Coming Soon: HealthCamp, mHealth, and SDSIC Networking Conferences

Coming in the next two weeks:

• September 7th: HealthCamp San Diego
• September 7th: 2nd mHealth Networking Conference. 
• September 16th: SDSIC discusses “Electronic Medical Records Integration with Wired and Wireless Devices “

Opportunities and Challenges in Healthcare Reform

Excellent event yesterday at CommNexus – “What does Healthcare Reform Mean to San Diego Businesses?”   Hosted at Qualcomm, the event featured a panel of leaders from West Wireless Health Institute, Sharp Healthcare, CareFusion, and Qualcomm. So what are the characteristics of these opportunities? 

• Innovations that deliver high quality at a lower cost
• Products which engage patients more in their own care, at home

However, according to David Schlotterbeck (CEO: CareFusion), the quantity of technical innovations is not the issue. The questions are “who will pay?” and ultimately, “will patients have better outcomes?”  With hundreds of millions already invested in great solutions the winners will be those solutions which disrupt the delivery model. CareFusion has a primary focus on taking the cost out of healthcare by putting a top priority on Operational Excellence. I like their focus: do it right the first time!  

The downside? What about consumers?  Unanimous feedback from the panel that we’re going to see significant increase in our own healthcare costs at least near term. Gains are in the long-term when we could potentially see a better cost model and improved outcomes for our children.

New NFC chip shows promise for wireless health care diagnostics.

A recently announced, new multi-protocol chip from GENTAG allegedly will further open consumer markets for wireless sensors by supporting NFC and ISO 15693.  Inclusion of these chips in handsets would then allow cell phones to be used for contactless NFC payment transactions as well as healthcare sensor solutions like wireless pedometers, thermometers, and more.  Of course, applications are required before consumers can get very excited.

While it is encouraging to see this innovation, I have yet to see a strong commitment from the traditional handset manufacturers to really invest in additional wireless protocols beyond Bluetooth (and potentially Bluetooth Low Energy BLE).  That said, however, if it can be used for payments – there is hope.  Innovation leader, Apple, recently announced interest in an NFC-enabled iPhone Application.  

Read more:

NXP’s new NFC chips now compatible with GENTAG’s RFID platform

Apple shows interest in NFC product info app