Life has a way of slapping you down when you think you really know something. I was in the doctor’s office for a series of tests recently, and every time I had an appointment with one of the doctors or nurses who were working together to give me a diagnosis, I was filling out the same information over and over and over (five times to be exact, but who’s counting?). Each person wanted my name, address, emergency contact information, etc. You get the idea. So, at the final appointment, I said, “When are you guys going to get your act together and share information? Better yet, when are you going to have us sit at a computer in the waiting room before an appointment and enter our information ONCE?” The nurse practitioner was really sympathetic and explained that they would soon be getting on one system.
I walked away thinking I’d done my job as the “customer” and given my feedback. Feedback I’d be grateful for if I were on the receiving end and looking for ways to win the hearts and minds of paying patients. But my prevailing thought after this exchange with the nurse was, “Geez, you’d think of all the professions out there, the medical world would have the financial resources and leveraged partnerships to make health management easier, let alone simplifying the rote task of collecting patient information.”
Well, my incredulous attitude was quickly stamped out today while reading Fast Company magazine. The Fast Talk column featured all of the interesting and amazing technological advances that are taking place in the arena of biomedicine and wireless technology. In short, they are converging to “create a booming remote-health-monitoring market – expected to more than double to $7.7 billion a year by 2012 – to combat obesity, heart disease and other illnesses.” Incredible! I humbly stand corrected. Check out some of the highlighted inventions on the market:
BodyMedia introduced GoWear fit line: Developer Ivo Stivoric has created a wearable fitness sensor for clinical patients, so they can track behaviors that contribute to better health. Currently, the GoWear feeds the data to patients so they can make their own conclusions, but soon fitness monitors will be able to provide more proactive, personalized content, such as notifying you that the last time you went a certain number of days with little sleep, you got sick. Stivoric goes on to say, “Doctors will tell you to eat better and exercise more, but they’re not specialists in behavior modification. If you’re on a treadmill, that’s the only time you have a dashboard that’s telling you concrete numbers. We provide people with dashboards for their bodies [all day].”
Health Vault was created by David Cerino and Sidna Tulledge-Scheitel, and is designed to empower patients with a free Web application that supports data from health monitoring devices, stores family medical records, and offers guidance and reminders from the Mayo Clinic. “Patients see their physicians for only very brief moments throughout the year. People want to be empowered to self-monitor their health to ensure that they’re following their doctor’s care plan,” says Tullege-Scheitel. Cerino adds, “The HelathVault supports more than 50 home healthcare devices – such as blood-pressure monitors, glucometers, and even fitness watches and pedometers – because the goal is to create a complete healthcare ecosystem with context.”
Gaming the system: Marientina Gotsis and her partner, Maryalice Jordan-Marsh, designed a social online game called Wellness Partners, which awards virtual “energy points” for real-world physical activity. Gotsis says, “It doesn’t make sense that your Wii Fit data shouldn’t be consolidated into the same system that, let’s say, your doctor uses for tracking your health. Narrative and stories are what sustain our interest. We want to be inspired and entertained.”