Nuance Buys Virtual Assistant Company VirtuOz–Siri for the Enterprise

Nuance certainly has been busy as at CES they announced yet another technology that works on several platforms and doctors can benefit using a Personal Assistant in combination with Dragon Medical.  More information on that technology at the link below. 

Combining Nuance Dragon Personal Assistant Services With Dragon Medical–A Winning Combination

It will be interesting to see what Nuance does with the VirtuOz technology as they normal go right straight to integrating without delay.  Intelligent Virtual Agents in the cloud learn company information  They already have an account base and a box opens up for communication on websites.  The software includes mobile apps as well and uses speech technologies.  The video below shows how it works from a smartphone.

Basically the virtual assistant can answer some questions and for those more complicated the series of questions is sent to a human if needs are greater than what the virtual agent can accomplish.  Can you see this being used for a doctor’s office some day?  Obviously there are privacy issues to clarify on how far and how much information could be accessed and the agent would need to be HIPAA compliant:)  CRM seems to be a hot ticket here with Salesforce.com listed as a client.  BD

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TechCrunch has received a copy of a memo indicating that Nuance, the speech and natural language technology giant that also powers Apple’s Siri voice assistant, has made another acquisition: VirtuOz, a developer of intelligent virtual assistant services for online sales, marketing and support — dubbed “Siri for the enterprise” — that was founded in France and is now co-headquartered in the Bay Area’s Emeryville.

Today, VirtuOz counts PayPal, AT&T and Symantec among its list of top-shelf customers using its online virtual assistant services.

According to what we’ve seen, Nuance is making VirtuOz part of its Enterprise division, which focuses on customer self-service solutions that currently brings in revenues of $330 million annually from some 3,000 enterprise customers, covering some 12 billion customer interactions per year.

In addition to bringing some key customers to Nuance, VirtuOz will also bring is a way to extend the Nina experience to the web, and equally to give VirtuOz a route to developing more mobile services for its web clients. The addition will mean that Nuance can offer services across phone-based voice recognition, web, mobile, social and chat channels, covering speech recognition, text-to-speech, voice biometrics and natural language solutions.

http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/10/in-our-inbox-a-memo-that-says-nuance-has-bought-virtuoz-to-ramp-up-its-enterprise-services/

Withings Wearable Activity Tracker Out Soon and Will Support Android Phones

Fitbit and a few others have a little competition in this business and with support for Android it might be pretty popular.  So far today you can still only download the IPhone version but states Android coming soon and you can enter your email address to be alerted.  A couple years ago at CES they were demonstrating their blood pressure monitor.  Most of Withings products also connect to HealthVault, a PHR.

Withings Blood Pressure Monitor Sends Your Information to an iPhone And to HealthVault PHR (Video)

Withings iPhone Blood Pressure Consumer Device Gets Clearance From FDA

The company also makes a wi-fi scale which if I remember correctly this was their first product.  What is kind of funny is that one their website they list fitbit as a partner…so…for how long:)  Their scale even does indoor air monitoring…what next?  BD

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Withings' Smart Activity Tracker does just about everything the Fitbit, FuelBand and UP can do, like track the number of steps taken, calories burned, distance traveled and "quality" of sleep, but it also measures your heart rate and the number of strides run. All in a tiny little package (43.3 x 22.1 x 8.3mm) about the size of the Fitbit One or a generic flash drive. Oh, and it (supposedly) supports Android right out of the gate along with the last two to three generations of every iOS device.

So this new Smart Activity Tracker claims to have a two week battery life thanks to Bluetooth 4.0 aka Bluetooth SMART and will sync your data to the Withings Health Mate App. It can be worn on your upper arm (bicep) for working out and tracking sleep and can also be thrown in your pocket as is or on your belt via the clip.

http://gizmodo.com/5973507/finally-a-tiny-wearable-activity-tracker-that-supports-android-and-takes-your-pulse?goback=.gde_2181454_member_201685761

FDA Cuts Dosage in Half for Ambien–Sleepy Driving Concerns, Lunesta Not Affected

One other item that should be mentioned is the time of night when you take the pill.  The warnings all tell you to not take it too late like at 1 am if you are going to get up at 6 am for example.  Sanofi now can make some additional revenue if they price doesn’t drop for the lower does:)  This is actually a good thing and reactions around the web today said what took so long as this has not been a big secret.  Remember Tom Brokaw who “accidentally” took an Ambien during the day and went to the hospital because he was light headed?  Maybe that helped move this up in priorities at the FDA. 

The order does not apply to Lunesta which is made by another company and have a different active ingredient. (Some Lunesta users chase butterflies though and it is not for little wussy boys-humor).  BD

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The Food and Drug Administration announced Thursday that it will require manufacturers of zolpidem, a popular sleeping pill sold as Ambien and Edluar, to reduce recommended dosages amid concerns about morning drowsiness caused by the pills.

In its announcement, the FDA noted that "some patients may be high enough the morning after use to impair activities that require alertness, including driving" and said that "patients with high levels of zolpidem can be impaired even if they feel fully awake." The FDA has received 700 reports of zolpidem leading to "impaired driving ability and/or road traffic accidents."

Sanofi, who manufactures Ambien and Ambien CR, said in a statement that they "have been in contact with FDA on the issue of zolpidem dosing.

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We agree that individuals taking zolpidem should always talk to their doctor about the most appropriate dose [and] they should never take more than the prescribed dose," the company said. "Sanofi stands behind the significant clinical data demonstrating the safety and efficacy of Ambien."

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/01/10/fda-cuts-ambien-dosages-in-half-amid-concerns-of-sleepy-driving

GE and Start Up Health Launch Accelerator Program for Consumer Health Products–Companies Can Shop Their Own Investment Start Ups for Inexpensive Code

I said this a while back with Accelerators that are sponsored by insurers and it is true and you have to remember that most start ups fail.  That’s what this is all about to see what sticks to the wall.  In this instance GE “wants” developers to work with their technologies and code, so again cheaper than hiring employees.  If a start up doesn’t make it to stand on their own, but did create some code that has potential use in their own software, bingo, thank you very much and here’s a few dollars and then it may be used now, stored or evaluated by in house programmers so they can figure out to do with this section if they were to incorporate.  It’s already written in GE format. 

I’m just a straight bottom liner here after many years working in sales for fortune 500 companies and then able to put a coding twist on this stuff with that experience too with writing an EMR years ago, so I see things differently for the most part:)  Here’s what I wrote on the New York Accelerator program regarding insurers having access to cheap code or maybe I should be a little more politically correct, inexpensive code.  I had a couple doctors email me and asked my for advice on what to focus on to sell cheap code to insurance companies. 

New York Digital Health Accelerator–Health IT Hub For Emerging Technologies–Remember All Start Ups Don’t Make It And It’s A Potentially Good Place for Health Insurers to Shop for Inexpensive Application Code

There may be others but the only Start Up that doesn’t want any of your stock if it is successful is BizSpark from Microsoft, and that’s nice as they really don’t need it so the support is not there for the pocketbook and hard to find these days as there’s always some catch somewhere along the line with today’s complexities in data and in contracts.  So don’t be too harsh when thinking of Microsoft as they have a bigger R and D department than Google and Apple put together.  BizSpark gives you Microsoft technologies to work with to develop software of course, just like GE is here and they want it for their benefit.  Speaking of developers with carrots, it makes sense again for me to reference this crazy Heritage project where they think algorithms are the one stop shop for re-admissions. 

If you read the news Twitter couldn’t find an algorithm for their search either so “cheap humans” are being used from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk program where folks can earn chump change.  Heritage is pretty Algo Duped with what they expect from some algorithms.  I said that from day one when they started and I keep an eye out here to help consumers see the fantasy stuff as I find it, like that Blue Cross X-Prize that was out there a couple years ago.  It was only a publicity stunt and quietly went away as nobody could solve “healthcare” even with that $10 million dollar carrot so see how some of the duping goes on. 

So What’s Going on Over at the Heritage Health Prize Competition to Predict Who Ends Up Being Re-Admitted to the Hospital–A Lot of Mathematical Algorithms For One…

Sure I’m all about innovation that makes my life easier and is not fantasized with some Quant values that are there to make money only and benefit corporations more than consumers.  So again my opinions from being able to clearly a marketing and sales angle and a programming and coding focus allows my to write from both sides of the duck brain and I don’t know if that is healthy or not but before all the stuff on Wall Street and in other areas, I was already having nightmares about failing code because I could see way back then when the Madoff case broke, nobody was watching the show and they still don’t do a very good job.  Anyway, if you want to write some code for GE and either get your company (maybe) funded or have them buy your code, use go here  for more information and to apply to be one of the 10 chosen.  BD



http://medcitynews.com/2013/01/heads-up-startups-ge-and-startup-health-launch-program-for-healthcare-entrepreneurs/#.UO7blXgLCi4.twitter

Telepresence RP-VITA Robot Receives FDA Approval And Can Be Used in Emergency Situations

We have seen these for a while being used in hospitals but this is the first to get FDA approval and has a few more features I believe.  It is interesting that trials were done here in southern California.  It has voice recognition for one and has facial recognition.  It has touch screen capabilities.  Care givers can use their smart phones.  Here’s a video that shows the RP-VITA in use.  When it is done, the unit parks itself.  The doctor is remoting in and interacts with the nurse and patient. 


In addition the company has other models but this is the top of the line.


During Hurricane Sandy a doctor saved a stroke victim in New Jersey.  Here’s another video that explains how the unit works and how all collaborate via the unit for patient care.  BD

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LAS VEGAS--How would you feel if you were hospitalized and your doctor were talking to you through a 5-foot robot?

RP-VITA (Remote Presence Virtual + Independent Telemedicine Assistant) is a remote-, iPad-operated telepresence bot. It's become the first self-navigating communications robot to receive FDA certification, developers InTouch and iRobot said at CES 2013.

The machine is approved "for telemedicine consults inclusive of active patient monitoring in high-acuity environments where immediate clinical action may be required," InTouch said in a release. Specifically, it's cleared for "active patient monitoring in pre-operative, peri-operative and post-surgical settings, including cardiovascular, neurological, prenatal, psychological, and critical care assessments and examinations."

Based on iRobot's AVA telepresence platform, RP-VITA was unveiled last year. It's been put through trials at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, and Children's Hospital of Orange County, and leasing will begin this year at about $6,000 a month.

"This is the first FDA clearance for a navigating robot," Wang says. "It's approved for emergency use, and will be used in life and death situations before other uses. Just as early cell phones were used in emergencies before becoming ubiquitous."

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57563095-1/medical-robot-rp-vita-gets-fda-approval/

Brainsway Deep TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation)Gets FDA Approval for the Treatment of Depression

The treatment is for patients who fail to respond to therapeutics during a depression episode.  I wrote about the clinical trial back in 2008 when it received the approval to begin from the FDA.  Well if it works for a patient then there’s less pills to take.   The device already has the European CE mark from a few months ago.

Brainsway gets FDA nod for device trial – Another Device for Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

This video is interesting to listen to a man in the UK who received the treatment and he’s getting his treatment right on the video, oh the one sound is a little strange, sounds like a jack hammer.  He says it is working for him.  With depression rising due to a lot of economic conditions maybe we will all be getting our brains zapped regularly:)  BD



Brainsway, a publicly traded Israeli company, has an exclusive license for the technology from the National Institutes of Health, where its two Israeli scientific co-founders developed it. Their device is already approved in Europe for clinical depression, bi-polar disorder, schizophrenia (negative symptoms), Parkinson’s diseases and PTSD. Clinical trials are underway to test how well brain-zapping electromagnets could work to treat a huge range of ailments including cocaine addiction, Tourette's syndrome, Alzheimer's, stroke rehabilitation, multiple sclerosis, even ADHD.

http://www.fastcompany.com/3004658/fda-approves-magnetic-helmet-treating-depression

Blue Cross Intelligence Buys Intelimedix, A Company That Specializes in Serving Employers and Health Insurers, More Analytic Algorithms to Search Out Fraud, Billing Errors, Preventable Conditions….

In reading the website and other items on the web it appears the latest efforts here were focusing on building a solution for Blue Cross Intelligence so guess who bought them.  Recently it was announced that the firm that manages the Blue Cross venture was moving to San Francisco to start up an incubator so is this a sign of perhaps where some of the funding may have come from?  Despite showing promise, Blue Health Intelligence has proven to be a costly endeavor, with $31 million in revenue and $43.6 million in expenses in 2010.

Blue Cross Venture - Blue Health Intelligence Proving to Be Very Costly And Received Another 9 Billion From Undisclosed Source–Subsidiary Watch

Remember a while back where I said start ups and accelerators are a good place for insurers to shop for cheap code, well Blue Cross has their start up area where start ups can get started writing that “cheap code”. Intelimedix is a bit more than that though and has been around for abut 7 or 8 years but when you read their history, it’s been a long engagement with Blue Cross to even hiring their current CEO from there. 

 

Sandbox VC Firm that Manages Blue Cross/Blue Shield VC Funds Is Moving to San Francisco–An Incubator for Some New Coders To Write Algorithms for Profit?

Everyone runs their business intelligence today to maximize profits and perhaps this is the winning addition for Blue Cross Intelligence.  One day down the road as more of these auditing 3rd parties arise, are we going to see a DOS (denial of service) with the IT pipelines being over run with 3rd party bots to analyze (grin) and end up with “claim stuffing as this type of business with promising the best algorithms ”:)  Who’s going to start selling that one with “speed” emphasized just the markets do?  You know it will happen as this evolves as that will be a marketing point when all have their auditing algorithms at equal levels.  BD

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From the website:
”With locations in the U.S. and Europe, Intelimedix offers off-the-shelf analytic and data mining applications as well as customized solutions. In addition, Intelimedix has developed solutions specifically for Blue Health Intelligence (BHI^®), a national data warehouse developed by participating Blue Cross Blue Shield Plans to share critical health information with employers, consumers and providers. From our strategic partnership with a consortium of Blue Cross and Blue Shield licensees, and broad healthcare experience, we leverage our unique collaborative position to deliver solutions that have immediate impact on and bring savings to your organization.”

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Blue Health Intelligence, the database/analytics services division of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, has acquired analytics vendor Intelimedix for an undisclosed sum.

BHI’s database holds medical and pharmacy claims data from more than 110 million individuals to identify ways to raise quality standards and manage costs. The database has enough information to reflect medical utilization in every ZIP code in the nation, according to the company.

Tampa, Fla.-based Intelimedix specializes in serving employers and health insurers, supporting analysis of such issues as unnecessary care, fraudulent and abusive billing, overpayments from billing and coding errors, pharmacy fraud, and preventable conditions. Combining the technologies will enable expansion of analysis on a range of issues to help clients manage financial and medical risk, according to the vendors.

http://www.insurancenetworking.com/news/blues-analytics-arm-buys-intelimedix-31640-1.html