Category: Technology

Telehealth Use Continues to Decline

A new report by Trilliant Health breaks down the decline in telehealth utilization. Their findings were based on over 70 billion medical claims data representing 309 million patients across all 50 states, including private insurance and Medicare claims. (via Emarketer.com)

Here’s a breakdown of some key stats:

  • Telehealth use fell 37% from pandemic highs to the end of Q1’ 2021.
  • Most telehealth visits are accounted for by a small percent of total US adults. Around 38 million US adults (not including Medicare beneficiaries) generated 96 million telehealth visits during the pandemic.
  • Mental health has been, and will continue to be, a key driver of telehealth demand. 35% of all telehealth visits were for mental health conditions, which is more than the next five leading drivers combined.
  • 80% of consumers say they’d be willing to use home care models (like hospital at home schemes) if they were covered by insurance.

Apple Watch Series 4: An ECG on Your Wrist

Amazing how far the Apple Watch has come since it’s debut in 2015!

From Apple.com:
Electrodes built into the Digital Crown and the back crystal work together with the ECG app to read your heart’s electrical signals. Simply touch the Digital Crown to generate an ECG waveform in just 30 seconds. This data can indicate whether your heart rhythm shows signs of atrial fibrillation — a serious form of irregular heart rhythm — or sinus rhythm, which means your heart is beating in a normal pattern.

Each beat of the heart sends out an electrical impulse. With the ECG app, Apple Watch Series 4 can read and record these impulses by connecting the circuit between your heart and both arms.

Apple-ECG

The resulting ECG waveform, its classification, and any notes you’ve entered on related symptoms are automatically stored in the Health app on your iPhone. You can share them with your doctor and have a better-informed conversation about your health.

ECG information is stored in the Health app on your iPhone.

Mary Meeker’s Internet Trends, 2018 Version

Definitely worth watching. Highlights (via Recode.net) include:

iPhone Slowdowns Explained

I ran across a good article at Macrumors that does a great job of explaining the reasons behind the recent iOS slowdowns on older hardware. If you’re experiencing slowdowns, this is definitely worth a read. I have high hopes that a battery replacement will breath new life into my aging iPhone 6 Plus. Since upgrading to iOS 11, I have experienced all of the symptoms outlined in Apple’s iPhone and Battery Performance support document:

In cases that require more extreme forms of this power management, the user may notice effects such as:

– Longer app launch times
– Lower frame rates while scrolling
– Backlight dimming (which can be overridden in Control Center)
– Lower speaker volume by up to -3dB
– Gradual frame rate reductions in some apps
– During the most extreme cases, the camera flash will be disabled as visible in the camera UI
– Apps refreshing in background may require reloading upon launch

To get your battery replaced, visit the Contact Apple Support page, click on See Your Products, sign in to your Apple ID account, select which iPhone, and click on Battery, Power, and Charging and then Battery Replacement.

After completing the above steps, you should have options available to you to take your iPhone to an Apple Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider, mail the device to an Apple Repair Center, or both.

For more details, see the full article at Macrumors.

John Hancock Offers Apple Watch to Vitality Customers for Just $25

John Hancock has announced that new and existing members of its Vitality life insurance program can receive an Apple Watch Series 3 with GPS only for an initial payment of just $25 plus tax. Over the next two years, monthly payments are based on the number of workouts completed.

By connecting the Vitality Today app to Apple’s Health app and confirming sharing of data, customers can earn Vitality Points for Light, Standard, and Advanced Workouts in the Workout app. Customers can share steps measured by their iPhone or Apple Watch, as well as active calories from the Apple Watch. Vitality members must earn at least 500 fitness-related Vitality Points per month over two years to avoid owing any of the installments.

An innovative life insurance solution that rewards healthy living!

Mac OS X Sierra: Displaying Thumbnails in Preview by Default

I use thumbnails in Preview on Mac OS to merge PDFs a lot. Dragging thumbs from the sidebar of one PDF to another is a quick and easy way to merge multiple PDFs. It has always annoyed me that there is no longer an easy way to show the sidebar by default in Mac OS X Sierra. After a little Googling, I found an easy way to fix this by editing the plist file for Preview.

  1. Go to: ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Preview/Data/Library/Preferences/
  2. Locate and open the preferences file – com.apple.Preview.plist
  3. Set “PVPDFSuppressSidebarOnOpening” to false
  4. If you don’t see it, simply add the following to com.apple.Preview.plist:
    <key>PVPDFSuppressSidebarOnOpening</key>
    <false/>

UPDATE FOR HIGH SIERRA:
Twitter user @ZiadFazel wrote in with an update for Preview in Mac OS X High Sierra.

  1. Go to: ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Preview/Data/Library/Preferences/
  2. Locate and open the preferences file – com.apple.Preview.plist
  3. Find <key>PVSidebarViewModeForNewDocuments</key><integer>0</integer>
  4. Change <integer>0</integer> to <integer>1</integer>Thanks, Ziad!