Michelle Obama Talks Health Tech, Social Media at Klick’s Spectacular MUSE Event
Lucky guests at Klick Health’s recent MUSE event were treated to a moderated conversation with former first lady Michelle Obama, who shared her thoughts on health technology and social media usage, as well as her plans post-White House.
Having been raised by a father struggling with Multiple Sclerosis, Obama was able to comment on the important impact new health tech could have on the uninformed caregiver and the overwhelmed patient. She reminded health professionals, “…we have to think about the people side of medicine, too. You can create the best treatments, but if people don’t have a relationship to the medical profession, they don’t have ways to have those conversations, and they feel intimidated or afraid by the answers, they will never seek it out.” She stressed just how important it is to make sure health tech is accessible to all after witnessing her father and family’s difficulty making decisions and keeping up with self-care—without all of the potentially useful resources and tools available.
Pharma execs from companies such as Regeneron and Spark Therapeutics contributed advancements in gene therapy to the health tech conversation, while reps from Amazon and Google discussed medical implications for AI, voice tech, and more.
Obama also had strong opinions about how social media can be used responsibly, from providing valuable health information to helping political movements such as the call for gun control laws following the tragic Parkland shooting. She adds, “I tweet by committee. I don’t just tweet off the top of my head, which I don’t encourage people to do—especially kids. I use social media, but I use it like a grown-up.”
Klick’s MUSE event focused on the intersection of technology, art, and medicine, but Obama did find a moment to reveal that she has no plans of running for the presidency.
“Mrs. Obama is an iconic and authentic role model who has championed so many important causes, including children’s health and education,” says Klick Co-founder and CEO Leerom Segal. “She has inspired the world and we were honored to have her at Klick’s MUSE event.”
Inception Digital Reinvents Remote Meetings
Pando, a remote meeting application that offers face-to-face collaboration unlike any seen before on the market was recently developed by Inception Digital. A broadcast production company, Inception Digital created Pando to bring a live studio production of up to 60 on-camera participants, with a nearly unlimited capacity for off-camera members.
How it works? A moderator directs a production crew for seamless integration of everyone’s camera view on a 40-foot Pandorama screen. Without any special downloads, users can see each other when speaking and toggle effortlessly between the moderator, external content, and other participants.
Pando’s development meets the long-standing need for a cost-effective way to collaborate with remote or global colleagues, clients, or advisors through a deeply engaging and awesome experience.
Orbita and Mayo Clinic Partner to Provide Voice Tech Health and Wellness Content
Mayo Clinic will soon provide their health and wellness content via voice and conversational Artificial Intelligence through a partnership with Orbita, a provider of digital experience solutions with AI in health and wellness applications.
“Millions of people trust Mayo Clinic to deliver expert, comprehensive care, as well as credible health knowledge and expertise,” says Sandhya Pruthi, MD, Associate Medical Director, Mayo Clinic Global Business Solutions. “Leveraging Orbita’s technology and expertise, we can extend beyond the traditional digital channels of web and mobile to enable meaningful, content-driven conversations at the time and place information is needed. Voice is a powerful interface for providing useful, practical, evidence-based information that supports overall health and wellness goals.”
Orbita believes powerful data demonstrates better patient adoption and engagement, especially among high-risk populations with voice assistive and conversational solutions.
Finn Partners Chosen to Lead Cancer-Patient Social Media
Finn Partners will become the marketing and communications Agency of Record for Belong, the world’s largest social media network for cancer patients and caregivers. According to Goel Jasper, Managing Partner, Finn Partners Israel, Finn will help the blossoming network “pioneer a personal and virtual cancer-patient community that is vital and sustainable.”
Founded in 2015, Belong is a community based on a big data platform that not only provides access to life-changing information for patients and their caregivers, but allows them to connect to each other and medical professionals for emotional support and urgent life or medical advice.
Somatix Showcases SmokeBeat Monitoring Solution at HIMSS 2018
At this year’s HIMSS, Somatix, the real-time gesture detection company, offered live demonstrations of its passive smoking monitoring solution, SmokeBeat. The solution was developed to help increase adherence with prescribed cessation therapies through real-time incentive-based intervention.
By tapping into smart watch and smartband accelerometer and gyroscope sensors, SmokeBeat can identify and distinguish smoking from other hand-to-mouth gestures. The solution then uses machine learning and big data analytics to process the gesture data and deliver it back to physicians and clinicians via a customizable dashboard. Users can also access the data, and SmokeBeat will even provide them with further incentives to quit through information on the long-term health and financial impact of continuing their smoking habit.
“SmokeBeat is the missing link in the quest for a winning smoking cessation treatment,” Eran Ofir, CEO and Co-founder of Somatix, said in a statement. “When new studies show that medications alone don’t help smokers quit and researchers bring evidence proving that supplementing common treatments with behavior consultation will likely lead to successful smoking cessation—SmokeBeat delivers on that promise. It passively monitors smoking episodes, eliminating the need for smokers to manually report their weaknesses every time they smoke. SmokeBeat understands the smokers’ need to have continuous 24/7 support during times they are left on their own between periodical visits to the clinic.”
Aetna in Hot Water with California and Three Other States
California opened an investigation into Aetna Health Insurance—the United States’ third-largest insurer with 23.1 million customers—after a former Medical Director stated under oath that he never looked at patient’s medical records when deciding to approve or deny care. Dr. Jay Ken Iinuma served as Medical Director for Aetna when a patient was denied pre-authorization for treatment, and that patient is now suing in the state of California for breach of contract and bad faith.
Dr. Iinuma released another sworn statement noting that he looked at relevant portions of patient records, although he did not read them in their entirety. Connecticut, Colorado, and Washington, however, will still be opening their own investigations of the insurance provider. During a videotaped sworn deposition, Dr. Iinuma said that he followed Aetna’s training by simply having the assigned nurse read the records and take their recommendations, never looking at the documents himself.
Aetna is denying all allegations, stating, “Dr. Iinuma’s deposition was taken out of context to create media and courtroom leverage, and is a gross misrepresentation of how the process actually works. Medical records were in fact an integral part of the clinical review process during Dr. Iinuma’s tenure at Aetna, consistent with his training.”
Cello Health Launches New Social Media Insight Business
Cello Health Insight’s digital division will be transforming into a new social media insight and analytics business, Cello Health Logic. The dedicated digital health communications experts aim to meet the need for pharma and healthcare clients to finally understand and utilize the huge volume of real-world conversational data on social media that has the potential to drive strategic decision-making.
“For years pharmaceutical companies have kept the idea of social media at arm’s length, bound by the challenging regulatory environment. But as the inescapable rise of digital health has continued at pace, the tide has well and truly started to turn,” Damian Eade, Managing Director, Cello Health Logic, said in a statement.
“The interesting situation we have now though, is that while companies know they need to be listening, they also need the technical capability, as well as the healthcare-specific expertise and understanding to navigate and make sense of this vast sea of data. Our combination of technology and specialist industry expertise will allow Cello Health Logic to meet this growing need within the current market.”
Cello Health Logic will provide access to online conversations regarding HCPs on social media channels using a combination of the latest analytics technology, alongside expert human understanding and industry expertise, to unearth more meaningful insights from the untapped social media market.
