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HIPAA-Secure App, Bionic Pancreas for Diabetes and Cloud-Based Research Bank

A look at innovative developments outside the walls of Johns Hopkins Medicine.

06/01/2015
Published in Insight - June 2015

Doximity Offers HIPAA-Secure App

Doximity, a physician-only social network associated with U.S. News & World Report’s annual Best Hospitals survey, has launched an app for the Apple Watch that provides a hands-free, HIPAA-secure way for doctors to communicate about patient care.

Using the app, doctors can send and receive messages, get fax notifications, and manage colleague invites. Specific features include:

  • Read and Respond: Doctors can read previews or full messages from other physicians at a glance and dictate responses hands-free.
  • Incoming Fax Alerts: Physicians are notified of new faxes received on their free personal fax number. To view the full fax, doctors can automatically use Handoff to handle the message on their iPhone. 

Bionic Pancreas for Diabetes

A bionic pancreas that automatically makes a decision about insulin and glucagon dosing every five minutes is being tested by researchers at Boston University and Massachusetts General Hospital. Engineers have developed a system that uses continuous glucose monitoring along with subcutaneous delivery of rapid-acting insulin (to lower blood glucose) and glucagon (to raise blood glucose) as directed by a computer algorithm.

The monitoring and delivery of insulin and glucagon is controlled via an iPhone app. The goal is to reduce the impact of diabetes until a cure is found.

Cloud-Based Research Bank

Secure, cloud-based storage of anonymized health data is now available through IBM Watson, an artificial intelligence system. Its new branch, Watson Health, will deliver this information to hospitals, researchers, physicians, insurers and patients.

The company has joined forces with Apple, Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic and others to improve collaboration and access to the ever-expanding wealth of medical data generated by researchers and patients, who are increasingly reporting data via personal devices.

In this effort, IBM also has announced collaborations with academic medical centers, including theMemorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Cleveland Clinic.