It's called The BodyGuardian System, a bringing together of Samsumg's Galaxy smartphone and a monitoring system from Preventice.
According to press releases, "The BodyGuardian System will enable physicians to monitor key biometrics in patients with cardiac arrhythmias outside of the clinical setting, allowing patients go about their daily lives while remaining connected to their physicians. According to Preventice, Samsung Mobile will customize the Galaxy S II smartphone for use in the BodyGuardian RMS by creating a dedicated mobile environment that will ensure a secure, reliable wireless connection for the transmission of biometric data. Patient data is captured using a small wearable sensor and delivered via Bluetooth communication to a dedicated Galaxy S II smartphone. The Galaxy S II then transmits the physiological data via cellular network to the Preventice Care Platform in the cloud. Physicians and/or monitoring centers then access the data via a web or tablet-based portal."
The idea to bring remote patient monitoring to smartphones is being driven by the need to reduce patient costs and positively influence care delivery. Reports indicate that the U.S. market for advanced patient monitoring, including smartphones, will reach $20.9 billion by 2016... up from just $8.9 billion in 2009.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Monday, January 21, 2013
Interested in the Future of Smartphones for Healthcare?
… then have a listen to this podcast interview by Dr. Eric Topol, the Scripps Health Chief Academic Officer, as he speaks with the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC).
Dr. Topol went on to say that smartphone apps and add-on gadgets will use saliva, cheek swabs, breath and even tears to run diagnostic screenings that now require a blood sample sent to a laboratory.
Listen to his podcast interview with the AACC here: The Future of Laboratory Medicine — Dec. 6, 2012
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Wellness Programs Turn To Biometric Screening
Biometric screenings are an increasingly important part of corporate wellness programs where employees monitor their blood pressure, cholesterol levels, triglycerides, blood glucose, and any other measurement that corporations and their employees choose to measure.
There are many reasons to do biometric testing such as health promotion, health awareness, and health education; however, the primary factor motivating organizations to have this service performed is economics. Health screenings have been shown to reduce overall medical expenditure by identifying risk factors and employees that need added health coaching services.
With a goal of early risk detection and intervention, biometric screening can help evaluate health and are geared toward encouraging healthy lifestyles. And now with the advent of in-home smartphone biometric screening, these measurements can help consumers take control of their healthcare destiny by prioritizing their well-being and help generate a personal healthcare regimen.
The biometric data you can collect at home can easily be stored digitally for years or decades, helping you build better health risk assessment baselines that you can use to analyze the success or failure of particular wellness protocols. Collected biometric data can even allow your doctor to assess your health over many years, helping him or her spot trends and more accurately diagnose problems.
There are many reasons to do biometric testing such as health promotion, health awareness, and health education; however, the primary factor motivating organizations to have this service performed is economics. Health screenings have been shown to reduce overall medical expenditure by identifying risk factors and employees that need added health coaching services.
The biometric data you can collect at home can easily be stored digitally for years or decades, helping you build better health risk assessment baselines that you can use to analyze the success or failure of particular wellness protocols. Collected biometric data can even allow your doctor to assess your health over many years, helping him or her spot trends and more accurately diagnose problems.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Personal Biometric Testing Comes ‘Home’ to Your SmartPhone
Inexpensive testing/monitoring encourages healthy lifestyle and promotes peak performance. Your smartphone just got a whole lot smarter… at least when it comes to maintaining your health. Over the next six months and starting as early as April, at least one innovative company will be bringing biometric testing of stress/cortisol levels into your home. And for a few dollars you’ll be able to gauge cortisol (a stress hormone) peaks and valleys, track your stress and monitor the success of your anti-stress programs -- from cortisol mitigating supplements to meditation to yoga.
It seems that a clever device, patented by a company called i-calQ, easily attaches to your iPhone (Android models will follow). And by optically testing a small drop of saliva, the machine will accurately determine your cortisol levels… and cortisol levels are a direct reflection of stress.
Using your smartphone to track cortisol levels will give you a full picture of your daily peaks and valleys. If the difference between top and bottom numbers is too great, stress is indicated; and whether you feel stressed out or not, your body can take a real beating from stress: poor skin health, obesity, circulatory problems, the works.
Using your personal biometric tests, you’ll monitor the peaks and valleys to find out when you’re most stressed… so you can take steps to cut anxiety. And, for example, if you take a supplement to mitigate cortisol production or try exercise or meditation to lessen stress, you’ll be able to chart your progress to see which activities work best for your system.
And while stress-related testing is about to hit the market in a month or so, as 2013 progresses other tests will be coming online -- able to measure lactate buildup to track peak exercise performance, hormone levels in men and women, cholesterol health and more… many more as personal biometric testing via smartphones is about to become a multibillion dollar segment of the healthcare industry.
It’s mind-blowing in a way. Less than a year ago, biometric testing was done in a doctor’s office or a lab, and the cost per test was enormous. I guess that’s why people like Tim Ferris were the ones who could afford weekly testing. (See Ferris’ video on biometric testing at http://www.hulu.com/watch/352863 -- begin at approximately 3:48.)
In a few short months, biometrics has gone ‘personal’ and has come right into your home, into your pocket via a very smart smartphone attachment. The sky’s the limit here. And whether your a 20-something looking to maximize your fitness or a 60-something trying to take back some control of your healthcare destiny, personal biometric testing is the newest, best answer.
Stay tuned.
Monday, January 7, 2013
Is 2013 the Year of Smartphone Biometric Screening?
The confluence of new technologies and consumers’ desire to take control of their healthcare destiny is pushing personal biometrics into the medical mainstream.
Imagine your smartphone as the first, best tool in your quest to get fit, stay healthy and optimize peak athletic performance. Well, from iPhones to Androids medical professionals and hardware developers have joined forces to move personal biometric testing from the physician’s office to your mobile phone.
In what seems like a matter of months, this new field of smartphone biometric testing/screening has blossomed into a multimillion dollar industry headed to multibillion in the next year or so.
Early adapters and serious fitness trainers will be using their smartphones to test personal health parameters in important areas such as stress levels (via cortisol), testosterone and estrogen production, fertility, cholesterol health, lactate levels (to track recovery after exercise) and more.
For personal biometrics, tests are being developed that use a drop of saliva and a small measuring unit that attaches to your smartphone. Results are instantaneous and can be stored and tracked on your phone.
Right now, these units are being sold to physicians, particularly those in rural areas and under developed countries, as a kind of portable lab. (The physician units can also test a number of parameters in the blood.)
As a local Salt Lake City physician explains, “Americans are concerned about their health and fitness levels and are also wary of upcoming changes in medical services and costs as ‘Obamacare’ begins to roll out. The idea of testing for fitness levels, stress levels and early signs of a potential healthcare concern is attractive for physicians, insurers and individuals. If used wisely, these tests could reduce the number of doctor visits, help lower insurance costs, help individuals improve their health and fitness and give consumers some control over their healthcare options.”
Already in 2013, a patented test for cortisol, which can tell you a lot about stress levels (and consequently the numerous problems exacerbated by stress – including weight gain), is being rolled out in the first quarter. Other tests will follow as the year progresses.
Not so long ago, in fact just a few months ago, personal biometric testing was done in a doctor’s office and those taking advantage of the service were more likely to be California fitness fanatics, starlets and athletes.
In 2013, the rest of us will get this health advantage in our homes, on our phones and for just a few dollars per test.
If you want to see a testing unit (blood) in use by a physician traveling in the Kalahari Desert in Africa, visit http://youtu.be/pLcDQNaR84U
The unit is a patented smartphone device from I-calQ (www.I-calQ.com).
Imagine your smartphone as the first, best tool in your quest to get fit, stay healthy and optimize peak athletic performance. Well, from iPhones to Androids medical professionals and hardware developers have joined forces to move personal biometric testing from the physician’s office to your mobile phone.
In what seems like a matter of months, this new field of smartphone biometric testing/screening has blossomed into a multimillion dollar industry headed to multibillion in the next year or so.
Early adapters and serious fitness trainers will be using their smartphones to test personal health parameters in important areas such as stress levels (via cortisol), testosterone and estrogen production, fertility, cholesterol health, lactate levels (to track recovery after exercise) and more.
For personal biometrics, tests are being developed that use a drop of saliva and a small measuring unit that attaches to your smartphone. Results are instantaneous and can be stored and tracked on your phone.
As a local Salt Lake City physician explains, “Americans are concerned about their health and fitness levels and are also wary of upcoming changes in medical services and costs as ‘Obamacare’ begins to roll out. The idea of testing for fitness levels, stress levels and early signs of a potential healthcare concern is attractive for physicians, insurers and individuals. If used wisely, these tests could reduce the number of doctor visits, help lower insurance costs, help individuals improve their health and fitness and give consumers some control over their healthcare options.”
Already in 2013, a patented test for cortisol, which can tell you a lot about stress levels (and consequently the numerous problems exacerbated by stress – including weight gain), is being rolled out in the first quarter. Other tests will follow as the year progresses.
Not so long ago, in fact just a few months ago, personal biometric testing was done in a doctor’s office and those taking advantage of the service were more likely to be California fitness fanatics, starlets and athletes.
In 2013, the rest of us will get this health advantage in our homes, on our phones and for just a few dollars per test.
If you want to see a testing unit (blood) in use by a physician traveling in the Kalahari Desert in Africa, visit http://youtu.be/pLcDQNaR84U
The unit is a patented smartphone device from I-calQ (www.I-calQ.com).
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