The Journal of mHealth Vol 1 Issue 6 (Dec 2014) | Page 33

Conference News

health industry. Ecosystems that connect networks of stakeholders are proving to be an effective method of delivering change.
By providing standardised information flows, cross-network
interfaces, and consistent user experiences, ecosystems like the
Qualcomm Life 2net network aligns all the relevant interfaces
to allow stakeholder partners to access a convenient, facilitated,
environment. What was interesting at this year’s event was the
significant number of ecosystems that are beginning to form
around different parts of the connected health community, as a
means of improving access to solutions.

Interoperability
Information exchange and interoperability of systems always
tends to be a regular discussion topic as this type of event, and
it was clear from a number of panel sessions as well discussions with delegates on the exhibition floor that this remains
an important question in the digital health equation. We spoke
to a range of service providers, exhibiting at the event, who
are developing solutions designed to try and reduce some of
the difficulties surrounding this issue. Of particular interest
was a discussion we had with Thanh Tran CEO of Zoeticx,
a digital health technology company that has developed a proprietary middleware solution designed to improve the flow of
information within healthcare information systems. Middleware can be described as the software layer that lies between
the operating system and the applications on each side of a
distributed computer network. Typically, it supports complex,

distributed business software applications. Middleware has been
deployed extensively in manufacturing and financial industries
for a number of years, with the purpose of facilitating information flows, yet it is not something that has been widely used in
the healthcare setting. Zoeticx have created an EHR agnostic
solution on a mobile platform, which can facilitate providerpatient and provider-provider communication, which in turn
Tran hopes will foster an ecosystem that will allow developers to
concentrate on building effective solutions, rather than having
to constantly redesign solutions to work with different existing
networks. Interestingly, Zoeticx are also leveraging mobile functions, such as Near Field Communication to provide novel (onetime authorisation) access methods to existing patient health
information, wherever that may be in the myriad of EHRs and
different medical information storage silos.

Funding issues
Securing finance and venture funding was the primary topic
for the Venture+ Forum Pitch Session, which saw twenty-two
early-stage companies, and the entrepreneurs behind them, participate in a rapid-fire presentation session, designed to inform
the audience about provider and patient solutions for improving
health outcomes and allow them to hear from leading investors
about mobile health funding trends.

Regulation and data stewardship
The evolving regulatory landscape surrounding mHealth was
also well represented on the Summit agenda. Navigating FDA
guidelines as a mHealth solution developer remains a difficult
process despite a number of announcements made this year
aimed at clarifying the issue. Similarly, privacy and security concerns surrounding data collection, transmission, access and use
are frequently areas of concern when it comes to digital health.
Developing a robust data and information risk management
strategy is now an essential strategic task for any mHealth company.
Panel sessions dealing with data privacy, ownership, liability, and
cyber security were well attended as delegates sought to gain a
greater understanding of the underlying issues and the relevant
regulations and guidelines. n

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