Medical wearable devices are trying to find their niche for patient monitoring of physiological parameters in and outside of the hospital. The technology advanced cost curve is allowing this.
There is a lot of competition and investment it seems in this space. This has been going on for a number of years as the convergence of Bluetooth(r), the Smart Phone, and all kinds of applications are being developed for mobile devices for healthcare connectivity. This has allowed new companies to enter into the medical wearable space based upon this new technology and enterprise use model.
While all of this may seem new; it follows the use model of medical telemetry in the clinical space that actually got it's start in 1958 as a part of the space program. However, medical telemetry was only inside the walls of the hospital. The author has been around this space since 1983 as well provided expertise crossing all ares of medical device connectivity.
Product Design: It is often in product development the human component could be overlooked. How will the patient and/or clinician manage the wearable device and set up all the physiological parameters? Management includes the battery life and charging, the training of the clinician and patient care model, and finally the incorporation of the technology into their enterprise in a secure way.
Clinicians went to school to take care of patients...not technology.
Another area to look at is compliance. How do you know that patients outside of the hospital setting will actually use the technology? If outside of an acute care setting how will this data get to the right person? Is the data relevant and of quality for a physician to make a clinical decision on? The standard best of practice for a initial cardiac assessment is still a 12 lead EKG analysis with full interpretation.
From an executive corporate standpoint, how will the technology fit the overall business model with the correct ROI? Is the technology providing relevant and actionable data? Who owns the data and how will costs be reimbursed?
These are just some things to think about.
