Beyond Wearables: How All Your Daily Activity May Become Usable Health Data
In addition to health-specific apps, there is a range of ways for companies to gather information related to health care from a person's daily life. And the methods are rarely governed by HIPAA. Meanwhile the FDA just confirmed the agency won't be regulating fitness trackers and certain mobile health apps.
NPR:
How Your Health Data Lead A Not-So-Secret Life Online
There are apps that can help people with diabetes keep track of their blood sugar and apps that can attach to a blood pressure cuff and store blood pressure information. I use an app called ZocDoc to schedule and manage doctor's appointments. Every time I see a therapist or a primary care doctor or dentist, the data get stored in my personal account. But we leave behind other trails of health data, too, from apps and activities that are sometimes only tangentially health related. When I walk down the street, an app on my phone logs steps as it bounces against my thigh. When I swipe a loyalty card at the pharmacy, the over-the-counter medications that I buy become bits of data attached to my name. (Chen, 7/30)
Bloomberg BNA:
Fitness Trackers, Wellness Apps Won't Be Regulated By FDA
The FDA won't regulate fitness trackers and certain mobile health apps, the agency confirmed in a final guidance document released July 28. The Food and Drug Administration won't enforce its rules over products that are intended only for general wellness, such as tools for weight management, physical fitness or mental acuity, the agency said. Wellness products can be standalone products or mobile applications, and can also be sold as games, the agency said. (Ruoff, 7/29)
Bloomberg BNA:
Hospital Finds HIPAA Compliance Issues Can Lead To Trouble
Privacy is a major issue these days, nowhere more so than in health care. Medical records contain exceedingly personal patient details, and can fetch top dollar on the black market. So it was no surprise to see the recent $2.7 million settlement the University of Mississippi Medical Center reached to resolve alleged HIPAA violations. The settlement was triggered by the theft of a password-protected laptop in 2013, and when the Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights began investigating, it discovered that the medical center allowed employees to access the main network via a generic username and password. (Swann, 7/29)
In other health technology news —
Sacramento Bee:
Hospitals Say No To ‘Pokémon Go’
Any Pokémon-loving child stuck in a hospital bed would probably be ecstatic to see an Eevee or a Squirtle, two especially cute characters on the popular animated game “Pokémon Go,” wandering around the hallways or even their own rooms.
Trouble is, the elusive creatures aren’t always hanging around pediatric wards, and some kids are too sick to get out and “catch ’em all.” That’s why well-intentioned strangers have been placing “lures,” or virtual Pokémon-attracting devices, in Sacramento hospitals, causing staff to worry over privacy and security threats – and in some cases to even ban the game. (Caiola, 7/30)
USA Today/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
UW-Madison And Collaborators Launch Website On Patients’ Experiences
Marty remembers looking outside the window of his room, seeing cars go by and thinking to himself, “How do you get in your car and just go, you know, just go about your day?” Leanna talks of “going through my day like a cement block.” Sierra Rose recalls how she would stop caring about her job, thinking, “Oh, what is the point of it? I’m just a low-class American anyway.” They are among 38 people from throughout the country, all of them 18 to 29 years old, who were interviewed about different aspects of depression for a new website designed to let people better understand the diseases and conditions they’re facing. (Boulton, 7/30)
