Microsoft adds a digital health feature to its Android launcher

Microsoft is adding its own digital health feature to its Android launcher app. While Google has added a similar feature to Android Pie, Microsoft’s Launcher will let any Android users access the ability to track how long apps are being used for. You can track screen time, app usage, and even the amount of times you’ve unlocked your phone. Microsoft Launcher is supported on Android 4.2 and above, so it opens the digital health feature up to a lot of Android users.

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Google moves into hardware production with smartphone and other devices

SAN FRANCISCO — Software giant Google is beginning an aggressive foray into hardware production with the launch Tuesday of a smartphone and other devices that will bring the company into direct competition with other leading tech firms, including its longtime partner Samsung.

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Developing a Framework for Evaluating the Patient Engagement, Quality, and Safety of Mobile Health Applications

Growing evidence suggests that health care is more efficient and effective when patients are actively engaged in their treatment.  Engaged, or activated, patients collaborate with their providers, are treated with respect and dignity, receive information related to their care, and are involved in decision-making.  Two separate reviews commissioned by the Institute of Medicine and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that chronic disease self-management and promotion of patient engagement are essential to successful care management programs targeting patients with high needs and high costs and are associated with improved quality of life, functional autonomy, and decreased hospital use.

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