Blood pressure app for iPhone

iHealth Lab has introduced the iHealth Blood Pressure Monitoring System for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, states Measurement Devices.

Comprised of a hardware dock, blood pressure arm cuff and iHealth App, this breakthrough product lets users self-monitor their blood pressure from the convenience of their home, and share the results with friends, family and most importantly, their doctor.

A recent report from Kaiser Permanente found that patients doing self-monitoring of their vitals were 50% more likely to have their blood pressure under control.

IBM and Premier Healthcare Alliance, an organisation dedicated to healthcare performance improvement, have revealed a partnership to build a new open-standard, data-metric platform to allow hospitals in Premier's network to share data, notes eWeek.

The new information platform will enable more consistent sharing of data and an improvement in patient safety. Through the collaboration and collection of data, the two companies hope the access to comprehensive data will help to avoid over-treatments, including unnecessary ER visits, hospital readmissions and medical errors, IBM and Premier report.

Premier's goal in working with IBM is to collaborate on data architecture across a "buyer and payer continuum," an area that health care stakeholders have had difficulty tackling, according to Keith Figlioli, Premier's senior vice-president of health care informatics.

A social network-styled software platform that integrates healthcare choices to help seniors and their caregivers is raising money for sales and marketing, says Med City News.

Family Health Network, a two-year-old start-up based in Durham, North Carolina, recently raised $200 000. It's raised about $400 000 overall and could raise another $500 000, according to its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company is developing a product called 'Connect for Life.' It includes Facebook-like features that include a list of friends and their contact information, as well as photo albums. But it also has a check-in button that notifies caregivers that the owner is fine.