Blog
News & Updates
Recent articles and press reports from the MyGiHealth team
MyGiHealth was used to collect data for three important studies presented by Cedar Sinai Medical Center, Michigan Medicine, and Ironwood Pharmaceuticals at this year’s DDW conference. The self-administered surveys guided patients through an online questionnaire to determine prevalence, burden of...
Dr. Spiegel Interviewed on Onalytica: Interview with Brennan Spiegel, MD, MSHS
Originally published in Onalytica. Brennan Spiegel, MD, MSHS –Professor of Medicine and Public Health Director of Health Services Research, Cedars-Sinai Health System Director, Cedars-Sinai Master’s Degree Program in Health Delivery Science Cedars-Sinai Site Director, Clinical and Translational Science Institute...
World Renowned Doctors Release Version 2.0 of MyGiHealth
70 Million Sufferers Now Have Access to the Leading Digestive Health App For Immediate Release Los Angeles, March 30, 2017 - My Total Health is excited to announce the release of MyGiHealth 2.0 an important update to their popular digestive...
Congratulations to all our researchers! A new study from the MyGiHealth team entitled “Prevalence and Predictors of Bowel Incontinence: Results from a U.S. Population-Based Study” was selected as the recipient of the 2016 American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) Category Award in Functional Bowel...
Dr. Spiegel and Dr. Chey, principle investigators and co-founders of MyGiHealth, recognized by Healio Gastroenterology for their pioneering work. On behalf of SLACK Incorporated, publisher of Healio Gastroenterology, I would like to congratulate the members of the newly minted Healio...
The U-M taps into smart devices, making medicine mobile.
The first commercial mobile phone was introduced to the American market in 1983. It was cumbersome and bulky, weighing about 30 ounces. It took 10 full hours to charge, but its convenience factor revolutionized communication. By 2015, more than 92...
MyGiHealth Partners with the AGA
Digital PatientINFO Center and the MyGiHealth app provide tools for GIs to use with patients. Contact: Aimee Frank AGA Institute 301-941-2620 media@gastro.org Duncan McLaren MyGiHealth duncan@mytotalhealthinc.com AGA partners with MyGiHealth to Bring Innovative Platform to GIs and Patients Bethesda, MD...
Dr. Chey Interviewed on Fox: Low FODMAP diet shows success for people with IBS
A new study from University of Michigan finds a change in diet, can help people treat Irritable Bowel Syndrome. It's based on a low FODMAP diet. FODMAP, a frequently recommended diet, which stands for Fermentable Oligo-Di-Monosaccharides and Polyols.
Dr. Spiegel Enters Top 100 Influencers in Digital Health at #13
Originally published in Onalytica. Digital Health is the convergence of the digital and genetics revolutions within medicine and health. The goal of digital health is to ultimately improve the quality of our healthcare and our daily lives. By adopting new...
More Options to Treat Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Originally published in The Wall Street Journal. People suffering from a common but tough-to-treat gut disorder are discovering a growing set of treatment alternatives. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved two new drugs in the past year for...
How Digital Health Will Transform Gastroenterology
2015 American Journal of Gastroenterology Lecture 2015 American Journal of Gastroenterology Lecture: How Digital Health Will Transform Gastroenterology Brennan Spiegel MD, MSHS1,2,3 1Department of Medicine, Division of Health Services Research, Cedars-Sinai Health System, Los Angeles, California, USA 2UCLA Fielding School...
How My GI Health changed the conversation for patients
As seen in Medical Marketing & Media : My GI Health features an animated video showing a patient visiting a doctor with questions about her gastrointestinal health. Nearly two years ago, while writing for MM&M's website, Tom McCourt, chief commercial officer and SVP,...
DEVELOPING A WEARABLE BIOSENSOR: A DOCTOR'S STORY
Originally published by Maneesh Juneja
The Digital Doctor: How Technologies Enhance Health Care
Published by Healio Gastroenterology. While physicians as a whole slowly adopt new technology, such as implementation of electronic medical records, a new wave of clinicians look toward clinical research and doctor involvement to bring digital technologies into the GI practice...
Study: Virtual reality therapy can lower stress levels of hospital patients
LOS ANGELES (NBC News) — An innovative study at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center aims to ease the stress of staying in the hospital. Doctors at Cedars-Sinai are studying the effects of virtual reality on hospital patients whose real world surroundings can...
Social Media 101: Who’s Who in GI on Twitter
Published by the ACG : Feb 5th, 2016 – by Jordan Karlitz, MD, FACGC Physicians Active on Twitter Compiled by Dr. Austin Chiang and Dr. Allison Yang Some physicians are engaging actively via Twitter. As members of the ACG Public...
GI Logic gets FDA clearance for connected wearable stethoscope
Published by Mobi Health News : By Jonah Comstock GI Logic has received FDA 510(k) clearance for a novel device that noninvasively monitors the digestive system after patients have surgery. The device, called AbStats, consists of two disposable sensors, a...
Preventing patient absenteeism: validation of a predictive overbooking model
Published in NCBI : Reid M, Cohen S, Wang H, Kaung A, Patel A, Tashjian V, Williams DL Jr, Martinez B, Spiegel BM1. Abstract OBJECTIVES: To develop a model that identifies patients at high risk for missing scheduled appointments ("no-shows"...
Biosensor Predicts Which Abdominal Surgery Patients Will Have Postoperative Complications
Published by Cedars-Sinai FDA Clearance Received for Wearable Biosensor that Enables Physicians to Monitor Digestion and Determine When Patients Can Safely Eat After Surgery Los Angeles – Dec. 18, 2015 – A disposable biosensor, developed by a Cedars-Sinai physician to...
FDA's scope reprocessing guidelines most cost-effective for infection prevention
As seen on Healio Gastroenterology : A cost-utility analysis of four different endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography duodenoscope reprocessing strategies for preventing patient transmission of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae showed the approach recommended by the FDA is the most cost-effective. “Contaminated endoscopes cause more...
Pain Patients Use Twitter To Complain About Opioid Side Effects
Published in Forbes : Social media isn’t only being used by retail customers to complain about their latest experience with customer service. It’s also being used by patients questioning the benefits of narcotics medication prescribed for chronic pain. Led by the Cedars-Sinai Center...
Researchers Harness Social Media to Explore Serious Side Effects of Pain Medication
Cedars-Sinai and UCLA Investigators Collect and Analyze Huge Trove of Tweets and Social Media Posts to Deepen Understanding of Major Public Health Problem Los Angeles - Nov. 18, 2015 ─ Harnessing the power of social media, medical researchers have sifted...
Translating Digital Health Into Practice Is Hard--So Give Credit To Those Trying To Get It Right
Published in Forbes : David Shaywitz , CONTRIBUTOR : I write about entrepreneurial innovation in medicine. Earlier this week, clinical investigator Brennan Spiegel, a gastroenterologist at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, shared some of his early experiences with digital health adoption, and illustrated...
Connected Health brought together great tech, case studies, reality checks
As seen in MedCityNews By NEIL VERSEL In all my years of covering health IT, I had never made it to Partners HealthCare‘sConnected Health Symposium, even though this year’s event was the 12th annual. Now that I’m with MedCity News,...
The challenges of successfully introducing digital health
Published by Clinical Innovation By Beth Walsh BOSTON—“We have to think of digital health as a public good,” said Brennan Spiegel, MD, MSc, director of health services research at Cedars-Sinai Health System, speaking at the Connected Health Symposium held by...
Computer Algorithm Better Than Doctors at Documenting "Red Flag" Symptoms in Patients
Published by Cedars-Sinai : The Algorithm, Developed by Cedars-Sinai Physician Investigators, Reveals Vast Potential of Computer Technology to Improve Medical Care Contact: Duke Helfand | Email: duke.helfand@cshs.org Los Angeles - Aug. 13, 2015 – A computer algorithm did a better...
‘Predictive Overbooking’ Can Maximize Endoscopy Scheduling
As seen in Gastroenterology & Endoscopy News : by Caroline Helwick Washington—The strategy of “ predictive overbooking” can optimize endoscopy scheduling and negate the effect of no-show patients, according to researchers who used it to streamline their clinic’s operation at...
How to reduce the disparities in colon cancer outcomes
As seen on KCRW : Listen to the original story here. This week we’ve been looking at colorectal cancer, the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States for men and women, combined. It is expected to kill about...
Why African-Americans are at a greater risk of colon cancer
As seen on KCRW : Listen to the original story here. Each year, about 140,000 Americans are diagnosed with colon cancer, and more than 50,000 die from it. That’s bad news, but for African-Americans, it’s even worse. > “African-Americans are...
The stigma of colonoscopies and African-American risk of colon cancer
As seen on KCRW : Listen to the original story here. Nearly 50,000 Americans are expected to die from colorectal cancer this year. It’s one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths in the U.S. African-Americans are more likely than any other...
Cedars-Sinai's Brennan Spiegel: Digital health no easy feat
Published in FierceHealthIT Digital health is at its infancy, and even technical solutions that hold great potential to transform health outcomes can be waylaid when applied to everyday humans, Brennan Spiegel, director of health services research at Cedars-Sinai Health System,...
Published in Reuters Health : Racial minorities may be more likely to forego colon cancer screening than whites because their healthcare providers don’t recommend the potentially life-saving tests, a new study in California suggests. “It was interesting because this study suggests...
Doctors no match for computers at accurately recording patient symptoms
As seen in the LA Times : A computer system was more effective than doctors at recording patient symptoms, highlighting the potential of computers to improve medical results, according to research by Cedars Sinai. The study evaluated the treatment of 75...
Published in Cedars-Sinai’s Discoveries magazine : Clinical research is no longer limited to finding the next wonder drug, developing a new device, or discovering a genetic mutation. More than ever before, caregivers are engaged in the scientific study of healthcare itself:...
Constipation and Fecal Incontinence During and After Pregnancy
Dr. William Chey discusses the prevalence and risk factors constipation and fecal incontinence during and after pregnancy.
Physician-developed gastrointestinal disorders app company looks to expand
Published by Mobi Health News : Since 2010, doctors from UCLA and the University of Michigan have been working with Ironwood Pharmaceuticals on a project called MyGiHealth, which leverages computers and apps to improve doctor-patient communication around gastrointestinal disorders. At an...
Seven Gastroenterologists on the Biggest Opportunities for GI Innovation
As seen in Beckers GI & Endoscopy : William D. Chey, MD, AGAF, FACG, FACP, RFF, Director, GI Physiology Laboratory, Co-director, Michigan Bowel Control Program, University of Michigan Health System (Ann Arbor): My Total Health is a health information technology...
Computer System More Effective Than Doctors at Producing Comprehensive Patient Reports
Published by Cedars-Sinai Medical Center : A computer system was more effective than doctors at collecting information about patient symptoms, producing reports that were more complete, organized and useful than narratives generated by physicians during office visits, according to a...
MyGiHealth: Reimagining the Dialogue Between Patients and Physicians
As seen in Medical Marketing & Media Online : As pharmaceutical industry professionals and consumers of healthcare, we are well aware of the inefficiencies, limitations, and frustrations often associated with point-of-care interactions between patients and physicians. We've all experienced it firsthand:...
New Practice Guidelines on the Diagnosis and Management of Celiac Disease
Dr. William Chey discusses guidelines and best practices for screening techniques, emerging treatments and routine monitoring of celiac patients.
What To Do When You Can't... Quite... Go
As seen in The Huffington Post : Everybody poops, but not everybody poops well: A recent study published in The American Journal of Gastroenterology found that the number of people arriving at hospital emergency rooms for constipation is on the rise....
Newly developed biosensor can monitor post-surgery disorders
As seen in The Daily Bruin : Just as a stomach grumble can indicate hunger, some vibrations of the intestine – many undetectable to the human ear – can indicate whether a person is ready to be fed. Over the past...