In the Tower of Babel built by all the wearable devices collecting biometric data, one platform is trying to pull all of it into a single platform. Vivalink is integrating physiological data from a range of wearables into its Biometrics Data Platform. Devices including sleep monitors, blood glucose monitors, and pulse oximeters from brands including Garmin, Roche, and Omron can now connect with the real-world data platform that’s used for clinical trials, remote patient monitoring (RPM), and other healthcare applications. Vivalink CEO Jiang Li says, “This integration allows our customers to rapidly implement remote patient monitoring applications using optimized fit-for-purpose wearables and devices in a cost-effective way.”
So what now integrates with the Vivalink platform? The Swiss biotech giant Roche has recently garnered attention for its cobas pulse system for professional-level blood gluclose management. Cobas includes a blood glucose meter that has an Android-based interface and digital capabilities that are comparable to those of a smartphone, eliminating the need to connect the meter to a second device via Bluetooth. The Japanese electronics company Omron has been in the blood-pressure-measuring business for decades. Today, their monitors are considered to be some of the world’s finest. And one of their coolest is arguably the HeartGuide, which they bill as “the first-ever wearable blood pressure monitor in the form of a wristwatch.”
And then there’s Garmin. If you know the brand, you probably associate it with smartwatches, as Garmin makes some of today’s most popular wrist-worn fitness trackers, which offer key health-related insights. The devices track heart rate, heart rate variability, the saturation of oxygen in the bloodstream, breathing rate, and more, incorporating them into a Garmin Health Snapshot. Now these metrics integrate with the Vivalink platform for a range of virtual healthcare applications, including telehealth, ambulatory cardiac monitoring, RPM, and hospital at home care.
Vivalink’s move is part of a rising trend of interoperability of wearable and connected devices, which should be viewed through the lens of increased RPM. A recent essay in the Journal of the American Medical Association puts it well: “Home monitoring and hospital-at-home models offer the potential to transform care and potentially allow a substantial proportion of hospitalized patients to receive care from home. Yet, health systems will need to collaborate with technology companies to accelerate learning and produce greater value for patients, clinicians, and health care organizations.”
