Following my passing comment about Google Health last week, I thought you might be interested to watch this 50 minute video of Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt addressing the HIMSS conference in February. Amongst other interesting things, he points out how slowly doctors are realising what impact the internet is having - and will have - on healthcare delivery, and what Google is trying to do about it. (Google also likes the ‘predict and prevent’ approach.)
The video includes a demo of Google Health and its potential for linking to other systems. I predict that remote health monitoring companies that get in early to link their health monitoring systems are going to have a huge advantage.
Interesting little item from US blogger on broadband Andrew Cohill. He points out that “Companies like Steeplechase Networks [a broadband provider] are on the cutting edge of these kinds of consumer services, and Steeplechase is actively seeking out open, multi-service networks for their telehealth and telemedicine services.” Design Nine Technology Futures blog.
Queen’s University Belfast is researching ways to improve the signal transmission of wireless body worn sensors so that, in a few years, they will be much more efficient and therefore use less power and be more comfortable. The implications are immense and again make you wonder why the EU is funding research on a ‘heart check bed’ (story here). Belfast story courtesy of Wireless Healthcare.
I’ve been generally keeping away from Google Health stories as the issues are well covered in the US-focused and highly recommended blog e-CareManagement. However, this link up between Google-hosted health records and a diagnostic test and record provider (read press release) should be giving telehealth providers food for thought. A pointer to the future, maybe?
Sceptical about the potential of robots to deliver in-home care and eventually replace static telecare systems? You might not be so sure after reading this article and viewing this video.
Cambridge Consultants have announced breakthrough software on a single chip that allows medical devices such as blood pressure monitors to transmit data wirelessly. It uses low-cost wireless technology - with a potential cost of less than US $10 at the appropriate volumes and could be available in devices by the end of 2008. Read the full story.
Just proving it is not difficult to substitute ‘re’ with the name of Nintendo’s ‘Wii’ game box to produce an eye-catching headline as many of the articles below have done. The serious point is that it is being adopted with enthusiasm by many organisations involved in rehabilitation and health for older people who as using it to motivate people to exercise, and no, this isn’t an April Fool’s story!
One wonders whether it could be the seed of a consumer-based telehealth monitoring device. Particularly with older people, it would make sense to be able to monitor various physiological parameters before, during and after exercise. With Wii boxes and new games selling in their millions on release, it would be a great way of popularising such use of technology.
“You may know AT&T for wired and wireless telecommunications, infrastructure, and disaster recovery. You may not have known, however, that AT&T has formed a healthcare practice and is taking a more active role in helping healthcare organizations make strategic decisions about remote access, telemedicine, home health, and mobile worker support.” An in-depth interview with Laura Johnson, Executive Director of AT&T’s Industry Solutions Group in HISStech Report.
Take this system out of the hospital, simplify the remote control, put it into people’s homes and add the ability to transmit data from telecare sensors and health monitoring devices and it seems to me that you have the CareMATE system being promoted by iTelecare in the UK. This article highlights the other side to TV- and internet-based systems, which is the huge potential for targeted information giving. New York Times technology article.
In-car telecare. (Or is that stretching the definition of telecare too far?) Pointer-to-the-future-item indicates how the reach of technology is developing — makes community alarms look ancient. Let the car do the talking.
Last Autumn, Paul Gee, Chief Executive of the UK’s Telecare Services Association, got on the Soapbox and asked the question Tesco Telecare – How far away?
Well, it looks to me that the consumer-demand led future for telecare has already taken another step closer.
The UK’s largest home improvement retailer, B&Q, has just launched a new initiative called Living Made Easier. Over 500 products in its stores and online catalogue are stickered with a ‘Can do’ logo indicating that the product the person is looking at has been identified as making life easier for… everyone. (”To ensure that they can be used by as many people as possible” as B&Q puts it.) It’s a great example of inclusive design mentality in action and should, if it takes off, encourage more designers to consider the needs of older and less physically able people for products that are stylish but are also lightweight, easy to grip, easier to see, etc.
The Living Made Easier branding is an example of B&Q’s older person- and disabled person-friendly policies in action. The scheme features on its current website home page: www.diy.com
When you follow the link you also find that B&Q has incorporated the DLF’s AskSARA self-assessment program!
That’s great thinking!
When you come across a product selected for the Living Made Easier branding online, it is clearly marked
and there are in-store brochures for people who do not find the items online.
Telecare gets a toe dipping
Yes, there is one product that edges its way into telecare territory. It is the Distress Alert System by Yale. A panic button auto-dials up to three pre-programmed numbers with a recorded message.
What are the implications?
First, it will be interesting to see whether people receiving social services help by way of an individual budget [the UK Government wants councils to give people they help budgets to spend on their care, in place of providing their services] will opt to spend a one-off £45.98 of their budget on a system like Yale’s Distress Alert System rather than a more expensive telecare system with monthly costs, and put the money saved to other uses.
Second, if you work in social services, do your utmost to publicise B&Q’s Living made easier initiative to all council staff who come into contact with older and disabled people. If it is a roaring success B&Q will, no doubt, be encouraged to seek out new products to add. I have a few suggestions! Download the pdf version of the brochure if you want to see what is listed so far, then add your suggestions as a comment below and I will send them a list.
Famous celebrities are now choosing to travel virtually, as three-dimensional, high-definition holograms and Cisco’s chief executive, John Chambers, aims to bring a two-dimensional high-definition TelePresence system to homes within three years for not much more than £500. Definite pointer to the future. Watch the video!
Here’s a small bunch of items triggered by references from the Smart Thinking thinker, Guy Dewsbury. You may want to take some time to read through them in the suggested order and respond to the final one, a call for papers:
CES - not Community Equipment Services, as UK readers might suppose, but the Consumer Electronics Show - the huge international showcase for all that is new and cool in consumer electronics held in Las Vegas last week, 7th - 10th January. To get a measure of its importance, Bill Gates was the keynote speaker. It covers innovations in digital imaging, electronic gaming, wireless communications, digital video, high-performance audio, home networking and entertainment, mobile electronics, broadband and the Internet.
This year, remote health and care monitoring systems made enough of an appearance to get into the blogs which have become an instant reporting mechanism. Apart from the fact that these technologies are surfacing in the consciousness of such people, which may be the first sign that demand will become consumer-driven, some make interesting reading for the light that they shed on the public’s attitudes.
The first listed here is a prime example. If you read nothing else, read this including all the comments.
…has also shown off healthcare applications including a wireless nappy for use by bedridden patients and a heart monitor that allows a doctor to monitor a patient from afar. BBC report from CES (last story on the page)
David Whitlinger, Director of Healthcare Devices, Intel and Chair of the Continua Alliance was also a panel member at the CES Sales and Marketing Track session entitled Making Room for the Boom: CE for the Aging Consumer. Session info, but no report.
