Wearable Devices for Parkinson’s Disease: The Future Is Here

Medscape | By Patrice Wendling

Less than a decade ago, the use of wearable devices in Parkinson’s disease (PD) was considered futuristic. Today, there’s an array of innovative tools from commercial activity trackers to tremor suppression gloves and laser-guided walking sticks to help manage the highly variable and fluctuating symptoms of PD.

“Over the past 5 years, the landscape of wearable technology for Parkinson’s monitoring has transformed remarkably,” Roongroj Bhidayasiri, MD, co-chair of the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society’s (MDS’s) Technology Study Group, told Medscape Medical News.

Advances in sensor technology, data analytics, and machine learning have significantly enhanced the precision and usability of wearable devices, he noted. They now offer continuous, real-time monitoring of both motor and nonmotor symptoms, which supports personalized treatment plans and more accurate tracking of disease progression.

Additionally, the integration of artificial intelligence analytics facilitates more comprehensive data analysis, whereas integration with mobile applications enhances patient engagement and data sharing with providers, said Bhidayasiri, director, Chulalongkorn Center of Excellence for Parkinson’s Disease & Related Disorders, and professor of neurology, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.

“These technological advancements have cemented wearables as invaluable tools in the efficient and responsive management of PD within neurology care models,” he added.

Andrea Pilotto, MD, fellow MDS Technology Study Group co-chair and associate professor of neurology, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy, pointed out that recent advances have improved the ability to capture subtle motor deficits that appear years before a clinical diagnosis of PD and add granularity to office assessments and patient home diaries.

“For sure, patient-reported outcomes are important, but we know that a large percentage of patients, especially with motor fluctuations, are not clearly aware of their symptoms or misjudge their symptoms,” he said in an interview.

The focus of wearable sensors is also shifting from its hallmark motor symptoms to monitoring nonmotor features of PD, which can vary throughout the day and influence motor measurements and therapeutic choices.

“We are now realizing the potential of wearables to begin to address anxiety, sleep, depression, and other nonmotor symptoms,” Michael S. Okun, MD, medical advisor, Parkinson’s Foundation, and director, Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases, University of Florida Health, Gainesville, Florida, told Medscape Medical News.

“This could be a game changer as nonmotor symptoms in many studies are more important than the motor symptoms in impacting quality of life,” he added…

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Hospice Quality Reporting Program Webinar — December 12

Thursday, December 12, 2024, at 1-2 pm ET

Register for this webinar.

CMS will host a webinar on an Introduction to Hospice Outcomes and Patient Evaluation. Subject matter experts will answer questions as time permits.

Visit Hospice Quality Reporting Program for more information.

Trump Picks TV's Dr. Oz to Run Medicare and Medicaid

Reuters / By Ahmed Aboulenein

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he had chosen television personality and surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz to serve as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a wide-reaching agency with annual spending of $2.6 trillion.

Trump, who endorsed Oz in his unsuccessful run in Pennsylvania for the U.S. Senate in 2022, said he would work closely with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was nominated to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

Oz said in a post on social media website X he was looking forward "to serving my country to Make America Healthy Again under" Kennedy's leadership.

Trump said the pair would take on "the illness industrial complex, and all the horrible chronic diseases left in its wake" as well as cutting what he called waste and fraud.

"Our broken Healthcare System harms everyday Americans, and crushes our Country's budget," Trump said in a statement.

The agency runs Medicare, the federal health insurance program for people aged 65 or older and the disabled. The office also oversees Medicaid, the state-based health insurance program for low-income people, which is jointly funded by states and the federal government. The two programs provide health insurance for over 140 million Americans.

It also handles much of the enrollment in income-based government-subsidized health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Trump and other Republicans have previously tried to repeal the law but now say they only seek to overhaul it.

His nomination is less likely to cause negative reaction among pharmaceutical companies than Kennedy's, an outspoken critic of drugmakers, said BMO analyst Evan Seigerman.

"While Oz has been controversial and a noted TV personality, his stance on expanded Medicare coverage and tackling ... pricing challenges could be a positive for the industry in the long run," he wrote in a note.

Oz was a regular Fox News commentator during the COVID-19 pandemic and a proponent of unproven treatments for COVID-19 including hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug whose use against the disease was also backed by Trump.

Oz challenged the Biden administration's COVID-19 pandemic policies on social media, including mask policies, saying they ignored the science and were based on missing data.

In 2020, he was a proponent of expanding Medicare Advantage plans in which insurers manage healthcare benefits paid for by the government to all Americans who were not enrolled in Medicaid in a column published in Forbes magazine.

Oz promoted Medicare Advantage on his syndicated daytime television talk show, which aired between 2009 and 2022, in segments sponsored by a website selling the plans.

Shares of all major health insurers in the U.S. were marginally up after the decision with UnitedHealth (UNH.N), opens new tab, Humana (HUM.N), opens new tab and Molina Healthcare (MOH.N), opens new tab moving up between 1% and 2% in after-hours trade.

Trump promised during his campaign not to cut Medicare but is expected to let federal subsidies for Medicaid expire at the end of 2025.

After RFK Jr. was named to the job last week, Oz told Fox News that he knew the HHS secretary nominee personally. The position is subject to Senate confirmation.

The Alliance Applauds Gerald’s Law Passing Through Congress

National Alliance for Care at Home Press Release | Nov. 19, 2024

The Senator Elizabeth Dole 21^st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act moves closer to becoming law

(Washington, DC) – The National Alliance for Care at Home (the Alliance) celebrates the historic passage of H.R. 8371, the Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act in the U.S. House of Representatives last night with a bipartisan vote of 389-9. This landmark legislation includes Section 301, Gerald’s Law, which addresses a critical gap in benefits impacting seriously-ill veterans and their families receiving hospice care.

The story of Gerald “Jerry” Elliott, a U.S. Army veteran, underscores the importance of this legislative achievement. Diagnosed with cancer, Jerry was admitted to his local Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital in 2019 before transitioning to VA hospice care at home to be surrounded by his family. After his passing, his family discovered they were ineligible for full burial and funeral financial support because Jerry died outside of a VA facility.

Representative Jack Bergman (MI-01) introduced H.R. 234, Gerald’s Law Act, to address this inequity, ensuring that no veteran family would face similar hardships in the future.

The Alliance, has played an active role in garnering support for this legislation and educating congressional offices on the critical resources needed for veteran patients who need serious illness and end-of-life care.

Nearly 350,000 veterans die annually in the U.S., with 95% dying outside of VA facilities. As of 2024, over 3,000 hospice and non-hospice community partners have committed to providing veteran-centric care through the Alliance’s We Honor Veterans program, underscoring the need for equitable benefits for all veterans regardless of where they receive care.

The passage of Gerald’s Law ensures that terminally-ill veterans who receive VA-furnished hospice care—whether at home, in a nursing home, or in another non-VA setting—will no longer lose access to their full VA burial allowance. This legislation prioritizes the dignity and comfort of veterans and their families during one of life’s most challenging times.

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