Wireless Technology And The Rise Of “Anywhere” Monitoring

Article preview from Medtech Insight - October, 2012 

The emerging market for wireless and remote monitoring technologies comes at a time when providers are looking for new tools to not only keep patients out of the hospital, but also to prevent unnecessary readmissions. These goals, along with a growing list of enabling technologies in the pipeline, are helping drive health care toward an era of unprecedented connectivity – one in which physicians and other care givers are able to monitor and even treat patients whenever needed wherever they may be – a shift that many believe will profoundly change health care as we know it.

 Wireless Technology And The Rise Of “Anywhere” Monitoring

Article preview from Medtech Insight - October, 2012 

The health care industry is still in the early stages of a technological revolution involving wireless and remote technology; however, the changes that have already taken place have been profound. Most young physicians today – as well as those still in medical school – will never know a way of practicing medicine that does not include wireless, mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. In fact, there is substantial interest among physicians in using wireless devices to perform a variety of clinical tasks, according to a survey conducted in 2010.  But for all the changes that have already occurred, there are even more pioneering ideas that continue to push their way into the spotlight as device manufacturers, software developers, and other innovators look for the right tools to address health care’s most pressing needs.

Some of the first innovations are coming from companies developing wireless, remote monitoring technology, which has emerged as a tool that could offer important advantages, not only for patient care but for cost control as well. As William Kaiser, PhD, co-director of the Wireless Health Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles, told Medtech Insight in a recent interview, wireless, remote monitoring technology “will profoundly change health care,” making it possible for the first time to “track outcomes in the field.”

That advance could have wide-ranging utility for patient care – from determining if patients are compliant with their medications and other physician-prescribed activities to monitoring high-risk patients around the clock for indicators that suggest they may be at risk for a costly event such as a hospitalization. These types of advances will be enabled by technologies aimed at expanding the realm of health care information management to care settings outside of the hospital or physician’s office, enabling physicians to securely monitor patients' conditions wherever the physician or patient may be.

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