2007 Interactive Media Award Winner for Healthcare

Healia Wins Outstanding Achievement Award for Health Search Website From Interactive Media Awards

BELLEVUE, WA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- May 03, 2007 -- Healia, a health vertical search engine for high quality and personalized health information, has won an Outstanding Achievement Award in the healthcare category from the 2007 Interactive Media Awards.

The honor, granted by the Interactive Media Council, recognizes Web sites that surpass the highest standards of excellence and that represent the Web's most professional and outstanding work. The judging criteria included design, usability, technical innovation, standards compliance, and content.

"We are honored to have our search engine recognized by the Interactive Media Awards," stated Tom Eng, CEO of Healia, Inc. "This award reflects Healia's passionate focus on building unique consumer health Internet technologies that have the highest levels of compelling design, usability, and innovation."

About Healia.com

Healia, Inc. (www.healia.com) is the creator of a proprietary, health-optimized search engine that uses patent-pending technology to generate high quality, highly targeted, and personalized results for consumers. The Healia search engine is available to partners for free in an advertising revenue share relationship or for a license fee to maintain an ad-free environment common to health organizations and employers. Its licensees include the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), the nation's largest integrated health care system.

About the Interactive Media Awards

The Interactive Media Awards (www.interactivemediaawards.com) recognize the highest standards of excellence in Web site design and development and honor individuals and organizations for their outstanding achievement. Sponsored by the Interactive Media Council, Inc., a nonprofit organization of leading Web designers, developers, programmers, advertisers and other Web-related professionals, the competition seeks to elevate the standards of excellence on the Internet.

Contact:

Tassie DeMoney
Healia, Inc.
12505 Bel-Red Rd., Suite 209
Bellevue, WA 98005
Phone: 425 646 6030
Email: media@healia.com
Website: www.healia.com


Source: Market Wire

Mobiles 'to help track diseases'

Tuesday, 17 October 2006, 11:23 GMT

The application can deliver information in remote locations

Mobile phone technology is being developed to help manage the spread of diseases such as HIV and bird flu.

The software is designed to allow field workers using handsets to send and receive data on disease outbreaks along with patient and drug information.

The project is a collaboration between technology firm Voxiva and the trade association for mobile operators, GSMA.

Trials of the relatively low-cost application are underway in Rwanda, Africa and in Indonesia.

When a disease is spreading rapidly, health authorities need information that is bang-up-to-date Rob Conway, GSMA

The program works by sending the data through the general packet radio service (GPRS) network, and if this is unavailable, it can divert to an SMS data channel, normally used for text messages.

It is programmed using java language, so can work across different handsets and operators.

This means a doctor working in the field can send information to a central database about how many people are affected by a disease, patient status, drug inventory levels and receive information such as alerts, treatment guidelines or lab test results.

Ben Soppitt, director of strategic initiatives, GSMA, said: "This will allow health officials to see real-time accurate data on the status of the healthcare system in their country so they can make informed decisions about where those resources are applied."

'Vital data'

GSMA and Voxiva said the technology will be particularly valuable for helping to track communicable diseases, such as HIV. A pilot to the system's ability to track bird flu is also taking place in Indonesia.

Rob Conway, CEO of GSMA, said: "The efforts of the international health community to control pandemics, by getting life-saving drugs to those in need, depend heavily on a comprehensive and accurate picture of what is happening on the ground.

"When a disease is spreading rapidly, health authorities need information that is bang-up-to-date. Mobile networks, which are now widespread in the developing world, are the best and most immediate way to get them that vital data."

The cost of rolling out the technology in Rwanda, including setting-up and implementation costs, is about $1m.

Source: BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6058162.stm

RELATED INTERNET LINKS

Voxiva

GSMA

Weblogs - Medical Librarianship

LISWiki, 10 April 2007

This is a list of medical librarianship Weblogs. These weblogs are:

1. about medical / health / health sciences / biomedical librarianship;
2. written by (a) medical librarian(s) or medical library paraprofessional(s);
3. maintained by a medical library; or
4. maintained by professional association of medical librarians and/or medical library paraprofessionals.

OPML file for this list (Updated 11/18/2006)

View OPML with Grazr

Search these blogs!

Name	Feed	Description
Le Babouin	Feed	Blogue adapté aux bibliothécaires ouvertement utopistes, indisciplinés et novateurs (French Language)
Biblioteca Virtual de Ciencias de la Salud	Feed	Health Sciences information resources (Spanish Language)
Biomedbiblog	Feed	Weblog of the Dutch Medical Library Association (Dutch Language)
BiUM	Feed	Un autre regard sur la Bibliothèque Universitaire de Médecine de Lausanne (French Language)
Browsing	Feed	Things that caught the eye of Keith Nockels, Information Librarian, Clinical Sciences Library, University of Leicester
Bringing Health Information to the Community {BHIC}	Feed	MidContinental Regional Medical Library blog for community and health based organizations focusing on increasing access to health information around health disparities issues.
Clinical Evidence and Searching Tidbits	Feed	Research methodology and searching from a clinical librarian's perspective
The Cornflower	Feed	The Blog of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine Greater Midwest Region
DavidRothman.net	Feed	A blog about Medical Librarianship and Technology by a hospital library paraprofessional in Syracuse, NY
Dentistry Library	Feed	A blog from the University of Michigan Dentistry Library.
DLnet	Feed	Digital Libraries Network is for health librarians and trainers in the UK, interested in promotion and training (not updated since February 2006)
Dragonfly	Feed	News from the Pacific Northwest Regional Medical Library
Duke University Medical Center Library Blog	Feed	News from the Duke University Medical Center Library
DIGICMB / Guus van den Brekel	Feed	Thoughts and actions of Guus van den Brekel, Coordinator of Electronic Services, Central Medical Library (CMB)The CMB is a medical library in the north of the Netherlands, part of the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) and one of the libraries of the University of Groningen (English Language)
European Medical Librarians	Feed	Items of Interests for everyone working in an European Medical Library
Health, Science, & Libraries	Feed	A blog of thoughts, ideas, and questions from Jane Blumenthal, director of health sciences libraries at the University of Michigan
IHSLA News	Feed	Indiana Health Sciences Library Association
iLib Health Sciences Library multimedia podcast	Feed	Health Sciences Library, Stony Brook University
JMLA Case Studies in Health Sciences Librarianship	Feed	Journal of the Medical Library Association
The Krafty Librarian	Feed	Every Librarian Needs a Bag of Tricks
Librarians' Rx	Feed	Items of possible interest to Canadian Health Sciences Librarians
Marginal Space	Feed	Marginal Space - wider and more interesting than what lies between the lines (The blog of Patricia F. Anderson)
MDMLG	Feed	Blog of the Metropolitan Detroit Medical Library Group
medinfo	Feed	Weblog of the German Medical Library Asscociation (German Language)
The Medium is the Message	Feed	Library, technology, and information thoughts and trends (with respect to Marshall McLuhan) Blog of Eric Schnell
medlibrarian.net	Feed	Taking the pulse of medical librarianship
MGAS nieuws	Feed	News from the Biomedical Library, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium (Dutch Language)
MWB News	Feed	News from the Medical-Scientific Library, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg (German Language)
Musings of a Medical Librarian Maven	Feed	A mid-career hospital library blogging about medical librarianship
NN/LM MidContinental Region News Blog	Feed	NN/LM MidContinental Region News Blog
NN/LM Middle Atlantic Region Blog	Feed	NN/LM Middle Atlantic Region Blog
Professional Notes	Feed	From Stewart Brower, education coordinator for SUNY Buffalo HSL and author/speaker on teaching the Millennials.
Tom Roper's Weblog	Feed	"...an evergreen tree of diabolical knowledge..." R.B. Sheridan The Rivals, 1775
T. Scott	Feed	Blog of T. Scott Plutchak
- User Education Resources for Librarians Blog	Feed	From Teresa Hartman, education librarian for McGoogan Library of Medicine at UNMC
UBC Academic Search - Google Scholar Blog	Feed	"To observe, document & comment on the evolution of academic-scholarly searching" - Dean Giustini
UBC Physio blog	Feed	"Exploring Physiotherapy informatics" - Eugene Barsky
Women's Health News	Feed	Women's Health News & Resources from a Medical Librarian

'Personal' health websites sought

Wednesday, 7 March 2007, 00:13 GMT

People like to read personal testimonies, the study says

People searching online for health advice often reject sites giving high quality information in favour of those with a human touch, a study suggests.

Researchers found people use an initial weeding out process to deal with the minefield of health information of variable quality available.

However, this tends to mean they quickly eliminate most NHS and drug company websites, they said.

The study was funded by the UK's Economic and Social Research Council.

People don't have the patience to scroll through pages in order to find something useful Professor Pamela Briggs Northumbria University

The researchers examined the internet search strategies of people who wanted to find specific health information on topics such as high blood pressure, the menopause and hormone replacement therapy (HRT).

They found that many websites were dismissed at quite amazing speeds.

Lead researcher Professor Pamela Briggs, from Northumbria University, said: "One thing that really put people off was advertising, so people clicked off drug company websites straight away.

"Generally, the medical information on drug company sites is very accurate but people question the authors' motivation and agenda.

"The issue of impartiality is quite crucial in building trust."

Personal stories

NHS websites fared little better. Often these were rejected because the first page participants were directed to was a portal or they had too much background or generic content.

Professor Briggs said: "People don't have the patience to scroll through pages in order to find something useful.

"Ease of access is so important."

The research also found that even if a site made a favourable first impression, it was unlikely to keep the attention if it did not include personal stories to which the reader could relate.

Many were specifically drawn to sites where they could read about the experiences of other people who have the same problems and concerns.

But Professor Briggs warned that the tendency to trust sites with personal testimonies from like-minded peers was potentially flawed, as it could reinforce unhealthy behaviour patterns.

Dr Paul Cundy, a GP and member of the British Medical Association's IT committee, said there was also a danger that personal testimonies were planted by drugs companies.

He said drugs companies had been known to sponsor self-help sites which appeared at first glance to be independent.

"People should be encouraged to gather information from the web, but they should then take it to a doctor to discuss face-to-face rather than immediately taking action based on what they have found," he said.

Source: BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6422157.stm

RELATED INTERNET LINKS

Economic and Social Research Council

DailyStrength — the health support social network

Posted By Matt Marshall On 26th November 2006 @ 22:59 In Business and Technology |

[1] DailyStrength is another one of those Internet sites you swear you’ve heard of before, because the idea sounds so obvious and the need so great.

It is a health support social network, and it has just raised a first round of funding from Redpoint Ventures.

Health care has been a popular theme in recent years. You’ve got search engines like [2] Kosmix and [3] Healthline, advice sites for doctors, and large informational sites like [4] WebMD. But none have developed vibrant social networks. WebMD has [5] messsage boards, but that’s it.

If you’ve got second-stage breast cancer, and you’re about to take a drug called Tamoxifen, what happens when you do that? Where do women go to find people who are also taking the drug, correspond with each other, and give each other virtual “hugs” at 3am? That’s the place DailyStrength aims to be, says co-founder Doug Hirsch.

It is early days for the site. It takes a second to see all that is there; its front-page is a bit busy. But once you dig deeper and play around with it, it is quite logical. Each member of the network belongs to a community centered around a health problem, say breast cancer — and they each can create a personal profile. Finally, there’s a listing of treatments, which is also cross referenced with communities and the profiles.

Hirsch likes to point, for example, to the second most popular treatment, [6] Lexapro. The Lexapro treatment page shows that more than 100 people have used it, but that only half of them find it works. But it shows ten people used it for bipolar disorder, and 80 percent of them report it successful. While not scientific, it provides a good guide nonetheless.

The site then lets you drill down, by selecting the “bipolar disorder” link, which takes you to a page with more information about that health problem, and a listing of members suffering from it, and the discussions they are having about it. See screenshot here:

DailyStrength has four employees, and six contractors. It is based in Los Angeles, but is still semi-virtual, with Hirsch’s other co-founders Lars Nilsen and Josh Deford in Santa Cruz and Portland. DailyStrength launched quietly in September, and had 50,000 unique visitors in November, Hirsch says.

Inspiration for the site, Hirsch says, came during college when Hirsch watched a cousin get liver cancer and die within a few months. Hirsch “ran away” from it at the time, but the experience stuck with him, he says.

Coincidentally, Hirsch developed an interest in the social aspects of the Web. Hirsch joined Yahoo in 1996 as employee #20 and ran product management at Yahoo for chat, personals, message boards, groups and mail. He left in 2001, and ran Yahoo’s entertainment division for four years. Hirsch was also a vice president at Facebook for a few months, until he left earlier this year. His two co-founders are also ex-Yahoos.

The Web’s social networking sites are only popular among the 15 to 25 age-group, Hirsch says, with the exception of [7] LinkedIn. To be popular among a wider age group, a site has to deal with a subject people are passionate about — for example, sex, money or survival. That explains LinkedIn, Hirsch says — it serves peoples’ perceived need to network in order to make money. Health and survival, however, are passions that don’t have social networking outlet to date, he said. Thus DailyStrength.

There are a slew of other sites that come close to what DailyStrength does, such as [8] CarePages, and [9] CaringBridge and [10] OrganizedWisdom, but none of them have focused as much on networking or offer the latest Web 2.0 tools and look we’ve become familiar with. One more recent Silicon Valley competitor, [11] MDJunction, comes close; it is still focused on breast cancer, but is building out. There is also niche site [12] Breatcancer.org, which has a vibrant community, but it is non-profit. Steve Case launched [13] Revolution Health in April last year, but it’s not clear where it is headed.

(Hat-tip to [14] Noah)

---

Article printed from VentureBeat: http://venturebeat.com

URL to article: http://venturebeat.com/2006/11/26/dailystrength-the-health-support-social-networking-site/

URLs in this post:
[1] DailyStrength: http://www.dailystrength.org
[2] Kosmix: http://www.kosmix.com
[3] Healthline: http://www.healthline.com
[4] WebMD: http://www.WebMD.com
[5] messsage boards: http://boards.webmd.com/topic.asp?topic_id=138
[6] Lexapro: http://www.dailystrength.org/treatments/Lexapro/
[7] LinkedIn: http://www.LinkedIn.com
[8] CarePages: http://www.Carepages.com
[9] CaringBridge : http://www.caringbridge.org
[10] OrganizedWisdom: http://www.organizedwisdom.com
[11] MDJunction: http://www.mdjunction.com
[12] Breatcancer.org: http://www.breastcancer.org
[13] Revolution Health: http://www.revolutionhealth.com
[14] Noah: http://www.okdork.com

From:VentureBeat

Microsoft to buy health Web search company

REDMOND, Wash., Feb. 26 (UPI) -- U.S. information-technology giant Microsoft has taken another step to bolster its new healthcare division, the company said Monday.

It has agreed to acquire Medstory, a small California-based company that develops Web search technology for health information. The financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.

Microsoft interest was piqued by Medstory's search technology, which pre-screens health Web search results to help consumers and healthcare providers more quickly find relevant health information, said Peter Neupert, head of Microsoft's Health Solutions Group.

The acquisition, which will be formally announced by Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer at a New Orleans health systems conference, is the latest of several health-related purchases for the company.

Medstory CEO Alain Rappaport will head the medical search division at Microsoft.


Source: UPI
http://www.upi.com/HealthBusiness/view.php?StoryID=20070226-122815-5897r

see also:
Microsoft to acquire search start-up Medstory from ZDNet
Microsoft Demonstrates Further Commitment to Healthcare Market With Planned Acquisition of Web Search Company at MicroSoft

System to spot at-risk patients

Sunday, 14 January 2007, 00:06 GMT

Patients with conditions such as asthma could benefit

Computer technology is helping doctors identify patients with long-term conditions at risk of deterioration, before they need hospital care.

Using patient information from a range of sources, a new programme predicts when people with conditions such as asthma will take a turn for the worse.

The aim is to cut emergency admissions by allowing health workers to intervene before the situation becomes critical.

The Department of Health says this will mean patients get better care.

This new model will arm healthcare professionals with the information they need to target patients Niall Dickson King's Fund

With the right intervention, ministers argue, the deterioration of a patient's condition could be prevented or slowed down.

Health Minister Rosie Winterton said: "Our population is getting older and more of us are living with an illness or condition which means huge increases in demand on health and social care services."

Tests

The Combined Predictive Model has been developed by the King's Fund, Health Dialog and New York University.

The system uses patient information from accident and emergency, inpatient, outpatient and GP sources.

Part of the system has already been tested in several primary care trusts, and the fully fledged version has been trialled in Croydon, south London.

Niall Dickson, chief executive of the King's Fund, said: "This new model will arm healthcare professionals with the information they need to target patients who face a much greater risk of ending up in hospital if their conditions are not managed effectively in the community.

"Previous techniques only allowed us to identify patients who had already been admitted to hospital on at least one occasion.

"However, this model allows us to go beyond this group to identify and provide better care for the vast numbers of people whose conditions are not yet at this critical stage.

"Helping these patients with good disease management programmes, or supporting them to self-manage, should have a great impact on their daily lives and prevent unnecessary hospital admissions."

Geraint Lewis, specialist registrar at Croydon PCT, said the new model had transformed the way people with complex medical and social needs are looked after in Croydon.

He said: "By allowing us to identify individuals before they become acutely unwell, our clinicians can offer proactive - rather than reactive - care."

Source: BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6240551.stm