MassDevice's blog
St. Louis-based Express Scripts is set to launch a national pilot for Vitality’s GlowCap pill reminder device; Kaiser CMIO on mHealth opportunity; Aetna offers SMS, apps, mobile web services; and Epocrates CTO, CMO talk EHRs.
Express Scripts inks pilot deal for GlowCap St. Louis-based pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts is set to launch a national pilot for Vitality's GlowCap pill reminder device. Express Scripts plans to begin a small version of the pilot in about a month's time and will launch a larger trial focused on drugs related to cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure and heart failure during the summer months. Express Scripts notes that while the trial's purpose is to determine the efficacy of GlowCap's reminder service, the companies are also eager to learn more about how patients take medication and why they fail to take it at times.
Researchers in California use CT scanners on a pair of mummified Egyptian crocodiles; Syncardia's Freedom mobile artificial heart driver wins CE Mark; Cook Medical's Hercules 3-stage esophageal balloon hits the market; and EEG used in absurd torture device.
Mummified crocs get tomographed: Conservators from Phoebe A. Hearst Museum at UC Berkeley teamed up with Stanford physicists and clinicians to CT scan two Egyptian crocodile mummies that reside at the museum. Stanford's SCOPE blog is reporting that the crocs were also put through a physics laboratory CT scanner that produces higher resolution images than clinical ones. 
Updates on mobile news at this week's HIMSS conference in Atlanta; the current global mHeralth opportunity could be $50 billion; and a report from Continua that that that the FDA believes new laws for connected health device regulations are neither likely nor needed.
HIMSS Goes Mobile: Honeywell; Google; Nuance Google Health announced a number of deals at this weeks Healthcare IT conference in Atlanta. 
Researchers in Buffalo developed a surgical simulator to help train physicians to operate the da Vinci robot; Scientists in Wales turned a common microwave into a plasma generating equipment sterilizer; New technology stabilizes viral vaccines at room temperatures; and University of Missouri researchers developed a laser induced ultrasound method to image the general consistency of lymph notes.
RoSS Simulator Preps Surgeons to Use da Vinci Robot: Researchers from Roswell Park Cancer Institute and State University of New York at Buffalo, developed a surgical simulator to help train physicians to operate the da Vinci robot. The RoSS Robotic Surgical Simulator has been turned into a product and commercialized by a spinoff called Simulated Surgical Systems of Williamsville, NY. Practicing physicians and students can train on common tasks like suturing and knot tying, and even perform complete procedures like radical prostatectomies and hysterectomies.
Some sonographers believe the idea of consumer ultrasound is idiotic, moronic, dangerous and highly irresponsible; the differences between eHealth and mHealth; a survey shows 72 percent opf caregivers are interested in the latter; and a report that healthcare spending could top $4.5 trillion by 2019.
Consumer ultrasound: Dangerous & irresponsible? Will patients ever use handheld ultrasound devices at home? Some sonographers believe that’s idiotic, moronic, dangerous, highly irresponsible, “right up there with in-utero glamor shots,” and “the worst idea I have heard of.”
University of Michigan engineers develop prosthetic foot technology that can intelligently transfer otherwise-lost energy into the next step; Kensey Nash's new bioscaffold wins EU approval for knee cartilage repair; Leveraged Freedom Chair brings smart mobility just about anywhere; and new nanogenerators that could power implantable devices.
Artificial foot saves energy every step of the way: At the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, engineers developed prosthetic foot technology that can intelligently transfer what would otherwise be lost energy into powering the foot's next step. Because more energy can be saved over currently available models, this technology could lead to smaller and lighter artificial legs: "In their energy-recycling foot, the engineers put the wasted walking energy to work enhancing the power of ankle push-off. The foot naturally captures the dissipated energy.
The Food & Drug Administration clears Sorin Group's Paradym CRT-D, which packs a 37-Joule punch; SafeStitch Medical's AMID hernia stapler gets EU clearance; Cook Medical's biologic mesh leads to reduced post-operative pain; and in emergencies, the S-SCORT S3 delivers scoop, suction, sump.
FDA approves the world's most powerful CRT-D: The Food & Drug Administration cleared Milan, Italy-based Sorin Group's next-generation cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillator, the Paradym CRT Model 8750. It's the world's most powerful CRT-D, according to the company, packing a 37-Joule punch. The company said it's already been implanted in a first patient.
