The market for medical automation technology is forecast to grow from $13.1 billion this year to $23.2 billion in 2014, according to BCC Research. The report, Medical Automation Technologies, Products and Markets, pegs the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) at 12.2 percent.

Among the technologies examined in the report are:

* Automated health assessment and monitoring technologies;
* Automated medical imaging and image analysis;
* Automated prescription fulfillment devices;
* Automated therapeutic (non-surgical) devices;
* Robotic and computer-assisted surgical equipment;
* Automated laboratory testing and analysis;
* Automated healthcare logistics, resource and patient tracking;
* Automated medical training.

Major end-user segments for automated medical technologies include hospitals, stand-alone outpatient surgical centers, physician practices, pharmacies and other retail establishments, home-care recipients, the military, medical research institutes and clinical laboratories and medical schools and other training programs.

Another reason for Android developers start developing  automated health assessment and monitoring technologies or automated healthcare logistics, resource and patient tracking applications or any of the above technologies , if they haven’t already.

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PediDoser features include :

• All common outpatient pediatric drugs
• Find your drug fast by generic or brand name or by class
• Use weight in pounds, weight in kilograms, or age to find the right dose.  No need to convert weight.
• Scrolling pick lists are faster than typing in weight or age
• Bookmark your favorite medications to get to them even faster

PediDoser comes in two flavors: the iPhone/iPod touch version (available from the App Store) and the iSilo version for everyone with PalmOS, Android,PocketPC, Blackberry and other devices (available from MeisterMed’s online store).

For more details about the features and medications list, visit http://www.pedidoser.com/isilo/features.html

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North America, with its aging population and tech-oriented medical industry, is central to the telehealth market and is expected to remain so over the report’s forecast period which extends through 2014.

The report focuses on embedded cellular connectivity for remote patient monitoring and ambient assisted living, the monitoring of the well-being of elderly or at-risk people.

“Wireless telehealth systems can reduce healthcare costs in a couple of ways,” ABI research practice director Sam Lucero, said in a statement. “First, for patients with chronic conditions, wireless telehealth’s ability to monitor and track their status allows many problems to be nipped in the bud before they require expensive hospitalization and treatment.  “Second, the traditional approach to home health care requires regular visits by nurses to check on patients’ condition. By providing that same information automatically, wireless telehealth systems can reduce those labor and travel costs.”

In addition, Lucero notes, a secondary benefit is that more people will be able to remain in the safety and comfort of their own homes as they age, at the same time reducing the burden on medical and residential institutions.

ABI believes availability of coverage for telehealth systems by private insurers and Medicare/Medicaid could be  barrier to widespread adaption of telehealth devices.

“The industry believes reimbursement for telehealth systems should be more comprehensive and straightforward. Proposed legislation is generating optimism,” said Lucero.

For more details on the report, visit eWeek.

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PricewaterhouseCoopers’ research reveals that universal coverage could swamp the health system unless simultaneous steps are taken to create innovative, new care delivery models that will expand access to care without adding costs to the system. Research conclusions and survey findings are in a new PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Health Research Institute (HRI) paper entitled “Jammed access: Widening the front door to healthcare.”

Other interesting finds in the report:

• Electronic interaction with providers and payers: One-half (50%) of consumers surveyed said they’d be willing to seek healthcare through the Internet or other computer technology as a substitute for a face-to-face, non-emergency visit. Of those, e-mail consultations was the preferred method of interaction (76%),  followed by telehealth, question/answer fee-based consults and an online forum/chat room monitored by a doctor.
•  Retail and worksite clinics for patients: Of consumers surveyed,   37 percent said they’d be likely to use a worksite clinic, and 36 percent would use a retail health clinic. Ten percent of large employers surveyed in PricewaterhouseCoopers’ 2009 Annual Employer Barometer Survey said they are now providing worksite clinics, up from one percent in 2008.
• Use of  telehealth technologies: Telehealth, the use of medical   information exchanged from one site to another via electronic   communications, such as video conferencing or bio-metric remote monitoring, is expanding access, particularly to specialty   physicians for patients in remote and underserved areas. Nearly   three-quarters (73%) of consumers said they would use biometric   electronic remote monitoring services to track their condition and vital signs.
• Shared medical appointments: One in four (28%) of consumers  surveyed said they would be willing to participate in a shared   medical appointment, typically a 60- to 90-minute session that  includes a private or personal exam integrated with patient   education and discussion with a group of 10 to 15 people. Providers currently offering shared medical appointments have   found both patient and physician satisfaction has soared.  Instituting one shared medical appointment can increase patient access and a physician’s productivity by an additional six patients during a four-hour clinic session.

Another few reasons to look into developing Android medical mobile applications……………..

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The features include:

• Over 350 laboratory and diagnostic tests
• Evidence-based information
• Convenient tables and algorithms
• Expanded coverage of molecular and genetic testing
• Intuitive navigation, optimized for your device
• Personalized favorites
• Quick links to the medical literature

For more details, refer to Unbound Medicine’s product page.

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In his article, he outlines the factors that FDA considers when deciding whether to regulate such equipment.

The Section 201(h) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act defines a medical device as:

“… an instrument, apparatus, implement, machine, contrivance, implant, in vitro reagent, or other similar or related article, including any component, part, or accessory, which is … [either]
intended for use in the diagnosis of disease or other conditions, or in the cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease, in man or other animals … [or]
intended to affect the structure or any function of the body of man or other animals.”

For more details, visit mobihealthnews

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According to the report by Infiniti Research Limited, the above mentioned new diagnostic and treatment modalities have also increased the need for flexibility and leveraged usage of staff driving the healthcare industry to adopt Bluetooth technology. As most mobile devices today are already equipped with the technology, healthcare organizations and patients are leveraging the technology to perform various tasks including medication management, measuring, transferring, and accessing patient records etc., in a wide range of healthcare environments.

The report forecasts the size of Bluetooth Market in the Healthcare Industry over the period 2008-2012. It segments the Bluetooth Market by applications and into various geographic regions. Further, it discusses the key market drivers and challenges of this market in the Healthcare Industry, and profiles some of the key market players of this Industry.

Last month, the non-profit, open-industry coalition for technology healthcare, Continua Health Alliance, announced that Bluetooth technology will be adopted as a healthcare device standard in version two of its guidelines for low-energy wireless communication.

“Continua’s choice of Bluetooth low-energy technology – a specification in development at this time and expected to be adopted by the end of the year – underscores the excitement and need for this Bluetooth wireless standard in the telehealth arena,” said Michael Foley, executive director of the Bluetooth SIG (Special Interest Group).

The Bluetooth SIG brings not only a superb wireless technology to our design guidelines, but a state-of-the-art testing and qualification program to our members,” said Rick Cnossen, Continua president and chairman of the board of directors.

“The continued choice to work with Bluetooth wireless technology and the Bluetooth SIG is a natural extension for Continua.”

Continua certifies many telehealth devices, ranging from health-monitoring (pulse oximeter, blood-pressure cuff, thermometer, weight scale, glucose meter) to cardiovascular fitness devices to independent living monitors for the elderly or frail.

For more details, refer to the article in SiliconRepublic.

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“It’s a pretty big business,” notes ABI Research vice president Stan Schatt in a classic understatement. “The strong uptake of Wi-Fi in the health industry is underpinned by its need for improved asset management, staff mobility, transfer of digitized records, and standardized administration of medications. In addition, government security requirements including HIPAA often mean replacing older wireless equipment with modern versions.”

Among the benefits of increased Wi-Fi penetration are reductions in operating costs, which is also a theme stressed by the Obama administration in its drive for healthcare reform.

However, healthcare Wi-Fi is no one-stop-shop. “No one vendor has all the necessary pieces to make a complete system for a major medical institution,” says Schatt. “It is truly a Tower of Babel.” So there is a premium on partnerships and systems integration. Generally it’s the wireless LAN equipment channel partner that integrates all these things and makes them work together. The manufacturers have to develop technology partnerships too, and share information so that devices can be optimized for their systems.

For more details , refer to press release by ABI research.

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The Merck Manual for Mobile and Web lets you take the world’s most widely used medical reference wherever you go. The new companion website,  The Merck Manual for Mobile and Web, allows you to access disease information while at your computer or via your mobile device.

Written by more than 300 expert clinicians, this proven resource now features expanded clinical focus on each disorder along with more specific guidance on patient evaluations than ever before. Intuitive built-in navigation helps you quickly retrieve and review diagnostic and treatment information.

Regular updates are delivered automatically. With Unbound Medicine’s unique mobile platform you can refer to the latest information from The Merck Manual anywhere!

Features:

• Reliable: Trusted content written by more than 300 medical experts
• Essential: Clinically focused topics with quick disease overviews
• Easy to use: Handy navigational tools to retrieve the right information, right away
• Comprehensive: 34 new chapters, including Dietary Supplements, Exercise and Sports Injuries, Principles of Radiologic Imaging, Care of the Surgical Patient, and more!

Requirements: 10 Mb (Memory card supported ), Carrier Data Plan or on-device WiFi

The demo is available here.

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One of the challenges usually doctors/physicians face , is that  whether patients have  taken their medications or not. This is even more challenging in case if the patient has to taken medicine for longer periods( e.g. couple of months).

Mobile applications could come in handy to ensure if the patients have taken their medicines or not. The application could be a simple reminder service which could be installed on patient’s phone (with patient’s consent) with reminders set for medication dosage and times. Another option could be a reminder sms sent to the patient’s phone(  In most of countries except US, incoming Sms is free).

In developing countries, where doctor/physician to population ratio is very low, these applications could be more helpful. Incentives could also be added for patients to take their medicines with the help of sponsor(e.g.  local mobile company or local grocer ).

I found an interesting article in The Economist titled  ” Taken your medicine? “, where patients were given incentives to take medicine and report back. The trial done in Nicaragua involving 30 people with tuberculosis was a success and a second is about to be carried out in Pakistan, where a batch of 400 XoutTB patches is arriving this month.  The details regarding the project in Pakistan from the article are below:-
” Conditions in Karachi, the Pakistani city in which the trial is being conducted, could politely be described as “challenging”. According to Rachel Glennerster, a member of the XoutTB team who has worked as an economist at the IMF and the British Treasury, the local medical clinics are closed about 60% of the time and doctors or nurses are often absent during the 40% when the doors are nominally open. Such absences—and the associated lack of compliance-monitoring—are some of the problems for which XoutTB is designed to compensate.

Pakistan, though, presents a second difficulty. Aamir Khan, the director of XoutTB’s operations in the country, quickly discovered that one of the neediest groups of people there are 15- to 25-year-old women. Unfortunately, they are often under the thumbs of their parents or husbands and are not allowed mobile phones of their own. Dr Khan is therefore considering the idea of a different reward—high-energy food supplements to combat malnutrition. The system would not supply food directly, but would instead top up credit at the patient’s grocer using an automatic link.

If XoutTB does work, the team has ambitions to extend it. Other drugs can also be a nuisance to remember. The anti-retrovirals used to combat AIDS, for example, have to be taken for the rest of a patient’s life. And taking medicines for non-infectious conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure is also a chore. Find the right “litmus test”, though, and what is now being done with TB drugs could succeed with any of these as well. Taking your medicine could, at last, become a truly rewarding experience. “

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