By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    Health
    Healthcare organizations are operating on slimmer profit margins than ever. One report in August showed that they are even lower than the beginning of the…
    Show More
    Top News
    healthcare cybersecurity
    4 Helpful Tips on How to Protect Your Medical Practice Against Cyber Attacks
    October 24, 2021
    Health Check Diagnosis Medical Condition Analysis Concept
    6 Health Woes With Online Remedies
    January 19, 2022
    Eight Things Men Should Know About the Male Menopause
    Eight Things Men Should Know About the Male Menopause
    April 24, 2022
    Latest News
    Beyond Nutrition: Everyday Foods That Support Whole-Body Health
    June 15, 2025
    The Wide-Ranging Benefits of Magnesium Supplements
    June 11, 2025
    The Best Home Remedies for Migraines
    June 5, 2025
    The Hidden Impact Of Stress On Your Body’s Alignment And Balance
    May 22, 2025
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
    Policy and Law
    Get the latest updates about Insurance policies and Laws in the Healthcare industry for different geographical locations.
    Show More
    Top News
    healthy nursing school habits
    Healthy Habits for Nursing Student Nursing School Students
    May 24, 2024
    High Deductables
    High-Deductible Insurance and Rising Bad Debt
    July 24, 2015
    How People Are Taking Advantage of Health Deals in the Recent Recession
    February 5, 2021
    Latest News
    Top HIPAA-Compliant Messaging Apps for Healthcare Teams
    June 25, 2025
    When Healthcare Ends, the Legal Process Begins: What Families Should Know About Probate and Medical Estates
    June 20, 2025
    Preventing Contamination In Healthcare Facilities Starts With Hygiene
    June 15, 2025
    Strengthening Healthcare Systems Through Clinical and Administrative Career Development
    June 13, 2025
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Connected Health as a Therapeutic
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > eHealth > Connected Health as a Therapeutic
eHealthTechnology

Connected Health as a Therapeutic

JosephKvedar
Last updated: July 31, 2014 8:00 am
JosephKvedar
Share
6 Min Read
SHARE

I heard the other day that by 2017, 50% of the pharmacy spend in the U.S. will be on specialty pharmacy.  It seems this is driven by two phenomena.  The first is the growing crop of new molecules that are in the class ‘biologics’ –  developed via biotechnology and which are complex to manufacture, require special handling and care coordination. They are incredibly expensive but have given us new hope for such conditions as Hepatitis C and a variety of cancers. These are classified as specialty pharmacy drugs. 

I heard the other day that by 2017, 50% of the pharmacy spend in the U.S. will be on specialty pharmacy.  It seems this is driven by two phenomena.  The first is the growing crop of new molecules that are in the class ‘biologics’ –  developed via biotechnology and which are complex to manufacture, require special handling and care coordination. They are incredibly expensive but have given us new hope for such conditions as Hepatitis C and a variety of cancers. These are classified as specialty pharmacy drugs. 

The second phenomenon is that just about everything else will be generics. Specialty drugs in this one burgeoning expense class seem to be taking over the pharmaceutical industry, and bucking the trend in health care — to succeed by being more efficient.  This brings to mind two opportunities for connected health.  One is surrounding these expensive therapeutics with connected health applications in order to improve outcomes and reduce costs.  The second is that connected health interventions, because of their demonstrated improvements in adherence, can  improve the care experience, patient satisfaction and quality of life, and themselves prove to be therapeutic.

I am not going to speak to the first opportunity, but we are working on a real-life example of this at CCH now.  We are under non-disclosure with the research sponsor, but I promise you it will be an exciting result when we can publicly discuss it.

More Read

Minimally Invasive Nature Of Transcatheter Heart Valve Spurs Its Demand
FDA’s Agenda for 2016: Biggest Issues on Agency’s Calendar for the New Year
3 Factors Fueling Growth in Mobile Health Apps
Tweets and Social App “Vine” Cover Live Surgery in UK
Care On The Road: How Telemedicine Can Reach Truck Drivers

The latter opportunity is intriguing and a bit of a sleeper.  Traditionally, the introduction of new technologies into health care has been assumed by knee-jerk reaction to add costs.  Yet, we’ve accumulated evidence to the contrary. I have two stories to demonstrate this.

The first example is a clinical research program we have under way with adolescents who have asthma.  We’ve created a private Facebook group for them to be part of, and that’s about it really.  No fancy bells and whistles.  Just old-fashioned social networking. The cHealth Blog_Kvedar_Asthma Facebook studyThis is a study in progress, but to date we’ve already seen a positive effect, as measured by an instrument called the Asthma Control Test (ACT).  Typically, the success rate of teenagers filling out this survey is 18%.  Just putting kids in a Facebook group improved their participation to 80%.  More importantly, the improvement in the score on the ACT measuring how well these teens are controlling their asthma was, on average, 1.47.  Compared to the introduction of  a new inhaler, which typically gives a response, at a population level, of ~0.5, and it seems that Facebook is three times as therapeutic as a drug.  I’m being provocative here, but you get the idea.

The second example is in type II diabetes, using connected health to improve activity.  We randomized patients with type II diabetes into two groups, one received an activity tracker and nothing more versus a second group that received a tracker plus were sent automated motivational messages every day.

The cHealth Blog_Kvedar_Diabetes Text messaging activity tracker study
The messages were algorithm-driven; they were not sent by a person.  The algorithm took into account several variables, including self-reported information on how motivated the individual was to increase activity, data from the activity tracker, weather data, and some electronic records data.  This intervention was conducted over six months and at the end, the patients receiving the automated messages had an aggregated drop in HbA1c of 0.6 gm%.  At a population level, Metformin, one of those generic drugs referenced above, results in a drop in HbA1c of 0.4 gm%.  Once again, we see connected health is more therapeutic than a drug.  This result is even more impressive when you take into account the fact that the messages were machine generated.

These data drive home the point that engagement is powerful and that engaged patients do better.  In both cases, those patients who were engaged, measured by either participation in the Facebook group or frequency of opening messages, did even better than the intervention groups as a whole.

Here are two examples, then, where connected health competes with chemical therapeutics in terms of efficacy.

It suggests a future where connected health programs are widespread, either as adjuncts to or substitutes for chemical therapeutics.  And, we haven’t yet discussed how connected health strategies can be integrated into clinical trials, or deliver value-added programs to build brand loyalty and patient engagement.

Of course, these days connected health programs are more costly than the chemical therapeutics (the generics anyway), but that cost will plummet over time.

How does this future look to you?

TAGGED:pharma
Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

women dental care
What Is a Smile Makeover and How Much Does It Cost?
Dental health
June 30, 2025
HIPAA-Compliant Messaging Apps
Top HIPAA-Compliant Messaging Apps for Healthcare Teams
Global Healthcare Policy & Law Technology
June 25, 2025
recovering from injury
Rebuilding After Injury: Path to Physical and Emotional Recovery
News
June 22, 2025
scientist using microscope
When Healthcare Ends, the Legal Process Begins: What Families Should Know About Probate and Medical Estates
Global Healthcare
June 18, 2025

You Might also Like

Digital Marketing
BusinesseHealthSocial Media

Top Digital Platforms for Your Healthcare Marketing

March 10, 2015
engaging with patients online
eHealthMedical RecordsMobile HealthPolicy & LawRemote DiagnosticsTechnology

Engagement: Finding the Healthy Mix

March 31, 2015
Image
eHealthMobile Health

Mobile Health Around the Globe: Arogya World’s mDiabetes Project

February 25, 2013
Image
Medical DevicesTechnology

RSNA 2013: Siemens’ Artis One – An Answer for Life

December 5, 2013
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?