Boston-based LifeGuard Games is gearing up to launch a mobile game to teach children to manage their asthma. Wellapets, which is due to launch at the end of February, follows the mold of recently popular virtual pet games like Club Penguin or Moshi Monsters, but with an extra element of chronic disease management.
"I think doctors see there's value to be gained and not a lot of downside in terms...
SuperBetter, a popular health and wellness game.
Three trends are driving players in the healthcare space -- especially insurers -- toward gamification, according to a recent report by consulting firm ICF International: the trend toward value-based care, the increasing role of the patient as consumer, and the millennial generation as desirable health insurance customers. A fourth trend, the...
A study participant playing Neuroracer.
A new study from the University of California, San Francisco shows that a specially designed mobile video game could improve neural plasticity in older adults, improving their ability to multitask and to filter out distractions. A spin-off company is currently testing a version of the game for the possible treatment of ADHD, depression, or autism...
When Kaiser Permanente debuted its Interchange platform API initiative last month, the company made it clear that they would not be feeding patient health information into third party apps or devices via APIs. While the health system has done notable research into incorporating things like exercise data into its EMR, it isn't interested in integrating just any data stream. Kaiser Permanente's...
London, UK-based Six to Start, the creators of runaway hit fitness game Zombies, Run! announced this week they are creating a new game that will use the same gamified, story-centric approach as Zombies, Run! but without the zombies -- or the running.
Tentatively titled "The Walk," the game will be a spy thriller and it will be focused on getting people to move more and generally be more active....
New surgeries, tools, and techniques are developed often, and medical device companies say it can be tricky to get surgeons to adopt them sometimes. After all, there are no unimportant patients, and no one wants to be their surgeon's first attempt at a new procedure.
Part of Minneapolis-based Medtronic's sales team's job is to encourage surgeons who have tried and true procedures to get trained...
Although depression hits youth of all ages, a large percentage of young people are left untreated, CEO of LinkedWellness David Burt said during a talk at the Games For Health event in Boston this week. Causes that he cited included stigma, inconvenience of therapy appointments, fear of drug side effects and cost of drugs and therapy. While searching for a solution to this problem, Burt and his...
In 2009, 39 percent of new HIV infections were among individuals aged 13 to 29, which was a 21 percent increase since 2006, according to Associate Research Scientist Dr. Kim Hieftje. In her talk at Games for Health in Boston this week Hieftje discussed her new HIV prevention iPad game, PlayForward: Elm City Stories, which tests kids in socially compromising simulations to see if her game affects...
Ayogo's Diabestes app for college students.
Health gaming company Ayogo's CEO Michael Fergusson hinted at this week's Games for Health event in Boston that the company is working on a new game for a major pharmaceutical company, although he wasn't able to reveal any details.
"I sure would like to show you this game but I didn't get clearance to show it. We're working with one of the five largest...
On the sidelines of the Games for Health event in Boston this week, Dr. Mark Sivak, assistant academic specialist at Northeastern University, explained to MobiHealthNews that the conversation around health games has evolved from one focused on novelty to one more concerned with outcomes.
"What we're staring to get into now on the research level is that previously people would ask, 'Okay, prove to...
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