We at Medgadget often report about cool new biometric sensors and gadgets that can monitor everything from blood glucose to ZQ (sleep score). Personal health monitoring is an exciting trend, though just like social networking, consumers will likely want a single convenient hub from which they can watch their health data and progress.
At the 2011 mHealth Summit this week, one app promises to make quite a, well, squawk in this arena. Produced by U.S. Preventive Medicine Inc. in a partnership with Qualcomm’s new wholly-owned subsidiary, Qualcomm Life (also announced this week; details to come), and designed by Fjord (responsible for the look of Flickr and Foursquare), Macaw is a health and fitness app that aims to be the “ultimate personal heath hub.” It is now available for free download for the iPhone and Android.
Here’s some more information about its goals and features from the press release:
Macaw is based on the clinical science of preventive medicine and is universally designed for people who exercise regularly as well as those who are novices when it comes to physical activity. By leveraging Qualcomm Life’s expertise, Macaw will be able to transform a smartphone into the ultimate personal health hub, connecting an individual’s health apps and wireless devices for tracking weight, fitness, overall activity and biometrics – including pedometers, glucose meters, activity armbands, scales, labs, sleep managers, mobile weight loss apps and blood pressure cuffs – into a single app for complete tracking. With the initial launch, Macaw will allow integration with the Fitlinxx Actiped+ all-day activity monitor, and WorkSmart Labs’ weight loss and fitness app Noom Weight Loss. Macaw users will be able to track the progress of their activity, nutrition and health knowledge while engaging in games that unlock prizes.
Features include:
- 7 questions to quickly assess your health
- GPS to track exercise
- Ability to set goals and track weight and calories
- Reminders about recommended preventive screenings based on age and gender
- Activity and knowledge cards that unlock chances for weekly prizes
- Additional features for members of The Prevention Plan include:
- A link to the Prevention Score, a unique tool that tracks an individual’s prevention efforts and key health indicators throughout the year
- Activity auto-uploaded to The Prevention Plan
- Exercise, weight and calories tracker
This author had the opportunity to sit down with the CEO of U.S. Preventive Medicine, Chris Fey, and Vice Chairman, Dr. Ronald Loeppke, to discuss the idea behind and launch of Macaw. Speaking about the importance of behavior change and how the smartphone app could revolutionize both the phone as well as personal health, Dr. Loeppke said, “The ideal solution to our healthcare problems is to prevent people from developing debilitating chronic diseases in the first place. We want to increase quality of life, and have done so with The Prevention Plan which has been shown to significantly improve factors such as hypertension, blood glucose, and excess weight. We are excited about bringing this established plan into our convenient smartphone app, Macaw, to help people adopt healthy behaviors. When it comes to health, it’s not the power of the pill, it’s the power of the will.”
Here’s a teaser video announcing the launch of the app.
http://youtu.be/0e8zQ4anwJA
Press release: U.S. Preventive Medicine® Launches First-of-Its-Kind Health & Fitness App in Collaboration with Qualcomm Life
Learn more about the Macaw App…