‘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."

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).

“As we move forward over these next several years, the smartphone will be increasingly the hub of medicine,” said Dr. Topol, who authored the book “The Creative Destruction of Medicine: How the Digital Revolution Will Create Better Health Care.”

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

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.

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.

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).