This week’s Smart Health roundup features a call to safeguard fitness tracker data, a new portal for anything health and technology related, an acquisition to boost health tech efforts, and a new accelerator dedicated to health technology.

Senator asks FTC to regulate fitness tracker data

There are many fitness trackers available today that collect different kinds of data, such as a person’s heart rate, steps taken, how many flights of stairs were conquered, hours of sleep, calories burned and other metrics. The problem is that many users aren’t aware that the companies behind these fitness trackers are sharing some of that collected data with third-party vendors.

This revelation came from a study conducted by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which looked at 12 mobile health apps and discovered that these apps were sending user information to 76 third-party vendors. Because of this, Senator Chuck Schumer is calling for the protection of consumer data related to fitness trackers.

In a statement, the senator noted that the data collected by these personal fitness trackers should remain private, especially when these data can help identify or know the location of the user.

Senator Schumer is calling for the FTC to require fitness tracker manufacturers to inform their users that their data is being shared with third-party vendors and give users an opportunity to opt out.

Cerner acquires health arm of Siemens

Cerner Corp., a global supplier of healthcare information technology solutions, services, devices and hardware, has agreed to acquire Siemens AG’s health information technology business unit for $1.3 billion in cash.

The two companies will enter a three-year strategic partnership with the Siemens employees to be absorbed by Cerner, reportedly creating the world’s largest health workforce. Cerner will also continue to support Siemens’ platforms such as Soarian Clinicals, Siemens’ Hospital Information System.

A new accelerator for health tech innovations

The South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) has teamed up with the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH) to launch the Global Health Innovation Accelerator (GHIA) to “fast-track the most promising technologies to address the health needs of low-resource communities”.

Some of the technology-driven solutions GHIA will be focusing on include the safe pasteurization for milk banks with FoneAstra, a system that leverages mobile phones to precisely monitor flash-heat pasteurisation of donor breast milk.  At launch, the focus will be on transformative technologies that focuses on maternal, neonatal, and child health. The accelerator expects to expand as the industry evolves.

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