HIMSS

The top five markets for mobile health app companies in Europe include Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom, according to a survey of 5,000 app developers, healthcare professionals, and digital health practitioners.

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.

Value-based care, patient engagement, and data analytics are three of the biggest trends in healthcare, according to a panel of health investors that spoke at HIMSS 2015 in Chicago this week.

Nearly a third of healthcare providers offer organization-specific apps for their patients, according to a small survey of healthcare providers conducted by HIMSS.

Since Walgreens merged with UK drugstore chain Boots last year, the company has been ramping up its digital strategy and has announced a slew of strategic partnerships with companies like Qualcomm Life, WebMD, MDLive, and PatientsLikeMe.

More than two-thirds of clinicians at US hospitals use smartphones or tablet computers at their facilities, according to a small HIMSS survey of 139 clinicians.

Forty-six percent of healthcare providers answering a HIMSS survey used multiple telemedicine technologies in their practice, with the most popular technology by far being two-way video messaging.

Teladoc was one of the many signatories on one of the letters recently sent to incoming HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell.