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The future of health monitoring solutions is mobile
Visiting the ATA Telemedicine conference and exhibition in San Antoino made it quite clear that there is a large potential in digitalizing the health sector and enable remote health solutions. The area of chronic disease management is especially interesting since it is expected to account for 75-85% of total healthcare costs! Combining an aging population with increasing estimates for chronic diseases throughout the world the healthcare system in many countries will inevitably stand some huge challenges.
Much focus is currently on remote health monitoring systems – basically providing the care giver constant access to health status data, without the need for a physical visit. Examples of conditions suitable to monitor on remote are obesity, hypertension, sleep disorders, diabetes and cardiac disorders.
The development is driven not only from an efficiency standpoint but also to enable improved possibility for preventive healthcare and to improve quality of life for the patient. Mobile technology is one integral part of these new solutions.
So far, most systems have been utilizing home land lines to transfer health status data. As in many other sectors the (medical ) equipment is getting smaller and increasingly mobile to facilitate for the patient – not to be tied to their homes. In terms of mobile technology there are 3 main development paths on the move right now;
- Utilizing short-range technologies like Bluetooth or Zigbee from medical device to the patient own mobile phone which transfer the health data to a central system
- Short-range transfer to a dedicated gateway/hub with integrated mobile and/or internet communication capability for transferring to a central system and
- Direct integration of mobile device into the medical equipment, for example into blood pressure or glucose measurement equipment.
Of course, all solutions have pros and cons but many of the exhibiting companies at the ATA Telemedicine event pinpointed the importance of ease of use but also control of the whole data transfer to secure reliable, hazzle free operations. Utilizing a private mobile phone (requiring configuration) as the data transfer method is not likely to be a sustainable solution in the long run, especially for critical systems and for elderly patients. Direct integration or dedicated gateway/hub solutions is likely to be the main paths for the future remote monitoring solutions.
Having said that, the technology integration is only one piece of the puzzle. Regulatory issues, data security and privacy concerns, national differences in health systems (who is paying for what?), standardization issues are some concerns that may hinder the development. On the other hand we also see new types of service providers entering this arena offering complete end-to-end service offerings with flexible business models utilizing the possibilities of mobile communications – this will help drive this promising market!