June: An Elegant Way to Protect Your Skin From Sun Damage

Netatmo’s June is a connected cosmetic device that protects skin from sun damage. It is an elegant bracelet that has UVA and UVB sensors to collected sun exposure data and transmit coverage recommendations to a mobile app. The app has a basic understanding of the user’s skin type (asks 6 initial questions including hair color, eye color, how do you usually tan, etc.), and based on the World Health Organization’s skin and sun criteria, the app calculates your daily sun dose percentage.

The device is meant to be a luxury piece that doesn’t interfere with your lifestyle, but instead enhances it. The app sends you alerts when you should reapply sunscreen, can tell you when to wear sunglasses or a hat, and can be pre-set to inform you when your sun exposure reaches certain levels.

Netatmo’s mission is to monitor the environment to create a healthier lifestyle through connected home and connected beauty (other products include a weather station and thermostat). As Eléonore de Fournas, PR Manager explains, “The bracelet is designed for women and targets users who may not always have sun exposure on their minds as they go about their daily lives – when they go to work, have lunch, practice an outdoor activity, or send their kids to school. It’s for women who want to take care of their skin, and prevent skin damage.”

Virginie Golicheff, Head of Communications emphasizes, “It’s really a sun coach – we wanted the design to be nice and more closely related to a piece of jewelry than a tracker. We want to teach people about their skin and educate them around UV exposure.”

It’s surprising how much sun exposure one gets after eating lunch for 30 minutes outside – almost the full 100% if there isn’t cloud coverage or if the user hasn’t applied sunscreen. Eléonore elaborates, “It’s shocking how much sun you get without noticing – and especially when it’s a bit cloudy, people really don’t think about UVA, UVB on your skin – but with June you can see that skin damage happens regardless of direct exposure.”

June has a one month battery life before recharge, which supports the goal of not being too intrusive. It is also water resistant. You can order it now from the website.

Gero Lab: Using Everyday Movement to Predict Risk of Age-Related Diseases

Locomotome, as coined by the Human Locomotome Project is a set of human locomotive data that can be analyzed to predict human stress levels and proclivity of age-related metabolic or degenerative disorders.

Gero Lab, a new and burgeoning company in this space, has been collecting locomotome data to discover markers of age-related diseases and evaluate the clinical importance of these markers. They have an app that collects initial answers to health questions and then uses activity data from devices like FitBit, Jawbone, and Bodymedia to further cement their locomotome models. Users are then sent metrics on their neurological state and potential health conditions, increasing their awareness of various health factors important for early prevention and lifestyle changes.

Gero co-founder Vera Kozyr answers some of my questions below.

What was the driving force to create Gero? What are the company’s goals?

We were originally studying different biological signals including transcriptome and genome signals, looking for signatures of aging and associated chronic deceases. Then we realized that the locomotome signal is extremely rich and much more convenient to gather, so we adjusted all our mathematical models and algorithms for it. The goal of our company is to create a convenient (non-invasive and seamless) and reliable tool for the early stage diagnosis of different diseases.

How can data collected and used in Gero models be translated into action items for users?

Awareness is very important when it comes to health. Early warnings can be impactful, especially for slowly developing health conditions. For example, life-style changes during the early stages of diabetes type 2 can significantly slow down the development of the disease or even reverse it. In the future, after passing FDA approval, GERO technology could also be used by doctors for preventative measures.

What are some of the most interesting bits of data that you have gathered so far? What is to come?

The key takeaways of our first 3,000 Fitbit study (finished in November of last year) are:

• Motor activity contains signatures of particular chronic deceases (metabolic, psychiatric and neurological)
• Low-resolution trackers (e.g. Fitbit, Jawbone, etc.) can also be used with GERO’s mathematical model with sufficient tracking time
• We are already passed the proof of concept phase to detect particular health conditions with accuracy

We keep working on increasing the accuracy of our algorithms. Along with disease risks and trends, we have learned to detect biological age and gender. At the moment we are focusing on diabetes and soon will publish some of our very interesting findings.

How does the app / data interface help users?

As we are still in the research stage we don’t claim that our app helps users at the moment. It collects activity data and helps to develop our technology. Individual health reports that we will release to our participants of course might potentially help by giving awareness of health conditions and showing their trends.

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.

EveryMove: Earn Points and Rewards for Every Move

EveryMove gives you rewards for moving. Seriously, you get points for the things you are already doing for your physical activity. Walking to work, running, biking, or mowing the lawn? Sync up your wearable activity tracker or manually input your activities to get rewarded and recognized by your health plan, your employer and national brands. Right now, over 160 brands use EveryMove to reach subscribers and reward them for activity. What was the thought process behind creating EveryMove? CEO and Co-Founder, Russell Benaroya tells us his story.

In 2005, Russell launched REM Medical, a network of comprehensive sleep centers to deliver leading quality sleepcare in the rapidly expanding field of sleep medicine. While at REM Medical, he saw that nearly 80% of their patients were being treated because of poorly made lifestyle choices, including those surrounding diet and wellness. While managing and solving these issues was important to REM, Russell saw the value in prevention. He wondered, “How do we create a company that isn’t constrained by people who are already in the healthcare system? We came up with the goal that we wanted to improve the lives of 10 million people in 10 years, which required technology that could scale and the ability to reach people who are wellness minded but not necessarily already inside the healthcare system.”

Russell’s goal of impacting people before they found themselves inside the healthcare system laid the foundation for EveryMove. In his words, “Through a number of iterations, we got inspired by the idea of putting control into the hands of the consumer to show that their healthy lifestyle has value.”

There are 200,000 registered users on EveryMove today and growing quickly. To help participants who are looking for the right wearable tracker for their individual needs, the company just launched their Fitness Tracker Device and Comparison Tool. As Russell describes, “We want to be seen as a champion on the forefront of healthcare tracking. We don’t know what works for you, but we can help you discover the perfect solution.”

Russell thinks that the timing is right for people to adopt a healthy, value based activity system. “We think that the convergence between healthcare change, wearables, and increased smartphone processing power is creating a nexus point of tremendous opportunity for us.” EveryMove isn’t betting on a single app or device. Even Russell wears and uses multiple devices (Moves App, Fitbit, Nike FuelBand, and Garmin on runs). Instead, EveryMove wants the wearables ecosystem to flourish. As a rewards plan for health, Russell wants users to feel that, “I am part of something that is much bigger than myself and by being a part of EveryMove, it says something about me and the control that I have over my health, and that is a really empowering feeling.”

Quantifying Alcohol Consumption with BACtrack Mobile: Small, Fast, Accurate and Social

One aspect of health and wellness is measuring what we eat. While many mobile apps track calories to regulate diets, not many have tackled measuring the amount of alcohol consumed. In April 2013, BACtrack launched the world’s first smartphone breathalyzer, the BACtrack Mobile Breathalyzer.

The general concept of using a breathalyzer is to quickly estimate a person’s Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) to determine if he or she can legally get behind the wheel. But the BACtrack Mobile serves a higher purpose than that. The breathalyzer provides a quantitative way to track how you feel at different amounts of alcohol consumption – it is essentially a health tracker.

I tested the device and spoke with BACtrack president and founder, Keith Nothacker to learn more.

How did you decide it was time to make a mobile breathalyzer?

“We started to focus on mobile about two years ago, and launched the BACtrack in April 2013. It was a great time for us to design the device. We were finally able to bring down the cost of our fuel cell sensor technology. Years ago if you got pulled over by the police, they would be using a $500 device. Now the cost is a quarter of that. Also, the new bluetooth low energy chip gave us the ability to create a better mobile experience.” When you look at the price of the sensor versus the cost of getting a DUI (on average $10,000) or getting in an accident, monitoring is definitely worth it.

What kind of feedback do you get from people using the device?

“We hear feedback almost everyday. We’ve sold so many over the last decade and we often hear, ‘We had a party and it just changed everybody’s behavior.’ We see the device used in groups. If my friend blows a 0.12 in front of me, now there is quantifiable number that makes that person and all the other people around him accountable. It shares the responsibility and makes everyone safer.”

Keith was adamant on one point. “We tell people that you should not drink and drive at all. The purpose of the device is to understand how alcohol affects your body, not tell you when you can or cannot drive.”

The mobile app helps track your BAC and location and can estimate when you might be sober again. The device is best used 15 minutes after eating/drinking/smoking for the most accurate results.

How accurate is the device?

“The device uses the same fuel cell technology as the BACtrack S80, the handheld screening device that law enforcement uses. New accuracy data will be released on our website in the next few days.” BACtrack does lots of research to make sure their technology, for all devices, shows comparable accuracy to the expensive $10,000 lab instrument they have in their office (and found in police stations).

Who is your main target market?

“We have a pretty broad target market. The device is sold online and in stores like Walgreens and Costco. Purchasers include people who have gotten a DUI – about 1.4 million people a year get a DUI, those who are safety conscious, and suburban people with cars.” They have sold to high schools for prom and football games, small to mid-sized construction companies with zero tolerance rules, and even pizza delivery businesses so they can test teen drivers on Friday nights.

“We often get the question, ‘I drink responsibly, why do I need one?’ Once people use the device, a light bulb goes off. Try it out – you’ll be surprised. If you haven’t eaten and you drink during happy hour, your body reacts differently compared to when you have a drink with dinner. From a health perspective, if you drink alcohol at all, it’s something you could use.”

Digital Health Metrics in 2013: Mobile Usage, Doctors, and Pregnancy Apps

MobiHealthNews has compiled a list of 51 digital health metrics in 2013. For a full list, visit here.

Some interesting stats and metrics:

95M Americans used mobile for health in 2013

• “As of 2013, 95 million Americans are using mobile phones as health tools or to find health information, according to Manhattan Research. That’s 27 percent more than 2012, when the number was 75 million.”
• This number seems pretty reasonable. Research estimates that 56% of American adults have a smartphone, meaning that a little more than half of all smartphone users have searched the internet for a health related query. I’ve certainly searched for home remedies before.

Seven in ten doctors have a self-tracking patient

• “Seventy percent of doctors report that at least one patient is sharing some form of health measurement data with them, according to a survey of 2,950 practicing physicians.”
• This number seems a little high to me – but given health trackers, diabetes and weight measurement devices, and other applications (including blood pressure and cholesterol trackers), this number might not be too far off. It does suggest that patients are more aware of their health and are more open to sharing their data with others.

InMedica predicts six times as many US telehealth patients by 2017

• “According to new data released by research firm InMedica, the American telehealth market is predicted to grow by 600 percent between 2012 and 2017. While there are currently 227,000 US telehealth patients, according to InMedica, that figure is forecast to reach up to 1.3 million patients in 2017. US telehealth revenues, meanwhile, will jump from $174.5 million last year to $707.9 million in 2017.”
• While telehealth still faces some regulatory challenges, the growth trajectory shows that consumers are opening up to the idea of a slightly less personal, personal doctor’s visit.

Report finds pregnancy apps more popular than fitness apps

• “According to ByteMobile, on average, 39 percent of mobile users who are using one or more mobile health applications are using a fitness app. Of all the mobile health related data traffic that operators facilitate, about 50 percent of it comes from personal fitness apps.Ÿ While fitness apps are generating more data, it seems that pregnancy related apps are actually more popular: On average, 47 percent of total subscribers using one or more mobile health application use a pregnancy related application, according to the report. Despite the popularity of these kinds of apps they don’t generate nearly as much data as fitness ones do:Ÿ Pregnancy monitoring applications generate only 9 percent of the total mobile health related data traffic on wireless networks.”
• This stat is surprising. It says that if there are 100 mobile users who use one or more health apps, 39 of them use a fitness app and 47 of them use a pregnancy related application. Although research shows that women install 40% more apps, spend 87% more than men, men used health and fitness apps 10% more than women. Now to be fair, if you look at the breakdown of ages using mobile health apps, data shows that Millennials (aged 25-43) engaged with their smartphones every hour in the day and used fitness and health apps twice as much as the average of other age groups. This data claims that in a gender split, women use health and fitness apps 200 percent more than men do. If I were to venture a guess at the percent of total subscribers using one or more mobile health apps who use a pregnancy related app, I’d guess it’s 25% at the highest. Luckily we’ll have some interviews and posts in the next few months on pregnancy apps to find out more.

Interview: Steven Yaskin, CEO of Informedika

Informedika has created a one stop online marketplace for healthcare providers to choose, discover, compare and select lab services, therapy providers and nursing home vendors at the click of a button. They have created a platform that is not only EMR agnostic, but also free to use.

I caught up with CEO, Steven Yaskin to learn more about Informedika. Steven describes the company’s mission as, “We are connecting doctors to healthcare vendors – diagnostic labs, radiology centers, physical therapy trainers, sleep centers, nursing homes, assisted living and many, many more. Doctors are at the top of the food chain in terms of referrals and now all vendors are finally at their fingertips.”

The Informedika marketplace empowers doctors to place electronic orders through an online ecosystem, which eliminates faxes, paperwork and mistakes.

Eliminating paperwork, Informedika shows all patient imaging data.

Informedika has taken a grassroots approach in getting their name out, focusing more on building a strong product than spending money on marketing. So far it’s worked – doctors love the flexibility and transparency that Informedika gives them. As Steven notes, “In healthcare you don’t have adoption by doctors unless you have all the vendors tied to them – local and nationwide labs and services. We have an all-inclusive catalog of pharmacies, sleep centers, labs, etc.  When doctors log into their existing EMR software, they may only see one lab but when they log into Informedika they see all their options.”

All local and nationwide options on one interface for labs.

Steven states that a big problem with healthcare data is that not all the medical record companies are cooperating and a lot of startups become bystander victims because of this. How does Informedika fit smoothly into the healthcare system? “We aren’t relying on doctors and vendors or patients to upload data. Because we sit in the streams of electronic fax data flowing between doctors and labs, we can aggregate that data into medical charts directly. We are EMR agnostic and doctor agnostic. We are creating a patient centric repository, regardless of what software a doctor uses – we don’t compete with EMRs, instead we make their data more robust.”

Basis: Multiple Sensors Track Exercise and Sleep Accurately and Automatically

Basis is a supercharged fitness tracker. The watch uses multiple sensors to track heart rate patterns throughout the day as well as a perspiration and skin temperature changes to measure exertion levels. Basis uses these data points to paint a more exact picture of calories burned and sleep patterns.

I took the watch on a 6 mile run to see how well the tracking worked, and I was impressed. The data is compiled clearly and accurately, so you can monitor your daily activity and make small changes to be more consistent. The online portal compares activity metrics on a double axis so you can see changes in your heart rate compared to calories burned or steps taken.

The beauty in the watch is that there is no need for the user to signal activity changes. As you can see from my data, I took a nap from 5-6:30PM. Other fitness trackers would note this as ‘idle time’ but Basis knows that I fell asleep because it is tracking my heart rate, which dropped and became more steady while I was sleeping. Basis emails me whenever I reach a goal – like running an Afternoon Lap, and it syncs my data via Bluetooth to my iPhone app.

While the watch has a larger face than an UP band or Fitbit, the added sensor functionality gives it additional analytics power. If you are running with a Garmin or Suunto already, you won’t notice the Basis on your wrist. For people who prefer a smaller wearable device, the technology will only get more compact. This is definitely one company to follow.

Thoughts on Healthcare and Life: A Little Self Reflection

Big thanks to Melissa Thompson for sharing my thoughts on healthcare wearables on her blog, Quantified30 and naming Alexisavvy a Best Healthcare Blog.

Here’s a snippet of my interview below. For more, visit Quantified30.

MT: What are the top three devices/apps you consistently wear and use these days? 

“Withings Scale – I really love this scale! I never used to track my weight but I do now – I get on the scale every other morning at the same time and in the same clothes. If I weigh in a little heavier in the morning, I try to eat healthier, drink more water or go for a run that day.

RunKeeper App – I like tracking my runs and I take photos after running to capture the scenery. There is something very rewarding about pulling up my running times and distances for the week. Also, I’m very focused on negative splits and RunKeeper does a great job tracking that and gives other interesting stats about my exercise.

Any wearable tracker I’m writing about – I go through phases where I will wear a tracker for a while before and after I write about it. I think I wore the Fitbit One for a month and the Mistfit Shine for a little longer. I’ve consistently worn the Jawbone UP because I love the way it looks, but as you’ve probably read in my latest post on the Jawbone UP, it still has some issues, as does most wearables. I’m looking forward to the Fitbit Force next!”   

MT: How has writing Alexisavvy for a year and half changed your habits or your life in general?

“When I was a healthcare private equity investor, I was often asked by friends for my opinion on which wearables I liked best, or what cool consumer health app I would invest in. And honestly, I couldn’t really give them an answer because in my day job I was looking to invest in pharmaceutical companies and lab businesses, not consumer health tech companies. So Alexisavvy.com was born – and yes, it’s definitely made me more aware of my exercise and diet. I’ve reviewed more than eighty wearable devices and apps and each time I try to test the product. My experience with Sessions has gotten me to run at least four times a week and I look forward to my walks to and from work.”

After answering Melissa’s questions, I was intrigued to see how exactly my weight fluctuated since I started Alexisavvy. I looked back on my Withings Scale data, various app analytics, and my health records – from early 2011 to October 2013, I lost 10% of my body weight and kept up with regular exercise (something I didn’t do in college or banking). I can’t properly conclude whether this is because I changed jobs, moved to a more running friendly environment, or started a healthcare blog. However, I do know that keeping track of my health and exercise has kept me better in tune with my body.

Sessions: Personalized Mobile Coaching Helps You Stay Active

Sometimes you get busy. For most people, the first thing that gets pushed off is regular exercise. For me, this generally happens when my schedule becomes travel heavy or I don’t have a running event I’m training for. In the past six months, I traveled to Asia for a month, moved not once but twice, and spent approximately 85% of my weekends away from San Francisco. And so my regular exercise became my commute, which didn’t amount to very much.

I needed someone to encourage and gently remind me to set aside 30-40 minutes a few times a week to hit the pavement. Sessions, did just that.

The 16 week program is targeted towards steady lifestyle improvements. My coach, Glennis, who is also the Director of Coaching at Sessions, has worked with hundreds of people in my position. She essentially became my online and mobile personal trainer. Every Sunday I would plan out my workouts for the week through an online user portal we shared. Before each run, Glennis would text and email me reminders and tips. She helped me create a plan for running on weekdays, and after I moved she gave me route ideas for my new neighborhood. By syncing RunKeeper to Sessions, she knew when I exercised and encouraged my progress.

There were definitely days I did not want to run, especially on Sunday afternoons. But then I would get a text from Glennis asking if I was ready, which always kept me honest. Along with Sunday check-in’s, there are quick weekly assignments that ask introspective questions about my habits and find potential improvements to them.

All messages and exercise sessions are recorded on one dashboard in Sessions, where you can track your progress.

Here are some stats on how the program really does change behaviors:

• 90% of people complete the entire program which is 10-20x higher than most health and fitness products
• 94% of people are very likely or extremely likely to recommend the program to friends and family
• On average, people send a message to their coach daily
• There is 80% compliance with Sessions plans
• People visit the site an average of nearly 10x/week
• Sessions is currently enrolling in a Randomized Clinical Trial with Mayo Clinic

Sessions is a great way, for a fraction of the price, to work with a personal trainer and health consultant. The best part is that after only a month of Sessions, I’ve still kept up with my new fitness goals.