Transcript 0:00 Talk to me. Information, news, and entertainment on demand. WS Radio.com. 0:10 [on-hold jingle] Welcome to The Peggy Smedley Show, the voice of IoT in our connected world, with your host, Peggy Smedley. Hello, listeners, and welcome to today's edition of The Peggy Smedley Show. 0:26 As always, I'm your host, Peggy Smedley, and this is the final podcast of the month of June, and I hope you've enjoyed all of the great discussions we've had about healthcare and aging in place up to this point, 'cause I've really enjoyed talking with you. 0:42 So we've talked about from mobile tech and wearables to AI to robotics and healthcare security. I think we've, uh, ta-- covered it all, I think, uh, in this show. 0:53 So, uh, but we've provided a lot of ground, uh, I think great content actually on our website, on connectedworld.com, about technology's current and future role of aging in place for all of us who are getting a little older. 1:07 And in this segment, I'm going to start wrapping up our month-long focus on healthcare by talking about health apps, and do they really work? That's gonna be one of the questions we're gonna address. 1:19 And what actually needs to happen with these tools to kinda take them to the next level of adoption and even efficacy. 1:27 And I have some personal experience with this, so I'm looking forward to kinda chatting with all of you today about it. And today, we truly have a great show because I will be interviewing Dr. 1:38 Maura, uh, Secou, who's the founder of Cu-- uh, Cubism, and we're gonna talk about healthcare, but then on the final segment, I'm gonna wrap up the show by talking with Juan Pablo Sugira, who's the founder of Babyscripts. 1:52 And if you don't know about Babyscripts, and if you don't know with, uh, Cu-Cubism, both great companies. So stick around. You've got great discussions today. So let's get started. 2:02 Mobile health apps, uh, that help patients self-manage their health, and in some cases, their chronic conditions, are an important piece of that mHealth puzzle. 2:13 And I think health apps have a great potential when we talk about helping folks kind of adhere to their medica-medication schedules and keeping them on top of their own health needs. 2:24 But what I'd like to know is this, and here's the question: Are these apps kinda living up to their potential? And actually, the short answer, if you believe this, is they're not really doing it. 2:34 And today, I'm going to look at some research that has prompted this answer and actually this conclusion, and I'm also going to ask why health apps are not living up to their potential, and importantly, how can we as an industry change this reality? 2:50 And back in two thousand and fifteen, the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics reported that were, I guess at least, I guess a hundred and sixty-five thousand mobile apps were on the market, if you could believe that, a hundred and sixty-five thousand. 3:05 And this represented a huge growth in the number of health apps during a short period of time, which prompted those of us in the tech space to ask, has quantity translated into quality? 3:22 Now, again, the short answer, of course, is no. And there were then, and there are now a few factors working against all of us here. For one thing, there were the hordes of apps available to both patients and physicians. 3:36 Without question, too many apps can be overwhelming, and prospects to find something that actually works for any individual, you know, and his or her particular needs is pretty difficult. 3:47 So what's more, there's just not a lot of oversight, if you think about it, for apps even in the healthcare space. 3:53 So a lack of regulatory oversight, I think raises many questions, including whether or not most health apps have ever really been evaluated for efficacy, which is what I started the show with. 4:07 So it's a strange concept to me to put something out there that doesn't really accomplish what it's supposed to accomplish. 4:17 But in the rush to produce connected devices, you know, something we talk about on this show all the time, you know, when we put these devices out there and these solutions that solve, you know, sometimes they can't solve every pain point known to man, it's certainly bound to happen that we're not gonna meet everybody's needs, and that's just what's gonna happen. 4:36 But we rush to do a lot of things, right? But of course, the app developers, they're not to blame to this, and I'm certainly not criticizing them because they've done a lot of good with this. 4:47 But I'll talk more about those issues in a minute, and that they're hindering use and adoption of health apps i, i, in a little bit. But let, let, let's kinda step back for a minute. 5:00 But first, let's explore what researchers have discovered about the efficacy of health apps. 5:06 One of the main, uh, I guess, or most recently published studies on this topic comes from the Center f-for Research in Evidence-Based Practice at Australia's Bond University. 5:17 And in studying, I think, a slew of trials that evaluate the efficacy of health apps, the study found that less than half of the trials, eleven in twenty-three, showed that meaningful effective health, uh, that could be attributable to apps was less than half. 5:34 And that's far from impressive. 5:36 And similarly, a clinical trial recently published by the JAMA Network, an international peer-reviewed medical journal, took a hard look at the association of the smartphone applications with medication adherence and blood pressure control. 5:51 In a randomized clinical trial of four one one adults with poorly controlled hypertension, patients who were randomly selected to receive, like, the smartphone app showedA small improvement in self-reported medication adherence. 6:06 So interestingly, there was no difference in blood pressure between app users and non-app users in this trial. So a small improvement I guess is good, but a substantial improvement would be so much better, right? 6:19 So medication adherence is a huge problem in our society, and it's not just a problem with people who aren't taking their meds, it's a problem for everyone. 6:28 So for instance, a non-adherence adds to the cost of healthcare because patients who fail to take their medications are more likely to end up back in the clinic or a hospital. 6:39 So it adds to physicians' patients loads as well. So, so here's where things get interesting to me personally that I wanted to share. 6:47 The app being used in this particular clinical trial was Medisafe, a, a popular medication management app. 6:56 And I actually use Medis- Medisafe, and I can personally say that it has helped me remember to take my prescribed medication. 7:05 So if I didn't have this app remind me, I don't-- I, I know that I would forget to take my pills because this app gives patients not but one, but three m- reminders per time period. 7:17 So it's morning, noon, and evening, and you set your time and it reminds me again and again and again until I record that I've taken my dosage for that allotted time period. 7:28 So keep in mind, it still s- it still does have a few bugs that I would suggest it works out. 7:34 So for example, I can click Taken or View, and now I tend to have this thing that I, I click on the View, and it does not necessarily show that the medication adheren- adherence for that time period. 7:46 My general habit is to adhere to the reminder 'cause it-- I saw it and I go, "Ooh, I've got to take my pills." But take the pill or to click and swipe the button that appears on the screen. 7:57 In this case, the Taken and View button are actually next to each other, so I'm not sure it's actually... Well, I know it doesn't necessarily show that I've taken, I've just kinda swiped it. 8:06 So with that said, you know, there-- I think there's some room for improvement with this kind of particular platform. It's simple. It's a minor change, an adjustment. 8:15 But I'm actually participating in a beta test right now that will surely lead to some upgrades, but they have already put a few beta improvements that I was seeking and as a patient that I was curious for the upgrade. 8:30 And Medisafe aside, they've done a really good job of tracking a lot of things in this app, and I think it's great because Medisafe and other apps in general aren't as effective as they could be. 8:43 But let's talk about why. I mean, 'cause they're actually a good app, but there's a lot of them. But think about this, a poor or less than ideal user e- experience can be a big hindrance, okay? 8:55 It's going to take a while for-- to dial, you know, the user experience in for health apps. 9:01 There are just so many different people looking for self-manage or to self-manage their health, and each of these people has or, or individual people have unique needs. 9:12 And so think about how important the user experience is for older adults looking to live on their, in their golden years at home. 9:20 Like I said at the top of this segment, health apps have an incredible potential, but only if patients can access them, figure out how to use them, and find the m- effort worth their while. 9:32 So if any of these pieces are missing, the app isn't going to be effective for the long term after the novelty actually kind of wears off, right? 9:41 So we need to design health apps that kind of nail the user experience that has been rigorously tested, and again, using the word efficacy, and that ensures data security and all the privacy that we always talk about when it comes to health apps. 9:57 So we also need to be talking about what makes a health app great, right? We need to keep doing trials and studies to get feedback from all of those end users and make improvements based on this feedback. 10:11 Now, we talk about what's happening like with Medisafe. 10:14 Now, I know there's, we talked about a hundred and sixty-five thousand of them out there, but feedback is so very important because finally, we need to educate end users, both consumers and healthcare providers, about their options, which could help them navigate the crowded health app market. 10:33 And this app marketplace needs to narrow down. You can't have tons of these out there. It'll be too much. So for older adult, ha- health apps can play a major role in helping them remain independent in their own homes. 10:46 And, and I think it's important that in the next several years, aging in place starts to become even more of a talking point in the health industry because we owe it to our elders to give them the tools they need to enjoy a healthy, kind of happy retirement. 11:03 So if you have thoughts about this, I'd love for you to talk to me about them. Tweet at me. I've shared some personal things about what I'm doing. Love to hear what you're doing, but we're out of time for this segment. 11:13 But check out our website at connectedworld.com or any of the past show segments that we've had at thepeggyסmedleyshow.com. We've put a lot of great archives up there. 11:24 We've interviewed a lot of great guests, and I think that's important that you share your thoughts on what you think is going to happen, and engage with us on Twitter or on LinkedIn. 11:33 We're gonna post some questions up there. We wanna know what you think. Well, we're out of time, but stick around. Go get that cup of coffee. We're gonna take a quick commercial break. 11:41 But remember, this is The Peggy Smedley Show, the podcasting voice of IoT and relevant technology. And remember, with great technology comes great responsibility. We'll be right back. 11:52 [upbeat music] Did you know the majority of radio listeners are between the ages of thirty-five and fifty-four, have a household income of more than one hundred thousand dollars, are classified as executives or professionals, and share the show they listen to? 12:14 Become part of The Peggy Smedley Show to reach listeners looking for information on connected devices through cost-effective radio commercials or segment sponsorships. 12:22 Contact us at six three three nine three three zero eight four four for more information, or visit peggysmedleyshow.com. [upbeat music] Education. Industry experts. Back to the basics. 12:34 Is your company using the Internet of Things to its fullest potential? 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