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SlimKicker Turns Tracking Food and Exercise Into a Game

If incentives cause people to lose weight, does competition do it as well? Well, SlimKicker, might prove if that is true as well.

At first glance, SlimKicker looks like just about any other food and exercise diary. You can enter exercise, food, and track your weight and other goals. However, it hosts different challenges that its users can join, and some of them yield actual prizes — not just badges like many sites have. Many of the challenges give you points for winning, which I will talk about next.

SlimKicker is similar to Weight Watchers in the sense that is point-based. However, instead of losing points for the foods you eat, you get them. The healthier the food, the more points you get. And what can you use the points for? From what I can tell, you can redeem them for prizes, but I have yet to figure out

One of my favorite parts of SlimKicker is the visualization aspect of it. You can upload a photo of the rewards that you want, when you reach a certain goal our level. When you reach those, SlimKicker lets you know, and you can redeem the reward. While it is up to you to provide the reward “promised,” it’s a nice reminder to see a reward whenever you login.

SlimKicker’s goal is to help its users keep motivation. How many of us have gotten all revved up about a new exercise regimen, or diet, only to give up on it a week later? I know I’m not the only one. With the challenges and inspiration feed that SlimKicker has, it is easier to stay motivated.

I know I talk a lot about food and exercise trackers here, but there are just so many, and to be honest, many of them have really unique features. One of the best ways to stay healthy, and out of the doctor’s office, is by maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and by using these websites and apps, you can do just that.

There is a free app for iOS devices, which can be downloaded here.

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March 25, 2013 I Written By

Katie Clark is originally from Colorado and currently lives in Utah with her husband and son. She writes primarily for Smart Phone Health Care, but contributes to several Health Care Scene blogs, including EMR Thoughts, EMR and EHR, and EMR and HIPAA. She enjoys learning about Health IT and mHealth, and finding ways to improve her own health along the way.

Filed Under: Apple  Health Care  Health Games  Healthcare Social Media  iPad  iPhone  Medical Devices  mHealth  Mobile Health Care  Patient Home Monitoring
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Smart Phones and mHealth Apps May Be Taxable

Do you love using your smart phone for medical purposes? Chances are, if you’re reading this, you probably do. Well, it sounds like Obamacare might just take some of the fun out of it.

According to Fox News, under the ACA, medical device manfacturers carry a 2.3 percent tax. And since smart phones and tablets can be used for medical reasons, they might just fall under that as well. And apparently, the FDA has indicated they are looking into this regulation. And Rep. Marsha Blackburn, vice chairwoman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said back in 2011 that this is not good news for consumers:

It is going to drive up the cost to consumers and it’ll drive up the cost of your cell phone.

I don’t know about you, but my cell phone bill is already way too high — and my husband and I even split the bill with my mom, dad, and little brother. Even the thought of possibly being taxed makes me want to get rid of any of my mHealth apps and devices. Of course, I won’t, because I really use them, but I do hope that this doesn’t actually happen.

I can’t imagine there is anything positive about this, but if you can think of any, please, enlighten me. I think that this will make many people turned off to the idea of mHealth, because I know that at least for me, using my smart phone to help manage my health is, in part, to help me save money. Adding a tax to smart phones and tablets will make it harder to seem like I’m doing that.

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March 20, 2013 I Written By

Katie Clark is originally from Colorado and currently lives in Utah with her husband and son. She writes primarily for Smart Phone Health Care, but contributes to several Health Care Scene blogs, including EMR Thoughts, EMR and EHR, and EMR and HIPAA. She enjoys learning about Health IT and mHealth, and finding ways to improve her own health along the way.

Filed Under: Health Care  Healthcare IT  Healthcare Social Media  iPad  iPhone  Medical Devices  mHealth  Mobile Health Care  Patient Home Monitoring  Smart Phones  Tablets
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Three Health Apps Women Should Consider

I’ve posted my fair share about mHealth apps that are geared toward women, so I found this article at Fierce Mobile Healthcare very interesting. Apparently, 47 percent of people who use one or more mHealth apps, are using a women’s health app as well. This was in the Citrix ByteMobile Mobile Analytics Report.

The report also revealed that about 40 percent of people using one or more mHealth app are using a fitness-specific app. I felt like this was rather telling of what type of people are most involved with mHealth. It’s no wonder I see, what seems like, a new woman-focused health app popping up every day. There appears to be a great demand for women’s health apps. Just for fun, here are a few that I found. There’s definitely quite a few!

52 Weeks for Women’s Health: Created by the National Institutes of Health, this app was created to help women recognize health risks for not only themselves, but their family members. It has a personal health section, where the woman can record medications, medical conditions and disabilities. There are 52 health topics, so one for each week, for women to study and read up on, to help promote a healthier lifestyle. It offers suggestions for improving the health and well-being of the woman, and her family. It is a free app available for Android and iOS devices

MyPillApp: This is a great app for any woman that uses pill, patch, or ring contraception. It can be customized for any of those forms of birth control, and has quite a few features. It has a daily reminder feature, that obviously reminds a woman to take her bill. There is a history tracking function, where the user can write down notes to remember for future doctor’s appointments. It has a virtual “pill pack,” to provide a visual for how much is left. There’s even a snooze alert, just in case someone can’t take their pill when the alert goes off.  It is available for free on iOS devices, though I’m sure there is something similar for Android.

Breast Self Exam: Women are encouraged to perform a breast self exam monthly. In fact, I’ve known a few people who discovered they had cancer because they did this. However, it can be difficult to know exactly how to do this. This app provides a short tutorial on how to do the exam, a record can be kept about each exam, and it was designed by physicians. It is .99 on iOS devices.

 

I’m sure there are many more out there, and these are just a sampling. And because I think men’s health is just as important as women, look for an upcoming post on some great men’s health apps that are available.

 

52 weeks for women’s health

The easy-to-use mobile app can help women identify health risks for themselves and their families, and can help them create and maintain healthy lifestyles throughout their lives. Questions to ask health care providers, a glossary of health terms, and health screening information and links to additional information from NIH institutes and centers expand the mobile app’s offerings.

Key features of the app are:

  • a personal health section for recording medications, medical conditions, and disabilities
  • a journal feature
  • a personal goal-setting section for health and lifestyle details

A variety of different skins can be applied to personalize the app, and it ca

 

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March 4, 2013 I Written By

Katie Clark is originally from Colorado and currently lives in Utah with her husband and son. She writes primarily for Smart Phone Health Care, but contributes to several Health Care Scene blogs, including EMR Thoughts, EMR and EHR, and EMR and HIPAA. She enjoys learning about Health IT and mHealth, and finding ways to improve her own health along the way.

Filed Under: Android  Apple  Health Care  Healthcare IT  Healthcare Social Media  iPad  iPhone  Medical Devices  mHealth  Mobile Health Care  Social Networking Health  Tablets
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HealthTap Release “TipTaps” – Health Tips From Professionals

While I don’t normally advocate turning to the Internet with health questions, Health Tap might be the exception. It’s like the Yahoo Answers of healthcare, except it’s actual doctors responding to the questions, rather than just any random person with an Internet connection. There are over 32,000 doctors across the United States that are participating, and making it easier for people to get health information at home.

Health Tap has just introduced a new feature to help further its goal to have a positive impact on the health of people. TipTaps, the new program, are little tidbits of health knowledge that incorporate pictures, and are created by some of the best doctors in the world.

The health tips are about 100 characters. They focus on more than 50 topics, and written by doctors who specialized in them. Unlike some programs that only send the messages through text, TipTaps can be delivered to any mobile device, or even just to email, and can be easily shared with social networks.

The messages can be received as often as a person wants, and are personalized for a person’s lifestyle, and what time of day they come at. Some example TipTaps are:

  • Managing Stress at Work: Too much stress? Breathe in for 4 counts, hold for 7, exhale for 8. Do 4 times. Anywhere. Anytime.
  • Lunch: Want to eat smaller portions? Try using a bowl instead of a plate.
  • Breakfast: Don’t skip a healthy breakfast. Eat whole grains and protein to fuel a productive day!

As I mentioned, each TipTap has some kind of graphic that comes along with it.

It sounds like an interesting idea. I know that I’m not a huge fan of getting random notifications to my phone or email like this, but I’m sure that people that like to be encouraged throughout the day would like this. If you can select which categories you get sent, that would be cool.

To see more examples of TipTaps, view this PDF. If you’d like to sign up, you can subscribe here. It definitely looks like a high quality program — I wouldn’t expect anything less from HealthTap.

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February 21, 2013 I Written By

Katie Clark is originally from Colorado and currently lives in Utah with her husband and son. She writes primarily for Smart Phone Health Care, but contributes to several Health Care Scene blogs, including EMR Thoughts, EMR and EHR, and EMR and HIPAA. She enjoys learning about Health IT and mHealth, and finding ways to improve her own health along the way.

Filed Under: Health Care  Healthcare IT  Healthcare Social Media  mHealth  Mobile Health Care  Smart Phones  Social Networking Health  Tablets
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The Eatery: A Visual Food Diary

When it comes to food diary apps, it can be hard to stand out from the crowd. I’ve featured several different food diaries in the past. While they all have certain interesting features, it ultimately comes down to one principle: add food throughout the day, and see how many calories you’ve eaten. Don’t get me wrong, I love having a mobile food diary. But for someone wanting to create a new one, it’s important to have a unique idea behind it.

The Eatery does just that. It’s not just a mobile app, but a health experiment as well. The difference between this and other food diaries, is that you don’t record calories, fat content, etc. You simply just take a picture. This video from the website describes it pretty well:

It is definitely an interesting concept, that’s for sure. I just wonder how effective it is, since you just are taking pictures of your food, rather than recording their health content. I know that I don’t always realize how many calories are in something until I look up the information online, so I’d hate to be taking pictures of food and putting them on the app, thinking they are healthy, when actuality, they are not. I guess that’s why they let other people rate your food, but I did see some people complain about people who rate all food as unhealthy, regardless of what it is.

I do like how it creates a graph, showing when you eat the most unhealthy foods. That could be very helpful if someone was trying to figure out what times of day are unhealthiest, and learn how to combat that.

This is a free app, and is available in the iTunes app store.

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February 6, 2013 I Written By

Katie Clark is originally from Colorado and currently lives in Utah with her husband and son. She writes primarily for Smart Phone Health Care, but contributes to several Health Care Scene blogs, including EMR Thoughts, EMR and EHR, and EMR and HIPAA. She enjoys learning about Health IT and mHealth, and finding ways to improve her own health along the way.

Filed Under: Apple  Health Care  Healthcare Social Media  mHealth  Patient Home Monitoring  Smart Phones
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mHealth Trend Predictions For 2013

On the healthcare section of InformationWeek.com, I read an article about Health IT Predictions for 2013. Not all of them dealt with mHealth, but several did. I thought it would be interesting to post those few ideas here and then come back at the end of the year to see how true they were.

  • HIEs and body sensors will drive growth in analytics and data mining: First of all, I feel like I see a new body sensor on the market every day. Because of this, it wouldn’t surprise me one bit to see body sensors leading the way in mHealth, particularly when it comes to gathering information. I think that HIEs and body sensors are definitely becoming mainstream, and it won’t be long before we see them being used in doctor’s offices and patients every where
  • Patients will become more responsible for care: I think many patients are beginning to see the importance of being responsible for their care. I know I am. And with the help of mHealth, it is easier than ever. The article said that “mobile access to personal information will promote the migration to a more patient-centered model, encouraging individual engagement and responsibility in healthcare management.” I do think there will be a very apparent shift to this. No longer are the days where patients just totally rely on their doctors for information. I know I’m grateful for access to my personal health records — otherwise, information on my low vitamin d levels may have slipped through the cracks (my PCP’s office ‘misplaced’ the results and forgot to call me).
  • Consumers will dictate the path healthcare technology takes: mHealth is very much driven by the consumer, and the more vocal patients are about what they want, the more likely it will happen. Because of the growth of mHealth, more people might be willing to voice their opinion on what types of technologies and apps they want created. Consumers do have a lot power when it comes to the future of mHealth.
  • Cloud storage and mobile will explode: We have already see the growth and “explosion” of mHealth in the past year or so, and it’s only going to continue. I think 2013 is going to be a huge year for mHealth. I’m excited to see what will happen.

What are some other predictions for mHealth in the coming year? Are there any types of apps or technologies that you’d like to see developed? I think there will be even more doctors and physicians becoming involved in social media, and seeing the benefit in doing so, in addition to some of the things mentioned above.

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January 8, 2013 I Written By

Katie Clark is originally from Colorado and currently lives in Utah with her husband and son. She writes primarily for Smart Phone Health Care, but contributes to several Health Care Scene blogs, including EMR Thoughts, EMR and EHR, and EMR and HIPAA. She enjoys learning about Health IT and mHealth, and finding ways to improve her own health along the way.

Filed Under: Gadgets  Health Care  Health Games  Healthcare IT  Healthcare Social Media  mHealth  Mobile Health Care  Smart Phones
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My Favorite Smart Phone Healthcare Posts of 2012

Since it’s the end of 2012, I thought it would be fitting to put  the links to some of my favorite posts I wrote this last year. Did you have a favorite one? Or is there something you’d like me to talk about this next year? Happy New Year!

1. 5 Must-Have Medical Apps for Medical Students

Because this post appears to be one of the most popular of all-time here at Smart Phone Healthcare, it tops my list. I didn’t realize what a big demand there was for information on apps for medical students. I’m sure even more great apps have come out since I wrote this post, so look for an updated one in the near future.

2. My First (Actual) Experience With A Patient Portal

Over the past several months, I have learned a lot about healthcare and mHealth. During that time, I have heard and read lots of articles and information about patient portals. However, it wasn’t until just a month or so ago that I actually had the opportunity to use one myself. This post recounts that experience using the patient portal my son’s pediatrician’s office uses, powered by eClinical Works.

3. Phreesia Makes Going to the Doctor Easier

After visiting the urgent care a few weeks ago, I discovered how the office I went to was really implementing portable devices into their practice. I was so excited about the process, that I just had to write a post about it. I think that every doctor, emergency room, and urgent care center should use some thing like Phreesia.

4. New Friend Request . . . From the Family Doctor?

Just some of my thoughts about doctors and practices using social media to connect with patients. For some, it might be overstepping the patient/doctor boundaries, but I think it’s great to see doctors getting more involved with patients.

5. Does Access to the Internet at All Times Make Us Hypochondriacs?

Yes, yes it does. At least I think so. How many of us have looked up symptoms online, and convinced themselves that they have some kind of terrible disease? I’m guessing a large majority. Having constant access to the Internet through tablets and smart phones may just increase the number of people doing that.

6. Must Have Pregnancy Mobile Apps

This was my first post here on Smart Phone HC, so of course I had to put it on the list! I really enjoyed writing this post, mainly because pregnancy was something that was on my mind, since I had given birth only a few months before. I think that any woman (or sympathetic man) could really benefit from this post.

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January 2, 2013 I Written By

Katie Clark is originally from Colorado and currently lives in Utah with her husband and son. She writes primarily for Smart Phone Health Care, but contributes to several Health Care Scene blogs, including EMR Thoughts, EMR and EHR, and EMR and HIPAA. She enjoys learning about Health IT and mHealth, and finding ways to improve her own health along the way.

Filed Under: Android  Apple  Health Care  Healthcare IT  Healthcare Social Media  Medical Devices  mHealth  Mobile Health Care  Patient Home Monitoring  Smart Phones  Social Networking Health  Tablets
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Fitbit Products Take Fitness to the Next Level

When I was at Best Buy yesterday, a display caught my eye. There were screens demonstrating the product, and from the check out area that I was at, I saw the sign that said, “FitBit.” I had a feeling it was something I would be interested in, so I looked it up right when I got home.

Fitbit offers several different products. I’ll start off by talking about the mobile app, since it’s free and something anyone with a smart phone can use.

The app is basically for tracking fitness and nutrition/food — so another great option for a food/exercise diary. However, it incorporates data from the Fitbit Ultra. This is cool because, using the 3D sensor, it captures data that you may not have entered yourself, so you have a more accurate view of fitness throughout the day, and sleep at night. I really like this, because sometimes it is hard to accurately input the amount of calories burned, or steps taken, into a fitness tracker, so this kind of takes the work out of it. But even if you don’t have any of the Fitbit devices, this app is still helpful. I love the look of it — the colors are vibrant and fun, and the graphics are easy to understand. Users can track their weight, food, exercise, and water, and see their progress and how far they have to go to reach a goal. Download it for iOS devices here and Android here.

On the Fitbit website, there are three devices that are available for purchase right now — the Zip wireless activity tracker, The One wireless activity and sleep tracker, and the Aria Wi-Fi Smart Scale. Each of them has unique attributes and features to fit the needs of many different users.

First off, the Zip. This is the cheapest device, only costing 59.99, and probably the most simple. It’s small and comes in a variety of fun, bright colors. Below is a picture of the green model.

 

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It can be used with the mobile apps, and tracks steps, distance, and calories burned. In my opinion, it’s just a hyped-up pedometer, though I’m guessing (and hoping) it is more accurate than some pedometers I’ve used in the past. The Zip can be easily synced with the computer or apps, and helps create a good visual for goals that are been set. It’s small and can clip on to just about any clothing discreetly. Users can also earn badges or challenge friends as well.

Next is “The One.” This device looks like a USB drive. It doesn’t look quite as cool as the Zip does, in my opinion, but it does more. It costs $99.95, and on the description page, it says this device is for those that want to “turn fitness into a lifestyle.” It does everything the Zip does, as well as tracks stairs climbed, but it also has a sleep tracker. It measures and analyzes sleep cycles and offers suggestions for better sleep. I guess it will even wake you up in the morning. It also can be synced to a computer or mobile device.

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I think the thing that I like most about these devices is that it uses the user’ss personal stats (weight, height, etc.) to create an accurate depiction of calories burned. That is definitely not your every day pedometer!

Finally, Fitbit offers the Aria Wi-Fi Smart Scale. I’m in the market for a new scale, and this one definitely tops my list. It’s super sleek, and comes in either white or black. At first glance, it looks like it just simply displays the users weight. It not only tracks weight, but BMI and body fat percentage. Like all other Fitbit products, the data can be synced to Fitbit.com, and graphs can be viewed there. And up to eight users can be registered to the scale — the cool part about this? The scale automatically recognizes who is using it. My dad, who loves to try and figure out how much people weigh (much to my dismay…and everyone else’s!), always jokes that the scale in my parent’s house tracks how much people weigh…I guess if he got this scale, that might actually be true – yikes!

The Wi-Fi Smart Scale isn’t cheap — it’s 129.95. However, it offers a lot of really awesome features, and if you can afford it, I think this is definitely a scale to consider.

I think Fitbit is definitely a company to watch. They have some really neat products, and I only anticipate more cool things coming from them in the future.

To purchase any of the products mentioned, visit the Fitbit store here.

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December 31, 2012 I Written By

Katie Clark is originally from Colorado and currently lives in Utah with her husband and son. She writes primarily for Smart Phone Health Care, but contributes to several Health Care Scene blogs, including EMR Thoughts, EMR and EHR, and EMR and HIPAA. She enjoys learning about Health IT and mHealth, and finding ways to improve her own health along the way.

Filed Under: Android  Apple  Gadgets  Healthcare IT  Healthcare Social Media  Medical Devices  mHealth  Mobile Health Care  Patient Home Monitoring  Smart Phones  Social Networking Health
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Map of Most Popular mHealth Apps Worldwide

AppAppeal.com recently posted a map that shows popular health apps in an interesting and interactive way. In the picture below, there is a key to show what the different colors mean. The map displays health apps popularity by country, and I think it was pretty neat to see the trends.

I wasn’t too surprised to see that WebMD is most popular in the United States. It’s definitely one of my favorites, and I feel like I’m constantly getting emails or updates about the website and the mobile app. Most of the apps on this list I have used or at least heard of, so I’d be interested in hearing why certain apps are more popular in different parts of the world. Is WebMD more focused on ailments that affect Americans? Is Livestrong, which appears to be used in the most countries world-wide (according to this map), more dynamic and trusted?

One thing that caught my eye was the popularity of ZocDoc across Russia and in parts of South America. I’ll be honest, I’ve never heard of it. After seeing it on here, I figured I should look it up and see what it was all about. Basically, you select your insurance, where you live, and what type of doctor you are looking for, and if any doctors in your area is participating with ZocDoc, it will pull up open appointments for that doctor. There weren’t any doctors in my area that were participating, but I could definitely see how this would be awesome. Whenever I look at my healthcare provider’s website and search for physicians, I always wish there was a way to just set up an appointment right then and there, or to be able to compare qualifications. It looks like there is also additional information about the education, reviews, and experience about doctors. I’m a little confused as to why it’s so popular in Russia and South America, because as far as I could see, it is based on American doctors, but perhaps there is an international version available?

Anyways, I just thought this was a neat visual, and that it was a good introduction to seeing what mHealth is doing around the world.

To view the actual map, complete with more details, go here.

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November 20, 2012 I Written By

Katie Clark is originally from Colorado and currently lives in Utah with her husband and son. She writes primarily for Smart Phone Health Care, but contributes to several Health Care Scene blogs, including EMR Thoughts, EMR and EHR, and EMR and HIPAA. She enjoys learning about Health IT and mHealth, and finding ways to improve her own health along the way.

Filed Under: Health Care  Healthcare IT  Healthcare Social Media  mHealth
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Managing Pain With New WebMD App

Yesterday, I received an email from WebMD with news of a new app. It caught me eye, so I decided to look a little more into it.

The app is called Pain Coach, with the subtitle “A Better Day Starts Here.” For anyone that deals with any type of chronic pain, that is definitely a tempting proposition.

When a person goes to the doctor for any type of persistent pain, the doctor is ineveitably going to ask “So, where does it hurt?” Having been in this position myself, I usually draw a blank and give a very generic area — which could indicate a whole variety of problems. This app would be great for a doctor to “prescribe” to a patient who might need a little help pinpointing exactly where the pain is, what the triggers are, and how to describe that pain to the doctor. It would definitely make doctor’s appointments go smoother, in my opinion.

So let’s take a look at what this app actually has to offer.

First off, it is only available for the iPhone — sorry Android users (myself included!) The email I got listed the following features:

  • Doctor-approved information customized to your condition
  • A personal journal that tracks your pain level on scale of 1 to 10, as well as your symptoms, treatments, and triggers. Email a PDF report of your pain history in time for your next doctor visit.
  • Goals to help you manage your pain.
  • Hundreds of daily tips to help you achieve your goals

Here a few screen shots, provided by iTunes:

This shows a basic summary of a particular day. There is definitely a lot of detail, probably more than most doctors really would care about…but it seems pretty easy to track.

This looks like the pain identification center…once again, it has lots of details. I think pinpointing specific times and dates can really show specific triggers for pain.

 

 

And finally, here’s a picture of a graph that can be created to map pain over a certain period of time. I imagine this might be something a physician would be interested in.

As with most mobile health apps, this is a great idea . . . if people actually remember to use it beyond the first few days after the initial download. I’ve been thinking a lot about a post over at Happy EMR Doctor about patient engagement. What is it going to take for patients to actually use medical apps on a long term basis? Either way, I think this is a neat app, and I hope it becomes available for Android phones soon!

This app is absolutely free, and can be downloaded for free here from the iTunes app store.

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October 18, 2012 I Written By

Katie Clark is originally from Colorado and currently lives in Utah with her husband and son. She writes primarily for Smart Phone Health Care, but contributes to several Health Care Scene blogs, including EMR Thoughts, EMR and EHR, and EMR and HIPAA. She enjoys learning about Health IT and mHealth, and finding ways to improve her own health along the way.

Filed Under: Apple  Health Care  Healthcare IT  Healthcare Social Media  iPad  iPhone  mHealth  Mobile Health Care  Patient Home Monitoring  Social Networking Health
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