Welcome to the end of another week, which means it’s time to wrap up the news of the week in the HealthTech Zone.
Within the last decade, wireless connectivity via Wi-Fi has become integrated into nearly every aspect of life. That high level of integration means many people and businesses are heavily invested in the quality and consistency of their wireless connectivity. Testing the reliability of wireless networks can be difficult and requires significant expertise. Ixia’s IxVeriWave software suite looks to make that process significantly easier by helping network administrators simulate and measure many important elements of Wi-Fi service, allowing them to optimize their devices for their own network’s performance.
Million Heart, a public-private collaboration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, created a challenge for its contenders to create a heart related app in a competition called the Risk Check Challenge. The winning mobile app, Heart Health Mobile, was developed by Wisconsin’s Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation, which will help consumers assess their risk of heart attack or stroke and direct them to participating health screening locations in their community.
As the price of medical care keeps growing, healthcare professionals are trying to find ways to provide high-quality treatment while saving money. Until recently, this has been a losing battle, but the advent of mobile and wireless technology is giving healthcare providers a tool they can use to cut some of the cost associated with the treatment of patients. In its recent study, “Wireless Patient Monitoring Technologies - Evaluation of Funding Prospects,” Frost & Sullivan assessed the viability of investing in this technology.
It was recently shown that patient-care settings – such as nursing homes – with less advanced technology may see lower levels of care and less privacy for their patients. In a recent study, Greg Alexander, who teaches at the nursing school at the University of Missouri, concludes that healthcare practitioners use information technology to “help make clinical decisions, electronically track patients' care and securely relay medical information,” the university said.
3D, full-body imaging is now available at Shriners Hospitals for Children-Portland (Oregon) featuring the EOS Imaging System. Easier on young patients, it provides full-body images whether the child is standing or in a sitting position. It also only exposes patients to low doses of radiation.
Perhaps one of the most compulsory functions of any healthcare system is the examination of microscopic tissue samples and cells. Virtual microscopy has become a very popular way to digitize the slide samples. It is also a very clear-cut method of investigating the spread and presence of cancer in tissue. The problem with virtual microscopy, though, is the automated image analysis process and any sort of Web publishing of digital imagery, mostly due to the fact that the digital images produced are enormous. Read more here.
Assurant Health and Zensar Technologies have just formed a strategic alliance that will span five years and enable the companies to work on the development and implementation of information technology support for a new suite of business applications. This newly inked agreement comes months after the government unveiled a set of new health-related regulations including: Patient Protection and the Affordable Care Act.
That’s all for this week in the HealthTechZone. Have a great weekend!
