Wearable health technology
Healthcare wearable devices collect and transmit data such as patients' vital signs, activity levels and health metrics for chronic conditions, enabling early intervention and personalized treatment. However, for these devices to achieve their full potential, challenges like data security, accuracy and integration into existing IT systems must be addressed.
Top Stories
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News
02 Oct 2024
Wearables help boost post-surgery physical activity
A new study shows that wearable devices can help boost physical activity in patients after lung cancer surgery, improving their recovery and quality of life. Continue Reading
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Feature
12 Sep 2024
VR offers a unique way to improve Black maternal health
A new VR-based training program aims to combat implicit bias in maternal healthcare and enhance physician cultural competency to improve outcomes for Black birthing people. Continue Reading
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News
12 May 2021
Chekhov and a Checkup: Delaware Libraries Introduce Telehealth Kiosks
Three Delaware libraries have installed telehealth kiosks in the first stage of what may be a statewide program to give patrons easy access to healthcare services, as well as other resources. Continue Reading
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News
07 May 2021
Washington State Passes Legislation Supporting Audio-Only Telehealth
Governor Jay Inslee has signed a law that mandates coverage for audio-only telehealth services in certain circumstances. Support for the modality is growing as providers look for better ways to reach patients where they are. Continue Reading
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News
03 May 2021
New mHealth Study Takes on Health Outcomes Among the Homeless
Researchers at the University of Texas are launching an AHRQ-funded study that looks to determine whether mHealth can improve access to care for homeless populations and boost health outcomes. Continue Reading
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News
07 Apr 2021
AMA Lobbies CMS to Extend Medicare Coverage for Audio-Only Telehealth
The American Medical Association has sent a letter urging CMS to permanently extend Medicare coverage for audio-only telehealth services. Separately, CMS is being urged to include virtual care in the Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program. Continue Reading
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News
01 Apr 2021
Fitbit, Stanford Medicine Project Uses mHealth to Track College Athletes
Stanford Medicine and Fitbit are teaming up with the Pac-12 Conference to study whether mHealth wearables can be used to identify early signs of viruses like COVID-19 in student-athletes playing college sports. Continue Reading
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News
25 Mar 2021
Congress Mulls Audio-Only Telehealth Coverage for MA, PACE Members
A new bill before Congress would establish Medicare coverage for audio-only telehealth services - otherwise known as phone calls - during the pandemic for Medicare Advantage and PACE program members. Continue Reading
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News
19 Mar 2021
Researchers Work on a Drone That Can Make Telehealth House Calls
Researchers at the University of Cincinnati are developing a small drone, that, equipped with telehealth tools, can enter a house to facilitate virtual visits, drop off or pick up supplies, even survey living conditions. Continue Reading
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News
08 Mar 2021
COVID-19 Funds Help Kansas Health Centers Expand Telehealth Services
The Community Care Network of Kansas is using a $3 million state grant to buy more than 44,000 connected health devices and expand a telehealth program helping thousands of underserved residents. Continue Reading
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News
25 Feb 2021
Washington State Lawmakers Mull Audio-Only Telehealth Guidelines
A bill now before the state's Senate would set strict rules for the use and coverage of audio-only telehealth services, such as the telephone. Continue Reading
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News
24 Feb 2021
Cleveland Clinic Adding 2nd Mobile Unit to School Telehealth Program
The health system is using a $2 million donation to equip a second vehicle with telehealth and mHealth tools and dispatch it to serve students in several school districts in northern Ohio. Continue Reading
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News
12 Feb 2021
NASA's New mHealth Program Tracks Employee Health Through Wearables
NASA is partnering with Fitbit on a new program aimed at monitoring the health of 1,000 employees - including 150 astronauts - with mHealth wearables and a telehealth platform. Continue Reading
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News
02 Feb 2021
RAND Telehealth Survey Finds Value in Including Audio-Only Phones
About half of all primary care telehealth visits by low-income residents at California health clinics during the height of the pandemic were done by phone, as were almost two-thirds of the behavioral health visits. Continue Reading
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News
22 Jan 2021
Condition-Specific mHealth Devices Best In Chronic Care Management
Smartphones are the most used device for chronic care management, however condition-specific mHealth devices are most effective. Continue Reading
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News
22 Dec 2020
New Bill Aims to Ensure Medicare Coverage for Audio-Only Telehealth Calls
The bill would establish Medicare reimbursement for audio-only telehealth services that focus on evaluation and management and mental and behavioral health care, and would allow coverage for services in the patient's home. Continue Reading
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News
17 Nov 2020
mHealth Wearable Devices Effective in Post-Cardiac Surgery Care
AF was detected ten times more often in patients who wore an mHealth device than in those who did not receive remote patient monitoring. Continue Reading
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News
09 Nov 2020
AMA Foundation Supports Telehealth Initiative in Chicago's West Side
The American Medical Association Foundation is donating $100,000 to a downtown Chicago program that has, among other things, distributed mHealth devices to care providers looking to tackle the high rate of hypertension. Continue Reading
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News
19 Oct 2020
Study Gives High Marks to Telehealth in Managing Diabetic Foot Ulcers
A study launched by Kaiser Permanente found that daily foot temperature checkups via a telehealth platform led to a sharp reduction in hospitalizations, ER visits and outpatient treatment. Continue Reading
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News
22 Sep 2020
Philips, Defense Department Expand mHealth Project for Infection Tracking
The Department of Defense has been working with Philips on a telehealth platform that uses mHealth tools to remotely monitor service members for signs of an infection, including COVID-19. Continue Reading
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News
14 Sep 2020
Centene, Samsung Partnership Gives FQHCs More Telehealth Tools
Centene and Samsung are joining forces to equip more than 200 federally qualified health centers across the country with telehealth tools to help underserved patients access care. Continue Reading
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News
10 Sep 2020
Senators Press VA to Expand Telehealth Coverage for Vets' Families
A group of Senators has asked the Department of Veterans Affairs to expand telehealth coverage for veterans' families during the coronavirus pandemic to include audio-only phone calls and text messages. Continue Reading
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News
03 Sep 2020
Purdue Researchers Use an mHealth Wearable to Improve Wound Care
Engineers have developed an mHealth platform that applies ozone through a wearable patch to kill bacteria and speed wound healing. The device holds promise for home health care and chronic disease management. Continue Reading
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News
31 Aug 2020
CMS Eyes Expanded Coverage for Innovative Telemedicine Devices
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has issued a proposed rule that aims to allow Medicare coverage for "breakthrough devices," giving providers and patients access to cutting-edge telemedicine and mHealth tools. Continue Reading
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17 Aug 2020
Telehealth Kiosks Give Homeless Veterans a Link to Healthcare, Other Services
Soldier On has partnered with Let's Talk Interactive to expand a telehealth platform that connects homeless veterans and those in transitional housing with mental health counselors and other sorely needed services. Continue Reading
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News
06 Aug 2020
NorthShore UHS Plans Telehealth Program to Monitor Discharged Patients
The Chicago health system is launching a telehealth platform that will use remote patient monitoring tools to track patients with heart failure and those undergoing ileostomy after they've been discharged from the hospital. Continue Reading
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29 Jul 2020
Student-Based Non-Profit Secures mHealth Donations for Seniors
Founded by three Yale students and a high school sibling, Telehealth Access to Seniors has given more than 1,100 donated mHealth devices to healthcare providers to distribute to patients who lack access to telehealth services. Continue Reading
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News
22 Jul 2020
NY-NJ Hospitals to Use Smart Clothes in COVID-19 Telehealth Program
Hackensack Meridian Health and Maimonides Medical Center are launching a telehealth program that will use sensor-embedded undergarments to remotely monitor patients infected with the coronavirus. Continue Reading
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News
17 Jul 2020
NC Health System's New mHealth Platform Uses Drones to Deliver Supplies
Wake Forest Baptist Health has expanded its mHealth resources to include drone deliveries of specialty infusion medicines and PPE to distant sites in its health network. Continue Reading
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News
15 Jul 2020
Florida Health System Includes Telehealth With the House Warming Gift
Baptist Health is partnering with a South Florida home builder to include a direct-to-consumer telehealth service - accessed through a telemedicine kit - with every new house sold. Continue Reading
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News
15 Jul 2020
University of Miami Uses Telehealth to Remotely Treat Student-Athletes
The university is partnering with Tyto Care to monitor student-athletes and staff who might be infected with COVID-19 or are at risk, and officials are hoping to launch the telehealth program campus-wide when all students return. Continue Reading
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02 Jul 2020
mHealth Sensors Help Hospitals Monitor Vitals in In-Patient Units
Michigan-based Covenant HealthCare is using a telehealth platform to monitor patients in the hospital. The smart bed technology alerts staff to patients in distress, enabling them to take action more quickly. Continue Reading
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News
18 Jun 2020
New York OKs Telehealth Coverage for Audio-Only Phone Services
New York is the latest to approve expanded telehealth coverage for audio-only phone calls between a provider and patient, noting they give doctors more opportunities to extend care to underserved populations. Continue Reading
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News
01 Jun 2020
USC Doctor Combines Telehealth and, Um, Maggots to Treat a Patient
USC's David Armstrong mixed New World telemedicine with Old World medicine to treat a patient with a serious arm injury, avoiding a run-in with sepsis and potentially saving the man's life. Continue Reading
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News
12 May 2020
Lessons Learned from Ebola Help UVA's Telehealth Center Take on COVID-19
The University of Virginia Health System's telehealth center is using technology created during the 2014-16 Ebola outbreak to improve access and care management for COVID-19 patients. Continue Reading
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News
08 May 2020
Defense Dept. to Use mHealth Wearables to Test COVID-19 Treatments
The Defense Department is launching a project that will use mHealth wearables to remotely monitor people infected with the COVID-19 virus and those at high risk in military hospitals in the US and southeast Asia. Continue Reading
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News
09 Apr 2020
Lawmakers Ask CMS to Expand mHealth Coverage for Mental Health Services
A group of lawmakers is urging CMS to expand mHealth coverage for mental health services during the Coronavirus pandemic by allowing Medicare patients to use audio-only phone platforms to talk to care providers. Continue Reading
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News
06 Apr 2020
3 Misperceptions About Healthcare Interoperability
Healthcare interoperability is one of the industry’s greatest challenges, but seamlessly exchanging data may be easier to accomplish than some think. Continue Reading
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News
24 Mar 2020
SF Hospitals Test mHealth Wearables for Coronavirus Monitoring
A project launched by UCSF will allow hospital officials to monitor front-line care workers through an mHealth wearable that measures heart and respiration rate as well as changes in body temperature. Continue Reading
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News
20 Mar 2020
States Move Quickly to Address Coronavirus Pandemic With Telehealth
Eighteen states and Washington DC have enacted emergency regulations to increase the use of telehealth to tackle the Coronavirus epidemic, including in some cases allowing doctors and patients to collaborate by phone. Continue Reading
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News
19 Mar 2020
FCC Expands Access to Broadband Resources for Telehealth Providers
The agency is relaxing broadband rules to give health systems and broadband providers more opportunities to improve connectivity and expand telehealth and mHealth capabilities. Continue Reading
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News
09 Mar 2020
Why Now Is the Time for Healthcare to Move to the Cloud
Offering reduced costs, vast amounts of computational power, and increased security, the cloud is ideally suited to meeting the changing IT infrastructure needs of healthcare organizations. Continue Reading
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News
11 Feb 2020
Virginia Hospital Expands RPM Program After Telehealth Pilot Success
Children's Hospital of Richmond is adding new functions to its remote patient monitoring program for post-surgery patients after seeing the telehealth platform reduce adverse clinical outcomes. Continue Reading
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31 Jan 2020
A Telehealth Project in Cleveland Combines Hair Care and Healthcare
A handful of urban barbershops in Cleveland are using telehealth to test patrons for hypertension, part of a new program designed to bring mHealth monitoring directly to an at-risk population. Continue Reading
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News
21 Jan 2020
Rady, Deloitte Eye Drones as an mHealth Platform for Genomic Tests
The Rady Children's Institute for Genomic Medicine is studying whether an mHealth platform that uses drones can speed up important genomic tests and improve clinical outcomes for seriously ill children. Continue Reading
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News
20 Jan 2020
At the Cutting Edge of Healthcare: IoT Data in Preventative Care
Edge computing and the Internet of Things can support a much-needed push to preventative care. Continue Reading
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16 Jan 2020
UPMC Uses Telehealth to Help New Moms Dealing With Hypertension
Two years after launching a remote patient monitoring program for new mothers dealing with hypertension, UPMC is looking at lessons learned and making plans to expand the telehealth platform. Continue Reading
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News
13 Jan 2020
10 Questions HIT Vendors Should Ask Themselves About Interoperability
The need for interoperability health IT systems requires vendors to look in the mirror and answer some important questions. Continue Reading
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Answer
09 Jan 2020
Rhode Island Hospital Tests mHealth Wearable to Track Eating Habits
The Miriam Hospital is using an mHealth wearable designed at the University of Alabama to monitor patients' eating habits in a clinical trial that could someday help providers with chronic care management. Continue Reading
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News
23 Sep 2019
Removing Obstacles to Achieving Healthcare Interoperability
Healthcare interoperability is necessary for realizing system-wide improvements to care delivery, but it remains an impediment. Continue Reading
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News
06 Feb 2018
FDA Approves mHealth Wearable for Tracking Epileptic Seizures
The FDA has approved an mHealth wearable for people living with epilepsy that's designed to detect convulsive seizures and immediately notify care team members. Continue Reading
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Feature
25 Oct 2017
Telemedicine Robots: Out of Science Fiction and Into the Mainstream
Robots and robotics have been a fixture in healthcare for decades. New telehealth and mHealth tools are giving them a chance to shine. Continue Reading