A recent study by The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society pointed to wireless devices as the “top emerging technology in a half of all hospitals surveyed” in the coming two years. The report stated that “while health providers are already geared up to dealing with an increasing number of elderly patients, and could probably cope with a rise in instances of obesity related diseases, they cannot do both without automating clinical processes and using technology to improve public health.”
While the common concept of wireless healthcare generally involves the use of RFID, there is an even more cutting-edge technology called “remote digital monitoring” that could bring more autonomy to people in their pursuit of a healthy lifestyle. One of the main predictions listed in a recent study by Research & Markets offered this observation:
Mobile and wireless based healthcare services will cause gradual fragmentation of the healthcare sector, as an increasing number of clinical processes and patient monitoring services are provided by private companies. The report identifies home monitoring of the elderly and GPS enabled phones that double as heart monitors as technologies that have been ‘productised’ and are marketed to patients.
The report details a predicted increase in the use of remote medical monitoring and points to the fact that even in government-funded “socialized medicine” massive savings would ensue from the general adoption of these products especially in the world of geriatrics. A recent study in Britain revealed the overall cost of patients staying in their own homes, an elderly nursing home and a hospital bed. “The cost of caring for an elderly person in their own home is £120 per week, compared to £337 per week to care for them in a nursing home, or £805 if they are confined to a hospital bed.”
The potential significance of the results from that study are obvious. “The NHS (National Health Service) saves £468 per week if it can move a patient from a nursing home into a residential home.” One of the key findings that one could draw from this study is the fact that with such a massive influx of elderly people straining a nations healthcare reserves, digital remote monitoring could be implemented on a nationwide-level to improve healthcare, lower visits to GP’s, and save the public money all at the same time.
