We need a Manifesto for Consumer Health and Wellness

At the Continua Health Alliance summit in Boston this week, most of the speakers are talking enthusiastically about the amount of Government momentum for reform of the healthcare system.  Keynote speakers from all areas of the medical industry are telling us how things will change.

It’s not a new message, albeit it has been revitalised by the prospect of the Obama billions.  The physicians believe that they can heal themselves, or at least the system they work in.  So it came as a breath of fresh air to see a posting that popped into my inbox from Joe Macaluso on Real Health Reform.  It argues that the only way we will see any real reform is if it’s done by patients, without the support of Congress or the medical industry.

Over in Europe, the EU is running a debate on Consumers and Health, asking for contributions to a seminar in Brussels at the end of the month.  I’d been thinking about this for some time and had come to the conclusion that the most useful thing that the EU commission could do would be to look at how to change the regulatory playing field.  That’s necessary to let patient-based groups start to take healthcare and even prescribing into their own hands.  To achieve that I think we need a Manifesto for Consumer Health, that provides a safe environment for disruptive developments.  By coincidence I’d just finished writing my thoughts on that, which I was posting to the EU Consumers and Health site as Joe’s mail came in.  After reading Joe’s post, I’ve added a poll asking “Whether you believe that healthcare reform needs to be driven by patients, rather than medics or legislators?”  Please go and vote – I’ll post the result in a later blog.

So why do I think we need a manifesto..? 

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FDA – mHealth’s Angel or Demon?

In the rush to get a chunk of Obama’s healthcare billions, any industry with the slightest idea about remote healthcare is doing their best to claim that they are the rightful recipient of the cash.  The latest of these is the CTIA, who recently held a policy forum featuring medical experts and government officials.  In it they touted the promise of mobile health applications that would drive down costs and improve the quality of care.  They admitted that they didn’t have a policy yet, but they certainly want a chunk of the action for their members when the $19 billion dollar treasure chest is opened.  They’re not alone, but amongst all of the feverish lobbying going on in Washington there seems to be a total neglect of the role of the FDA.  Instead there’s a general opinion that a good PowerPoint and drinks for enough politicians will overrule any regulatory requirements.

mHealth has been (and still is) a long time in coming.  There’s a whole host of reasons for that.  It’s trying to grow up in a room full of 800 pound gorillas, amongst them technology, resistance from the medical profession and a lack of standards.  But hiding behind the visible 800 pounders is the big brother of invisible gorillas – the Food and Drugs Administration, fondly know as the FDA.

The FDA is responsible for regulating medical devices and services in the U.S.  If they say a product or service can’t be offered, then it’s effectively dead.  It provides a barrier to entry for manufacturers and services in the medical and health arena.  So far, it’s had little to say about many of the visions of the mHealth industry, but there is no doubt that it will.  I recently saw a presentation that outlines just how wide its powers and scope are.  And they are wide.  If the FDA enforced the most aggressive interpretation of its rules it could probably stop sales of the iPhone today.

I’m sure it won’t.  This isn’t a rant against the FDA, but about the relative naivety of many of the organisations claiming to offer solutions in their quest for a part of the new healthcare pot.  The future of mHealth would be far better served if organisations like the CTIA concentrated less on the high level fanfares and started engaging in informed debate about how the regulatory regime needs to change.

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Continua Health Alliance takes the bigamous route – Bluetooth and ZigBee.

After months of debate, the Continua Health Alliance finally announced its choice of wireless technology for low power medical devices.  Bluetooth low energy and ZigBee have been the key antagonists in this process and today Continua decided to make it a threesome and share its bed with both partners.

Both brides proudly announced the forthcoming nuptials, Bluetooth claiming that it had been chosen as the Health Device Standard, and ZigBee pronouncing that it has been selected for the next generation standard.

Whilst most people outside the specification groups will dismiss this as irrelevant, it does have some important implications, as it presents medical device manufacturers with a dilemma – which of these two wireless standards do they choose?  We’re at a point in time where we’re about to witness a new phenomenon of internet connected, consumer medical devices, which will open up the possibility of a new era of personal healthcare.  If manufacturers become confused about which of two incompatible standards to use, they’ll delay their products, with a resulting delay in availability and implementation.  It’s important that doesn’t happen.

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Bluetooth is winning the Medical and Fitness Market

Everyone knows that Bluetooth is in their phone and their headset.  What few realise is how many other products rely on it for their connectivity.  Over the past few years I’ve been working with manufacturers and organisations to integrate wireless into their products, particularly in the area of healthcare and fitness.  Having spoken about the current state of play at a recent conference, it struck me that most of Bluetooth’s success in this area is invisible.  The reality is very different, as the recent statement from the Bluetooth SIG acknowledges – Bluetooth is present in over 20 million health and fitness devices.  Market leaders like Philips, Nonin, Polar, Nintendo and Medtronics have chosen it.  That’s not a arbitrary choice, but one that they’ve made for good technical reasons.  To explain why, I’ve written a report about Bluetooth and the health ecosystem it is enabling.  In it I cover the reasons it has achieved its current success and how it is poised to become the standard for all consumer health and fitness products.  I also cover the changing health demographics to illustrate the reason we need it.  To find out why, download the report –

Download “A Bluetooth Ecosystem for Health and Fitness”

bluetooth-the-wireless-ecosystem-for-health-fitness-and-assisted-living.pdf – Downloaded 9922 times – 382.90 KB .

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G24 petition G20 summit for mobile broadband

At last week’s G20 summit, the GSM Association assembled 24 of their operators to provide a petition requesting access to more spectrum.  The reason was to allow them to make mobile broadband a key part of their country’s broadband plans.  Whether or not they get their wish is still to be seen, but it sends a powerful message that they, as well as fixed line operators, can be part of the broadband future.

That’s important for them, as it places them far more firmly on their individual country’s roadmap towards a broadband future.  In turn, that’s important to handset developers, who will see it as justification to include broadband related technologies and features.  And it’s important to manufacturers of connected consumer devices that will extend the broadband reach beyond the handset.  It gives further emphasis to Bluetooth’s claim to be the mainstream low power technology for low power healthcare devices.  The reason is simple – an expansion of handsets supporting mobile broadband will mean a bigger critical mass of Bluetooth gateways.  That’s a reality the Continua Health Alliance and health device designers needs to factor into their plans.

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ZigBee and the evil radios

Ten years ago, Bluetooth, 802.11 and HomeRF were engaged in an acrimonious battle for supremacy over leadership as the short range radio standard.  HomeRF died, and in the following years Bluetooth and 802.11 found their areas of application and now coexist together, to the extent of joining forces in the new Bluetooth 3.0 specification.  Today a new and ferocious fight is taking place for the role of ultra low power radio champion.  This time, there is likely to be just one winner.

 

In the two main corners of the ring are ZigBee PRO and Bluetooth low energy (previously known as Wibree).  Alongside them, throwing lighter punches, are an array of lesser contenders, including Z-Wave, ANT, Wavenis, and Wireless M-Bus.  What is at stake is the prize of becoming the standard for connecting low power consumer products to the next generation of mobile phones and enabling smart energy devices within the home.

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