‘mHealth’ – Biometrics Renamed?

The use of smartphone technology to empower consumers is the future of healthcare, if only because of the time and money saved with in-home monitoring. And the technology is itself is improving… with advances being announced seemingly everyday with things like monitoring stress via salivary cortisol.
 
For some consumers, however, the use of the term ‘biometric’ is extremely prejudicial.
A quick Internet search of ‘biometrics’ will lead you to the use of the technology to identify terrorists and/or enhance security through fingerprint, iris and facial recognition… important technologies to be sure, but hardly consumer friendly. And of course, when used in this venue, biometrics could be construed as an invasion of privacy.
 
How, then, to accurately explain the need for and advantages of in-home biometric testing?
 
The answer: mHealth… with ‘m’ standing for mobile.
 
This term is replacing ‘biometric health screenings’ to better describe the value of smartphone-based, in-home health measurements.
 
What exactly is mHealth? Here’s what WikiPedia has to say.

mHealth (also written as m-health or mobile health) is a term used for the practice of medicine and public health, supported by mobile devices. The term is most commonly used in reference to using mobile communication devices, such as mobile phones, tablet computers and PDAs, for health services and information, but also to affect emotional states. The mHealth field has emerged as a sub-segment of eHealth, the use of information and communication technology (ICT), such as computers, mobile phones, communications satellite, patient monitors, etc., for health services and information. mHealth applications include the use of mobile devices in collecting community and clinical health data, delivery of healthcare information to practitioners, researchers, and patients, real-time monitoring of patient vital signs, and direct provision of care (via mobile telemedicine).

So get ready for mHealth… as one trade publication (Biomedical Instrumentation & Technology) asked its readers: MOBILE HEALTH: The Revolution Has Started… Are You Ready?

Biohacking Gains Strength

If you haven’t heard of ‘biohacking’ you’re not enough of a nerd. But chances are in the coming months you’ll start seeing the word more frequently. In fact, biohacking may become an important player in the future of personal healthcare and is already pushing the use of biometric testing devices.

Based on the philosophy of personal responsibility, biohacking is a new approach to health and wellness that includes self-study and the use of various analog and digital devices to measure, monitor and tweak important health parameters. Biohackers collect data about themselves… anything from calories to salt intake, exercise and blood pressure to cortisol levels and daily supplement intake.

According to Glen Martin of the San Francisco Chronicle, biohacking refers to “managing one's own biology using a combination of medical, nutritional and electronic techniques.” His article, Biohackers' mining their own bodies' data, is a good place to begin learning about the trend http://www.sfgate.com/health/article/Biohackers-mining-their-own-bodies-data-3668230.php.

Here’s the theory: measure yourself, because what we measure improves.

As Martin’s article says, we're now capturing more data on what it means to be a human being than at any time in history and what we're learning isn't just telling is what we are. It's telling us what we can be."