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Tag: digital health
11/15/2023

‘Getting Heads in Headsets’: Exploring Virtual Reality Use in the VA

Article Excerpt: Virtual reality (VR), though initially relegated to the world of gaming, is increasingly being applied in healthcare. Healthcare research and provider organizations nationwide are actively exploring the use of VR technologies in various aspects of care delivery — and the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is one such organization.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/29c554fh

Article Source: mHealth Intelligence

11/09/2023

Your Smartphone Can Determine Your Level of Intoxication

Article Excerpt: In an innovative approach to public health and safety, a recent study suggests that everyday technology, like smartphones, could play a pivotal role in reducing alcohol-related accidents by determining if you are intoxicated. This study, a collaborative effort between Stanford Medicine and the University of Toronto, uncovers how smartphones and smart speakers might be utilized to assess a person’s alcohol intoxication through changes in their voice… The study stands as a clarion call to action for the creation of digital biomarker repositories by institutions like the National Institutes of Health. The ultimate aim is to forge an intervention system that is both user-friendly and effective in preventing injuries and saving lives, leveraging the power of technology for societal well-being.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/3hsmerst

Article Source: earth.com

10/28/2023

Updates in Federal Legislation Addressing Digital Therapeutics, Access to Care

Article Excerpt: Health care legislation has been on hold at the federal level following Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) removal as Speaker of the House. Although legislation cannot currently pass through Congress, important actions around digital therapeutics, access to care, and health care disparities are still important to highlight. In a session at AMCP Nexus 2023, Jennifer Mathieu, MA, senior vice president of professional and government affairs at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy, and Geni Tunstall, JD, director of regulatory affairs at AMCP, discussed federal legislative and regulatory updates that are on the horizon.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/5bt7ktce

Article Source: AJMC (Also in Pharmacy Times).

10/23/2023

Connected Healthcare Strategies to Boost Rural Access, Digital Equity

Article Excerpt: In the post-public health emergency (PHE) landscape, healthcare provider organizations are increasingly focused on incorporating and expanding hybrid, omnichannel, and connected models of care. These models leverage digital tools to enhance patient access and experience through capabilities like online scheduling, telehealth, and remote patient monitoring. However, organizations must ensure that medically underserved populations are not left behind, and health equity remains top-of-mind as connected healthcare efforts proliferate nationwide. At Xtelligent Healthcare Media’s 4th Annual Connected Health Virtual Summit in October, leaders from prominent health systems discussed these themes, delving into the opportunities and challenges of leveraging connected care efforts in underserved areas, as well as the importance of digital health equity and strategies for closing digital health gaps.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/2n2u9crc

Article Source: mHealth Intelligence

10/15/2023

FDA Forms New Digital Health Advisory Committee to Cover Growing Role of Tech

Article Excerpt: From time to time, the FDA convenes an outside group of experts to weigh in on an experimental drug or medical device, or to offer insight on a scientific matter that raises questions. The FDA has 49 committees and panels oriented around various therapeutic areas and modalities. As regulatory submissions increasingly include digital components, the agency wants to ensure it is adequately informed about these technologies. It’s adding a digital health advisory committee charged with providing that perspective.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/4ysra39t

Article Source: MedCityNews

10/10/2023

A New Age for Mental Health and Tech

Article Excerpt: Technology and mental health have had a long, mutually beneficial relationship. Many argue that with the rise of social media smartphone technology has become detrimental to mental health, but there is evidence that medical technology holds the potential to diagnose and treat conditions. A combination of technologies and innovative medical devices are offering new hope to individuals grappling with mental health issues.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/6avefa85

Article Source: Medical Device Network

09/21/2023

Technology Fueled America’s Youth Mental Health Crisis, But It Can Help End It

Article Excerpt: Sian Leah Beilock is a cognitive scientist who is the new president of Dartmouth College, the first woman to hold that position since the school was founded in 1769. An expert in, among other things, the effect of stress on academic performance, she is starting her tenure by putting health and wellness at the center of her leadership agenda with a focus on the country’s youth mental health crisis…Substance abuse, which is both helping drive the mental health crisis and is drastically undertreated with nearly 90 percent of sufferers going without treatment, offers an example of the power of technology to provide clinical care in underserved areas or in cases in which stigmatization prevents people from seeking the help they need. Lisa Marsch and her team at the Dartmouth Center for Technology and Behavioral Health (CBTH) created and validated the first Food and Drug Administration-cleared digital therapeutic for the treatment of opioid addiction, which provides cognitive behavioral therapy interventions though the user’s digital device and has since helped roughly double rates of abstinence by lowering the threshold for access to treatment.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/4v4jkrwd

Article Source: The Washington Post

09/19/2023

Symposium Focuses on Digital Tech for Mental Health

Article Excerpt: Technology offers new avenues for mental health delivery. Digital record keeping, virtual consultations, wearables that monitor activity and well-being, mindfulness apps, and AI-based chatbots are just a few examples. But these advances have not been leveraged effectively enough, Cornell Tech Professor and HealthRhythms Co-Founder Tanzeem Choudhury said in a keynote talk Tuesday at the Digital Mental Health and AI Symposium organized by the Center for Technology and Behavioral Health. Choudhury explored the challenges that have forestalled digital mental health from delivering on some of its early promises and how to move the needle forward.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/ysvssb4s

Article Source: Dartmouth News

09/14/2023

‘They Won’t Rip Telehealth Away’: Digital Behavioral Health Companies Prepare for Industry-Shaping DEA Decision

Article Excerpt: November is fast approaching, and with it comes the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) proposed rule on telehealth and controlled substance prescribing. After a six-month delay, the federal law enforcement and regulatory body will release regulations that will shape the future of telehealth within behavioral health in the post-COVID era. It also has the potential to redirect the evolution of telehealth in the behavioral health industry. Companies that exclusively or heavily focus on providing care via telehealth have had to prepare for the potential snapback to a regulatory environment where in-person exams were required before a telehealth provider could prescribe certain controlled substances.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/abd4vzmn

Article Source: Behavioral Health Business