Search form

Digital health news briefs for 1/23/18

A new technology promises to give users an estimated lens prescription in 10 seconds. PlenOptika, a startup spinout of MIT, uses the auto refractor to measure refractive errors of the eye and produces estimated prescriptions, MIT News reports. The technology, named QuickSee, is more affordable than what is currently on the market, which could make it more accessible for people living in developing countries.

...

San Francisco- and Warsaw, Poland-based app developer DreamJay, has just launched its first mobile sleep app, Nightly, globally. The app is based on sleep stimulation technology, and monitors sleep, gives nightly reports and promises to improve the quality of sleep. The company claims it can even help curb bad dreams, though doesn’t specify exactly how. The app uses the smartphone’s accelerometer to track and analyze sleep stages. It also has audio-visual themes to help the user fall sleep and monitors and analyzes the customers body movements.

...

A new study that measured the validity of mainstream wearable devices in fitness tracking, has been submitted to JMIR for peer review. The study, which included 42 healthy participants, found that mainstream devices are able to reliably measure heart rate, number of steps, distance, and sleep duration. However, the measurement of energy consumption is still inadequate. The study also noted that fitness trackers vary in accuracy.

...

A recent study published in the International Journal of Nursing Studies found that patients who were treated by Leaf's wearable wireless patient monitoring sensors were 73 percent less likely to develop a pressure injury. The study looked at 1,200 patients over 100,000 hours of data. Leaf monitored all patient movement activities and alerted clinicians if a patient needed to be moved.

"This large, randomized, controlled trial confirms what has been demonstrated in smaller studies and is consistent with real-world customer experience," Leaf Healthcare CEO and cofounder Barrett Larson, said in a statement. "This study is an important step towards redefining the standard of care for pressure injury prevention."

...

Global insurance and asset management company AXA announced that it will acquire digital health benefit administration company Maestro Health for $155 million. Maestro Health platform includes a full set of health benefit administration services and third-party administrator services to self-insured companies. The Chicago-based company has over 300 employees.

“I am convinced that combining our entrepreneurial spirit and AXA’s significant expertise in health will enable Maestro Health to accelerate the implementation of our shared long-term vision and to deliver even higher customer-value through continuous innovation,” Rob Butler, CEO of Maestro Health, said in a statement.