The healthcare sector has been subject to a rocky disruption during the past decade due to the advent of new digital technologies. The application of wearable monitors and artificial intelligence are changing the way human health is assessed.
A signal that healthcare is set to be heavily disrupted by artificial intelligence comes from a new report which indicates that AI for healthcare will be valued at $6.16 billion by 2022.
Health literacy is a major concern, even with greater access to digital information. This ranges from understanding conditions to knowing the side-effects of drugs. To address this, Toronto-based Novus Health it has partnered with iA Financial Group.
Continuous technological developments in healthcare have saved countless lives and improved the quality of life for even more, and signs are that healthcare will undergo further transformation. A leading expert provides some examples.
Non-adherence to medicine regimes is a health concern. When patients fail to complete course this can lead to a recurrence of a health condition. A new digital health blockchain solution is at hand, called CuraServe.
Apple has announced plans to will open up health record data to third-party iOS apps through a new API. The service, which will be available in October 2018, will enable users to share health data from over 500 hospitals/clinics with third-party apps.
London	- The British government has announced ambitious plans to prevent an estimated 22,000 cancer deaths by 2033, through the use of artificial intelligence to predict those individuals at greater risk of developing the disease.
Toronto	- A digital care package has been developed for substance use disorder. The platform has been made available to healthcare providers in Ontario.
Healthcare technology has a general problem with a lack of interoperability. As a result, patients and their caregivers face expensive consequences, such as hospital readmissions. The Chicago-based healthcare incubator MATTER is challenging this.
HP has announced a new range of computing devices aimed specifically at healthcare users. The company has developed notebooks which can be sanitized, making them ideal for frontline healthcare workers in hospitals. Security is also a high priority.
Assessing the health of athletes is important in the world of modern sport. The Winter Olympics offers a chance to test out some of the latest digital health innovations.
Bethesda	- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has begun to select participants for a new digital health software pilot program. The commencement of the scheme signals the importance that digital health is to play in U.S. healthcare.
Over 100 child health experts have signed a letter asking Facebook to withdraw its "Messenger Kids" app. The recently-launched app is aimed at children under the age of 13. The letter argues these children are too young to understand the dangers.
Many employers and health plans are looking to integrate coverage for innovative healthcare technology solutions. One platform is provided by WellDoc, which has partnered with a leading analytics company to address diabetes management and costs.
London	- For those worried about the possibility of having contracted a sexually transmitted disease but worried about a visit to a clinic, a digital service might be the answer. Such services are proving increasingly popular.
Ava, best known as the maker of its popular cycle-tracking Ava bracelet, has announced that results from a clinical study indicates that the device’s has potential for future use in pregnancy detection. We spoke with Ava Co-Founder Lea von Bidder.
Microsoft’s diversification strategy includes utilizing some of its resources to help improve the diagnosis of cancer to find cures for certain cancers. The research is based at Microsoft’s ‘biological computation’ labs in Cambridge, U.K.
A new study, by Ambra Health, found 1 in 3 patients in ther U.S. cannot easily access their medical records. This impacts on how patients interact with health technology, like the iWatch. To find out more, we spoke with Ambra's Morris Panner.
The company Propeller, who manufacture digital inhalers, has launched a free service for predicting asthma conditions. The service takes the form of a software package.
New York City	- Huddle is a video-based peer-to-peer support app designd to alter the way people communicate and learn about mental health issues. Huddle provides peer-to-peer advice and on-demand support. To find out more wer spoke with co-founder Dan Blackman.
Edinburgh	- A new study of the security vulnerabilities of fitness trackers signals that the health technology sector needs to go further in building safeguards to protect the data of users of fitness devices. The study focuses on Fitbits.
Watsi in action in rural Uganda assisting nurses and nuns.
On the left is the brain activation pattern for "death" in participants who had made a suicide attempt. The image in the right depicts the activation pattern for "death" in control participants.
This infographic describes the elements of Digital Health.
File photo: A person at his workplace, communicating via a Video Relay Service video.