After spending a few days in Chicago at the HIMSS 15 event, the MobiHealthNews team has rounded up all the mobile and digital health news that came out of the always noisy conference. Here's our list of news announcements, reports from the keynote stage, recaps of sideline conversations, and more from the past week.

WebMD's first medication reminders app is for the Apple Watch: WebMD announced plans for its Apple Watch app, called Medication Reminders, at HIMSS this year. The app also marks the launch of the first medication adherence app from the company, executives told MobiHealthNews during an interview. The Watch app will launch as a new feature of WebMD's flagship iPhone app, and since that's where a user will program and adjust reminders for their medication regimen, the Watch app will help increase user engagement of the iPhone app.

WebMD’s Apple Watch app helps users remember to take their medication. Each reminder will show users an image of the medication they are supposed to take as well as dosing and timing information. It is also likely WebMD is taking advantage of the device's taptics features to make interacting with the app a little more fun.

"Maybe one day there will be pills with Kurzweilian nanobots in each pill that will recognize when it is in your bloodstream. Then all of the walls in your house turn red until you take that pill." WebMD’s Vice President of Product Management and User Experience Ben Greenberg told attendees at the event. "Until that happens though, this is the most frictionless, easiest way to inspire adherence and promote health and wellness in this population. We really are very excited about it." 

It's a mobile-first world so Microsoft thinks docs need fewer workstations: MobiHealthNews sat down for a discussion with Microsoft's Chief Health Strategy Officer Dr. Dennis Schmuland to discuss the value and relevance of the multi-user workstation in a mobile-first world. While mobile devices in clinical settings -- tablets, especially -- have promised a future with fewer COWs and multiuser workstations, Schmuland said the number of physicians who no longer use those legacy setups is "shockingly small".

"A lot of that has to do with the prescription of the electronic health records companies," Schmuland said. "You buy so many licenses [for the EHR], count how many physicians you have, divide that number by five, and buy that many workstations. So, they are all over the place. We have been working with a couple of physicians who have basically reduced their device count from four to two. A lot of people don't realize it but physicians basically have about four different devices: a multiuser workstation, a laptop, their tablet (usually a consumer tablet like an iPad), and a phone. The thing about that is every one of those is a different device with its own user interface and different applications on them. Because they are juggling multiple devices, it means they are toggling between different applications, data, and content. And that comes at a time, productivity and communication cost."

Schmuland said that while the proliferation of smartphones and tablets in clinical settings has largely been driven by a hunger for more productivity while on the go, physicians have found these devices to be companion devices to workstations. He argues that's because the consumer-grade devices that are so widespread are not capable of replacing desktops. Naturally, Microsoft believes it has a device -- the Surface Pro -- that can. And for some physicians, anyways, it has, Schmuland said.

Microsoft finds no single screen is as popular as the desktop computer for physicians: An online survey of 402 US physicians conducted by YouGov and commissioned by Microsoft, found 50 percent of physicians used smartphones, 49 percent used laptop computers, and 23 percent used tablets, but 56 percent still used a desktop computer. Additionally, 55 percent still use a fax machine and 27 percent still use pagers. Thirty-nine percent still use paper.

The desktop was still the primary choice for physicians for many information-sharing use cases: 46 percent used it to communicate with colleagues or specialists, 40 percent used it to schedule surgeries, 39 percent used it to communicate with pharmacists, and 35 percent used the desktop to contact patients. Other ways to communicate with patients included paper (27 percent), a laptop (26 percent), and smartphones (19 percent). Fifty percent of doctors said they used a smartphone mostly to communicate with other colleagues. More

Health insurer Anthem to pilot Watch app with some members: Health insurer Anthem is planning to pilot an Apple Watch app developed by CareEvolution with a small subset of its members later this year. The app, called cFHR, is an iPhone and Apple Watch app that stands for “collaborative Family Health Record”. Anthem’s health plan members will be able to use the app to connect with providers, receive alerts, review medical information, and manage their health. CareEvolution Principal Dr. Vik Kheterpal is particularly bullish on the wristworn device, especially for it potential behavior change capabilities.

"The Watch... allows me to just sort of lookup and notice that I have a notification. I think the market is undervaluing how profound that minor change is," Kheterpal told MobiHealthNews. "Because adoption at the last mile, or in this case that last inch, is a big deal... It is on your person. There is no other device that is literally on your person."

Anthem's Tim Skeen, vice president information systems, Marketplace Solutions, noted that while the initial launch is for members, the opportunity for Watch apps intended for use by providers may help overcome alarm fatigue.

"What you are hoping is going to come from [The Apple Watch launch] is great adoption, maybe a greater sense of empowerment for the consumer, from a provider standpoint: A doc who won't go look at a website, or won't necessarily go look at his iPad, may react to something, if it is a meaningful alert that's at the right time and not over-alerting or under-alerting, then having that connection on their wrist could lead them to be more interactive with their phone or iPad than they are today."

Humana president wants to change healthcare's conversation: HIMSS' second day keynote speaker was Humana President Bruce Broussard, who actually shied away from discussing technology, or specific Humana endeavors, in his talk. Instead, he outlined the ways he felt the conversation in healthcare needs to change to focus more on the patient, to be driven by demand for healthcare services not supply, and to put chronic care, not episodic care, at the top of the healthcare priority list.

"Our system wasn’t built for chronic care, it was built for episodic," he said. "Chronic care management is such a different part of healthcare. Today, 80 percent of our cost in healthcare is chronic conditions, and to manage chronic conditions, you have to have the ability to help them with their lifestyle. You have to help the under-resourced with access to care, and also literacy. We have to see the holistic person and not just the system."

Intermountain: Healthbox made it easier to kill bad ideas: Last fall, Utah's Intermountain Healthcare partnered with Healthbox to run an internal accelerator called the Intermountain Foundry. At HIMSS, Intermountain VP of Business Development George Hamilton and Healthbox CEO Nina Nashif discussed how the program has shaken out so far. Hamilton did tell us a little about the first four innovations in the accelerator -- two are software, one is hardware, and one is a new way of doing research. The hardware offering is an innovative cardiac ablation device, one software offering uses big data to capture epidemiological information and inform consumers about disease trends in their area, and the research method is a new growth medium for tumor tissue.

But primarily the talk focused on lessons learned in the back-end of the process. Intermountain was an innovative organization before, Hamilton said, but putting all of the innovation pieces into one collected area had more benefits than expected. Adding a third party with innovation expertise also made it easier to deal honestly and fairly with all the would-be inventors in the organization. "Objectivity is a huge issue," Hamilton said. "When you have three surgeons beating on your door, saying I have the best idea in the world to revolutionize healthcare, it’s hard, as an internal colleague of theirs, to tell them their kids are ugly. But [it helps a lot] to have an objective third party be a part of the discussion and say 'We have all this market experience and based on that experience, this might not be the best idea.'" 

Walgreens partners with United HealthCare: Walgreens announced a partnership with UnitedHealthcare at HIMSS, wherein UHC members in Arizona and Illinois will have access to Walgreens Balance Rewards program, directly via their Health4Me app from UHC. But they also had one of the event's best keynotes, in which Walgreens President and Walgreens Boots Alliance EVP Alex Gourlay laid out the company's strategy and shared a number of data points on downloads and adherence. The three strategic takeaways? Becoming patient-led, promoting innovation, and becoming a strategic partner of choice for companies like Qualcomm, WebMD, MDLive, PatientsLikeMe, and United HealthCare. More

Hahnemann Hospital sees 10 percent CHF readmission drop: In a pilot that included more than 350 chronic heart failure patients, a Philadelphia hospital was able to reduce its 30-day readmissions by 10 percent — a 40 percent improvement over baseline — by using email and text message reminders to get patients into follow-up appointments. Baseline readmissions prior to the pilot were at 26.7 percent, but at the end of the 10 months, 30-day readmissions for those who received messages dropped to 16 percent. More

Partners, Samsung announce mobile health partnership: Initially, the Boston-based integrated health system will work with the electronics giant to create chronic condition management software. In June, Partners will launch a clinical trial of the new software that will likely focus on remote monitoring health factors like blood pressure, blood glucose, and weight, as well as mobile interventions in the areas of patient engagement, medication adherence, and wellness self-management. More

Investors: patient-engagement, value-based care, and data analytics are hot prospects: Anuj Desai, Vice President of Market Development at the New York eHealth Collaborative, Adam Koopersmith, a Partner at the Pritzker Group, and Ned Schwartz, a Partner at Drive Capital, shared some of their insights on trends in health investment and tips for companies seeking funding. Koopersmith noted that customers are both taking on more financial risk for their healthcare through changing how they interact with payers, and increasingly taking charge of their personal wellness through data-gathering connected wearables and Schwartz noted that "the train has left the station" on value-based care. Desai highlighted the value of big data analytics, but cautioned that it's also a crowded space for young startups. More

IBM launches Watson Health with two acquisitions and new partners: A slew of news accompanied IBM's launch of a new health-focused business based in Boston. A partnership with Apple will allow researchers to combine the advantages of IBM Watson, Apple ResearchKit, and Apple HealthKit. With Johnson and Johnson, the focus will be on creating app-based coaching systems using Watson. And finally, Watson will work with Medtronic to create personalized care management plans for people with diabetes. The data will come from Medtronic sensors, continuous glucometers and insulin pumps, and the analysis tools will come from Watson.

The two acquisitions are both big data analytics companies. Explorys is a Cleveland Clinic spin-off that uses cloud computing to detect patterns in diseases and treatments. Phytel develops cloud-based tools to enhance care coordination and outcomes. Terms were not disclosed for either deal. More

Nearly a third of providers have their own patient app: That's according to a small survey of healthcare providers conducted by HIMSS. The 2015 HIMSS Mobile Technology survey included 238 respondents. In addition to the 31 percent of respondents who offer a patient app, another 30 percent are in the process of developing one. And 10 percent of respondents have created an app store to distribute apps either internally or externally. Ninety percent of respondents said they use mobile devices in their organization for patient engagement. More

FTC increasingly playing in FDA, OCRs' regulatory sandboxes: At a HIMSS session on mobile and digital health regulation, Sharon Klein, a partner at Pepper Hamilton, talked about how the FTC is increasingly becoming involved in data privacy cases. According to Klein, a rise in consumer wellness devices and apps has created a category of health data that doesn’t originate in the healthcare system and therefore isn’t covered by HIPAA, but could still be sensitive. In some of these cases, the FTC has asserted its authority, notably going after health insurance payment app PaymentsMD for collecting patient health data with dubious permission. More

Former President George W. Bush talks health IT in passing amidst broad remarks: Among reminisces about his time in office, talk about his painting hobby, and speculations about his brother's political aspirations, Bush did fit in a few words about health IT. As the first president to get the ball rolling on electronic health records and the creator of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, Bush thanked the crowd at HIMSS for carrying on that legacy and called wide-spread, interoperable EHRs an "inevitable logical solution". More

ONC and CMS chiefs lay down the law on interoperability: Andy Slavitt, Acting Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and Karen DeSalvo, National Coordinator for Health IT spoke together at a long session on the last day of HIMSS. In their own way, each emphasized that electronic health records adoption is in the last mile, but there are challenges still ahead.

The biggest of those challenges is a lack of interoperability between EHR systems, which Slavitt attributed not to a lack of technology but "a matter of commitment". "This will not be acceptable to patients, will not be acceptable to providers, will not be acceptable to taxpayers, and will not be acceptable to us," he said, adding that CMS would want to have conversations with people interfering with interoperability to better understand the roadblocks. More and Even More

Nuance, Samsung send clinical documentation to the wrist: Nuance's new PowerMic Mobile app for the Galaxy Gear will let docs dictate patient notes into their smartwatch. The app can also run on iOS or Android smartphones. Nuance also announced a partnership with Meditech that will make it easier to turn unstructured patient data into structured data within Meditech's EHR. More

Texas ACO testing Care Navigator mobile app: Genesis Accountable Physician Network, a Dallas, Texas-based ACO, is piloting a mobile app that will provide instant communication between hospital staff members. It's part of a three-part system that includes a desktop application and a care coordination hub, and it will also help users keep track of the hospital's quality performance metrics and whether quality goals are being met. More 

Survey finds 95 percent of physicians had trouble delivering care because of inaccessible patient records: An Epocrates survey of nearly 3,000 physicians who use the Epocrates medical reference app found that just 14 percent of physicians said they can access usable electronic health information across all care delivery sites. The survey also found that 87 percent of physicians said the technical shortcomings of the EHR was the biggest barrier to interoperability. Additionally, 79 percent of physicians said the ability to access relevant patient data from other EHR systems was very important and equal in importance to the security and privacy of patient data. More

Withings announces initiative to help researchers use Withings health data: Withings has launched the Withings Health Institute, which aims to provide data from Withings devices to researchers who study medicine as well as fitness and nutrition. Researchers will use the data "to better understand how our choices really impact our health every day".  The first project Withings released from the institute is the US Health Observatory, a web-based dashboard that displays aggregated, anonymous data from Withings connected scales and activity trackers. The observatory shows how sedentary rates differ across the US. A sedentary rate is defined as less than 4,000 steps per day on average. Users can visualize this data by state, age, and gender. More

Noom announces program to reduce readmissions: Noom has launched a new 30-day program to prevent hospital readmissions for heart failure patients. The company told MobiHealthNews in an email that the 30-day program will use Noom's coaching service, which combines provider communication with automated interventions to help providers understand which patients need they need to reach out to at what time. Consumers who use the program will receive daily tasks assigned by a trained coach and heart failure-specific educational content. They will also log food and exercise, receive medication education, and access clinician appointment reminders.

Survey finds 97 percent of organizations said IoT will be the company's most strategic tech initiative: A survey from Forrester Consulting commissioned by Zebra Technologies found that 90 percent of healthcare IT departments said they were prepared to make the necessary changes in order to implement Internet of Things (IoT) products. Additionally, 52 percent of all respondents said they either already have an IoT offering implemented in their organization or are in the process of implementing it, and 30 percent said they plan to do so within the next year. More

Amiigo partners with Alliance Health, announces disease management program: Amiigo's disease management program aims to improve patient outcomes through increased engagement and social support. The company is currently targeting consumers with chronic hypertension, heart failure, and atrial fibrillation within the Alliance "Heart Connect" network, but Amiigo plans to extend the participation and collaboration opportunities to the general public after they complete the initial pilot.

10 Tricorder teams down to 8 as Scanadu, Intelesens teams merge: Team Scanadu-Intelesens’s final device will likely include the Scout and Zensor as a package, with the user interface app designed by Scanadu. The app will also incorporate algorithms from Intelesens that help streamline the diagnostic process. Intelesens Commercial Manager Sharon Wolf Montague told MobiHealthNews the plan is for the companies to continue to work together after the competition when they bring their products to market, though she declined to comment on whether that would take the form of a partnership or a full-on merger. The other missing team is MeSI Simplifying Diagnostics, which has dropped from the competition in order to focus more fully on commercialization of its product. More

A taste of the Tricorder finals: Two of the final eight teams from the Qualcomm Tricorder X Prize were on hand at HIMSS to demo their prototypes for a handful of healthcare stakeholders and Trekkies. Cloud DX, the Canadian team, showed off its user interface for the first time, and Tricorder Director Grant Campany shared that the X Prize is partnering with Amazon Web Services to provide cloud computing services for the teams.

Based on Davantri and Cloud DX's demos, the winning device looks like it won't be a single piece of hardware like its Star Trek inspiration, but instead a medical kit of connected devices. Cloud DX has a "collar" unit that contains dry lead ECGs and an accelerometer, a sensor that fits on the ear, and an "in vitro diagnostic cassette" for blood tests. Davantri has an ECG device, a spirometer, a glucometer, and a blood pressure cuff. But, Davantri's team member told me, all the pieces together still have to weigh less than five pounds -- including the bag.

Posiflex debuts hybrid tablet: Medical tablet maker Posiflex launched its MT4008 tablet, which can convert from a fixed-location workstation to a mobile tablet and charge it's battery while in workstation mode. More

Cureatr scores biggest customer yet in DaVita: New York-based mobile care coordination platform Cureatr has been selected by DaVita Healthcare Partners, a large Colorado-based kidny care provider. More

Qualcomm adds Cerner as partner, goes mobile with Healthy Circles: Qualcomm had a few bits of show news. A week before HIMSS, the company announced that it's Healthy Circles care coordination offering finally went mobile. At the conference, Qualcomm Life announced that it's 2net Hub and Cerner's CareAware device connectivity platform will work together to create a new offering for remote patient monitoring of home care patients with chronic conditions. The data will of course feed into Cerner's electronic health record. More

BlackBerry touts home care agency customer win: BlackBerry announced today that home care nursing agency CarePartners is deploying CellTrak’s VisitManager, software that helps visiting nurses manage their practice, on BlackBerry 10 smartphones that run the company's BES12 OS. More 

There were also a number of Apple Watch apps on display at HIMSS...

Walgreens debuts medication adherence Watch app:  Walgreens’ Apple Watch app will focus on medication adherence. At HIMSS, Alex Gourlay, president of Walgreens and EVP Walgreens Boots Alliance, said: “We are launching our new Apple Watch app in May. Our first iterations are designed to help patients manage their medication regimen. Patients will be alerted on the watch when it’s time to take their medication. The watch is a great way to improve med adherence, we believe, because tasks can be accomplished with a quick glance and the touch of a button.”

HCSC shows off Watch app for stress management: Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC), which offers insurance plans to residents of Illinois, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas updated its Centered app so that it would also work with the Apple Watch. The app helps people make the connection between exercise and stress management. More

Vocera offers up demo of Watch app for providers: Vocera’s Apple Watch app allows providers to view and responding to calls, alerts, and messages from other care team members. Users can also view critical lab values and STAT orders in an electronic health record. More

Medisafe shows off its medication adherence Watch app: Medisafe’s Apple Watch app is an extension of its iPhone app. The app will allow users to respond to updates and prompts and mark medications as “taken”. More

drchrono demos both patient and provider-facing Watch apps: drchrono has made patient-facing and provider-facing Apple Watch apps to complement its iPhone and tablet versions. Physicians can use drchrono’s app to view a snapshot of their schedule, see and respond to drchrono chats from colleagues, view and respond to messages from patients, and view patient refill requests as well as lab results. More

Doximity unveils a Watch app for its physician users: Physicians can use Doximity’s Apple Watch app to communicate with their colleagues. Users can send and receive messages and get notifications for faxes. If they need to send a more detailed message, for example one that requires medical images, they can continue the conversation on an iPhone, iPad or Mac. More

Cerner debuts a patient-facing Watch app called HealtheLife: Cerner’s new app for the Apple Watch aims to help patients track their health data via notifications.The first metrics that HealtheLife will integrate include weight, blood pressure, and blood sugar. With the patient’s consent, this data will be sent directly to Cerner’s Millennium electronic health record. The app also offers users a dashboard that shows users a history of data tracked. More

Kaiser brings Every Body Walk! to Watch: Kaiser has updated its activity tracking smartphone app to support the Apple Watch. Consumers will be able to use the Watch features of the app to set fitness goals, track activity, and view their activity data from their wrists. More

athenahealth shows off a Watch app for providers called athenatext: athenahealth’s Apple Watch app will help providers communicate with other members of a patient’s care team and support staff. The app will use Epocrates’ Provider Directory network so that providers search for and communicate with one another. More

TigerText to offer secure messaging app for Watch: TigerText's Apple Watch app will allow users to preview, read, and send secure messages as well as dictate message replies. More

MyDirectives to partner with Humana, Cerner: MyDirectives helps consumers create their own emergency medical care plan so their family and doctors can make decisions on their behalf. Humana will make this service available to their members. Cerner its health information exchange client Coordinated Care Oklahoma will also offer this service to consumers. More

SilverCloud Health, Wiley develop online therapy program: SilverCloud Health, which develops behavioral and mental wellness telehealth offerings, and publishing company Wiley have partnered to launch two new online therapy programs -- ‘Space from Anxiety’ and ‘Space from Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)’. Other organizations including Boston University Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders, Boston University Student Health Service, Summa Health System, University of Central Florida have joined Wiley and SilverCloud to help develop and validate the programs. More

PokitDok unveils Health Credit Outcome: PokitDok announced plans to release a probabilistic risk model that uses patient health data, claims, and financial history to help lending institutions, health systems, and medical practitioners make new financing options available to their customers for non-acute medical services. More

HealthLine announces Coding InSight app: Providers, payers, and accountable care organizations (ACOs) can use Coding InSight to mine unstructured patient data for miscoded and un-coded diagnoses. More