Health Horizons

Revolution Health's health?

Vivian Distler — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:06:25 -0700

Just as I was starting to look for something to blog about today, I got an e-mail from a client asking what I know about whether Revolution Health is going under or merging or otherwise transforming itself. Launched officially in April 2007, Revolution Health was intended by its chairman/CEO, AOL co-founder Steve Case, to . . .well, revolutionize health care by providing health-related online tools and content from a variety of trusted sources and enabling individuals to take greater control of their health management.

Health Horizons

On-the-go heart monitoring

Vivian Distler — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 12:24:34 -0700

Researchers affiliated with Northern Ireland's University of Ulster have developed a disposable adhesive electrode patch that uses wireless technology to transmit information about a patient's heart and other vital data (like respiratory rate, temperature, and blood oxygenation levels). According to the university's press release,

Mobile Health

Cease-and-desist letter sent to California-based personalized genetics startups

Alex Soojung-Kim Pang — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:51:09 -0700

California likes to think of itself as a high-tech friendly place, and generally it is. However, Alexis Madrigal reports that the state government has decided to go after personal genetics companies:

Last Monday, the state's laboratory field services group issued 13 cease-and-desist letters to genetic testing companies. Wired.com obtained a copy of the letters (pdf.) from two recipients. And the tough talk in a recent teleconference among regulatory officials confirms the seriousness of the department's intent.

"We [are] no longer tolerating direct-to-consumer genetic testing in California," Karen Nickles, Chief of Laboratory Field Services at the health department, told members of the Clinical Laboratories Advisory Committee on June 13.

Targeted companies include personal genomics startups 23andMe and Navigenics. These services are seen as the leading edge of a new type of health care in which consumers can use their genetic profile to tailor their medical and lifestyle choices. The established medical community, however, is wary of the technology arguing that the medical utility of some tests is unproven. Doctors also complain that direct-to-consumer services bypass them as the gatekeepers and analysts of medical information, which they worry could confuse consumers, not to mention cost them a billing event.

The health department's actions are a direct challenge to the viability of the infant DNA-testing industry, for which physician involvement is shaping up to be a major battleground. As far back as a September 2006 meeting, health department officials were voicing concerns over "nutrigenetic tests that analyze a limited number of genes to give personalized nutritional and lifestyle recommendations."

(via Virginia Postrel's Dynamist Blog)

Health Horizons

iPhone and citizen science

Alex Soojung-Kim Pang — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 23:07:18 -0700

Alexis Madrigal throws a link to the X2 Project in his post on the addition of GPS in the iPhone:

With Steve Jobs' announcement that the iPhone 3G will have geolocation built-in, plenty of people are excited about finding good restaurants near them or worried about the privacy implications....

X2 Project

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"Walking" in Second Life

Alex Soojung-Kim Pang — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 12:09:24 -0700

A Japanese team of researchers, led by Keio University biosciences and informatics professor Junichi Ushiba, has created a system that allows a paralyzed man to "walk" in Second Life.
Wired reports,

Researchers at Japan's Keio University have created an experimental headset designed to monitor brain waves that allowed a man who had been paralyzed for more than 30 years to control a Second Life avatar using only his thoughts.

Health Horizons

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Ecorazzi.com The Latest in Green Gossip

Neela Nuristani — Wed, 21 May 2008 10:24:36 -0700

This site was created to showcase the combination of celebrity gossip
and environmental causes! At first it was just an experiment, but it
turned out to be a success for gossip fanatics. It is a great way to
grab different audiences, and providing them with awareness of the
green issue that is occuring today. This site incoporates gossip news
of how, why, and when celebs have interacted in some way, shape, or
form to the green issue.

http://www.ecorazzi.com

Health Horizons

Wii Fitness

Vivian Distler — Sun, 18 May 2008 11:35:45 -0700

This week, Wii Fitness will hit U.S. stores. We already know that people -- particularly seniors --

have been using the popular game console to increase their level of physical activity, and others have adopted it as a tool for rehabbing from serious injuries (see this earlier post).

Health Horizons

Meat vs. Miles

Jamais Cascio — Wed, 14 May 2008 16:14:20 -0700

Carnegie Mellon University's Christopher Weber and H. Scott Matthews argue in a new report in Environmental Science and Technology that, when it comes to the environmental (especially carbon) impact of food webs, the presence of meat in the diet matters more than the distance the food has traveled.

Ten-Year Forecast

Fast food facts on the go

Vivian Distler — Wed, 14 May 2008 06:40:24 -0700

I love it when our local rag, the Palo Alto Daily News, is the the source for one of my posts. And it's even more fun when a headline is brought to my attention by a colleague while we are in downtown Palo Alto's only "dive" bar. (I hope I don't get in trouble for revealing too much!) And best of all, the story is about a company that I recently discovered and about which I have been meaning to write something.

"Getting your fingers on fast-food nutritional details" ran yesterday. As the lead 'graph says: "Calorie-counting fast-food lovers may be heartened to know there's a new source for nutrition information at their fingertips."

Mobile Health

Have cell phone, will get medical care

Vivian Distler — Fri, 09 May 2008 16:08:49 -0700

A couple of weeks ago, I came across a Business Week headline that warmed the cockles of my Health Horizons blogger heart: "Medical Advances--Through Your iPhone?" The article describes several mobile phone health apps.

Mobile Health

Cell phones and health in the developing world

Vivian Distler — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 23:36:16 -0700

Jan Chipchase is a "user anthropologist" for Nokia, the Finnish cell phone company; he travels the globe to study how people use and think about cell phones. A recent New York Times Magazine article profiles Jan and examines the role of cell phones in the developing world.

Mobile Health

Have you taken your smart pill today?

Vivian Distler — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 15:19:53 -0700

Coming soon to a pharmacy near you . . . pills that can monitor when they have been taken and what effects they are having on your body. Michael Chorost, who spoke at IFTF's recent Ten Year Forecast Conference, reports in MIT's Technology Review about Proteus Biomedical's development of in-body computing platforms.

Technology Horizons

DNA testing companies come under scrutiny

Miriam Lueck — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 09:39:40 -0700

Both the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Jose Mercury News broke stories yesterday about impending investigaitons by the Departments of Public Health in California and New York into six online genetic testing companies.

Health Horizons

Grad students designing the future

Vivian Distler — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 17:07:23 -0700

The Health Horizons Program often uses "iBuyRight" as a signal of the impact of mobile phone technology. It is an application that can provide shoppers with social and environmental information about a product, enabling them to make purchases aligned with their personal values. iBuyRight was developed as a thesis project by some graduate students at UCBerkeley's School of Information.

Mobile Health

Biocitizens and Advertizing

Miriam Lueck — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 08:33:43 -0700

A recent piece in the NYT BITS blog has some interesting ramifications for our forecasts on biosocial identities and affinities. It discusses a set of “compromises” reached by the Network Advertising Initiative, an advertising trade association.

The lists of restrictions and red-flag categories represented here is about as culturally loaded as you can get, but what drew my attention was the way that biological identities, biological affinities, online collective organization were called out as particularly tricky areas of “behavioral correlation.”

Health Horizons

Regular strength or extra strength? Drowsy or non-drowsy formula? Brand name or knock off?

Vivian Distler — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 17:28:04 -0700

These are the questions I often find myself pondering as I stand in the cold medicine aisle at my local drugstore. This morning, Rod Falcon, Director of the Health Horizons Program, dropped a good old-fashioned newspaper on my desk that announced a solution to these dilemmas. Evincii, a Mountain View, CA, startup that has been in (mostly) stealth mode since 2005, has now formally unveiled its in-store, interactive, over-the-counter (OTC) drug information kiosk.

Health Horizons

WELCOME!

Vivian Distler — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 14:47:45 -0700

Welcome to the Institute for the Future's new and improved website, and the Health Horizons Program's home page. From here, you can access our publications archives (right column) and, if you are a member of Health Horizons, our most recent reports and our conference materials from the last two years. We hope you will come back often to read our blog, which highlights signals we see on the horizon of the global health economy. Your comments are valued--please let us know what you think.

Health Horizons

Online relief is in sight for pain sufferers

Vivian Distler — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:32:39 -0700

Another interesting health app I have recently discovered is called ReliefInsite. It bills itself as a source of secure online pain management services, offering real-time pain mapping, monitoring, and analysis. I was struck by its three-pronged approach--it's home page targets patients themselves, health care companies, and health care providers.

Health Horizons

A standout (?) among examples of Health 2.0 apps

Vivian Distler — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 01:10:42 -0700

The ReadWriteWeb blog offers this list of favorite Health 2.0 sites. Many will be familiar to HH members, but one relatively new entrant--Carol.com--stands out for being different. It is not a social networking site; rather, it is a health care marketplace. Limited in scope (for now) to the Minneapolis-St.

Health Horizons

Retail DNA

Vivian Distler — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 18:40:43 -0700

Navigenics is not the only company to market consumer genetic testing (see 23andMe and deCODEme), but it may be the first to do so in a retail setting (at least one as trendy as Manhattan's SoHo District). The New York Times has a short piece about Navigenics' temporary storefront in SoHo.

Health Horizons

Health Horizons' 2008 Spring Conference: Green Health and Sustainability

Vivian Distler — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 08:25:49 -0700

The Health Horizons Program will hold its "Green Health and Sustainability" conference on June 3-4 at the UCSF Mission Bay Conference Center in San Francisco.

Health Horizons

Citizen Science meets art in San Francisco

Vivian Distler — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 12:42:13 -0700

Last weekend, an artist-run organization called Southern Exposure (SoEx) held a hands-on workshop in San Francisco that invited people to "[j]oin a team of researchers, artists, and practitioners in a citizen based participatory field study." Participants took part in "collecting, gathering, and analyzing the urban environment in [the city] using a collection of mobile, networked sensors called sensr: citizen science * air quality.

Mobile Health

Walgreens is on the job

Vivian Distler — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 12:02:13 -0700

With apologies for not reporting this news item when it happened a couple of weeks ago . . . Drugstore chain Walgreen is moving into the workplace to provide on-site health care for employers. On March 17th, the company announced that it would purchase I-trax for about $260 million and Whole Health Management for an undisclosed amount.

Health Horizons

Microsoft's vision of the future of health

Vivian Distler — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 04:55:54 -0700

At last month's Mix08 conference, Microsoft played a video created by its Office Labs to share their vision of the future of personal health management It features ubiquitous integrated displays, instant sharing of information, projecting displays, and other advances in natural interface interactions.

Technology Horizons

More on games for health

Vivian Distler — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 04:03:42 -0700

My last post described one of the 40 or so sessions planned for next month's Games for Health conference. Most of the presentations will focus on games that promote prevention, compliance, or treatment. In addition to the Fold It!

Health Horizons

A nexus of Health Horizons' areas of interest: Open Health meets games for health

Vivian Distler — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 03:16:47 -0700

Next month, the Serious Games Initiative will host its Games for Health conference. There will be sessions on epidemiology in World of Warcraft, Game Addicition, Nurse Training, Rehabitainment, and a special session with some of the biggest companies in healthcare. A schedule is available here.

Health Horizons

Another entry into the online health search engine/social networking platform space

Vivian Distler — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 13:51:22 -0700

iMedix bills itself as a new way to find and share health information. Its home page features quotes from various media sources proclaiming its greatness, including this one from the New York Times: "iMedix could revolutionize the way people take care of themselves."

Health Horizons

The future of cigarettes?

Vivian Distler — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 13:21:42 -0700

I don't usually think of Wired as a source of information for the Health Horizons blog, but this recent headline caught my eye: The Cigarette of the Future: All the Cancer, None of the Nicotine." The article considers the evolution of tobacco as envisioned by the FDA's former director of the Office of Tobacco Programs, Mitch Zeller.

Health Horizons

An online health search authority figure

Vivian Distler — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 13:11:09 -0700

I confess that I have never heard of Aaron Wall, but according to the Med Tech Sentinel blog, he is quite knowledgeable about search engine optimization. Check out this post to learn more about what he has to say about online health.

Health Horizons

The coming debate about brain enhancement

Alex Soojung-Kim Pang — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:48:41 -0700

The New York Times recently had a pretty decent article about debates over brain enhancement in academia:

an era of doping may be looming in academia, and it has ignited a debate about policy and ethics that in some ways echoes the national controversy over performance enhancement accusations against elite athletes like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens.

Ten-Year Forecast

The continuing challenges of RHIOs and EHRs

Vivian Distler — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 16:37:34 -0800

In August, I wrote about the demise of the Regional Health Information Organization (RHIO) in Santa Barbara. In January, the California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF) published a discouraging report about these collaborative health information technology (IT) offerings.

Health Horizons

In-store health clinics, Part 2

Vivian Distler — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 07:23:16 -0800

A website called RNCentral.com has come up with a list of 20 ways Walmart's in-store clinics will affect health care. Some of the observations are obvious, like how the combination of flat fee services and no need for insurance is likely to attract patients who otherwise would go without medical care. Others may be less so, such as the public health benefit of a likely increase in immunizations due to the low cost and convenience.

Health Horizons

A British twist on a GHE trend

Vivian Distler — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 07:00:36 -0800

On the Global Health Economy map, we identified retail health as a "big story" that led us to "[e]xpect innovations such as in-store clinics to open new channels to consumer health markets and enable to providers to extend services beyond traditional settings."

Health Horizons

Cheezborger, cheezborger, cheezborger

Vivian Distler — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 14:00:38 -0800

I can't believe I have not written about this before now. IFTF Research Affiliate Jamais Cascio has analyzed the carbon footprint of the all-American cheeseburger!

Health Horizons

Even hospitals think wellness is an important part of health

Vivian Distler — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 13:17:23 -0800

The American Hospital Association (AHA) recently issued a report entitled, "Health for Life: Better Health, Better Health Care," which places a great emphasis on wellness. The "

Health Horizons

Online health user data

Vivian Distler — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 11:01:46 -0800

From Forrester Research, via iHealthBeat:

Which Online Health Resources Have Insured Consumers Used in the Past Year?

Health Horizons

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet--and be as healthy?

Vivian Distler — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 10:27:03 -0800

A recent New York Times article describes the process by which perfume makers are rapidly developing and patenting new smell molecules, which are known as "captives." Thesaron, the brand name for a captive developed by Takasago in Japan, "has the fruity/rosy note of a very expensive class of molecules called rose ketones, but it costs far less and can be used in unlimited amounts."

Health Horizons

More on the accuracy of online health information (and a digression into Web 3.0)

Vivian Distler — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 21:37:27 -0800

Last week, I posted an entry about a recent study reported in Cancer about the accuracy of health information available online. Today, there is news from the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest. Its latest report posits that information prominently displayed in search engine results is often not only misleading and confusing, but also potentially dangerous for patients.

Health Horizons

An open source electronic health record platform

Vivian Distler — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 21:34:32 -0800

As much as I am in favor of electronic health records (EHR), I recognize that compatibility is a problem. For example, my EHR at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, which I access regularly, does not link to my records at Stanford Hospital. The efforts of companies like Google to provide online personal health records (PHRs) would allow me to aggregate all of my health information from any number of sources and control access to that data (hopefully in a secure and private way).*

Health Horizons

A step forward for Google Health

Vivian Distler — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 21:30:57 -0800

It's been a while since I have written about Google's efforts to become the home for people's personal health records (see this post, for example). So I am pleased to finally report some news on that front.

Health Horizons

The accuracy of health information online

Vivian Distler — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 21:19:48 -0800

The blog, e-patients.net, recently highlighted a new study published in the journal Cancer that examined the quality of health information people find online.

Health Horizons

Wal-Mart goes green

Vivian Distler — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

This is not really a new story, but I did want to flag the long article on MSN Money about Wal-Mart's efforts to re-invent itself as an "eco-hero." Wal-Mart has already made great strides with its own sustainability program; now, it also wants to cut its suppliers and customers' impact on the globe.

Health Horizons

The impact of medical tourism on medical devices

Vivian Distler — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 14:29:55 -0800

The Center for Business Intelligence (CBI) will be hosting a webinar on this topic on February 26th, 2008. According to the website , the webinar will address important questions medical tourism raises for the medical device industry:

Health Horizons

Social networking comes to the life sciences

Vivian Distler — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 14:37:55 -0800

Last month, Collexis announced the launch of BioMedExperts.com, an online social networking site that is being billed as the MySpace for research scientists want to find and connect with others who share their research interests. The BioMedExperts website explains that it connects scientists

to each other through the display and analysis of the networks of co-authors with whom each investigator works to publish scientific papers.

Health Horizons

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Functional foods hit the L.A. scene

Vivian Distler — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 14:37:55 -0800

Another hip and trendy fad? Celebrity-studded restaurants in Los Angeles are now offering menu choices that specifically claim to boost immunity and offer other health benefits. A New York Times article describes several such restaurants, including Crustacean, a modern Vietnamese place.

Health Horizons

Wii as a health tool

Vivian Distler — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

I was taking a quick break from an editing project and skimming the AP Wire news headlines when this one caught my eye: "Doctors use Wii games for rehab therapy." As IFTF Research Affiliate Richard Adler discussed during his presentation at our Spring 2007 Workshop on "Games and Gaming for Health" (his PowerPoint is available to Health Horizons members in our archives), Wiis have become a surprising source of physical activity for the senior citizen crowd.

Health Horizons

Program Research Agenda 2008

Vivian Distler — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 15:26:15 -0800

As the global health economy continues to unfold over the next decade, the Health Horizons Program will explore the landscape of innovation, business models, markets, and boundary players that will ultimately shape it. In 2008, the Program’s frame of reference will continue to be the Global Health Economy Map of the Decade. With the map as a compass, the Health Horizons Program will take a broad look and some deep dives into key trends shaping the future and the big stories on the horizons.

Health Horizons

Taking anytime, anyplace health to a new high

Vivian Distler — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 08:07:35 -0800

This is the kind of story for which one might expect to say, "Only in San Francisco." But it turns out that the world's first pot vending machines have popped up in Los Angeles. Located adjacent to two medical marijuana dispensaries, the machines are accessible 24/7 and are protected by round-the-clock security guards. To get your favorite strain of weed (yes, patients have a choice), you'll need to have your prescription approved, your fingerprints taken, and a prepaid credit card loaded with your dosage.

Health Horizons

Get a second opinion -- Is Kaiser's new video game good for kids' health?

Vivian Distler — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 15:26:00 -0800

Several weeks ago, I wrote about a new video game designed to teach kids about nutrition. Developed by Kaiser Permanente and targeted at 9-10 year olds, "The Incredible Adventures of the Amazing Food Detective," shuts down for an hour after each 20 minute session, ostensibly forcing kids to go be active and play during that time. I wondered what would keep kids from simply popping another video game into the machine.

Health Horizons

More on health in Second Life

Vivian Distler — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 13:33:00 -0800

The headline of an article in SLNN.com (Second Life News Network) a few weeks ago announced, "Health loves a Second Life." That led me to the blog site of a medical student in Hungary who is using SL to further his education.

Health Horizons