We’re looking forward to RxUX - the upcoming digital health and user experience event we are hosting with angelMD on June 17 at the California Academy of Sciences. Early bird tickets are still available. :)

From patient-centric apps at home to the operating room, the amazing lineup of speakers will show how patient-minded design is influencing the future of digital health. Off the stage at RxUX there are going to be some amazing entrepreneurs, investors and influencers. 

From time to time leading up to the event we are going to get to know some of the influencers who will be at RxUX, continuing today with James Kovach of Beneufit. Jim earned his medical degree during a career as middle linebacker for the New Orleans Saints and San Francisco 49ers. After retiring from the NFL, he obtained his law degree and since then has worked in a variety of organizations from venture backed startups to independent research institute before cofounding Beneufit. 

RxUX: Tell us about your product, please. Beneufit: Beneufit’s software system and backend analytics is the first to coach patients through scientifically-validated exercise protocols, to reduce symptoms and improve quality of life in individuals battling chronic disease. Beneufit uses mobile devices and wireless sensors to track compliance with personalized cycling exercise protocols, mapping exercise results to recognized clinical parameters. The result is a healthier patient population and a quantified understanding of the impact of exercise on chronic disease management.

Heart-rate monitor and cadence sensor dashboard

What’s been your biggest challenge in bringing your product / service to market? Our first product, pdFIT™ addresses the exercise needs of Parkinson’s disease patients through stationary cycling exercise protocols. Our software and wireless sensors needed to be designed to allow for easy set up and use by someone with a movement disorder. It was also a design challenge to allow for the cycling cadence sensor to attach and detach off any model of spin and gym bike. The key to success in any digital health product and in fact to the thesis that digital health can reduce healthcare cost is that patients will be motivated to use these products over time and they’ll use them with passion. In our coaching metaphor, there is no self-reporting and this is a challenge, but we know people cheat when they self-report. I needed real coaches to push me to get to the NFL and this attitude is what we emulated in creating pdFIT. However, we’ve found that while everyone is an athlete (or can be somewhat of an athlete), there is a fine line of ensuring that our mobile app engages people so that they are able to maximize the benefits of each exercise protocol over time as their abilities increase. Too little increasing the ‘bar’ after success and the coach is too soft. Too much demand and the team gets upset. It’s a return to a past life that has been quite exciting and we think it’s the key to the whole issue of chronic disease management. Literally we’ll change the entire ball game, like my old coach Bill Walsh bringing the west coast offense to the NFL. Radically different and yet in a year or two we think the market will say ‘of course, why did this take so long?’

Coached workout, seen on iPad app

What enabling technology do you think has the most potential to transform health and wellness over the next eighteen months? Mobile devices + sensors (as long as they are used loyally and with increasing passion by motivated human beings

Next five years? Analytics (Big data).

What lessons can we take from consumer technology in digital health and wellness? Focus on high quality design and experience, from UI on mobile to effective engagement programs. And never doubt the power of informed US consumers, we have been awed by the intelligence of our customers and it’s a force that will build, gain momentum and turning the tide in chronic disease will be a consumer-led revolution.

From a design standpoint, what existing product or service has been most influential on your own product or vision? Apple and NFL training regimens What single role, process or productivity hack has helped your organization most? We are a patient-centered organization. From day one we’ve brought on advisors and engaged with Parkinson’s patients to ensure product-market fit. When does a real tricorder come to market? More than 5, 10, 25 or 50 years out?

On our roadmap so if we told you we’d have to, well, you know.

We're looking forward to RxUX - the upcoming digital health and user experience event we are hosting with angelMD on June 17 at the California Academy of Sciences. Early bird tickets are still available. :)

From patient-centric apps at home to the operating room, the amazing lineup of speakers will show how patient-minded design is influencing the future of digital health. Off the stage at RxUX there are going to be some amazing entrepreneurs, investors and influencers. 

From time to time leading up to the event we are going to get to know some of the influencers who will be at RxUX, starting today with Madeline Sands of Small World Social. She is the Leader of the Breastfeeding Support Project and the Head of Data Visualization and Research. Sands has been able to envisage how wearable technologies like Google Glass could be a perfect tool to assist with an age old, yet surprisingly difficult health issue—breastfeeding. 

RxUX: Tell us about your product, please.

Maddy Sands: Small World Social works at the edge of a new field in computer science called contextual computing, and works with leading clients in the medical and biotech industries. Contextual Computing enables responsive design and content experiences to be offered based on an individual’s preferences, devices, physical locations and behavior—bridging the gap between face-to-face and current online approaches. 

In response to feedback from our initial project for breastfeeding support, we have developed an employer sponsored support kit provided to professional moms for the transition from pre-mom and onward in the USA. The one-stop spot includes corporate documents, policies and resources as well as, medically endorsed information and one-on-one support and coaching, facilitated via Glass.

What’s been your biggest challenge in bringing your product / service to market?

Our biggest challenge in developing this product was innovating our Australian Breastfeeding product, and reapplying its functions for a wider American audience. We also had to overcome the limitations of existing technologies, contextualizing the approach for a professional audience as well as research for content targeted towards the new audience.

We started off by breaking down the mom’s needs into components and then tackling each one individually before using a combinatorial approach to combine them. With the aim being a seamless experience for both the moms and counselors (in the initial breastfeeding trial) and in later stages employers and pre-mom professionals.

The wearable technology Google Glass, when combined with our existing technology stack met a number of the user needs in new and original ways including: one-on-one support, step-by-step guides for situations with high cognitive load and stress, along with hands-free capability.

What enabling technology do you think has the most potential to transform health and wellness over the next eighteen months? Next five years?

Brain sensing technology like Emotive and Muse.  We are starting to explore applications of these exciting new types of measurement and input devices in maternal health (let-down reflex) sleep and mindfulness.

What lessons can we take from consumer technology in digital health and wellness?

The person and their needs has to come first, not the institution, profession or service.  People’s expectations have changed; they want services and information on demand, not when an appointment is available or when it’s most profitable for a hospital or service to provide access.  Consumer technology companies understand this better and provide more flexibility in how people can access, utilize and benefit from their technologies.

From a design standpoint, what existing product or service has been most influential on your own product or vision?

Google Glass: it has amazing potential as product to support people in situ, particularly when they need their hands free to undertake tasks like breastfeeding, mechanical maintenance or patient physical therapy.

What single role, process or productivity hack has helped your organization most?

Having a small cross-disciplinary team—there were seven people on the project team, who have learnt and mastered many new skills to see this project to fruition. This can-do and make-do attitude has seen them build a technology enabled support system for millions of women and their babies around the world.

When does a real tricorder come to market? More than 5, 10, 25 or 50 years out?

We believe in less than 5 years. We have seen enormous leaps in the technology community in the last decade: most technology professionals can remember dial up Internet and receiving their first Nokia mobile as a teenager or older. Comparing these recent origins with the technical advancements mere years later, motivates us to continue innovating and ask ‘why not’?

We are delighted to announce the debut of RxUX, a new digital health event Cainkade is hosting with angelMD, June 17 at the gorgeous California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. 

Owen Thomas, Editor-in-Chief of ReadWrite will be our host for the evening. We have a great line-up of speakers including:

  - Kate Garrett, Co-Founder and CEO, Ciel Medical   - Daniel Kraft MD, Singularity University and FutureMed   - Jordan Shlain MD, Founder Healthloop   - Aaron Sklar, Managing Director, Experience Strategy and Design, Healthagen

Visit the RxUX site to learn more about the speakers and the format of the event. 

RxUX will open the curtain behind the magic of great health and wellness products. How are they designed? What are the tradeoffs made between time to market and the ideal product? How do you balance a diverse audience that might involve medical practitioners, consumers, and the FDA?

We promise a unique, fast-paced event that will be inspiring and entertaining. Heavy on product insights and light on generalizations. An amazing venue. Great food, drink and networking opportunities. 

Why design and digital health? 

We've written often about the transformation taking place in digital health. The largest companies in consumer tech have focused their energies on the category. Google announced Calico just a few months ago. With every new Apple rumor - from a health wallet to bio-sensing earbuds - this looks to be a year in which we will see category-defining digital health products come to market.