This week in Washington, D.C. leaders from across the country in the field of wireless mobile technology gathered at the 2012 mHealth Summit to discuss the future of mobile health. Al Shar, vice president and senior program officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, shared his ideas on how to ensure that innovation in mHealth creates the greatest social good.
of Americans have a smartphone that can be used to support disease prevention & management
When individuals collect data about their daily lives—their sleep patterns, exercise habits, and medication intake, for example—they provide valuable clues to how they and their doctors could be managing their care better.
Projects that "decipher" the personal data are transforming how patients and doctors traditionally approach patient treatment, prevention, and care.
One RWJF grantee that's taking advantage of personal data to inform interventions is Project HealthDesign, which dubbed this patient-generated data the observations of daily living (ODLs).
Using personal health data transmitted on smartphones, Project HealthDesign teams examined how these ODLs played into personal health decision-making and clinical care. What they found is that health happens not in the doctor's office, but where patients live, work, and play.
Read moreThis project uses inhalers with GPS sensors to track where and when people's asthma symptoms kick in. The data is informing not just treatment, but also strategies to address asthma at the community level.
Learn more about AsthmapolisSymcat, an app developed in response to a RWJF Aligning Forces for Quality Developer Challenge, was designed to help people who search the internet about worrisome symptoms understand what conditions might be causing the symptoms, so they can get quick, informed treatment alternatives.
Check out the Symcat app
Mobile health applications can help people manage their diabetes, assist in smoking cessation, and monitor food intake and exercise. But what will be done with all that data?
Read More
The County Health Rankings & Roadmaps illustrate that much of what influences our health happens in our schools, workplaces, and neighborhoods—and show how we can create healthier places to live, learn, work, and play.
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With this new online tool, you can track state-level data to customize and visualize facts/figures on key health and health care topics.
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Get access to publicly available reports that include information on the quality of care delivery, patient outcomes, and patient feedback on physicians, hospitals, and cost.
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The Health and Medical Care Archive, RWJF's official data archive, includes 100+ collections of detailed data used to inform research and policymaking.
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