Is Healthcare Ready to Embrace the Consumer " Wearable " Revolution?

Here's an important think piece about the future of health wearables: Is the Healthcare Industry Ready to Embrace a Consumer Wearable Device Revolution). It approaches the topic from the perspective of the steps that healthcare executives need to take to more fully embrace and adapt to this new technology. Below is an excerpt from it:There are at least two categories of...[wearable health] devices in existence today that relate to healthcare. One type is a consumer wearable, such as a fitness tracker or a smartwatch that has been amended with health tracking features largely controlled by a device manufacturer. Another type is a patch, a device that can be attached to various parts of the human body to collect designated information, typically vital signs. One challenge of consumer wearables is that the devices are limited in disease-specific algorithm development on an open source platform offering limitless innovation opportunities aimed specifically at patient care. For the monitoring body patches, they face the issue of being costly disposable hardware that is required to transmit data to a nearby mobile device that needs to remain within a close range.All of these devices...also face security and privacy scrutiny, including having to comply with HIPAA and FDA Part 11 privacy regulations that impact not just the device but also the data it carries and how that data is being transmitted....Even the promise of discharging a patient who is using a wearable device t...
Source: Lab Soft News - Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Tags: Cost of Healthcare Healthcare Delivery Healthcare Information Technology Healthcare Innovations Medical Consumerism Medical Research Point-of-Care Testing Predictive Analytics Preventive Medicine Test Kits and Home Testing Source Type: blogs