Social Media Trends, Regs, and Apps
Featured Briefs: Nontraditional Players Get Into the Healthcare Game IBM’s Watson: “Alex, I’ll Take Medicine for $500 Please" Facebook Made Easier for Brands Apps… Amazon Enters Medical App Market Have a Great Idea for an App? Tweets… First Patient-to-Physician Tweet Chat Videos… Pfizer UK Continues ED Video and Private Physician Chat Line IBM’s Watson: “Alex, I’ll Take Medicine for $500 Please" Back in February, IBM’s computing system Watson was one of the challengers on Jeapardy! and beat the show’s two most successful contestants with a two-day tournament total of more than $70,000, $50,000 more than the two challenging contestants’ winnings. IBM has since turned Watson’s attention toward medicine, with a collaboration with Columbia University and the University of Maryland, along with Nuance Communications, that will result in the creation of a physician’s assistant service to allow doctors to query a Watson-like assistant. The New York Times reported that the new service could be available as soon as the end of 2012. In other news, IBM recently launched cloud-based software designed to help marketers gain real-time, actionable insight from social media channels. The two software programs can be used to develop faster, more precise social media marketing efforts that support a brand’s total online presence through a cloud-based delivery model. And last but not least, IBM has gone live with an electronic healthcare records system for the province of Manitoba, Canada, providing clinicians with access to their patients’ lab results, dispensed drug records, and immunization histories, all in a matter of seconds. EChart Manitoba, the first province-wide EHR system in Canada, enables the secure sharing of information about a patient’s health to authorized healthcare professionals across the province. With a single secure logon from any computer, doctors, nurses, and other authorized healthcare workers can quickly search more than 30 million records for comprehensive data on their patients. { For more information, visit ibm.com or download YouTube video http://www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/us/en/healthcare_solutions/ideas/index.html?lnk=ibmhpcs2/smarterplanet/healthcare, or visit IBM’s Healthcare YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/ibmhealthcare. Trend Watch: IBM bids big in healthcare improvement category with a slate of initiatives that are part of its Smarter Healthcare plan. In the first quarter of the year, IBM introduces Watson, social media marketing tools, and a first-ever EHR program. Apps… Amazon Enters Medical App Market Amazon now features an Appstore for Androids that includes medical apps. This could be a significant development since many physicians use Androids instead of iPhones. While the number and offering of medical apps is small, experts at Information Week expect there to be a consistent increase in options after launch. The Android store is designed to help consumers find the app they want amid hundreds of thousands of other apps. Many of the medical apps available at the store currently fall under the consumer health and fitness category. There are, however, a few with physician implications, such as Pepid, which delivers point-of-care access to fully integrated medical, clinical, and pharmacological information, as well as Physician Assistant Exam Prep, and Health and Medical calculators. Droid app developers, take note. { To download, visit amazon.com. Have a Great Idea for an App? The American Medical Association (AMA) is asking U.S.-licensed physicians, residents, fellows, and medical students for their ideas for medical apps designed for use in their daily lives. Two grand prizes will be awarded, one to a physician and one to a resident/fellow or medical student. Each winner will receive a prize package of about $5,000, recognition through conceptual credit on the app itself, and an all-expense-paid trip for two to the AMA Interim House of Delegates meeting to be held in November 2011 in New Orleans, where they’ll be honored at a special ceremony. The submission deadline is June 30, 2011. { To download, visit amaidealab.org/guidelines.shtml. Tweets… First Patient-to-Physician Tweet Chat Phil Baumann, founder of RNchat, has initiated @MD_chat for physicians. Physicians and others can join the chats, scheduled for 9 p.m. EST on Tuesdays, and contribute to the conversation. Topics cover subjects such as Alzheimer’s or COPD. In January, Mr. Baumann had one of the first Twitter chats to feature patients speaking with doctors about their Alzheimer’s diagnosis and treatment experience. The hashtag for the tweet chats is #mdchat. The program kicked off in October 2010, and now the Twitter feed has almost 800 followers. Videos… Pfizer UK Continues ED Video and Private Physician Chat Line Leave it to the British to bring humor to the sensitive condition of erectile dysfunction. Launched last year as a pilot, this Pfizer sponsored YouTube video, Don’t Be a Wilbert and the Man MOT program, was extended to run until May of this year. The accompanying website offers men anonymous chats with general practitioners on Monday nights on male health issues. According to InPharm, Pfizer reports that the confidential nature of the service has proven to be quite effective in getting men to address what they consider to be embarrassing or sexual health problems. Called Man MOT for Monday Opportunity to Talk, the video has had more than 36,000 hits. { To upload video, visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzfWBYdTbCQ Send us your favorite industry apps, Twitter feeds, YouTube videos, and Facebook links to [email protected].
