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A kazoo that records the air composition  in your lungs? Pill bottle caps that tell your doctor if you’ve take your medication?  A headband that measures how well you sleep? A gadget that relays your blood sugar  level to your doctor’s office—through your Smart Phone? Those are just a few of the new devices in the growing field of “local health monitoring” —through  which people can keep track of their own health conditions without setting foot in a hospital or doctor’s office.

Those gadgets—and others—were described at a recent panel discussion sponsored by the Medical Development Group, a Boston area organization for individuals involved  in medical technologies.

Frank McGillin, Vice President of Global Marketing for Philips Healthcare, which markets a variety of home monitoring devices, emphasized the importance these devices in light of growing health care costs.

He cited government statistics showing that  health care current accounts for 17.6 percent of the  gross domestic product in the US, and that by 2050, half of the population in the developed world will be chronically ill—making traditional medical care  fiscally overwhelming. 

Monitoring devices and telemedicine are already used for coaching patients remotely–and monitoring may also soon be available to determine measuring cancer patients’ readiness for—and the effectiveness of—chemotherapy—from home.

Ben Rubin, Co-Founder and Chief Technology officer of Zeo, in Newton, MA, described a headset and device that monitor an individual’s REM sleep and factors influencing sleep patterns.  Knowing how well you sleep is important because sleep is closely tied to health conditions like obesity, depression, diabetes and the like, Rubin said. “If you measure it, you can manage it.” 

The devices, which cost $250,  connect to  an Internet site. For an additional $100, ZEO provides email advice coaching to help individuals improve their “sleep hygiene.” 

 I’ve since learned of a Smart Phone application designed to promote better sleep:  using the Ap, you put your phone under your pillow to measure your movement (and restlessness) during sleep.

David Rose, Chief Executive officer of Vitality, Inc., in Cambridge, MA—explained that the above-mentioned pill bottle “glo-caps” can “ sense”  when a patient takes a medication, and, via a wireless Internet connection, show health care professionals whether reminder calls should be made. The caps illuminate, play a melody, and even ring a home phone to remind patients to take their pills.  The caps can send weekly emails to remote caregivers, create accountability with doctors through an adherence report, and automatically refill prescriptions. 

Glo-Caps are not currently available for purchase by individuals, but they are being used by patients enrolled in programs sponsored by certain health insurers and pharmacies.

Rose, who teaches at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, previously founded and ran Ambient Devices, where he pioneered embedding monitoring devices in everyday objects such as:   umbrellas that can sense if it is going to rain; bathroom scales showing trend lines for weight-loss or gain; objects that measure air quality; a spirometer “kazoo” that measures the chemistry of air expelled from the lungs, and a telephone that uses an individual’s vocal qualities to measure depression. 

Devorah Klein, PhD, a principal at Continuum, in Newton, MA, designs and studies the effectiveness of self-monitoring and other devices. 

 An expert in patient adherence to therapy regimes for diabetes, asthma, arthritis, multiple sclerosis and erectile dysfunction, she described the importance of understanding how users interact with devices. Simple designs are key because “many patients are not all that interested” in devices— learning how  to use them, or how they work.

Panelists also described use of  Internet tools such as Google to measure flu trends; Healthmedia, through which Johnson & Johnson provides digital coaching for managing stress and chronic disease, Philips Direct, which provides live coaching over email, and various “calorie and other body monitors through which individuals can receive online coaching through gyms

David Barash, MD, president of Concord Healthcare Strategies and the panel moderator, pointed out that local monitoring devices are growing in popularity in sync with an aging population, increasing chronic disease, and new Internet technologies. 

According to a recent review by my client, Scientia Advisors, remote home monitoring, with a market size of 1.8B in 2007,  is growing at a combined annual growth rate of 15% per year–which makes remote monitoring  the fastest growing segment in a home health industry projected to reach $200B by 2012.

However, Barash said,  business models for many remote or local  monitoring products are, as yet, unproved.

One problem  is that, in the absence of adequate clinical trials, insurance reimbursement is limited, which makes doctors reluctant to adopt remote monitoring, Scientia found.

There are also questions about how doctors will be able to handle potentially huge quantities of data, potential liability issues,  Barash said, and  about the usefulness of  data from a myriad of individual monitors—when so many health conditions are interconnected. 

 “It’s very important for companies to ask, ‘Do people want this device? Will they use it?’” Barash said.

After the meeting, I mentioned to an  MDG board member that I don’t want all of this surveillance. “I’m just not that interested in my bodily functions,” I said.
“Just wait ten years,” she assured me.  “You will be.”

—Anita M. Harris

Anita M. Harris is the founder and president of the Harris Communications Group, a public relations firm in Cambridge, MA.  HarrisCom publishes the HarrisCom Blog and New Cambridge Observer. 

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