An Ecosystem to Advance the Internet of Medical Things

An Ecosystem to Advance the Internet of Medical Things

Last week Philips and Qualcomm Life announced a collaboration that will accelerate the deployment of digital health solutions. We anticipate a future in which care providers are equipped to create richer patient profiles and personalize care for each patient, improving outcomes across the board.

This will open up access to thousands of types of medical devices

This will open up access to thousands of types of medical devices, like medication dispensers, blood glucose monitors, ventilators or blood pressure monitors that can now be part of HealthSuite solutions. It also allows the data from these devices to be securely and seamlessly integrated with clinical and contextual patient data.

The goal is to establish a comprehensive patient profile that is based on every touch point in the consumer’s personal health journey. That means that a measurement someone does at home, the consult that a specialist conducts, the feedback from a home caregiver, the clinical data from tests or studies – all the information is taken together to create a continuous, longitudinal trail to use as basis for care decisions.

The key is combining streaming data from medical devices, sensors and apps with rich patient profiles

Let me explain by giving a specific example. Across the U.S. Philips runs intensive ambulatory telehealth programs. The most fragile of elderly people that are living with one or even more chronic conditions are being monitored in their homes by their health systems. These programs are highly successful and we have seen big drops in re-admission rates (-52%) and cost of care (-26%). The key is combining streaming data from medical devices, sensors and apps with rich patient profiles. This allows us to prioritize patients for intervention. For instance, when we see a deterioration we can set up a 2-way video call with the patient to triage or in case of an acute situation provide the right emergency care.

Now, we can configure monitoring devices depending on the patient’s needs. Many people have to deal with not just one, but with two or even more chronic conditions. Treating these patients is complex, especially where chronic conditions influence one another. This group is also more likely to suffer accidents that could lead to an expensive hospital or nursing home stay. In a recent Philips study, data showed seniors with chronic conditions fell and required emergency transport up to 54 percent more often, compared to their peers with no chronic conditions. Personalized treatment plans are therefore a must.

Take Helen and Ralph McCurdy. They have been married for 67 years but Ralph now lives with a number of chronic conditions. Banner Health in Phoenix Arizona in the U.S. has developed a special connected health program together with Philips to support people like Ralph on a continuous basis. Ralph now measures his vital signs, like blood pressure, weight and fills in a personalized survey on a daily basis. This data is then automatically shared with the care team and added to a comprehensive health profile of Ralph that enables the doctor to pick up on early signs of health deterioration. Ralph and Helen also get realtime advice from their doctor via 2-way video on how to better manage Ralph’s condition.

Through HealthSuite, now integrated with the 2net ecosystem, we can add additional connected devices to support him. He can wear a personal emergency response pendant, which detects falls. If a patient also deals with COPD we can seamlessly add a medical ventilator and an SPO2 device. Or a connected blood glucose meter for a patient that suffers from diabetes. We can securely integrate the right devices associated with a clinical program. More importantly, we can bring the data from these devices and apps together with medical records and apply analytics to support care givers in performing definitive diagnosis and developing personalized treatment plans.

As part of the collaboration, Qualcomm Life leverages Philips HealthSuite as an open, secure, data management and storage solution for its medical-grade 2net Platform, allowing Qualcomm Life to tap into the value of health data through data normalization, aggregation, analytics and orchestration. Qualcomm Life customers can build new care applications (using the standard FHIR API), integrate with electronic health record systems, store normalized data, run analytics, and manage authorization and consents in a compliant and secure environment. 

Perhaps the most important piece of this announcement is that it helps to establish an open, secured and standardized environment that lends itself to flexibility and scalability in the quest to personalize medicine. It’s a move that we believe is ultimately important to help clinicians create better outcomes for their patients.




* The health-related information found above is meant for informational purposes only. It is not intended to serve as medical advice, substitute for a doctor’s appointment or to be used for diagnosing or treating a disease. Please work with your health care provider to evaluate the best treatment options for you.

John Henry, MBA

President and CEO - MyCareConnect | BlueLoop®

7y

A critical component to all of this connected care, especially for the "Aging in Place", will be with caregivers: the technology and UI's built not just for professional caregivers, but the ever-growing family caregiver. An enormous challenge, but well worth the effort . I'm a sandwich generation person....caring for both a parent with Alzheimers (at home) and a child with Type-1 diabetes.

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Rebecca Ngola

Principal Service Designer

7y

This is great! Next, all the devices should post their data automatically to the patient's profile so the patient doesn't have to fill in that daily update.

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So treu, impressive technology and changes in the right environment..

Justin Caird

Talent Advisor | Recruiting Leader

7y

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