Many people believe that the introduction of technology
into medical devices is one of the key drivers causing healthcare expenditures
to increase. In reality, medical devices account for less than 5 percent of
hospital expenditures. Hospital spending on medical technology as a share of
total health services and supplies expenditures has dropped from 5.8 percent in
1980 to 3 percent in 2006. Furthermore, these high-tech medical devices have
helped to reduce the long-term costs of care. This trend of decreased
healthcare spending and the added benefit of increased levels of patient care
will continue as device manufacturers bring more innovative devices to market.
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One technology that will directly impact the trend of reduced
healthcare costs and an increased level of patient care is wireless
connectivity. This technology will redefine the way medicine is practiced over
the course of the next five years by enabling remote patient monitoring to
finally become reality. The development and adoption of these technologies will
reduce the load on doctors, nurses, and other medical practitioners and put
patients in greater control of their own health, promoting a more proactive
approach to health and wellness.
Wireless Connectivity
Despite the fact that
wireless technology is becoming more pervasive in many aspects of daily life,
most medical devices are still wired today. A typical device has a data
collection sensor that is wired to the medical device and the device can be
connected to a PC, via another wired connection, likely USB. These wired
solutions cause numerous issues for the patient, most importantly in ease of
use. For example, patients who take electrocardiograms (ECG) today are covered
in wired sensors, which is typical for a 16-lead ECG. However, next-generation,
bandage-sized ECGs are data gathering devices. Next-generation units will be
far easier to use and thus most appropriate for patient home use.
Wireless devices and remote
monitors will become most prevalent in the treatment of chronic diseases like cardiac
disease and diabetes care. These markets will be the first to adopt new
technology, like wireless connectivity, because they are experiencing the most
pain and have the most to gain from the benefits of remote patient monitoring.
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of deaths globally. According to
the World Health Organization, approximately 17.5 million people died from
cardiovascular disease in 2005, or about 30 percent of all global deaths.
Diabetes, though not as lethal, affects 27 million people in the U.S. today and
is predicted to affect 50 percent of Americans by 2020.
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The average healthcare
expenses in the U.S. for people without a chronic disease, such as cardiac
disease or diabetes, are approximately $4,400. But for people with a chronic
disease the cost nearly triples to $11,700, and for those patients with
complications, the average annual cost rises to a staggering $20,700.
Self-management education is a key step in improving health outcomes and the
quality of life in these patients. This includes a focus on self-care
behaviors, such as healthy eating, maintaining an active lifestyle, and, most
importantly, regularly monitoring vital signs such as cardiac and blood sugar
data. Adding wireless connectivity to these vital signs monitoring devices will
improve patient compliance due to the ability of physicians to monitor the
patients remotely and the significantly improved user experience of the device
(no wires). This improved monitoring process has the ability to significantly reduce
the cost of managing a chronic disease by lowering the incidents of
complications.
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A wireless remote monitoring
device can take many forms, but most consist of a wireless sensor connected to
a consumer medical device like an ECG, heart monitor or glucometer. These
medical end-devices connect wirelessly via the Personal Area Network (PAN) to
an Application Hosting Devices (AHD), such as mobile phone, PDA, PC, tablet PC
or set-top box. This AHD will then use a wired (Ethernet) or wireless
(cellular) signal to transmit the data to a storage location such as an
electronic medical record (EMR) or personal medical record (PMR). Other more
unique form factors that combine multiple consumer medical devices with an AHD,
like that of a medical kiosk that is used within hospitals, doctor's offices
and pharmacies, will become more prevalent.
One organization that is
helping to drive the wireless device movement is the Continua Health Alliance.
This non-profit, open industry organization of healthcare and technology companies
joined together in collaboration to improve the quality of personal
healthcare. For the past two years, the
Continua Health Alliance has been working toward the development of guidelines
for the Personal Area Network (PAN) interface. Device designers have a wide
variety of options when it comes to choosing a PAN wireless protocol. The
Continua Health Alliance is investigating a list of wireless protocols (see
table ).
As of December 2010, Zigbee,
Bluetooth and Bluetooth Low-Energy are the only approved wireless standards for
the PAN and it is recommended that device manufactures use Continua-approved
wireless protocols.
The next five years are going
to be exciting in the medical device world. In this new world everything will
be wirelessly connected and devices - not doctors - will be helping us make
educated decisions regarding our health. This will help to lower the cost of
healthcare and increase the level of patient care. The future is bright for
both the developer and the user of next-generation medical devices.
David Niewolny is a
medical product marketing manager within the Microcontroller Solutions Group at
Freescale Semiconductor.For more
information:
Freescale is looking to help
wireless medical device designers get their products to market faster by
offering reference designs complete with device schematics and sample code all
available for download.References:1. Medical
Device Manufactures Assn. with National Venture Capital Assn. Medical Technology
and Venture Capital: A Fruitful yet Fragile Ecosystem, June 20092. Medical News Today,
Majority Of Americans Will Have Diabetes Or Pre-Diabetes By 2020 - With Huge
Financial Costs, 23 Nov. 2010.3. Sharma,
Raman (2009), Low-Energy Wireless: Just
what the doctor ordered. Beyond Bits IV4. iRythm
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