Is remote patient monitoring the answer health care's been looking for?
by Olga Deshchenko, DOTmed News Reporter | March 29, 2011
From the March 2011 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
The prospective game changer
Currently, providers can purchase a variety of RPM systems, but some vendors are thinking ahead.
For example, imagine that every patient arriving to the hospital gets a small sensor patch attached to his hand, a device that wirelessly tracks the person’s vitals and location within the facility for a caregiver to view electronically at any given time. That’s the idea behind Medical Body Area Networks, a concept that seeks to improve patient safety and reduce the number of adverse events.
But first, a reliable frequency for relaying signals is needed for MBANs to become a reality. “The problem is that all radio spectrum is currently owned by somebody,” says Paul Coss, director of marketing, critical care with Philips Healthcare, one of the companies leading the MBANs effort.
Without the available spectrum space, MBANs have little chance of moving forward. “There’s a certain unknown here,” says Coss. “The frequency isn’t available to us today, so there are no products available today. There’s only what we think we can do.”
But just because the radio spectrum is crowded doesn’t mean it can’t be shared. The radio band Philips identified as the ideal and cost-effective MBANs range is currently being used by the Aerospace & Flight Test Radio Coordinating Council to test new planes. Although initially wary of sharing the space, the organization listened to what the health care industry had to say.
Philips held months of negotiations with the AFTRCC, working on a technical solution that would ensure the two industries could work side by side without interrupting each other’s signals. “Once [AFTRCC] understood that there was a credible way to control these devices, we collectively started to think about how one could coordinate between the two different services,” says Delroy Smith, engineering project leader, wireless telemetry, with Philips Healthcare.
The fate of MBANs now lies with the Federal Communications Commission. In late January, the health care industry’s filings with the agency were made public. “It’s now up to the FCC to weigh comments by anybody else who’s interested,” says Coss. “We’re waiting for hospitals and other providers to weigh-in because they’re ultimately going to be the users and would benefit from this.”
The industry expects the FCC to make a final ruling some time before the summer and is optimistic about the agency’s decision in its favor. “Once they come up with a set of rules, then we can start figuring out how to produce solutions for this,” Coss says.
The prospective game changer
Currently, providers can purchase a variety of RPM systems, but some vendors are thinking ahead.
For example, imagine that every patient arriving to the hospital gets a small sensor patch attached to his hand, a device that wirelessly tracks the person’s vitals and location within the facility for a caregiver to view electronically at any given time. That’s the idea behind Medical Body Area Networks, a concept that seeks to improve patient safety and reduce the number of adverse events.
But first, a reliable frequency for relaying signals is needed for MBANs to become a reality. “The problem is that all radio spectrum is currently owned by somebody,” says Paul Coss, director of marketing, critical care with Philips Healthcare, one of the companies leading the MBANs effort.
Without the available spectrum space, MBANs have little chance of moving forward. “There’s a certain unknown here,” says Coss. “The frequency isn’t available to us today, so there are no products available today. There’s only what we think we can do.”
But just because the radio spectrum is crowded doesn’t mean it can’t be shared. The radio band Philips identified as the ideal and cost-effective MBANs range is currently being used by the Aerospace & Flight Test Radio Coordinating Council to test new planes. Although initially wary of sharing the space, the organization listened to what the health care industry had to say.
Philips held months of negotiations with the AFTRCC, working on a technical solution that would ensure the two industries could work side by side without interrupting each other’s signals. “Once [AFTRCC] understood that there was a credible way to control these devices, we collectively started to think about how one could coordinate between the two different services,” says Delroy Smith, engineering project leader, wireless telemetry, with Philips Healthcare.
The fate of MBANs now lies with the Federal Communications Commission. In late January, the health care industry’s filings with the agency were made public. “It’s now up to the FCC to weigh comments by anybody else who’s interested,” says Coss. “We’re waiting for hospitals and other providers to weigh-in because they’re ultimately going to be the users and would benefit from this.”
The industry expects the FCC to make a final ruling some time before the summer and is optimistic about the agency’s decision in its favor. “Once they come up with a set of rules, then we can start figuring out how to produce solutions for this,” Coss says.
You Must Be Logged In To Post A CommentRegisterRegistration is Free and Easy. Enjoy the benefits of The World's Leading New & Used Medical Equipment Marketplace. Register Now! |
|
