UWW310 Technology & Health

Forbes reveals health trends for 2016 including many hospitals and medical centers revamping and acquiring new tools to stay in competition, banking created solely to fund healthcare in low-income countries, free diagnostic and preventive screenings in the U.S., a huge spike in wearable health technology and even new legislation in favor of affordable healthcare.

The Misfit Flash is making it more affordable for everyone to use wearable health technology. With a rise in wearable technology, more people are wanting to count their steps and track their sleep, but it can come at a high cost. MisFit offers an affordable alternative that is waterproof and has a longer battery life which would seemingly make it more accurate as well. Seems like a no-brainer when choosing wearable health technology.

One of the best ways for businesses to reduce their administrative costs associated with employee benefits is to automate as many of the processes as possible. Technology can help optimize the efficiency of employee benefits functions and create a better all-around user experience. Just a few years ago, I was still filling out paper forms for my annual benefits election. Today, everything is online. It's so much easier and more efficient, too!

Combat HAIs with the world's only Full Spectrum UV Germ-Zapping Robot. Discover Xenex solutions, peer-reviewed HAI reduction outcome studies and more. The hospital I worked at purchased one of these machines and reduced hospital infection rates considerably!

Digital innovations have now made it possible for consumers to use portable devices to access their medical information, monitor their vital signs, take tests at home and carry out a wide range of tasks.

We now have the technology to digitize a human being in highest definition, in granular detail, and in ways that most people thought would not be possible. Accessing our medical records and our personal medical data has never been easier, with EMR portals, apps and other products from the digital world.

Do-it-yourself health care Advancements in personal health care can be credited partly to technology such as wearable devices and smartphone applications that are now allowing individuals to track their health. Mike Thompson, a principal in PwC's global human resources services business, explains that this will undoubtedly continue in 2015. At work, our focus is on contracting for the providers and finding alternative payment methods, such as pay for performance (tied to health outcomes) and trying to reign in costs for the higher cost patients by providing care management and tools for daily living with their condition.

In a study published Tuesday, researchers say "cancer drivers" -- altered genes that contribute to the disease's progression -- can be identified through health data exchange. The researchers used an algorithm to analyze integrated data from the Cancer Genome Atlas and the Protein Data Bank. Health IT Interoperability. This is one time using personal data can be used for a great purpose!

Remote patient monitoring remains a vital aspect of strengthening patient health outcomes and the quality of care across the medical field. At my place of work, we have a new benefit called teledoc. We can call, text, email, skype with a provider if primary care is unavailable.

This is a great idea, especially for people unable to be removed from their homes from illness or injury!

A new year is upon us and we are already seeing amazing advancements in healthcare technology, everything from enterprise cloud software to nanobots. Is healthcare finally catching up with the times? New startups and fortune 500 companies alike, are in a modern-day health care gold rush, with everyone trying to stake their claim.

iHealth, makers of popular smartphone-connected wireless scales, glucometers, and blood pressure cuffs are releasing a new blood pressure monitor that uses your iPhone or iPad to control the device and display readings. Designed to be more affordable while offering similar features compared with iHealth's previous models, the iHealth Ease is very portable and costs only $40.

Electrical stimulation of the brain might hold potential as a weapon against obesity, a small study suggests. The U.S. National Institutes of Health study found that stimulating the brain's prefrontal cortex caused people to eat less, consume fewer calories from soda and fat, and lose more weight.

On any given day, teens in the United States spend about nine hours using media for their enjoyment, according to the report by Common Sense Media, a nonprofit focused on helping children, parents and educators navigate the world of media and technology. Let's just put nine hours in context for a second.

Just a few days earlier, a CDC researcher announced in the New England Journal of Medicine that another man's lung cancer was caused by the cancer of his tapeworm. That's right. The worst headache of Luis Ortiz's life was due to a "wiggling" tapeworm surgeons found inside a cyst inside his brain.

Did you know 20% of people regret their tattoo? That's 1 in 5! The number is astounding, but not surprising. There was a 43% increase in the number of tattoos removed in 2012, and 40% of people cited employment concerns as a reason for having their tattoo removed.

This article, published by the International Journal of Obesity, discusses a correlation between use of communication and information technology and overweight and obesity, particularly among girls. However, the researchers did not find a correlation between playing digital games and overweight/obesity. Interestingly, they suggest that digital games me be a good replacement for TV and computer use.

Interesting study, What about interactive video games, wouldn't that help?

As the world becomes more digitized, the health care industry is racing to keep up, sparking an explosion of new digital technology geared to improving patient care. Most visible to patients is the move to electronic medical records, or EHRs, by doctors and hospitals in an effort to streamline record-keeping and meet federal guidelines.

The latest medical technology news from around the world.

An online service launched in 2005, called Nutrax, helps people "watch what they eat" by allowing them to snap pictures of their meals and send them to an online food diary. The idea is that taking pictures is fast and easy, and much less cumbersome than keeping track of what you eat by writing it down. This technology improves chances of success in making dietary changes.