school product marketing terms, gathering customer, competitor and public impressions -aka sensing interviews- might be equated with establishing product and market requirements for a social media plan.)

3. The lawyers don't always say "No" and, if the social media plan for the healthcare organization is well grounded, lawyers can provide very specific tactical advice for typical healthcare social media scenarios (e.g., privacy.)

David Harlow: "All organizations may be concerned about the public posting of derogatory or defamatory opinions or information about employees, administrators, patients. My take: policies and procedures should be in place regarding the making or circulating of such statements in whatever form or forum: real life, web 1.0, web 2.0. The social web does not always require the creation of new rules of the road; often, it requires a re-examination of organizational culture and approach in other contexts, and those approaches may then be extended into the web 2.0 environment."

Often the most difficult step in developing a social media strategy involves listening or establishing requirements. The requirements process needs to be unfiltered and open to publishing negative messages, some of which will inevitably be perceived as attacks on culture or leadership.

Wireless Power System Demonstrated at TED

The demonstration used mobile devices and televisions. The same concept could be applied to medical devices.

1. Magnetic coil (Antenna A) is housed in a box and can be set in wall or ceiling.
2. Antenna A, powered by mains, resonates at a specific frequency.
3. Electromagnetic waves transmitted through the air.
4. Second magnetic coil (Antenna B) fitted in laptop/TV etc resonates at same frequency as first coil and absorbs energy.
5. Energy charges the device.

How does it work? According to the BBC article: The approach that was demonstrated exploits "resonance", whereby energy transfer is markedly more efficient when a certain frequency is applied. Eric Giler, chief executive of US firm Witricity, showed mobile phones and televisions charging wirelessly at the TED Global conference in Oxford. The resonance approach is based on work by physicist Marin Soljacic at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Tagged Wireless Power

Acquia closes new Series B $8M Round

 Acquia reported closing an $8 million Series B round for total funding of $15 million. Acquia is a commercial open source software company providing products, services, and technical support for the open source Drupal social publishing system. Acquia is linked with the Drupal.org open source community in much the same way that Red Hat is connected with the Linux community. The latest round included North Bridge Venture Partners and Sigma Partners. The company has about 40 employees and over 200 clients. Acquia claims there are currently about 400,000 web sites built with Drupal with that number doubling every year.
Tagged Acquia Drupal