Speaker 1: The content of this podcast is provided for general informational
purposes only and is not intended as nor should it
be considered, a substitute for professional medical advice. Hello, this
is Karen Nicol, family nurse practitioner, and you are listening
to Itchy and Bitchy, a podcast that provides answers to
your many unanswered health questions. I want to first thank
those of you who have left reviews of the podcast.
I really appreciate it. Diana wrote, love Karen's content. Her
information always feels thoughtful, informative, and delivered in a straightforward way.
Thank you for sharing so much great info about health,
healing and triumph. Thank you for taking the time, Diana
to share those very kind words. I told my husband
that I was thinking about talking to all of you
about digital health, and he asked, what's that? And that
response confirmed for me that others may not know what
that means either. Many of you are already using digital health,
but may not be aware that your Apple Watch or
your Samsung Health on your Android device fall under the
classification of digital health. There are more and more apps
that track your heart rate, blood pressure, sleep, heart rhythm, exercise,
and more. For instance, Apple watch. Health monitoring features include
continuous heart rate tracking with high, low and irregular rhythm alerts,
an ECG app and what we call an echocardiogram to
detect atrial fibrillation, blood oxygen monitoring, advanced sleep tracking that
includes sleep stages and appnea detection, risk temperature sensing for
cycle track to estimate when ovulation occurs, and an app
to check overnight measurements of heart rate, temperature, respiratory rate,
and blood oxygen levels. That is a lot. It's a
ton of information about how the body is functioning, all
from something you wear on your wrist. Digital health refers
to the use of information and communication technologies in medicine,
and that includes smartphone apps, wearable devices with sensors like
I just described in addition to telehealth programs. They are
all designed to help prevent illness, deliver treatment, and promote wellness,
all good things. With the advancements in medical technologies, digital
health has the potential to make health care delivery more
efficient and precise. Digital health combines mobile health devices with
wireless technology that can communicate health information to your personal
health records. Directly to your records, it can provide information
to caregivers and healthcare professionals. The merger of technology and
medicine is a growing trend. The digital health market value
is expected to reach two one hundred and fifty eight
billion dollars by twenty twenty nine. There is definitely an
upside to the advancement of digital health. Many hospitals and
health care facilities are undergoing a digital transformation because these
technologies improve patient outcomes and streamline operations. The positive impact
of these technologies can be profound for a health care facility.
Digital health can improve workflows in a hospital or health
care facility, help provide precision medicine by gathering and integrating
patient data, and give optimal care for people when they
are discharged from the hospital to home so that the
patient can continue to hear. Also, robotics used in healthcare
show benefits in surgical assistance, lab automation, and patient rehabilitation. Unfortunately,
with those benefits come concerns with the type of technology.
And after this break, I'll share ways digital health can
be vulnerable. Welcome back, So where are the vulnerabilities of
this technology? Well, with thousands of free or inexpensive health
apps out there, tracking your health status is as easy
as ordering a ride or a food delivery. But with
each click, you may be unknowingly and unwittingly handing over
your health data to a third party. Because health apps
have gained popularity, experts and medical organizations have begun warning
consumers of the hidden dangers. In May, the American Medical
Association challenged lawmakers and the healthcare industry to create regulations
to protect all types of patient privacy in the digital age.
Until that happens, health app users are largely unprotected from
having their data passed along to tech giants and marketing
companies that might target them with ads. A recent study
examined thirty five diabetes mobile apps and found that all
of them gave data to a third party. And here's
the kicker. They did so even when the app's privacy
policies said it wouldn't. Yep. The research is considered preliminary
until it is published in a peer reviewed journal. The
truth is there are no limitations or guidelines on what
companies can do with your data, no limitations or guidelines.
Having checks and balances put into place is now so
important since technology and healthcare are becoming more and more intertwined,
and companies spend billions of dollars on these healthcare related apps.
You should know that the data on health apps is
not safeguarded by HIPPA, the nineteen ninety six law that
protects health information gathered by providers and health systems. We
are in the wild wild West stage with these health apps.
You have absolutely no protection period. Many Americans are unaware
that once their health data is collected, it's available online forever.
In other words, your digital health info is immortal. Frightening
eh Well, each time you interact with your health app,
you are leaving behind a digital footprint, never to be
swept away. These apps have you agree to a very
long and complicated privacy agreement, and the majority of people
don't want to take the time to carefully read this
before clicking on agree. Who wants to do that? Well
no one, but experts urge people to read the agreements
to learn what might happen to their data after they
have clicked agree. Once again, like most health care decisions,
you have to weigh the risks and benefits. The apps
definitely have many benefits, but is it worth it to
use the apps if you know that your data is
likely to be shared? If you want to know if
your info is likely to be shared. One big clue
is the presence of ads on the app. If you
see ads, your info is definitely definitely being shared with
a third party. Remember, if it's free to you, the
app income is being generated by ads or selling your
info to third parties one plus one is two. One
thing you can do is check the app's automatic settings
and make changes that will protect privacy, like turning off
your location. However, if you turn off privacy settings, the
app is generally harder to use, so a catch twenty two.
As people become more aware of the lack of privacy,
they may become increasingly uncomfortable with being tracked so carefully
and completely, and as a result, the consumers of this
technology may demand more regulation. In addition to your information
being sold to third parties and advertisers, your information can
also be stolen. Why would someone steal your health info
because your private medical information can be worth a lot
of money, which is one of the reasons why cyber
threats are increasing in the healthcare industry. For example, criminals
can steal prominent people's medical records and sell them to
the media. Additionally, criminals can use stolen medical records to
purchase medication with your info or make false medical claims
under your name. This can directly or indirectly affect the
patient's health or personal life. Incredible, isn't it. If you
opt to use a personal medical device, you should know
that the off the shelf devices that monitor things like
vital signs are not necessarily medical grade, and most people
don't know how to interpret the information that is provided. However,
I do believe that providers should embrace the fact that
there are patients who are keen to manage their own
chronic conditions, and I think providers should support people in
doing so. Providers who view themselves as part of the
patient's team with the goal of achieving optimal health is
the best medical model if we want a healthy patient
and a healthy community. In terms of other risks, you
may recall a twenty twelve episode of the US television
drama Homeland in which terrorists hacked a fictional vice president's
pacemaker and killed him. Unfortunately, there is concern that implantable
devices such as insulin pumps, cardiac pacemakers, implantable cardioverter defibrillators, neurostimulators,
and cochlear implants could be hacked. Potentially, anyone with an
implantable device like a pacemaker could have the device hacked
in order to receive a ransom or to kill someone.
More care regarding device security needs to be taken by
medical device manufacturers. They should be building into their device
as ways to protect patients from unwarranted attacks on them.
When large healthcare organizations or providers are purchasing devices like pacemakers,
they should be questioning the supplier about whether or not
there are security measures built into the devices. So far,
there hasn't been any documented direct attack on a medical device,
but the fact that it's possible is very concerning and
everyone should educate themselves and manufacturers should take extra steps
to secure devices against cyber threats. Ransomware attacks on hospitals
is another serious concern. It is definitely awful for a
hospital when this happens, and it may cost them a
lot of money, But remember whose data is being stolen
in this situation, the patients. Unfortunately, as a patient, the
data security the hospital has in place is beyond your control,
but you can ask what methods they use to secure.
To find out how a hospital secures your data, you
can contact the hospital's privacy officer or chief Information Security officer.
They are responsible for securing patient information through methods like
encryption and access controls. You can also request something called
the notice of privacy practices, which outlines how the hospital uses,
shares and protects your health information. Someone in the hospital
administration or health information management department can provide this for you.
If you think your health data has already been breached,
you can contact the risk management department at the hospital.
They handle the facility's policy regarding data breaches and patient confidentiality.
On a personal note, I have received a notice from
a healthcare facility that my healthcare information may have been breached,
which probably means that it has us and at least
they offered one year of a free theft protection plan
from a national company. I did accept this offer, but
I'm not entirely sure how much protection I will receive.
In the next episode, I'm going to tell you about
another aspect of how technology is being used in the
world of medicine, and that is something we have all
been hearing about on a nearly daily basis, and that
is AI artificial intelligence. Quickly, before I sign off, I
just want to note that I realize I said both
data and data in this episode, and I hope it
didn't drive anybody crazy. And I don't know why I
use both pronunciations, So there it is. Many thanks to
all of you for listening. Wherever you listen to this podcast,
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Itchy and bitchy dot com, where there are blogs with
some of our subjects available for you to read. I
mentioned in the last episode that I would share some
picks of our sweet lovebirdsake, and I have done that
both on the Facebook page and the website. Thank you
to Forrestwinsl, my son, our producer and composer of our
theme music, and the person who does all the behind
the scenes work to make this podcast possible. Thank you.
Forest Forest continues to thrive at Peabody Music Conservatory and
has started his final semester of the Master's program. If
you want to listen to what he's creating. You can
go to his website, Forestwinsole dot com. Remember that your
health and your data is in your hands us