The CES show last week offered a great glimpse into how emerging wireless technologies are evolving at the mobile point of care, with entrepreneurs and companies worldwide scrambling to deliver the most efficient, cost-effective ways of preventing and managing chronic diseases. Perhaps the most telling moment for MPoC observers was when Dr. Eric J. Topol, chief academic officer of Scripps Health and CMO of the West Wireless Health Institute (WWHI), joined Qualcomm's chairman and CEO Dr. Paul E. Jacobs during his keynote address on Friday to highlight a variety of digital medical devices that promise physicians and consumers the ability to remotely monitor fitness, sleep, vital signs and pre-natal activity.
"We are in the midst of a great inflection point in medicine as powerful wireless technologies will enable the continuous observation of a person's physiology, and significant medical advances in genomics will give us a clear understanding of each person's biology," Topol said. "This extraordinary convergence of information potentiates our ability to truly render individualized medicine."
The cardiologist, genomics expert and leading thought leader in the emerging mHealth industry went on to highlight several new technologies aimed at helping consumers track their own fitness and well-being, including DirectLife by Philips, the Fitbit Tracker and the Zeo personal sleep coach. He also hit on a number of remote patient monitoring and digital medicine technologies, including AirStrip Technologies' AirStip OB, which give physicians the ability to remotely access real-time and historical waveforms and other critical patient data using mobile devices, and GE Healthcare's Vscan, a pocket-sized visualization tool developed to help make point-of-care imaging a reality.
But while the CES show delivered a close-up view of how product offerings are shaping up for the mobile point of care, it's just as important to note that early January has ushered in some promising MPoC news apart from the trade show.
For example, as the Financial Times reported earlier this month, the way physicians and consumers are diagnosing everything from disease to genetics to diet is undergoing a transformation. Procedures requiring samples to be sent off to laboratories are being replaced by rapid, on-the-spot tests that can be administered by doctor's, or in a patient’s home. Worth noting: these new point-of-care diagnostics are growing more rapidly than the traditional diagnostics market.
And CVS Caremark just last week announced an agreement with Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions to replace its own e-prescribing solution with the Allscripts model. As Healthcare IT News reports, this agreement with Allscripts, a Chicago-based provider of e-prescribing and electronic health record solutions, is expected to assist the nation's largest pharmacy healthcare provider in supporting its payer and employer clients and driving e-prescribing throughout their networks.
So, as we've been saying for some time, the shift to mobile health is well underway. The buzz coming out of CES confirms the fact.
John Farrell participates in HealthcareGoesMobile.com as a community correspondent through Intel's paid sponsorship with MedTech Publishing Company.
