Imaging Beyond Imagination : ehealthonline - Healthcare 360*

Costs become a focus for mobile health apps - eHealth

eHEALTH Bureau

Everyday across the U.S., tens of thousands of patients in the Veterans  Administration health system start their day by answering questions about how they feel. But they aren't meeting with a doctor or a nurse — or even talking to them on the phone. Instead they are pressing buttons on an alarm clock-size device called a Health Buddy. Some of the patients will connect a weight scale or a blood pressure cuff to the device, which transmits the information to a VA database where it is analyzed for warning signs of impending health problems. The VA's 49,000-patient network is part of a quiet revolution in health care dubbed "telemedicine," aimed at improving care and lowering costs by keeping patients out of hospitals and nursing homes. The cost of monitoring a VA patient at home is $1,900 per year, compared with $77,000 for nursing home care, according to the government agency. Most of the patients in the VA program have chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease and depression. With health care costs consuming nearly a fifth of the economy, devices like the Health Buddy offer one way to manage the wave of baby boomers that will require more and more medical care as they age. Telemedicine has been endorsed by doctors and care takers who believe seniors fare better at home, amid familiar routines and surroundings. Even doctors at tech savvy medical practices point out the technological and economic hurdles.

Bolohealth.com: India’s first health and wellness portal with social networking - eHealth

'bolohealth.com,' the first-of-its-kind Indian portal for health and wellness was unveiled on 22, July, 09. The portal will enable users to network with health enthusiasts and access health related information online. Addressing the press, Dr. Simanta Sharma, Founder and Managing Director of HealthOn Infosoft Pvt. Ltd. said, 'bolohealth.com attempts to break the clutter by becoming your online health buddy – it makes you ask, voice your opinion and thoughts, and participate through 'My bolohealth'. It is truly a first of its kind model of participatory healthcare or health networking.' He further added, 'bolohealth.com, through its repertoire of diverse forms of content makes you experience healthiness, connect with likeminded health enthusiasts and listen to their stories, and most importantly, get real and active about health itself.' 

'In its content portfolio – bolohealth.com is rich and comprehensive what with its many microsites such as -- on pregnancy and women's health, skin, hair and beauty, diet, nutrition and fitness, sex and relationships, children's health and parenting and many more – all of these addressing the diverse needs of modern day users,' informed Sharmistha Dey, Co-founder, and Chief Editor and Content Officer of the portal. She further added, 'bolohealth.com is interactive and makes health interesting and fun with its content forms such as features, quizzes, slideshows, QnAs. And last but not the least, bolohealth.com is as much health by the people with its Web 2.0 components as it is health for the people and of the people.' 'People are reading, people are talking, people are asking as well as interacting. We are an evolved and ever more inquisitive audience. And we need to learn! Bolohealth.com is a comprehensive health portal to reckon with because of what it offers its audience – relevance and authenticity of the content it serves – and because of its power to engage and involve the audience. bolohealth's panel of doctors, health professionals and medical writers speak about matters relevant to the health of the Indian audience,' said Jini Mathai, Co-founder, and Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, HealthOn Infosoft Pvt Ltd.