Category: Tech

The Apple Watch’s ECG feature could save many lives. But only if it has something else.

Recently the Apple Watch’s latest feature went live – an electrocardiogram (ECG) app that monitors irregular heart rhythms. The internet is overflowing with reports from people didn’t know they had irregular heartbeats until they took their data to the…

Getting to a minimum viable product (MVP) health care app: Partner with physicians

Over the course of several years, IBM’s fledgling Watson for Oncology program has received a wide range of reviews. Among them is a harsh critique published by Gizmodo.  The article is filed under the keywords “AI,” “Watson,” “health,” “health care,” a…

Getting to a minimum viable product (MVP) health care app: Partner with physicians

Over the course of several years, IBM’s fledgling Watson for Oncology program has received a wide range of reviews. Among them is a harsh critique published by Gizmodo.  The article is filed under the keywords “AI,” “Watson,” “health,” “health care,” a…

Keeping up with the rapid developments in mobile health technology

I had the opportunity to participate in a day-long meeting sponsored by the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS). The goal was to help HRS develop recommendations for physicians and industry on providing patients access to information generated by wearable and i…

Physicians sacrifice a lot to deliver care. Technology shouldn’t ask for more.

I had a great case the other night. Around midnight on a Friday, the hospitalist physician called me to evaluate an incarcerated femoral hernia. I thought this elderly and medically ill patient would likely die no matter what I did. I spent a grim half…

A smarter EMR will make visits more patient-focused

What do our patients really want from us? When a patient calls up to schedule an appointment, or sends us a message through the patient portal, or calls our front desk staff to leave a message, what is it that they’re looking for? I think, more t…

Is your smartphone leading to burnout?

Burnout and dealing with its symptoms has become a hot topic in the last decade. It’s a problem that has multiple contributing factors. Some of those factors are thrust upon us and are beyond our control, such as government regulations. Other factors a…

Will robots replace doctors?

Among the many recurring topics, this year has been the impact of machine learning in our lives, especially the implications for our future work life. Prophecies range from ubiquitous utopian machine servants to a dystopian ravaging, hollowing out the …

Join telemedicine’s transformation of the health care delivery model

I came across Dr. Kevin Tolliver’s post, “Beware the Limits of Telemedicine,” and found it to gloss over the benefits of telemedicine and the opportunities that increasing telemedicine uptake can afford to the patient and provider. With thi…

Slow thinking and machine learning in medicine

Recently, several high-profile institutions have called attention to the issue of inclusion and equity when artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms are applied in medicine. Leaders from the law, medicine, social sciences and computer sciences are speak…