Blog
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...
Low-FODMAP Diet Catches on Among People with Digestive Misery
This article, covering Dr William Chey's low FODMAP diet research, originally appeared in USA Today. Would a life without onions, garlic, apples and most bread be worth living? For growing numbers of people suffering from digestive ills, the answer is...
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...
Top 10 Lessons Learned Using Virtual Reality in Hospitalized Patients
Brennan Spiegel, MD, MSHS If you’ve ever been hospitalized or visited someone in the hospital, then you know that patients can experience anxiety, uncertainty and boredom exacerbated by a radical change in living environment and loss of customary rights and...
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...
Top 10 Principles for Advancing the Science of Digital Health
Brennan Spiegel, MD, MSHS, MPH. There are pervasive claims that digital health innovations are positively transforming healthcare (a notable example). However, despite this enthusiasm among technophiles, there are very few peer-reviewed and methodologically rigorous studies addressing the accuracy and impact...
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...
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...
Published by the GastroIntestinal Health Foundation. Watch Dr. Brennan Spiegel discuss diagnostic testing in IBS patients.
Food: The Main Course to Wellness and Illness in Patients With Irritable Bowel Syndrome
William D. Chey , MD, AGAF, FACG, FACP, RFF 1 Food sits at the intersection between gastrointestinal (GI) physiology and symptoms in patients with the irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). It is now clear that the majority of IBS sufferers associate eating...
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...
22 Foods You Should Never Eat Before Sex
As originally seen in Cosmopolitan : Avoid these menu items to beat bloat (and every other bodily function that makes you feel unsexy) on your next date. When there are so many foods that make you feel bloated and unsexy, it's shit luck that...
Top 10 Reasons Doctors Fear Digital Health
“Digital health? Is that like a rectal examination?” This was the first comment I heard from an audience member after recently delivering a lecture about digital health to a group of doctors at an esteemed academic medical center. To a...
Are There Really More Sensors in a Car Than in a Patient?
A notable speaker at a recent digital health conference presented a TED-style PowerPoint talk with provocative infographics about how healthcare has fallen behind every other industry on the planet. One of the slides said this: “Your car has 100 sensors....
I’ve Never Heard a Patient Asked to Be “Empowered” by Technology
Lately there has been considerable discussion about how digital health can “empower” patients. Although it seems fine if a patient wants to use that term, I am concerned when non-patient technophiles speak of empowering patients. I’ve even noticed it in...
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...
Health-e: A Framework for Making Smarter Decisions in the Age of Digital Medicine
Brennan Spiegel, MD, MPH My father was 67 years old when he reported to the UCLA Medical Center for a CT scan to investigate a nagging complaint. As a physician, I always pause before ordering CT scans. Sometimes a scan...
As seen at the International FODMAP meeting in Prato. Watch Dr. William Chey and other thought leaders discuss the effects of a low FODMAP diet.
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...
Expert discusses how health information technology will 'transform' gastroenterology
As seen in Healio Gastroenterology Watch Brennan Spiegel, MD, MHSH, discuss how health information technology will transform gastroenterology and medicine in general. “I talked about three different digital health platforms today,” Spiegel said. “I talked about social media, and how we...
Expert discusses diet as emerging cause, management strategy for GI disease
As seen in Healio Gastroenterology : HONOLULU — Watch William D. Chey, MD, FACG, professor of medicine at the University of Michigan health system, and director of the GI Nutrition and Behavioral Wellness Program at the University of Michigan, discuss the...
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...
Patient Assessments and Online Ratings of Quality Care: A “Wake-Up Call” for Providers
Dr. William Chey discusses potential ways in which physicians can interact with online patient evaluation websites (PEWs) to improve doctor-patient communication and manage their reputation online.
10 BEST FOODS TO AVOID CONSTIPATION—AND THE WORST
As seen in Prevention : By PENELOPE ROSE MORRISON Remember chatting with your friends about how you hadn't pooped all week? Of course you don't, because that conversation never happened. Constipation isn't the most comfortable of topics. But for most women, occasional...
‘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...
A Profound Example of Digital Health Getting it So Right
Although I am a technophile who actively studies the impact of digital health solutions in the clinical trenches, I have also written about how hard it is to do digital health. My research team at Cedars-Sinai has witnessed, first-hand, what...
Why You Should Get Your Colonoscopy First Thing in the Morning (Or, Why Skilled Doctors Can Blow It)
Imagine your doctor just informed you it’s time to get screened for colon cancer. She recommends a colonoscopy – a test to look inside your colon using a flexible tube with a miniature camera on the end. She explains that...
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,...
Why Digital Health is Harder Than You Might Think: A Reality Check From the Clinical Trenches
Brennan Spiegel, MD, MSHS Director of Health Services Research, Cedars-Sinai Health System Digital Health in the Clinical Trenches: A Reality Check We often hear that digital health is transforming medicine at a breathtaking pace. Each day brings news of an...
Latinos, Blacks with family history of CRC less likely to receive colonoscopy than whites
As seen in Healio Gastroenterology Almario CV, et al. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2015;doi:10.1016/j.cgh.2015.02.038. Among individuals with a family history of colorectal cancer, Latinos and blacks were less likely to undergo guideline-recommended screening colonoscopy compared with whites, according to recent study...
Computer versus physician identification of gastrointestinal alarm features
Full article published in the International Journal of Medical Informatics. Objective It is important for clinicians to inquire about “alarm features” as it may identify those at risk for organic disease and who require additional diagnostic workup. We developed a computer...
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...
What’s the big deal with gluten?
William D. Chey partners with TED to unravel the facts behind celiac disease, wheat allergies and non-celiac gluten sensitivity.
Several new drug treatments benefit patients with IBS
Watch Dr. William Chey discuss several different abstracts he presented at DDW 2015 with data on new drug treatments for irritable bowel syndrome.
Digital Health in the Clinical Trenches : A Reality Check
We often hear that healthcare lies on a precipice of transformative change. Each day brings news of an innovation poised to alter the practice of medicine. Technophiles announce that digital health advances such as electronic health records (EHR), mobile health...
The Future of GI Disease Monitoring
Watch Dr. Brennan Spiegel discuss new technology to monitor GI diseases, including mobile health applications, wearable biosensors, and social media.
Digital manometry comparable to anorectal manometry for diagnosis of dyssynergic defecation
Watch Dr. William Chey discuss an abstract he presented at DDW 2015 that addresses a novel device developed to identify patients with dyssynergic defecation.
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:...
Do I have IBS? A Short Guide to Diagnostic Testing Challenges
IBS: A Clinical Chameleon - Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a chronic disorder characterized by recurrent abdominal pain and altered bowel habits in the absence of detectable organic disease. What that means is we can’t (yet) take a picture of IBS,...
Published by Whole Foods Magazine : Are the foods you are eating making you sick? Have you tried all the latest fad diets with minimal to no relief? For many people suffering from Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), it is a...
Got GERD? New Study Finds Novel Risk Factors for Acid Reflux
Gastroesophageal reflux disease, or “GERD,” is caused by the movement of stomach acid into the esophagus. It can be painful, can impair quality of life, and cost a lot of money to manage. The prevalence of acid reflux symptoms is...
The Spectrum of Constipation-Predominant Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and chronic constipation are among the most common syndromes in the world. IBS affects around 10% of the population and is marked by recurrent abdominal pain, discomfort, diarrhea, or constipation. People with IBS suffer not only...
Pregnancy and Postpartum Bowel Changes
Although it's well known that pregnant women often suffer from GI distress, including nausea, vomiting, and heartburn, it's less well known that many women develop GI problems long after having delivered a baby. These post-partum problems range from constipation, to...
Gluten Avoidance in Non-Celiac Patients
Dr. William Chey discusses the new trend of non-celiac patients following a gluten free diet.
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.
Dietary Interventions in Patients With Irritable Bowel Syndrome
As seen on Practice Update : Hippocrates once mused, “Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food.” Despite pleas for dietary advice from patients with gastrointestinal symptoms, practitioners of western medicine have largely shunned this sage advice. Within...
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...
Published by the American Public Health Association : Background : Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) are gaining recognition as key measures for improving the quality of patient care in clinical care settings. Three factors have made the implementation of PROs in clinical...
As seen in The American Journal of Gastroenterology : Objectives: Healthcare delivery now mandates shorter visits with higher documentation requirements, undermining the patient–provider interaction. To improve clinic visit efficiency, we developed a patient–provider portal that systematically collects patient symptoms using...
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...
New Quality Indicators For Colonoscopy
Dr. William Chey discusses the transition of screening colonoscopy practice from a fee-for-service model to a quality-based model.
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...
Mobile Health Apps: E-Wave of the Future
Published by the American Gastroenterological Association : A Renaissance in Mobile Computing - It was only seven years ago when Apple released its first iPhone. Little did we know that Apple’s product launch would catalyze a renaissance in mobile computing,...
ACG Monograph on the Management of IBS and Chronic Idiopathic Constipation
Dr. William Chey discusses the rapidly changing field of both IBS and CIC treatments.
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:...
Novel Role of the Serine Protease Inhibitor Elafin in Gluten-Related Disorders
Dr. William Chey discusses the pathophysiology of celiac disease and the the role of various serine proteases in its inflammatory processes.
New Practice Guidelines on Acute Pancreatitis
Dr. William Chey discusses the increasing prevalence of acute pancreatitis and different management solutions.
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.
New Practice Guidelines on Clostridium difficile Infections
Dr. William Chey discusses the key guidelines and appropriate treatment regimens for both mild-to-moderate and severe disease, including fecal transplantation.
Watch Dr. Brennan Spiegel discuss the importance of biosensors in the GI space.
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...
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....