Children's Health apps target chronic care management, internal operations improvement

A Dallas hospital has developed an app it hopes will spur young patients into proactive management of asthma, along with a version that will integrate with patients' electronic health records.

The My Asthma Pal software, created by Children's Health, is just the latest of a stream of apps developed by the healthcare provider, as reported by the Dallas Business Journal.

"We want to start to empower kids to understand what their asthma is and be able to manage and tee up their care," Angela Moemeka, M.D., medical director of community health, told the Journal. "This is really a tool for them to start to practice their self-management so by the time they're 18, 19 and 20, we're not dealing with someone who doesn't know how to manage the disease."

The initial app, which took a year to build, lets users track and manage asthma symptoms, indicating severity aspects. A second version, already in development, will integrate with a Bluetooth device as well as the hospital's electronic medical recordkeeping system. It also will provide better adherence alerts and help reduce errors in care. 

"For the asthma app, the end goal may not be billable service," Julie Hall-Barrow, Children's senior director of healthcare, innovation and telemedicine, told the Journal, "but can we reduce costly ER service."

The Dallas hospital is just the latest provider organization to use such tools to drive better care management and treatment. In Toronto, WellDoc, Samsung and the Ontario Telemedicine Network are teaming up to integrate WellDoc's Type 2 diabetes self-management BlueStar solution with Samsung's S Health platform.

In addition, New York-Presbyterian Hospital built its own mHealth system, called NYP Connect, which provides needed customized technology and capabilities. 

For more information:
- read the Dallas Business Journal report

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