Towards More Comprehensive Monitoring Devices

An aging population and a shortage of healthcare workers have driven the development of systems that can monitor patients remotely, that process data, and even alert a healthcare worker if there is a problem.

A new report by Kalorama Information (New York, NY, USA) has found that the diseases that make up most healthcare spending in the United States and worldwide (asthma, COPD, congestive heart failure (CHF), chronic heart disease (CHD), and diabetes) are among those most amenable to these new, intelligent, patient monitoring (PM) systems. These systems can ‘read' the data based on pre-programmed algorithms for a patient's specific condition, and can automatically report to a healthcare worker or physician when measurements are abnormal. Manufacturers such as Honeywell (Morristown, NJ, USA), General Electric (GE, Fairfield, CT, USA), and Abbott (Abbott Park, IL, USA) have raced to add wireless communication, data processing, and web interfacing features to their PM systems.

These features enable the systems to gather, sort, and drop data into a patient's electronic medical record (EMR) for future review. Some systems can even take patient care a step further, incorporating built-in video and audio interfaces so that the patient and physician can speak. Improved PM systems mean that patients can leave the hospital sooner, thus reducing costs.

"Data is important, but if your system only gathers data, you are just increasing the burden on the workers who have to then interpret that data,” said Melissa Elder, an analyst for Kalorama Information. "The smart PM systems know that when a pre-defined number is hit, its time to call the doctor.”

Kalorama Information reports that PM systems earned an estimated U.S. $3.9 billion dollars for device manufacturers in 2007, and that this figure could more than double in five years.


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