Overcoming Barriers in the Adoption of mHealth Mobile Apps

I wrote an in-depth response to the “12 barriers” presented in the blog below on the LinkedIn Mobile Health Association group, and am posting my discussion public here.

The title of the blog post is “12 Barriers to Adopting Mobile Technologies in the Healthcare Industry”
http://www.integratedchange.net/barriers-to-adopting-mobile-technologies-in-the-healthcare-industry

This blog presents a nice concise overview of the issues, and I took it as an opportunity to share my knowledge on the subject. As to my qualifications, I designed & patented one of the first mobile health apps in 1997, the DiaCeph Test, a disease management & diagnostic app for the disorder hydrocephalus. It was to run as a stand-alone app on a PDA. I formed my start-up company, DiaCeph, Inc., and for 3 or 4 years I followed all of the developments during those years. Today, mobile data apps are different from the earlier stand-alone & PC applications. However, we can learn a great deal from those early years, and individuals such as myself have experience in working earlier apps. So, it’s just a matter of picking up where we left off. As such, I feel that I have an astute understanding of mHealth app prospects today.

The blog lists 12 distinct barriers that need to be addressed in order for mobile health, or Mhealth apps, to be put into widespread use.

1) Security
2) Health Devices
3) Remote Places
4) NHS Network – N3
5) Difficulty Understanding the Technology:
6) Difficulty for NHS Staff
7) Hacking
8) Lack of Incentives for GPs
9) Mobile Does Not Mean Only Mobile
10) User-Friendly
11) Human Appeal
12) Lack of Support

Let me begin by addressing No. 8: Lack of Incentives for GPs (Physicians). Just as it were proposed 15 years ago, I believe it still holds true today. There needs to be a reimbursement code & fee for physicians to examine patient data from health apps, particularly, disease management apps for chronic illness. If the app provides [invaluable] clinical information that the physician would not otherwise have, the app data must be viewed as clinical testing. Even though the results might only require a quick check or interpretation, there is an interpretation taking place and doing so could/should involve a fee (esp. where there are no other charges for the monitoring). Another way physicians could earn a fee, is thru cost savings and capitation in managed care practices.

In chronic illness, which today accounts for 75% of all health care spending, health apps can make an invaluable contribution to clinical care & outcomes. Digital monitoring has been used in CHF, asthma, diabetes, and a few other disorders with good success. But there’s not yet been the widespread and seamless integration to drive the needed adoption and support.

As to No. 3 Remote Places: I believe “text apps” could be used on standard phones, and operate a bit like my earlier DiaCeph app on a PDA, and the resulting file texted to a care facility.

With most of the other barriers, notwithstanding those of security (which in my view applies to all mobile data), the challenges I believe can be answered by physician and plan reimbursement, which will then drive adoption.

Briefly, my view of apps is in one of three (3) categories: 1) Fitness & light wellness; 2) Disease Management; and 3) PHR or personal health records. The latter category poses the key hurdles with secutity, whereas the 2nd category is for management of chronic illness, which is critical to care outcomes, and is also where much of my experience lies.

If physicians are reimbursed for reviewing or interpreting app data in chronic illness (which I believe can happen), then physicians will lead adoption and tech support – which is how it should be. App recommendations, use, adoption and support will then go thru their office, much in the way prescriptions are written thru their office today. I also envision “app centers” where patients can get support and the latest user information on apps. These app centers could also serve of the types of apps, relieving AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint of this responsibility. Just imagine the marketing efforts that would ensue to physicians, the reimbursement, and the value-cost savings in medicine. We’ve seen leaps and bounds of progress in UIs and adoption of apps in only a few years. So many users are ready for this next wave of technology. It’s the seniors and slow learners next that must be brought on board tech and mobile apps. But just imagine what a coordinated effort could do. There’s so much money & cost savings at stake in mHealth not to do this. Yet, UIs and accessibility must improve.

One of my pet peeves is “cognitive accessibility” of web sites, apps, and product labeling, and store shelves. It is an area that I became involve in, and advocate and write about, as a result of a brain injury and CNS shunt placement in 1992 (I have underwent 12 shunt revisions to date). Times when I am tired or otherwise not feeling well, I have limited patience for misdirection and poorly designed UIs. I have become particularly adept in cognition, artificial intelligence, and learning. In recent years, though, much of my work has been with drumming for the brain. Yet, I am an accomplished neuroscientist & patient advocate, and as mobile technology has progressed, it has attracted my interest. I earlier spent 17 years in nuclear medicine imaging and worked with some of the most poorly designed instrument interfaces you could imagine. Having been adept in technology enabled me to apply it to my needs post brain injury. Plus, 35 years ago, I considered going into instrument design work. All of this affords me a unique perspective with mobile apps & mHealth today. I also provide neurological consults around the world with paper forms based on my DiaCeph design. So I know how mHealth would fit into care.

In closing, I believe we have 90% of the information that is needed to make mobile health succeed today. We must primarily solve the outstanding integration, platform differences, and security issues. Once this is done, the developments will transend the millions of mobile apps coming available, and making them much more integrated, and much more secure. Dare to dream!

Stephen

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New HydroPowered.org Web Site to enable Open Source Sharing of Art & Designs for Hydrocephalus

The new HydroPowered.org web site has been updated to enable open source sharing of art & designs for persons & families impacted by hydrocephalus. Together with its HydroPowered.org Facebook group, followers will be able to upload and share their art & designs in an “open source” type setting.
http://www.hydropowered.org/

“Art can be posted or downloaded from the Facebook site, placed on clothing, or made into stand-alone pieces of art,” says Stephen Dolle, HydroPowered.org’s creator. “Technology can be designs of anything from shunt devices to mobile apps, and there’s no requirement it be related to hydrocephalus, only, the person/family submitting must be impacted by hydrocephalus.”

The second goal or mission, Dolle says, is to raise $100M for new “open source” technology solutions in the care and treatment of hydrocephalus. He says hydrocephalus today remains 25 years behind in comparative technological advances, and he believes this open source concept is the best way to move forward with innovation. Hydrocephalus is also the leading neurosurgical condition in children. The current status of surgical outcomes with hydrocephalus today with CNS shunts is entirely unacceptable! With these funds and new open source initiatives, we believe we can forever change the care and treatment of hydrocephalus.

Here also is the link to the group on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/hydropowered.org

Please contact me per:

Orange County is Fast Becoming a Boon for Tech Startups

Last night, I attended Start-up Events Orange County’s event, Women in Tech Part 2, and was very impressed. I found a great variety of mobile app, gaming, web-enabled, and personal & social tech-ware. There is no doubt the OC is fast becoming a haven for tech startups, of course, with a little help from the big success of the Oculus Rift virtual reality gaming, and their acquisition by Facebook. And these smart girls are really cute too!

Startup Events Orange County

Irvine, CA
1,325 OCpreneurs

Startup Events Orange County is a fluid collective of networks, highly customizable to suit customized events. . .sometimes about startups, sometimes about entrepreneurship, s…

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All Access Q+A – Hardware, Products & Going to Market – From…

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Check out this Meetup Group →

I was able to peruse and talk with most all of the exhibitors, some 15-20 up & coming tech startups, that I expect to be around next year. One of the exhibitors, LynxFit, was there with a Google Glass set up for fitness training. Another, Zuul Labs, showcased their 1st art gaming app, Tall Tails, and shared how their using coffee & their new gaming app to save rescued dogs. Another, MotorMood, makes a LED device to go in the rear window of your car to let other drivers know what you’re feeling.

I continue to stay abreast of area tech and frequent several of the tech Meetups. I am still hoping to develop my earlier DiaCeph mHealth test for hydrocephalus as a mobile data app. I’m also offering to consult for groups involved in mHealth, and others involved in assistive cognitive technology and cognitive accessibility. My entire 40 year career has been in tech, from my years in nuclear medicine technology (1975-1992), where I became a guru of sorts and founded my own company, to my design of the DiaCeph Test, and efforts with assistive technology, mobile apps, and now cognitive accessibility. My skills with tech in nuclear medicine were so well established, that my first job out of college I set up a nuclear medicine department from scratch, then taught staff physicians about it.

It was in 1997 (after my brain injury & living with shunt complications), that I designed & patent my DiaCeph test, originally because of hidden issues with my Delta anti-siphon shunt – which I petitioned FDA on in 1996. I was having problems, and nobody would revise me – because there was no diagnostic proof of a shunt problem. I designed DiaCeph in 1997 as a stand-alone PDA app – and I was in fact, one of the earliest people to design a mobile type of app. It just took tech 15 years to catch up with me. Many of the things I wanted to do previously in assistive apps, are now more possible today. And the business model for DiaCeph as a data app is almost completely different today. As a data app, it would still be ahead of most mHealth apps today. My biggest concerns are the costs of coding & development, and getting it done within the restrictions of new FDA guidance.

If I had my caruthers, I’d create “open-source” CNS brain shunts with new features and capabilities, and tell the FDA to go pound sand! Their Phase II and PMA regulations are much to blame for many of the current shunt problems.

Sometime soon I will publish new content on my DiaCeph Test, and content on other brain apps & such I’ve used and can endorse. I only have so much time, and currently have quite a few projects demanding my time. My neurosurgeon, Dr. Muhonen, has also asked if I might be able to create a mobile app or other means to read the setting of programmable shunts. It looks unlikely that it can be done via the phone itself. It would have to include an accessory plug-in or some stand-alone reading mechanism. I’m not sure if you heard, but it was discovered a few weeks ago that my Certas valve suffered a changed setting and may have gone on for 4-5 months undetected. That was fun!

I am still doing my drum circle facilitation work. But I am being much more selective now to better account for my time. I’ve got some new applications & methods in drumming, and will write about them when the time is right. I am pleased to know they are a lot of people doing drumming today because of my efforts.

Here’s a link from one tech startup from the event I expect to use.

http://www.yourkidvid.com/

Stephen

mHealth will Revolutionize Modern HealthCare

We are on the verge of revolutionary change in health care delivery in the U.S., of the likes we have not seen in the last 50-75 years. And I believe physicians, the corresponding medical organizations, and the U.S. government are scared to death of these changes – because THEY will lose CONTROL! In fact, I think the U.S. government is more fearful than even of drug trafficking. And this revolution will come via new mHealth technologies & mobile apps.

Clearly, the U.S. government & industry have resisted changes to health care delivery. But mHealth apps will transition control of health care from the clinical setting/utilization review over to the patient as a consumer, and armed with many new customizable apps and combined with the power and offerings of the Internet. These new technologies and capabilities will enable Americans to be healthier, stronger, wealthier, happier, and more independent – and that just scares the crap out of you-know-who! These new technologies would also help make health care spending more transparent, and likely reveal huge amounts of spending wastes. And that too scares the crap out of you-know-who!

FDA and Congress would have us believe that they have been protecting our privacy through legislation such as HIPAA all along. But, I believe this has ever been about protecting our privacy. It’s been about stalling the capabilities and independence that mHealth would bring, and it’s transitioning control from the current clinical setting and utilization review, to a more transparent system that would give patient’s far more control and say so in their care.

With ObamaCare now coming into the fold in 2014, it will be interesting to see how these new features & coverages play into the new mHealth-concentric care model.

ABOUT ME: Began my career in 1976 as a nuclear imaging technologist, founded my own imaging company, and dev’d skills as a medical intuitive in 1981. Today I put on drum circles for the brain, and provide neurological monitoring & consults for the disorder hydrocephalus via my DiaCeph monitoring method I developed back in 1997.

I had also suffered a brain injury and CNS shunt placement in 1992, and have undergone 12 surgeries to date, with 7 of the devices that were used, and failed, not having been reported to FDA! In 1996, I had successfully petitioned FDA on several problem CNS shunt devices, then in 1997 designed & patented the DiaCeph Test, an early mHealth PDA app for hydrocephalus. Since then, I created many different AI methods for cognition & memory, and cognitive accessibility. I am also a writer & speaker. Based out of Newport Beach, California.

Cool Math use in Music, Science, and Technology for Math Awareness Month

In honor of Math Awareness month #MathAware, here are my cool uses of math in music, science, and technology.

In music, I use math in my percussion with drum circles in the various time structures & types of rhythms. Rhythm is everywhere: in dance & our body physiology, in our brain waves, and around us in nature, the planets, and universe. Do you have a favorite musical rhythm?

In my neurological monitoring work for the disorder, hydrocephalus, I use math by assigning numerical values to a patient’s neurological markers, then I interpret the data into medical discussions and diagnoses. I designed & patented this method back in 1997, and named it the DiaCeph Test. “DiaCeph” is from the Latin root of two key medical words. Do you know which ones? It is still a very relevant method today. You can find it on my web site and SlideShare.net. If I find $100K, or my own software developer, I’ll make it into a really cool mobile app!

Then I use math again in the layouts of many of the reports I write, especially in the formats I create, in logic & reasoning, presentation of subject matter, and analysis and conclusions. Can you think of one of your own reports, where math & reasoning were pivotal?

Lastly, I use math in many of the mobile apps & software I use. My own memory can be poor at times, so I regularly use software and technology to keep myself organized, connected, and productive. And of course, math & logic is at the core of all these apps and software. Which of your favorite apps or software is the most math oriented?

Here’s the web site for Math Awareness Month.

http://www.mathaware.org/index.html

Enjoy.

Stephen Dolle

Use of Barometric Pressure Data in Management of Migraine

Migraine headache can get you out of your routine

Use of Barometric Pressure Data in the Management of Migraine

This March 2015 migraine blog below is now my primary blog on this topic. I also give away FREE access codes to the Elecont eWeather HD app:

Weather App Helps Manage Barometric Pressure Related Migraine Headache

Barometric Pressure graph reveals steep drop and rise which can trigger micraine headache

Migraine and weather related headaches affect some 15% or more of the population. In more recent years, much has been written about the connection between weather patterns and headache, where falling barometric pressure and rising humidity can often trigger migraine headaches, which are “low pressure” headaches characterized by dilated blood vessels in the brain. The most popular over the counter migraine medicine, Excedrin, then combines aspirin or Tylenol with caffeine (as a vasoconstrictor) to combat this medical sequel of dilated blood vessels. But, it is helpful to know during initial onset of a headache, if it in fact is barometric pressure induced so that you choose the right medicine and treatment.

I personally live with the medical condition hydrocephalus, and as a neuroscientist, I provide patient consults, neurological monitoring, advise on the role of technology, and provide drum circle workshops for health & wellness. Still, for me and so many other Americans, migraine headache and weather related triggers, pose regular challenges. So I turn to technology for a solution.

Over the last several years, I have come to use two separate weather sources for obtaining the much needed correlating weather data. They are:

1) http://www.wunderground.com/

2) http://www.elecont.com/ 

Elecont is a high tech mobile phone weather app  It’s $4.99 on Android and $3.99 on Apple stores. I have FREE access codes to download the Android version.

The barometric pressure data that these sites and apps offer is then extraordinarily useful in monitoring and pain management of migraine headaches, especially in hydrocephalus. I’ve inserted 3 weather data photos here, if they load correctly. They include a jpeg image of barometric pressure up thru 6pm on March 23, 2014, showing a rapid rise in pressure between 8am and 11am, which can trigger a high pressure headache, which would be more unique I think for persons with hydrocephalus. At 11am, I felt it likely was the trigger of that headache on that morning. Also, a 2nd bit of data that was helpful was the rising humidity at 11am, known to also act as a trigger for headache.

I didn’t save the inserted until about 6pm that day, which shows the pressure leveling off by 12 noon. This leveling also corresponded to a leveling off of my headache, though it took 2-3 hours, or around 3pm. I had been noticing over the last several months that I was suffering from headaches often as the barometric pressure was rising. So when I saw the big spike by 11am, I knew I was in for a rough headache day, and adjusted my medication & activity schedule accordingly. I was happy that the pressure leveled off and stayed level for the afternoon, as it allowed my headache to dissipate by 3pm.

More often, migraine will be triggered by “falling” barometric pressure. There is specific diagnostic significance for those who might experience headache during a rising barometric pressure. I can’t advise you here without any supporting medical history. So I recommend you speak to your neurologist or neurosurgeon as to the significance of your pressure correlation.

In hydrocephalus, a headache from rising pressure would indicate either an increased sensitivity to pressure changes from hydrocephalus that is not well arrested after shunting or ETV, and/or during periods of increased intracranial pressure, or ICP. It is conceivable that a headache response from a high pressure weather front might also indicate “shunt malfunction” in hydrocephalus, should you not normally get a headache from rising pressure. what was also significant in my case on this day, is that as soon as the pressure leveled off, so did my headache, though by about two hours. The dissipation with leveling pressure also served to confirm the weather correlation. As I’ve been using this weather data for 3-4 years now, the correlation then served as biofeedback in management experience.

I am working on developing a mobile app for hydrocephalus monitoring, called the DiaCeph Test, which will incorporate weather data in the interface and during monitoring, to correlate and help in management of headache from barometric pressure weather changes. I first applied for patent for my DiaCeph Test way back in 1997, and was considered a visionary for this, and apps did not yet exist. It was going to run as a stand-alone PDA. So, I was one of the earliest pioneers of mobile apps, before they were even possible. Also around that time, scientists at the University of Pittsburgh and Henry Ford Center in Detroit, introduced a software method of monitoring sports concussion, called the Impact Test.

Please contact me if you are interested in helping to develop these neurological apps.

May you ride out your headaches like a surfer thru a wave!

Stephen Dolle
http://www.dollecommunications.com

Mobile Sound Level apps Helpful in Managing Sensory Processing Disorder

Android Apps

Decibel meter apps are helpful in managing the ill effects of sound exposure in brain injury, hydrocephalus, ADHD, PTSD, and related sensory processing disorders. Sound Meter is best app on Android. The Pro version is $.99. Though either is good. SPLnFFT is said to be best app on iPhone. Many are accurate enough for these purposes. Plus, what you really need, is comparative analysis of sound to medical sequela in the same app.

The science in support of monitoring sound level exposure comes amid findings that “sound” can trigger medical sequela, and result in a combative child or even adult out in public. The sequela typically ares headache, nausea, decreased cognition, irritability, and behavioral outbursts, and occurs in persons suffering from a variety of neurological injury & disorders. Light, motion, and scents are also triggers. The sensitivity, and type of trigger, does vary somewhat from person to person.

The medical condition for this is termed “sensory processing disorder” or SPD, and sometimes termed “sensory integration disorder,” and these tend to follow brain injury, neurological surgery (numerous ones including hydrocephalus and tumor), and many types of neurological disorders.

Brain Diagram of the Cranial Nerves

At any given time, the effected person is vulnerable to a range and type of sound triggers. Yet, this sensitivity and vulnerability often may not be known until AFTER the exposure. Often all it takes is 30 secs of problematic sound exposure to set off a sequel of SPD complaints. Then, you’re dealing with a medical problem.

Certainly the big ones like loud machinery, music, and room noise are predictable. But it is the not so loud and obvious exposures that’ll get you. And NOT knowing at any given time what your sensitivity or threshold is. And this comes from trial & experience.

I recommend downloading one of these apps and using it regularly for a couple of weeks to learn of your LOWEST threshold decibel levels – for when you’re not feeling well, and for various venues. Then, you can do things with more confidence in that you know your thresholds and can take the necessary interventions SOONER to avoid an ill spell or “melt down” in public. Today I learned too late, after being near a store playing loud overhead music. It was registering over 80 db on my Sound Meter app. I had not checked the sound level when I arrived. Once your system is triggered, it is often too late for other interventions or measures, and you’re likely going to have to leave that venue.

Unfortunately, current apps do not measure frequency distribution or sharp spikes in sound. Sound between 5000 Hz – 10,000 Hz is often problematic for individuals suffering with SPDs. The other causative elements includes sharp spikes in decibel level, and disordered sound presenting as “white noise.” If you, or a family member, suffers from sensory processing disorder, you know what I mean.

I undertook a sound sensory study in 2002 using a metronome to evaluate SPD complaint responses to various rhythmic patterns, and I was able to show that the component in sound most responsible for SPD complaints was “lack of rhythmic pattern.” My findings explain why white noise, or room noise, is so problematic. Read my full study below:

Study on Sound, Cognition and Sensory Processing

Boss BR-8 includes a full 50 selection Metronome

There are many treatments today that have found varying degrees of success in raising a person’s threshold to SPDs. They include: EMDR therapy, music therapy, group drumming (in which I have conducted research), bio feedback, mindfulness, basketball, meditation, occupational therapy. A variety of mild barbiturate medicines find use as well. I can’t say enough about the importance of proper rest & diet, managing stress, and drinking plenty of water. Vestibular exercises, meditation, mindfulness, and biofeedback therapies seem to help raise an affected persons sound intolerance.

New Dolle Communications Web Page on Cognitive Neuroscience

The brain and sensory system during cognition.

Once an exposure and SPD medical sequel has begun, your options include:
1) have the individual stay focused & “engaged” in an activity
2) insert quality ear plugs (suggest musician’s ear plugs)
3) remove the affected person from the triggering noise source
4) administer barbituate, pain or calming medication
5) force hydration preferable with water

On June 4, 2015, I published an extensive blog on basketball – which includes methods in shooting baskets, mindfulness, biofeedback & relaxation, and including drumming with basketball – which helps the brain, movement disorders, intolerance to sound, post concussion syndrome, and relieves stress.

(Dolle Blog) Sports Science vs Brain Science of Basketball

Basketball allows participants to feel and move rhythmically with a touch sensitive ball

Understanding Sound Sensory Processing & your Intolerance Level

If you suffer from sound sensory processing difficulties, I suggest you try one of the available decibel meter apps. I use the Smart Tools Pro Sound Meter pictured below. It also has a built in Vibrometer to evaluate motion say on a boat or car. You need to become familiar with your sound threshold range and intolerance, and screen typical levels at places you visit. You’ll need to add further consideration if there is machinery or other problematic noise that the individual would normally not process very well. All it takes is 30 secs of a problematic sound exposure to set off a sequel of SPD complaints. Develop good rules of practice.

Decibel Meter by Smart Tools

Call for a Sound Sensory Processing Scale & Algorithm of Measurement

The decibel sound scale is now more than 50 years old. Its time we create a Sound Processing Scale & Algorithm for Measurement

The current challenge is that these apps only measure level of volume. What we need, is a sound distribution EQ scale to equate how the brain processes sound (along with volume), which would require a convening of neurologists to scientists study this relationship, and establish a new sound scale to include the difficulty of processing of sound distributions. Sound engineers already know a great deal about the distribution or EQ of sound. To establish a sound processing scale, we would only need to equate various EQ sound patterns with the level of difficulty of processing by the brain. There are already sound identification apps that can identify patterns in music and ID them by song name. Two very popular apps are Soundhound and Shazam. We could use these existing sensors and algorithms to ID sound as very unforavorable vs acceptable in terms of ability to be processed by the brain. Persons with brain injury, learning and neurological disorders, and SPD (sensory processing disorder) have a diminished capacity to process sound, which I believe pares the degree and location of deficits in the brain. So, I have proposed the development of a sound processing scale and algorithm.

This new sound processing scale would encompass:

1. decibel volume and rate of change between volume levels (i.e. spikes)
2. EQ frequency distribution of the sound
3. rhythmic distribution and synchronization of the sound (i.e. white noise)

I host a larger blog on sensory processing challenges with examples of problematic sounds of machinery, etc. Just follow the link below. I try and keep these blogs up to date as time permits. My biggest new discovery in SPD comes after a study I undertook almost two years ago with the MigraineX ear plugs used in the management of headache, but also in sound suppression. I found that insertion of the MigraineX ear plugs before, and even after a harmful sound exposure has occurred, can lessen the associated headache, irritability, cognitive, and SPD complaints by 50% or more. Yes, I said SPD. So I carry the MigraineX ear plugs with me all the time. They are particularly helpful amid noise from construction, machinery, malls, restaurants, theatre halls, and more. They sell for about $12 on Amazon and many drug stores.

Secondly, I have been undertaking new barometric pressure monitoring utilizing my Samsung phone’s built in barometric pressure sensor. The built in sensor can display sharp Short term changes in pressure that weather sites often do not display. Most newer high end smart phones have this sensor built in. But you need to download an app to get the display. For this, I use the uBarometer Pro.

(Blog) New Insights in Sound Sensory Processing Disorder

If any app developers are reading this, I’d love to collaborate with you on building an SPD intollerance sound EQ app for screening of problematic sound. I can advise scientifically and in the UI (user interface, I have a good tech bkg-see page below). I’d like to couple an app with a Melon or NeuroSky EEG headband to try and correlate changes on EEG waveform with reported SPD complaints. SEE my extensive work in hydrocephalus monitoring and DiaCeph Test app design.
ADA laws with respect to sound protection for persons with SPDs is termed “cognitive accessibility.” There is an interesting legal case between families of children with autism and Disney, regarding Disney’s cancellation of the handicap pass to circumvent affected visitors standing in long lines, thereby forcing affected children to stand in line amid commotion and noise, which is unhealthful and can trigger behavioral outburst and a number of medical sequela in SPDs.

Deadline.com: Disney sued by Families with Autism over Handicap Pass

Cognitive Accessibility in SPDs.Hulk Destroys Tree Shredder

I am advocating for a new sound processing standard to encapsulate the brain’s role in processing sound. Persons suffering neurological disorders and from SPDs have a diminshed capacity to process sensory information, sound being the most common issue.

I host a related web page on sensory processing and cognitive or intellectual disabilities at www.CognitiveAccessibility.org.

Please visit my web site and contact me accordingly. Best method of contact is email.
Stephen Dolle
Neuroscientist, mHealth Inventor & Drum Circle Facilitator
Email: contact[at]dollecommunications[dot]com
Hydrocephalus Survivor w/ 12 Shunt Revisions
DolleCommunications.com

How’s your Implant Functioning (My BWE Sub-title to Terminator 3 Movie)

This is my Brain Awareness Week (BAW) photo which illustrates what we need to aim for in our brain science efforts: “Self Sufficiency.”

If you recall, one of the primary themes of the Terminator movie series was the Terminator’s wherewithal to correct its own body breakage & malfunctions. For more than 50 years, Western Medicine has been surgically putting in a wide array of medical implants from bone screws and plates, to heart valves, CNS shunts for hydrocephalus, and neurostimulators for Parkinson’s Disease and seizure disorders. The most problematic of these are CNS shunts, which I have been living with for 20 years.

Over the last 20 years, I have worked feverishly to educate medical science of the needs for self-sufficiency and home diagnostics & solutions to keep the shunt and individual functioning. But medical science in nearly every branch, from FDA to device mfrs to practicing physicians, have remained oblivious to the needs of the patient, and what is technologically possible today.

In 1997, after petitioning the Food & Drug Administration on widespread oversight and needless failures with many CNS shunt devices, I designed and patented a home monitoring system for hydrocephalus and CNS shunt users based on non-invasive methodology which I named, the DiaCeph Test. When I introduced it to scientists at the University of California at Irvine (UCI), I was heralded as a pioneer and visionary by Dr. Eldon Foltz, a long-time practicing neurosurgeon & researcher in hydrocephalus. And when I showed my concept to NIH, they fell in love with it and urged me to find a credentialed university scientist or physician to write the NIH grant application. Later, however, UCI would inform me they would have to own everything, or it wouldn’t be possible for UCI staff to write the grant. I was given no other alternative other then giving it to them, which didn’t make any sense. So I continued to show my DiaCeph system to companies and others in the field, all to no avail. Back then, it was going to be a stand alone software device where we’d be seeking insurance reimbursement, a Medicare code, and industry distribution.

Today, however, the DiaCeph Test could be an app for a mobile phone! The future is now and we need to grasp it! We need to develop cost-effective neuro-technologies for common disorders of the brain, take mind-body modalities, music therapy, mobile apps & AI technology to the next level!

In support of my Terminator 3 BAW photo, I added the caption, “How is your Implant functioning?” I added this from years of frustrating experiences w/ CNS shunt implants where one is left w/ a malfunctioning CNS shunt implant, yet limited to no means to get it fixed. It would seem the age-old saying applies here, “IF you want something done right, do it yourself!” So goes the Terminator! — with hydrocephalus association and national hydrocephalus foundation.

Stephen Dolle

20-year hydrocephalus survivor

Inventor & Neuroscientist

Drum Circle Facilitator

Medical Intuitive

http://www.DolleCommunications.com

Newport Beach, CA

The Real Truth about Why We’re not Getting mHealth Apps

Earlier today, I spent the time to comment and refute the claims of a so-called expert on mHealth, claiming that we’re going to being seeing all kinds of cool new mHealth health apps in the coming years. The expert is Chad Udell, and his projects appeared today in the on-line journal Health-Care IT News, and under the title, “mHealth Poised to Explode, Expert Says.”

http://www.healthcareitnews.com/comment/reply/46506

Why am I bringing it up here? The publisher removed my comment, no doubt because I questioned the expert in their story. So, I am reposting my comment below for you all to read it objectively. And then you can read what the article and expert said that I disagreed with.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t disagree more with this author on his mHealth story. For an (health care) industry that consumes far more of the nation’s GDP than any other sector, the availability of mobile apps is really off the mark, and I don’t see it changing anytime soon.

The Food & Drug Administration two years ago drafted new guidance that will complicate and slow the introduction of mobile health apps, no doubt at the bequest of big insurance, the AMA, and big pharma and medical device companies. The only hope I see of a change in these policies lies in if consumers (patients) scale back the use of drugs and medical procedures, and this would require a lot of consumer frustration. But, the increasing copays and deductables are fueling such sentiments.

At the end of the day, consumers are being asked to pay an ever-increasing share of their medical care, while having limited control, objective information, and patient tools needed in their care. Eventually patients will DEMAND new patient care and mHealth tools. But it hasn’t occurred yet in Western Medicine.
Any writer or analyst who purports to know WHEN and HOW this will occur would now doubt be poised to be a billionaire. And I don’t see investors lining up!

I’ve had ten CNS shunt surgeries since 1992 for a post traumatic hydrocephalus disorder. In 1997, I designed and patented a software monitoring system for this disorder, much like the Impact Test for post concussion. It took a lot of push to bring the Impact Test into widespread use, though it did’t eliminate clinical care & core hospital care like my hydrocephalus app would. A lot of the care eliminated by the Impact Test were neuropsych and unnecessary rebab for affected patients. Today, sports concussion is now widely diagnosed and cared for via the Impact Test.

Arguably, an app like my DiaCeph Test would have a similar impact on hydrocephalus care. Yet, hydrocephalus doesn’t have the same push as did concussion. Most people today still don’t know what it is. So the prospects of an mHealth app anytime soon for hydrocephalus look bleak.

We’re in for a long fight as to getting the kind of mHealth apps needed today. But, please share your thoughts and ideas here.

Stephen Dolle
Dolle Communications