healthcare
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Penn doctors perform the first robot-assisted spinal surgery
Surgical robots are capable of feats that even the most skilled doctors can't manage, and the University of Pennsylvania just offered a textbook example. The school has confirmed that it performed the first-ever robot-assisted spinal surgery, using Da Vinci's robotic arms to remove a rare tumor where patient Noah Pernikoff's spine met his skull. The two-day operation, which took place in August 2017, started with neurosurgeons preparing the spine using ultrasonic cuts, and then brought in the robot to clear a path for removing the tumor through Pernikoff's mouth (you can see a slightly graphic illustration below). The team then used some of Pernikoff's own bone to reconstruct the spinal column section they'd removed.
Fitbit adds Quick Replies to its smartwatch platform
Fitbit isn't having a great time right now, and last week the company admitted that it had to swallow an $81 million loss over the last three months. But, with a growing smartwatch ecosystem, it's hoped that the pain will be short-lived, and that a slew of new tweaks will help turn things around.
Fitbit partners with Google to send health data to doctors
Fitness wearables are about to become even more valuable thanks to a partnership between Fitbit and Google's Cloud for Healthcare. According to a report at TechCrunch, Fitbit will be able to send health data to doctors, who will then be able to monitor both electronic records and real-time health data.
Ford takes on Uber and Lyft with its own medical transport service
Ford isn't remaining idle while Uber and Lyft start medical transport services. It's launching a GoRide service that offers non-emergency transportation for patients who may have challenges reaching appointments on time. Health care providers can book rides for patients in Transit vans with drivers and equipment that can handle special needs, including wheelchairs.
Apple will open its own medical clinics for employees
Apple is launching its own medical clinics called "AC Wellness," in a move that will allow it to take employee healthcare into its own hands. Following similar news about Amazon's venture with Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway, Apple plans to offer what it calls the "world's best health care experience" to workers. It quietly published a website for the venture with a careers page seeking a primary care doctors, nurses, an exercise coach, "care navigator," and on-site lab test personnel.
Lyft offers more rides to non-urgent medical appointments
Lyft is continuing its bid to become the go-to choice for non-emergency medical trips. It's launching a new partnership with Hitch Health that will offer Lyft rides to health care appointments across the US. The basic concept is familiar, but there's a personalized twist: Hitch offers technology that can identify the patients most likely to need a ride. In a 6-month trial run, the partnership focused on low-income, uninsured and vulnerable patients that couldn't realistically consider driving, taking the bus or asking a friend.
Fitbit's latest acquisition could help you manage health conditions
Fitbit is very familiar with the health care world, and its latest acquisition drives that point home. The company has bought Twine Health, whose centerpiece is a health coaching platform that helps you manage chronic conditions (such as diabetes and hypertension) and complete "lifestyle interventions" like weight loss or quitting smoking. The move will help Fitbit offer its wares to health plans and self-insured companies -- and, to no one's surprise, gives it a chance to make more money from subscriptions.
Amazon gets into healthcare with Warren Buffet and JPMorgan
Amazon just took a surprising turn into the healthcare industry, teaming up with investing hero Warren Buffet and New York-based bank JPMorgan Chase, the Washington Post reports. The project is still in the planning stages, so there isn't yet a lot of info on what form it will take. The idea, however, is to reduce costs while improving patient care with the aid of technology. "The ballooning costs of (health care) act as a hungry tapeworm on the American economy," Berkshire Hathaway founder Warren Buffet said in a statement.
Florida phishing attack exposes data for 30,000 Medicaid recipients
Large-scale medical hacks are horrible in themselves, but sometimes it's the ease of the hacks that's scary -- and Florida knows this first-hand. The state's Agency for Health Care Administration has warned that a phishing attack compromised data for as many as 30,000 Medicaid recipients. One of its staffers fell for a "malicious phishing email" on November 15th, giving hackers access not only to identifying info like names, addresses and Medicaid ID numbers, but also diagnoses and medical conditions. A would-be fraudster would theoretically have almost everything they could want.
Lyft expands its non-emergency medical transportation services
Lyft has teamed up with Circulation to provide on-demand non-emergency medical transportation to over 1,000 healthcare facilities across the country. Circulation launched last year and it allows hospitals and other medical facilities to schedule one-time or recurring non-emergency transportation for their patients. It lets healthcare providers and patients request rides with options like wheelchair assistance, help getting into or out of the vehicle and whether a caregiver will need a ride as well. And depending when, where and what kind of ride is needed, Circulation matches patients with the best transportation option, which will now include Lyft.
CVS buys health insurer Aetna to counter Amazon
Amazon is considering diving into the pharmacy business, and that's making incumbents nervous... so nervous, in fact, that it just sparked one of the larger acquisitions in recent memory. CVS Health is acquiring the insurance giant Aetna for the equivalent of $69 billion in a bid to create a highly integrated health care provider. You could get care right from your nearby CVS locations, and you'd have a one-stop shop for health that (theoretically) lowers costs, albeit by giving up choice. If regulators don't object to the deal, it should close in the second half of 2018.
Mytaxi offers London cabbies free medical training
A taxi-hailing app is offering London cabbies free training to deal with health-related emergencies, including acid attacks and terrorist incidents. Mytaxi's "Knowledge+" course covers first-aid techniques including cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and how to use a defibrillator. Drivers are also given advice for handling crisis situations and basic psychology, such as reading body language and de-escalating aggressive behaviour. It's being marketed as a progression of "The Knowledge," with backing from St John Ambulance, a first aid charity, and Chris Phillips, the former head of the UK's National Counter Terrorism Security Office.
NHS starts offering GP appointments via video call
You're often more likely to win a scratchcard jackpot than get a short-notice appointment at your local GP, so it's no surprise there are now a number of services offering nigh immediate, private consultations via smartphone video chat. Babylon Health is one such service that's just become available on the NHS, meaning eligible patients can book a free video consultation and chat to a GP within two hours, and sometimes much sooner. GPs can make referrals, send prescriptions to a nearby pharmacy, and users can rewatch consultations and review the doctor's notes at any time within the app.
Men's health tech creates shame-free ways to get treatment
About 50 percent of men have erectile dysfunction. That's not to say that half of all men around you at any given time have ED. The statistic is aggregated across age groups, with the condition being more prevalent in older men -- 30 percent of men in their thirties, 40 percent in their forties and so on. But despite all the men it affects (not to mention their partners), ED isn't something people talk about much. It remains a taboo subject -- so much so that men even have trouble broaching it with doctors.
Natural Cycles says contraceptive app is more effective than the pill
Contraceptive app Natural Cycles is more effective than the pill, according to the latest and largest study into the app's efficacy. After testing 22,785 women throughout 224,563 menstrual cycles, the startup found the app provided 99 percent contraceptive effectiveness if used perfectly. If used "typically", the app was 93 percent effective. The contraceptive pill, meanwhile, is 91 percent effective.
UK health body: Don’t treat vaping like smoking
Public Health England has recommended a lighter approach to e-cigarette rules and regulations in order to support vaping as a means of quitting regular cancer sticks. The body has published its new Tobacco Control Plan, which sets out the various ways it will help people kick the habit, with one of the primary goals to reduce the number of adults in England who smoke from 15.5 percent to 12 percent or less by 2022. Data would suggest e-cigarettes are significantly less harmful than normal smokes in the long-term, leading Public Health England to recommend we don't create barriers that stop people making the switch.
DeepMind’s data deal with the NHS broke privacy law
An NHS Trust broke the law by sharing sensitive patient records with Google's DeepMind division, the UK's data watchdog has ruled. The long-awaited decision falls in line with the conclusion drawn by Dame Fiona Caldicott, the UK's National Data Guardian in May. The pair's agreement "failed to comply" with the Data Protection Act 1998, according to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), because patients weren't informed that their information was being used. The ICO also took issue with the size of the dataset — 1.6 million partial patient records — leveraged by DeepMind to test Streams, an app for detecting acute kidney injury.
IBM’s Watson is really good at creating cancer treatment plans
Jeopardy-winning Watson is getting better and better at designing cancer treatments. New data presented this week at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual meeting show that IBM's Watson for Oncology suggests cancer treatments that are often in-line with what physicians recommend. The company also announced that the cancer care product, designed to help physicians diagnose and treat their patients, is being used by nine new medical centers around the world.
NHS gave DeepMind patient records on an ‘inappropriate legal basis’
A data-sharing deal between DeepMind and London's Royal Free Hospital Trust was struck on an "inappropriate legal basis," a top UK government advisor has said. In April 2016, NewScientist revealed that the company had received 1.6 million patient records to develop an app called "Streams." While there are strict rules regarding patient data and confidentiality, common law states that consent is "implied" if the information is being used for "direct care." Google's AI division used this line of thinking to justify the deal, however Dame Fiona Caldicott, the UK's National Data Guardian, disagrees because the app was still in testing at the time.
Scientists want to define just how smart robot surgeons are
For roughly three decades, medical robots have assisted surgeons in the operating theater. They provide a steady hand and can make tiny incisions with pinpoint accuracy. But as robotics improve, a new question has emerged: How should autonomous robots be treated? The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves medical devices, while medical societies monitor doctors. A robot that can operate on its own falls somewhere in between. To help, Science Robotics has produced a scale for grading autonomy in robot-assisted surgery. If adopted, it could help regulators decide when and how machines should be treated like humans.
