This year’s Healthcare Unbound conference was held in San Franscisco on July 7 & 8. The conference has been a venue for e-healthtech innovations with important announcements from companies including Qualcomm, Intel, and the Continua Health Alliance.

Some excellent conference summaries can be found online with the following blogs:

• Medical Connectivity
• The Healthcare Blog
• Trusted MD
  

Some e-Healthtech highlights:

• Qualcomm’s LifeComm wireless service
• Welldoc diabetes management system
• Honeywell HomMed remote patient care monitor
• Intel’s Health Guide at-home monitoring solution

From the Nursing Online Database comes this comprehensive resource of on-line e-health records.

Earlier this year, the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions published a survey of health care consumers that reveals the U.S. health care consumer market is clearly not homogeneous. The Deloitte report identifies six consumer segments, each distinguished by a unique set of behaviors and attitudes.

The six segments differ along several dimensions: Key differentiators include the degree to which consumers prefer or use traditional services versus alternative and nonconventional services; the extent to which they are inclined toward self-dependent decision-making versus doctor-dependent decision-making; and the level at which they seek information via online tools and use various value-added services. Although the segments were not determined based on demographics, important demographic differences are evident.

ST+D, a spin out from the University of Ulster, has developed a Wireless Vital Signs Platform which is optimized for unobtrusive wear by ambulatory patients. Multiple vital signs are monitored by a highly miniaturized chest-worn device. These vital signs can include respiration, oxygen in the blood, motion, temperature and ECG. The ST+D Wireless Vital Signs Platform can be customised to provide various wireless products for both in-hospital and at-home monitoring.

Various wireless options including Bluetooth, wifi and cellular to send data immediately to the clinician.  Examples of products which can be developed from this platform include Holter monitors, in-hospital multiple vital signs monitors and aids for independent aging.

The device is easy to use, fully automatic, no buttons to press or numbers to dial. Lightweight & unobtrusive for normal life during monitoring. The sensors can be worn on the body for days and even worn in the shower

From xConomy comes this editorial on the future of healthcare delivery. Yongmin Kim, the author, describes how technology plays a key, enabling, role in his model, called Distributed Diagnosis and Home Healthcare (D2H2). The D2H2 delivery framework endeavors to transform healthcare from a central, hospital-based system to one that is more patient-centered, distributed, and home-based.

With a goal to connect and assist the more than 50 million caregivers in the United States, Intel unveiled ConnectingForCare.com, the first online community of its kind for family caregivers, nurses, social workers and others to share information and provide emotional support, filling a void in today’s healthcare system.

Developed by Intel in collaboration with the National Family Caregivers Association, ConnectingForCare.com uses the Internet to build a sense of community among caregivers through interactive forums, personal profiles and links to the latest research or treatments. The forums will allow caregivers to engage with one another at any time, ultimately leading to better coordination of care between the various groups.

The New York Times editorial advocating for greater adoption of electronic patient records (E-HT post, original article) has elicited insightful of commentary from the newspaper’s readers.

Read these letters to the editor here.

A major consumer group, insurers together with Google and Microsoft have agreed to standards intended to speed adoption of personal electronic health records.

The electronic medical record field remains in its infancy. While U.S. privacy laws govern actions by medical providers such as doctors, there is little in the way of other established privacy, security and data usage standards despite decades of industry efforts.

Backers, which also include some doctors and employer groups, said they hope to break a stalemate in moving medical records online, sparked by consumer fears that their personal information will be abused, or held against them.

Press Release

From the NYT comes this editorial on electronic patient records. The author concisely explains the benefits of electronic patient records and the hurdles that are preventing greater adoption in the US. The NYT’s conclusion; government should do more to help private doctors transition from paper charts to electronic patient records.

Aspects of general medical care and diagnosis follows a “standardized” algorithm-like process and thus lends itself to new automation technologies. New startups and studies are beginning to take advantage of this strategy.

• A new study, published in the Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis, concluded that dosages calculated by computer are at least as safe and reliable as those provided by expert medical professionals.
• NewCare Medical has developed an automated patient vital-signs collecting device that is entirely patient-driven, reducing overall caregiver workloads while improving quality of measurements.
• This study demonstrated that personnel receiving basic medical training and orientation to an algorithm-directed triage system can direct military patients to appropriate levels of health care.