Blockchain Technology – Answer to Modern Healthcare Needs

Blockchain and its application extends beyond financial transactions and cryptocurrency. Originally, blockchain technology was developed as a decentralized system to record transactions that were stored and maintained across a peer-to-peer network of computers. This technology was used mainly for cryptocurrency, but has now evolved as a cutting-edge data-security medium for the healthcare sector. Given that blockchain is a public ledger that is secure and immutable, it has become the perfect paperless solution within healthcare.

In a short period of time, blockchain technology has taken the medical world by a storm. Healthcare has always been a very centralized industry holding enormous amounts of patient data (medical history, billing information, insurance data, etc.), bringing prominent issues such as identity thefts, financial data breaches, spamming, and data misuse to the forefront. This, coupled with the fact that patients had little control over their own data, increased the need and urgency for secure, accessible, and verifiable data.

The emergence of blockchain has effectively fixed this gap, acting as a security blanket for all health-data and limiting financial breaches. A part from data security, blockchain is also addressing several supply-chain impediments within the healthcare industry via fraud detection capabilities and counterfeit product identification.

Blockchain is being implemented in the healthcare industry in the following areas:

• Medical Data Management
• Medical Claims, billings and insurance claims
• Medical research
• Data security
• Reduced operational (IT, support function, etc.) costs
• Pharma supply chain security
• Identification of counterfeit products
• Data based mHealth apps

Shaping the Future of Healthcare with Blockchain

Health-based information exchange that utilizes blockchain and AI can unlock the true value of interoperability. It is evident that blockchain has immense potential across industries, especially within healthcare. Capitalizing on this technology in an optimal way - the way many mHealth apps (such as Wanngi, Playpal, Sweatcoin, HealthyWage) are - can help connect fragmented systems that, in conglomeration, generate meaningful health-insights.

4 Tips to Stay Healthy and Fit This Winter

Winter is just around the corner. During this season, everything and everyone seems to go into hibernation, making it especially challenging for us to stay fit and active. Not only does the cold make you want to sit by your fireplace and drink tonnes of hot chocolate, but the shorter days that come with the season make it harder to squeeze in a workout.
Despite the cold weather, there are many good reasons to keep pumping in the winters to stay healthy and fit. You can simply follow the 4 simple tips below to stay healthy and active this winter.

Bring Fitness Indoors

It is easy to understand why you wouldn’t want to go on your usual morning jog on a cold winter day. Many don’t even bother to go to their own gym, just so they can savour the warmth of their beds for a few extra minutes. All well and good, but this doesn’t mean you cannot stay fit and active indoors. There are plenty of simple yet effective workouts you can do while staying inside your house - whether its yoga, aerobics, strength training, or even HIIT (high intensity interval training). While these are all viable and accessible solutions (Kudos to Youtube), one must be wary about staying indoors for too long during the winters - Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is already a popular phenomenon during this time of the year, and lack of fresh air and socializing can aggravate it.

Take Care of Basic Hygiene

In the winter, we tend to get lazy and ignore self-care. Most of us start to bathe less and overlook the importance of basic hygiene, such as washing our hands. This can increase the chances of developing colds and can weaken our immune system, making us more and more unproductive as workers, students, or simply as members of society. 

Eat Healthy

During this season, we tend to live more on coffee, tea or other hot beverages than on water, disrupting our hydration levels and even our food intake patterns. Try to consume more seasonal fruits and vegetables to get the most out of the season. Vitamin C enriched fruits (such as oranges) are in abundance during this time, so capitalize on your chance to boost your immune system!

Keep Yourself Hydrated

In cold weather, our bodies tend to lose more water due to the dryness in the air. This, coupled with the fact that our thirst for fluids (especially water and juices) decreases in the winters, leads to excessive dehydration, a consequence that is often not realized until it is too late. So, better to set a daily goal and keep track of your daily water consumption - on average, 8-10 glasses of water a day is enough, but this may vary in cold temperatures.

Conclusion

Health and fitness should not be seasonal habits. You don’t have to leave your exercise routine just because the weather is against you. Embrace the cold, enjoy the chilly weather, and make healthy habits a part of your lifestyle until they become second nature.

Top 5 Health Tech Startups to Follow in 2019

The world isn’t getting any younger. According to statistics from the World Health Organization, our population is aging faster than ever before. By 2020, the number of people aged 60 years will outnumber children under the age of 5. This poses a crucial question to humanity: How must health providers care for our aging population with such limited resources (i.e. medical supplies and staff)?

While this question creates an inescapable headache for governments and policy makers, it creates an untapped opportunity for investors and businesses to capitalize on the further rise in demand for healthcare products and services (including healthtech products). Today, we have an array of innovations that are attempting to tackle these gaps by revolutionizing the health-industry with the help of artificial intelligence and blockchain. By breaking away from the traditional treatment-based approach to health and moving toward a prevention-based health model, we have now transitioned to a world where proactive health is the new standard.

Unlike past practices, the healthcare industry is now more open and welcoming to health-tech innovations, owing to the recent tech-boom. Let’s take a look at the top 5 health-tech startups that are disrupting the current healthcare industry.

1) AdhereTech

Location: New York, USA

Niche: We all have trouble with adhering to a prescribed medicine regime. AdhereTech has come up with a smart solution for this! They have developed a smart pill bottle that notifies patients about the time at which they have to take their medicine. The bottle automatically sends an alert notification to the patient’s phone and also monitors his/her dosage and usage patterns. As the name already suggests, this smart bottle analyzes the adherence pattern of the patient. If it notices any non-adherence, it seeks feedback from the patient to help locate the reason for it to resolve it.

2) Playpal

Location: Colorado, USA

Niche: Powered by AI and blockchain, Playpal offers a simple solution to the biggest issue faced by the healthcare industry today: consolidation of large volumes of fragmented health data. Playpal collects your health-stats from your wearable health devices, government databases, and mHealth apps to offer you real-time and customized health recommendations that help you manage your health proactively. That’s not all! Playpal has partnered with the HIECOH Wealth Foundation to introduce a new Health Currency to its users as part of its gamified incentive model. Thanks to Playpal, its users can now earn health tokens for consistently adhering to its recommendations. So, get ready to earn money while living healthy!

3) CliniCloud

Location: California, USA

Niche: CliniCloud has designed a revolutionary interconnected medical kit that can be easily used at home to monitor your vitals. This medical kit works on wireless and non-contact principles. CliniCloud has successfully developed no skin-contact stethoscopes and thermometers. Using these, you can share your vitals with your doctor via cloud without having to be there. CliniCloud allows the doctors to deliver care to far off patients remotely, and is the epitome of convenient care.

4) Calm

Location: California, USA

Niche: Say goodbye to those uneasy nights in which you struggle to get a good night’s sleep. Calm uses a combination of various relaxing and meditation techniques to help you get a sound sleep. By offering a blend of relaxing scenes and calming sounds that help users de-stress. Calm not only improves its users sleep but also boosts their confidence levels and reduces their anxiety.

5) Feel

Location: California, USA

Niche: With increased awareness on the importance of sound mental health, more and more health-tech startups are focusing on building this aspect of the health industry. One such example is Feel, a wristband that tracks user’s emotional wellbeing and monitors biosignals in order to provide personal recommendations that improve mental health and emotion-regulation.

The Top 5 startups above make it evident that technology has vastly changed the structure of the healthcare industry. From revolutionary ideas like Playpal to innovative solutions like Feel, healthcare and health management is (without a doubt) on the heels of historic technological breakthroughs. New advancements have brought forward better healthcare delivery, advanced medical devices, more effective treatment plans, and proactive preventive care. We now live in an exciting time when corporations, government & institutions, and startups can collaborate to transform the existing systems across industries!

Top 5 Free Fitness Apps to Keep you in Shape

Do you want to get in shape without spending on gym memberships? Is it getting difficult to stick to your resolution to stay fit this year? Don’t sweat it. Just continue reading!

The first few days of a new workout routine are always the hardest, but remember that It’s never too late to start an exercising routine. Fortunately, iOS and android devices have an ample of options for you to get and remain fit, and that too for free. From a large pool of fitness apps, we have chosen top 5 one’s for you.

1) Johnson & Johnson Official 7 – Minute Workout

This app has the highest score when it comes to safety levels. It includes fitness guidelines and combines both aerobics and strength training exercises. Since its safe, this app is great for beginners, who can now get a full body workout! Johnsons & Johnsons is making your every minute count by giving only 7 minutes of your day to your body. With 72 main exercises and 22 more customizable options, your body can now be in shape without having to spend an entire day or a lot of money at the gym.

2) Freeletics Bodyweight

If you live in a small apartment and have very limited space for keeping any workout machine, then this app is just what you were looking for. Using its special filter, you can find exercises that you can do easily in a 2×2-yard space. This app contains more than 900 workouts that you can customize to make a 10 – 30 minutes routine for yourself.

3) Female Fitness Women Workout

This app is especially designed for busy women who are juggling work and raising their kids. It is a great option to create a custom workout that suits your goal time and targets your problem areas. Female Fitness Women Workout contains more than 80 workouts that are carefully designed just for women. It gives you an opportunity to achieve your perfect weight within your home with just 7 minute daily workouts. 

4) Nike Training Club

From Nike you can expect nothing less than a great app. This app is perfect for you if you need to tone a problem area of your body. It also contains several other workouts that can help you improve your performance in sports. You can set your workout time according to your preference, ranging from 15 to 45 minutes. If you are looking to increase your muscle strength without a personal trainer, then this app is for you.

5) 30 Days Fitness Challenge

Get ready to tone your body from head to toe. This app works on timelines that give you a guided workout for 30 days with 20 minute daily workout plans. It pushes your body to its full limit and potential with its challenging workout routines. The sole purpose of this app is to reduce weight, build strength, and achieve your goal size.

AI and Wearable Devices taking Healthcare to the Next Level

Similar to any other tech advancement, wearable health devices are everywhere now. Every other person has some kind of wearable to monitor their health or to remain fit. These wearables are non-invasive ways to collect high quality patient data. When artificial intelligence is added into this equation, it opens a whole new world of smart analysis and e actionable insights that can help save lives in real time.

Wearable health devices started as a fun tech trend but, as of late, have real world implications and have evolved into cost effective and efficient methods for tracking patient health without keeping them in the hospital. Recently in England, the National Health Service pilot program is deploying new discharge practices by providing patients with their own wireless, wi-fi enabled armbands that remotely monitor their vital signs, such as oxygen levels, respiratory rate, blood pressure, pulse and body temperature. It is no surprise that this new protocol has been enabled by artificial intelligence, has decreased hospital readmissions and emergency visits, and has helped patients follow their treatment plans more efficiently from their homes.

AI in the Play

Evidently, AI plays an important part in making all this a reality. Without being able to analyze this fragmented data, there is no use in collecting it. Before these armbands, the hospital staff had to collect patient vitals in-person every week post-discharge. So these wearables have not only saved patients their roundtrips but have also introduced an intelligent way of looking out for bothersome data, allowing patients and doctors to become proactive versus reactive. In short, ArtificiaI Intelligence, coupled with these wearable devices, create low-error health predictions at a significantly cheaper cost.

Decentralized Healthcare

AI can help in making the dream of decentralized healthcare a reality. According to WHO estimates, 60% of our lifestyle choices affect our health and quality of life. These lifestyle choices include regularly taking medicines, reducing stress, exercising more and adopting a healthier lifestyle. With AI monitoring individuals’ health, patients and individuals are now able to get tailored recommendations and reminders to exercise more, to make dietary changes, or to visit the doctor.

The Next Big Thing: 3 Major Trends in Digital Healthcare Technology Right Now

Every day, amazing new technological advancements help medical providers diagnose patients faster and more accurately, provide treatment options digitally, and monitor things like patients’ sleep, steps, weight, and heart rate. Technological progress isn’t slowing down anytime soon; this year, $8.1billion was invested in the industry—up 42% from the previous year.

So with all this investment, what will be the next big innovation in digital health technology? Well, it looks like there are three major trends in the field: Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, and the greater ability to share data between healthcare providers and patients.

The 3 Biggest Trends in Digital Healthcare Technology

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere we look, from our kitchen (“Alexa, play my ‘dinner’ playlist”) to website chatbots. Every day, scientists are finding ways to use AI helps medical providers provide patients with better, faster, and more accurate care.

For instance, AI algorithms for health are being used to analyze radiology images. Currently, radiologists are overworked and overwhelmed. Because of the high number of patients, they can only spend mere seconds looking at images, which results in a high rate of misdiagnoses. AI can help by streamlining the analysis process, reducing the number of clicks radiologists need to perform a task, or by learning user preferences or habits to make diagnosis faster and more accurate. Automation helps relieve or prevent radiologist fatigue and improve diagnostic ability, so many companies are working on improving AI technology in the healthcare field.

Augmented Reality (AR)

Augmented Reality (AR) has been helping doctors use scans and images to diagnose patients and prepare for medical procedures. But new technology aims to help doctors during surgery to provide better, more accurate care.

During surgery, surgeons and their medical team need constant access to a large amount of data, including diagnostic images and vital signs. Currently, most operating rooms have 2D screens scattered around the room, and surgeons have to look away from the patient and the surgery to check them. For delicate surgical procedures, this can be dangerous.

AU can help make increase the success rate of surgeries. AU headsets are being designed that will allow doctors to see digital images, patient data, and other important things without having to look away from the patient. This will help reduce life-threatening errors and save money by reducing outdated displays.

Data Sharing

Big Data is talked about frequently in the health field currently, because in the past decade many developments have been made to provide patients and medical providers with greater and more accurate data about things like patients’ steps, sleep, weight, heart rate, and more. This trend isn’t slowing down anytime soon, as wearables and mHealth apps continue to become more advanced and widespread.
In particular, many leading health insurance companies are looking to or already have adopted methods to track and use patients’ quantitative data to create data-driven, incentive-based health policies that simultaneously will reduce costs and provide better care to patients.

Playpal - The Next Big Health Revolution 

Playpal is on the cutting edge of this data-driven healthcare technology. The Playpal platform uses extrinsic incentives and gamified challenges to give healthcare providers and insurance companies better access to patient data while providing more accurate care and diagnoses. Exciting technological advancements like AI, AU, and data-driven digital healthcare continue to improve patient care, streamline processes, and cut costs, making healthcare more effective and efficient.

Digital Health Solutions for Chronic Disease Management

Chronic diseases are on the rise and account for 75% of U.S. health-care spending and 70% of U.S. deaths. Furthermore, the number of Americans suffering from chronic diseases is expected to increase from 47.7% in 2018 to 49.2% in 2030. This, coupled with the projected decrease in nursing specialists (Sigma estimates 400,000 professionals will be needed by 2020), indicates that we will soon be confronted with a mass health management problem. Technology, however, may hold the solution to effectively administering the increasing onset of chronic diseases. In this article, we explore these technological solutions.

Digital health-care apps

Heart disease, diabetes, and lung disease are the three chronic diseases that have the most significant financial impact on the health-care industry. Research on these three chronic diseases reveals that less money would be spent if patients regularly took their medications and were routinely monitored for their vitals and symptoms. This lack of effective monitoring is accreting the burden on limited health-care resources. Nevertheless, recent achievements have been attained with the advent of digital health-care apps, which can monitor a patient’s health vitals and provide helpful alerts when it is time to take medication. 

Such digital health solutions are gaining traction in chronic disease management (CDM), specifically in diseases like: 
Diabetes: In collaboration with the American Medical Association, Intermountain Healthcare is running a test pilot of an online program for Omada Health patients at risk for diabetes.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD): A health application called COPD Co-Pilot has been developed by Temple University’s Temple Lung Center to help measure how serious symptoms are compared with a patient’s baseline data.

High blood pressure: Rush University Medical Center is working with Proteus Digital Health to augment users’ compliance with blood-pressure medication using a system called Proteus Discover.

Heart disease: The Mayo Clinic published a study in the Journal of Clinical Investigations wherein researchers successfully tested a health app that provided information about healthy lifestyles and the ability for cardiac rehab patients to report their dietary and exercise habits.

Four-Step Process 

Despite these developments in the digital health-care industry, health tech apps on their own may be inadequate in delivering a comprehensive solution to the problems faced in CDM. The Harvard Business Review believes that in order for CDM apps to succeed and create user retention, they must employ a four-step process called the “adopt-diffuse-use-improve” cycle, in which:
App developers make a compelling argument for clients to adopt a new digital health product
The developers work to diffuse the app and convince users to give it a try
The app achieves a sustained level of usage, preferably integrated within the natural flow of the user’s daily activities. The app should constantly be improved upon.

Playpal is one such example of a digital health solution that has recently emerged on the mHealth market. The Playpal Platform is a digital health marketplace that unifies global health IoT devices, apps, and stakeholders to create interoperability in the health market and make health-management seamless. Playpal’s engine follows the principles of the “adopt-diffuse-use-improve” process by presenting tailored insights to individuals to better manage and preempt their health outcomes. 
As the number of chronic disease cases increases, technological solutions are more important than ever; holistic Platforms like Playpal are making strides in the health tech industry by providing significant levels of support to the thousands of people with chronic diseases.