You needn’t look hard to notice the raft of new wearable health tech devices from almost as many companies, universities, and research labs. We cover many of the most significant devices here at Health Tech Insider. The arrival of so many new sensing, soothing, monitoring, tracking, and reporting devices on the market begs the question of communication standards. Will there be a standard OS or communications format? Can these devices “talk to” each other? How will providers or patients choose from such a wide range of solutions from different sources?
Visiomed proposes their solution to device intercommunication with BewellConnect, their proprietary application for patient data recording, storage, and reporting that works with their own selection of measurement devices and task specific applications. BewellConnect is a free application available in Android and iOS versions. You can create individual profiles for family members to set up monitoring for specific measurements. Bewell measurement devices connect to your smartphone via Bluetooth and all information is stored in the cloud. Available services include worldwide healthcare professional location and consultation. The Bewell line of devices includes MyThermo, MyOxy, MyGluco, MyTensio, MyECG, and more. The devices have the European common market CE Mark which indicate safety and that they perform in a manner consistent with their intended use. FDA registration, which also requires documented efficacy, is recently in place for many of the devices and expected for the rest of the line early in 2016.
The advantage of an application that stores and manages information from a growing selection of consumer-friendly personal health metric devices is easy access to both individual measurements and comprehensive data. The potential trap, however, is being locked in to one company’s solution set. What if another company offers a device you would like to use but it isn’t compatible with the application you use for everything else? What if you’d like to send your information to health care professionals but they either don’t choose to read your reports in the short time they can allocate to checking patient-reported data or they have a different system? The health tech market is exploding with new devices and technologies and we’re just seeing the beginning. The greater issue will be device or system communications standards. BewellConnect is one early solution that may become a standard or pave the way for others.
Trackbacks/Pingbacks