Pavlok: Change Habits and Train Behavior Through Electric Shock

Pavlok is a resolutions focused wristband that aims to change habits and train behavior through electric shock. Yes, the wristband sends a shock every time you miss a deadline, goal, or habit. The shock is noticeable – like a static shock on a cold, dry, winter day – but not enough to hurt you. The device can deliver around 200 shocks a day, which the company claims for a typical user will last 4 days on a full charge. 50 shocks a day! The founding team researched that it takes between 30-60 days to break most bad habits and create better ones – so after a couple months of continuous wear, you should be well along your way to a more accountable you.

For those who prefer not to be shocked so often (I would certainly be the one yelling ‘ouch!’ on the bus), beeping, vibrating, monetary penalties, and posting on your social network are other conditioning motivators. Pavlok is great for aspirational habits like waking up on time, going to the gym regularly, quitting smoking, and conquering time wasting distractions. The app monitors your goals and gives you real-time progress reports.

The Indiegogo campaign is halfway through, so if willing yourself to hit the gym via calendar reminders isn’t working, Pavlok might help.

Skulpt: Quantify Your Muscle Strength and Definition

The Skulpt Aim is the first-ever non-invasive wireless device that measures the composition and quality of muscles. When you press it against major muscle groups, the device’s sensors collect thousands of data points to measure fat percentage and muscle quality in individual muscles as well as in the body as a whole.

MQ, or muscle quality, is a measure of your muscles’ strength and definition. The higher the MQ, the stronger and more defined a person’s body is. Recent articles have noted the dangers of being “Skinny Fat,” or being thin but not toned. Time said, “thin people can sometimes carry the most dangerous kind of fat – and not know it.” The Aim assesses the body by measuring four major muscles (biceps, triceps, abs, and thighs), to create an accurate estimate of your total body fat percentage and MQ.

The Aim tracks even the slightest improvements, and shows those results real time on their dashboard so users can easily visualize their progress. In addition to tracking progress and setting goals, the dashboard provides tailored advice, recommending workouts that specifically target muscles that need improvement.

Started as a medical-grade device that has been used in top US hospitals, the technology underlying Skulpt was first used to measure muscle health of patients with neuromuscular disorders. The founders, Jose Bohorquez and Seward Rutkove realized that their powerful and innovative tech could be simplified into a small, effortless consumer fitness device, and the Skulpt was born. Skulpt is a 2014 International CES Innovations Award winner in the Health and Fitness product category and supporters on Aim’s Indiegogo campaign almost quadrupled their fundraising goal amount. You can pre-order the Skulpt today; launch date May 2014.

Founder Interview: Jon Pearce, CEO of Zipnosis – Online Diagnosis and Treatment is Here

Zipnosis is an online service that diagnoses and treats common medical conditions, 24/7, by a board-certified clinician. Yes – finally a service that can prescribe you medication to common conditions by just knowing current symptoms and past history.

There are existing companies that introduce telemedicine through complex solutions using live streaming video, focused on diagnosing tough conditions. Zipnosis differs by first entering the market to treat all the millions of people with simple, more common conditions.

As Jon Pearce, CEO of Zipnosis, describes it, “If other telemedicine companies are like Blockbuster, Zipnosis is more like Netflix. We are web based and can be used on any device. We’ve been able to build a company that is a true digital platform between a patient and a provider. We are targeting more than just information – we are focused on diagnosis, treatment and triage.”

Busy growing, the company has gone from treating an initial 8-9 conditions to adding about 40 more conditions last year, and focusing this year on triage and chronic conditions. Zipnosis can be used in 14 states and expanding, and is busy partnering with health systems to expand their diversified base of clinicians. Over time, Zipnosis will broaden from treating common conditions to include chronic ones, such as cardiac disease and hyperlipidemia.

What are users saying? The company has over 90% satisfaction rates. The clinicians prescribe by guidelines, giving better, more consistent quality care. “96% of the patients that we talk to tell 3-4 people because it’s so transformative,” Jon says. “We know it works and it works quickly and accurately. People should not be afraid of the way we are offering diagnosis and treatment. It is rooted in clinical data and successes and it is a safe and effect way to get care.”

Zipnosis is leading the way to a new, leaner and faster way to get answers and treatments to immediate health concerns. Jon assured me that California is on their short list of states they will be expanding to, and I look forward to using them. For those in the lucky 14 states, try Zipnosis the next time you need an answer.

Founder Interview: Matt Mattox, Co-Founder and VP of Products at Axial Exchange

I spoke with Matt Mattox, Co-Founder and VP of Products at Axial Exchange last week to learn more about Axial’s patient engagement software. They are currently working with 13 health systems, encompassing 70 hospitals – I downloaded the University of Colorado Health app as an example.

The app makes it easy to search for physicians in your vicinity under your health system, track and manage medications, as well as monitor changes in your body – anything from migraines to glucose readings. All of this information (plus more, like syncing your Fitbit), is consolidated into one place.

Matt believes that medication management is the most important feature of the app. “Not adhering to medication is a $100BN+ problem. We believe that if there is an adjustment to meds, the patient should know at once, and be reminded to change his intake.”

So how is this app different from other ones on the market? Matt gives an example, “If a patient has congestive heart failure and is using a weight tracker – his physician should know when there is a spike in weight. When that patient visits his care provider, we make it easy to create and share a formatted report of his health data so his physician can see what’s going on.” On the provider side, hospitals also have access to an analytics dashboard where they can monitor engagement.

As a patient, you might be using an app by Axial Exchange already and not even know it. The company doesn’t promote itself; instead Axial works with health systems to market the app to patients.

I asked Matt if giving a doctor too much patient data could be a bad thing. “We try to make the information count. For example, if a patient has diabetes, there are really only a few important things he needs to remember – don’t drink carbs, don’t eat foods you can buy in a convenience store or gas station – we try to boil down health information into actionable advice. On the tracker front, we don’t anticipate that all our patients will pour over their kidney function data and every lab value, but our providers do want to know if they are sleeping well and if they are taking medications on time and following a diet. Our goal is to focus on sustainable engagement, where clients know that the app is part of the prescription and they use it daily to manage their health.”

Axial is working on designing a disease management application as well, which will offer a clear set of learning and tracking objectives for self-managed care. I’m very excited for Axial Exchange’s growth, and hope the app comes to my health system soon. They truly offer the analytics and services needed to create successful patient engagement and promote healthy living.

Founder Interview: Akhila Satish, Founder and CEO of CyberDoctor

Akhila Satish, founder and CEO of CyberDoctor, believes in behavioral change through reflection. CyberDoctor just released their newest product, an app called PatientPartner. Fascinated by the connection between communication and science, Akhila wanted to bridge the communication gap between consumers and doctors. In her words, “We are all patients and we are all continuously patients. PatientPartner is not just an application you use when you are unhealthy, in fact we urge you to use it when you are healthy, so that you can strengthen your health awareness skill set.”

PatientPartner is composed of a series of short narrative games that take a user through another person’s life and asks them how that character would handle certain tasks and situations. Then the app asks the user to answer those same questions regarding their own actions. The app takes all these answers and analyzes the users’ selections to give personalized feedback on how the user can improve his/her health.

In recent clinical trials, patients with diabetes who used PatientPartner improved their medication management, exercise habits and eating habits. The app is not disease specific, as Akhila states, “Everything in the app is universal – we are teaching people how to think about general habits. Questions in the app can also be linked to topics beyond health, such as money and spending habits.” I asked Akhila why they decided to do clinical tests – an intensive approach that many app makers skip. She responded, “There are 40,000 apps in the app store, so to differentiate, we have to show that we are an app that is not just fun to play with, but also clinically proven to change behavior – clinically proven to work. We are measuring biological responses and running a trial makes it easier to see if users adhere to medication intake and diet changes, becoming healthier overall.”

What does Akhila hope for? “We want to get PatientPartner out to millions of people. When we looked at the clinical trial data, we actually thought it would be ethically wrong if we did not release it to the public because we want everyone to have access to it.” PatientPartner gives you two scenarios for free. Then, for the price of a latte, you can unlock additional scenarios and features, including access to a prescription drug coupon (up to 45% off on medications), and earn points redeemable for gift cards and other prizes.

OMsignal: Making body monitoring clothing a reality

OMsignal is entering the wearables space by creating a form flattering compression shirt that uses sensors embedded into the shirt to measure vital signals and daily physical activity. The data is transmitted to a smartphone app where users can track anything from their activity, heart rate, respiratory rate, breathing balance, calories burned, emotive state and more. Users can link together to monitor each other and set alerts. Prototypes of the shirt are now being distributed to interested third-party developers who are looking for ways to use the data collected to create apps on the OMsignal platform. When the shirts are finally rolled out, I suspect a string of interesting apps will also be released.

Medication Management: 10 iPhone Apps

Medication management is a very important and relatively easy thing to do – if you have the right tools. NannyJobs.net asked me to share their top 10 iPhone apps for medication management. I’ve featured Pillboxie as one of my favorites, but here are some other great ones. To get their full list, visit 10 iPhone Apps to Help Manage Medications.

Interview: Christine Lemke, AchieveMint Co-Founder, Making Healthy Choices Fun and Rewarding

AchieveMint is a multidimensional platform that not only aggregates your data from various health and lifestyle technologies (i.e. steps taken as measured by Fitbit, healthy places visited and checked in through foursquare) but additionally takes that information and uses it to reward users for healthy habits. Simply, do healthy activities tracked on mobile or web applications and earn AchieveMint points which leads to cash rewards for reaching your goals. The Company started when a few co-founders came together to discuss creating a system to track and incentivize healthy behavior as a way to improve their various health goals.

AchieveMint’s Christine Lemke, who focuses on product and operations, explains it as “There are already apps that monitor your weight and steps taken that are widely adopted. The world doesn’t need yet another one of those apps, however we saw that if there was an incentive attached to those apps, users have more loyalty in using them and ultimately improve their health.”

There has been a lot of interest from consumers who want to use AchieveMint but the company is adding users and accepting invites in a controlled and steady manner. They want to make sure that they are providing the best rewards and experience for users.

When I synced my Fitbit to the website, I was delighted to see that it pulled my historical data and gave me credit for my distance covered in early December.

The Company is offering points not only for exercise and weight loss, but also for spreading news about health. For example, soon you can earn points for tweeting and sharing healthy articles on social media websites. AchieveMint wants to work with all types of lifestyle businesses, including recipe sites and forums like Pinterest – giving points to the user for reading and promoting healthy tips.

What else can we expect going forward? Christine acknowledges that they want to make the rewards more comprehensive and not just cash based. This could mean anything from donating your earnings to a favorite charity to getting discounts on fitness gear, a nice meal or a spa day.

The Company is very focused on big data, namely sifting through all the data that is collected on you and analyzing it to get a view on which apps have what type of affect on your lifestyle. From this, AchieveMint will be able to focus on what motivates you most based on your past behavior (i.e. a certain goal or a leaderboard). Taking that knowledge, AchieveMint can create a plan for you, sort of like a “personal trainer in a box,” suggesting which activities or path to take to get back on track if you find yourself in a trough.

I certainly like the company and if you can secure a coveted invite (sign up today!) there is no reason not to use AchieveMint to help track your fitness goals and earn rewards while doing so. As Christine summarized, “At the end of the day, you improve what you can measure and we want to provide that central dashboard to aggregate your physical and social activity. We can then use that data to help people improve their quality of life through healthy living on a daily basis.”

Predictions for 2013

“Never make predictions, especially about the future.” – Casey Stengel, Major League Baseball outfielder and manager

“I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” – Thomas Watson (1874-1956), Chairman of IBM, 1943

“A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make.” – Response to Debbi Fields’ idea of starting Mrs. Fields’ Cookies

“We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.” – Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962

“But what … is it good for?” – Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip

And with those quotes in mind, my healthcare predictions for 2013:

1. New entrants into the telehealth space, encouraged by healthcare reform; more hospitals will start to partner with telehealth companies.
2. Tangible shift in quantified-self device marketing and design changes to accommodate and focus on elderly and aging population.
3. Rise in number of people with sequenced genes; predictive data used to help drive lifestyle changes and increased use in personalized medicine.
4. Increase in number of companies providing wellness tools to employees, including using mobile gaming along with meaningful incentives.
5. Adidas miCoach and other traditional sportswear and clothing companies will introduce their own version of Nike’s FuelBand + GPS. Lululemon perhaps? We can only wish.

2012 was an exciting year for healthcare with the fierce growth in mobile health technologies and the preservation of the Affordable Care Act.

I have highlighted below some of my favorite companies I’ve posted about this year, and if you haven’t checked these products out, you certainly should. Perhaps one or more will help jump start a New Year’s Resolution.

A big thank you to my followers for an amazing year and here’s to health and happiness in 2013!

– Alexis

 

Best Body Monitor and Activity Tracker:

Fitbit – Self-tracking device

Lumoback – Posture sensor and app

Misfit Shine – Self-tracking device. Not on the market yet, but the size and sleek design makes it one of my favorite

Best Self Tracking and Reminder App:

SkinVision  – Mobile app that tracks changes over time for various skin conditions

PillBoxie – Simple and effective medication management app

Cardiio  – iPhone heart rate sensor

Best Medical Answer:

Healthtap – Health questions answered by doctors and doctor locator

iTriage – Self-triage and doctor finder

iCouch – Tele-therapy website

Best Exercise Motivator:

GymPact – Monetary workout incentivizing app

StickK – Monetary goal incentivizing website

Skinnyo  – Health challenge creator, using social media to incentivize

Best Insurance and Payment Management:

Cakehealth – Streamline health insurance billing and payments onto one platform

Simplee – Compile healthcare records and bills into one easy to understand online dashboard

GoHealth – Quotes for purchasing individual health insurance

Best Up and Coming:

Proteus – Ingestible sensors, embedded in medications to capture information regarding the foods you eat and how your body reacts to them

GeckoCap – Inhaler usage tracker for kids with asthma

Vitality Glowcaps  – Prescription reminder pill cap tops that transmit data about your medication adherence