Assessing the Privacy of mHealth Apps for Self-Tracking: Heuristic Evaluation Approach

In this paper, we have introduced a novel heuristic evaluation method for examining the state of privacy in QS (quantified self) apps. We found that the majority of apps do not meet our privacy criteria, including notification of fundamental data protection characteristics, or the criteria on ability to export user data. High-profile apps are among those that exhibit poor privacy behaviors, which can make it difficult for users to make informed choices about which apps to trust with their data. Our heuristics can provide designers with a resource to maintain privacy in the design of self-tracking services and avoid common pitfalls, which can engender mistrust or lead to privacy issues. As the heuristics were guided by both the EU and US regulatory environment, they may also help guide data controllers to perform impact assessments for both privacy and data protection. We have provided the tools and documentation necessary to replicate our findings and confirm the usability of the heuristics and allow the evolving privacy landscape to be evaluated. In future work, we will examine the usefulness of the heuristics by using them to capture people’s privacy preferences and recommend services that meet their requirements.

The full article can be downloaded below.  

This paper helps the healthcare industry debunk several myths surrounding SDOH and it's uses.

Plugging the Gaps in the Continuum of Care

As the U.S. population ages, it becomes increasingly important to keep seniors from falling into the gaps in the continuum of care. With 86 million people expected to reach the age of 65 and beyond by 2050, private sector and community organizations will have to find new ways to collaborate and work together to help care for them.

Continuum of care is a concept involving the overarching system that guides and tracks patients during their life journey through the healthcare system. It spans all levels and intensity of care. There are seven basic categories of continuum services:

1. Extended care
2. Acute hospital care
3. Ambulatory care
4. Home care
5. Outreach
6. Wellness
7. Housing organizations

In a perfect world, the hand-off between each of these organizations and providers would be seamless. This would reduce the chance of hunger and neglect among seniors, of hospital readmission, and of the mismanagement of chronic and acute medical conditions.

The full Forbes article can be viewed at this link.  

Validation and Testing of Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources Standards Compliance: Data Analysis

As indicated by the JASON report , the implications and benefits from a truly open digital health care architecture are wide ranging, from enabling individual patients to obtain, share, and authorize who can view their data, to population health analytics and research. Currently, data and exchange standards in health care do not adequately ensure out-of-the-box interoperability, chiefly due to the complexity and lack of identical interpretations of the published standards by health IT software developers. Rigorous testing and validation will help move the US health care system in the direction of open, accessible, patient-centric care.

The objective of this research was to examine whether or not the use of validation and test tools, specifically Crucible and Touchstone, had any impact on vendor compliance with the FHIR specification and, by extension, interoperability.

The full article can be downloaded below.  

Interpretation and Impact of Real-World Clinical Data for the Practicing Clinician

Real-world studies have become increasingly important in providing evidence of treatment effectiveness in clinical practice. While randomized clinical trials (RCTs) are the “gold standard” for evaluating the safety and efficacy of new therapeutic agents, necessarily strict inclusion and exclusion criteria mean that trial populations are often not representative of the patient populations encountered in clinical practice. Real-world studies may use information from electronic health and claims databases, which provide large datasets from diverse patient populations, and/or may be observational, collecting prospective or retrospective data over a long period of time. They can therefore provide information on the long-term safety, particularly pertaining to rare events, and effectiveness of drugs in large heterogeneous populations, as well as information on utilization patterns and health and economic outcomes. This review focuses on how evidence from real-world studies can be utilized to complement data from RCTs to gain a more complete picture of the advantages and disadvantages of medications as they are used in practice.

The full article can be downloaded below.  

Genetics has learned a ton — mostly about white people. That’s a problem.

In the future, it’s possible that when you go in for a physical, your doctor will, along with the usual blood pressure test and bloodwork, analyze your genome for health risks lurking in the code of your DNA.

It’s possible your genome will suggest you’re at high risk of developing heart disease. If you are, your doctor may start you on cholesterol-lowering drugs early or could also, maybe, make predictions about what other medications are most likely to work to prevent the disease.

A treatment plan like this — tailored to an individual’s genetic risk — is one of the great promises of “precision medicine.” Whether genomic analysis will ever yield enough useful results to make it possible is a subject of heated debate. If it does pan out, it could be a game changer.

Though, as it stands, the game won’t be changed for everyone: If you’re not white, this new research may fail you.

If the new age of “precision medicine” is going to be equitable, we’ll have to fix this.

There’s an important lesson in diversity and genetics lurking here too. It’s not that people of different ethnic backgrounds have wildly different biology. It’s much more subtle, and fascinating, than that. We need to explore the vast range of human genetic variation: It could end up saving us all.

The full Vox article can be viewed at this link.  

Still Bullish on Blockchain: Experts Give a Lay of the Land

At a healthcare modernization event this week, health IT thought leaders weighed in on where things stand regarding blockchain’s push into healthcare.

Although there are still more questions than answers regarding the impact that blockchain technology will have on healthcare, many health IT experts remain convinced of its promise.

The full Healthcare Informatics article can be viewed at this link.  

FDA approves new drug to treat influenza

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Xofluza (baloxavir marboxil) for the treatment of acute uncomplicated influenza (flu) in patients 12 years of age and older who have been symptomatic for no more than 48 hours.

“This is the first new antiviral flu treatment with a novel mechanism of action approved by the FDA in nearly 20 years. With thousands of people getting the flu every year, and many people becoming seriously ill, having safe and effective treatment alternatives is critical. This novel drug provides an important, additional treatment option,” said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D. “While there are several FDA-approved antiviral drugs to treat flu, they’re not a substitute for yearly vaccination. Flu season is already well underway, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends getting vaccinated by the end of October, as seasonal flu vaccine is one of the most effective and safest ways to protect yourself, your family and your community from the flu and serious flu-related complications, which can result in hospitalizations. Yearly vaccination is the primary means of preventing and controlling flu outbreaks.”

The full FDA news article can be viewed at this link.  

The skeptic: What precision medicine revolution?

Vinay Prasad is relatively young (35) and still climbing the academic ladder (he’s an associate professor of medicine at Oregon Health & Sciences University in Portland), but he has already established an outsize reputation as a “professional scold” for his sharp critiques of contemporary biomedical research, including personalized medicine. In commentaries in high-profile medical and scientific journals, and in a Twitter account with some 25,000 followers, Prasad has questioned the evidence (or lack thereof) to support the use of precision oncology, the practice of selecting drugs for patients on the basis of specific mutations in their tumors. He has also criticized the inflated cost of cancer drugs and the financial conflicts of interests bedeviling contemporary research.

Prasad brings several unique perspectives to the role of medical scold. Born in Euclid, Ohio, outside Cleveland, to an immigrant couple from India, he developed an interest in philosophy in college before attending medical school at the University of Chicago. As a practicing oncologist, the prolific Prasad has generated a boatload of peer-reviewed papers, gathering evidence to suggest, among other things, that genomic-based evidence hasn’t made much of an impact on cancer patients. As a sometimes prickly online persona, he has been faulted for unleashing expletive-laden putdowns but has also attracted a robust audience for what he calls “tweetorials,” which dissect the design of high-profile studies and the data they generate. In the following conversation with veteran medical writer Stephen S. Hall, he takes aim at “precision oncology,” the gaps in direct-to-consumer genetic testing, and what it really costs to bring a new drug to market.

The full MIT Technology Review article can be viewed at this link.  

Healthcare Leaders on Unlocking the Value of Disruption: “Digital Innovation Needs to be a Strategic Priority”

Health systems are feeling the pressure from digital disruptors coming into the market along with the increasing demand to be more consumer-focused, noted one healthcare CIO during a recent healthcare innovation conference.

“We are going to be disrupted by Apple and Amazon, if we don’t change,” Adam Landman, vice president and CIO of Boston-based Brigham and Women's Hospital, said during a panel discussion at the FT Digital Health Summit in New York City last week.

At the same time, however, many forward-thinking healthcare executives see digital technology as a tool that can be leveraged to support value-based care with the aim of better patient outcomes at lower cost.

During the FT Digital Health Summit, sponsored by Financial Times Live, a panel of healthcare industry leaders, including Landman, along with Chet Robson, medical director, clinical programs and quality for Deerfield, Ill.-based Walgreens and Nelia Padilla, global lead, digital health at IQVIA, a company that provides technology solutions and contract research services, discussed the role of digital technology in achieving value-based care as well as the significant barriers to adopting digital solutions and the headway their organizations are making with digital innovation.

The full Healthcare Informatics article can be found at this link.