1. HIMSS 2013 - Remote Monitoring Rising...Slowly by Jim Bloedau
By Jim Bloedau of Information Advantage Group
Where on the remote monitoring adoption curve the
vendors exhibiting at HIMSS 2013 were was the focus of
my attention at this year’s conference. Keeping in mind
that a large part of HIMSS’ audience are large IDNs and
“chiefs” of the care continuum who are leading the
automation and innovation efforts, history has shown
that what vendors were showing is a reflection of what
the market is asking for. Here’s what I saw.
Remote Monitoring Devices: Remote monitoring was
limited to the garden variety of BP, O2Sat, peak flow,
weight and communication hubs. Although some
vendors have not migrated their monitoring devices to
wireless (Cardiocom) the newer wireless devices stood out. Among these, Numera appears to have the
longest list of device partners and most modern wireless lineup of vendors of the group. They have also
positioned themselves with an ultra modern update of the ancient “help I can’t get up” personal
emergency response (PERS) device that can delineate between real falls and just someone dropping it,
geo-locate and make the call for help – a very nice product. It will be interesting to track how the market
matures around this and other remote monitorin technology that includes long term players Honeywell
“Hommed”, Bosch “Health Buddy” and the market leader Philips “Healthcare at Home”.
Population Health Management: Population health management was one of the top three buzz words
on the exhibit floor. This was limited more to the professional side and was mostly a renaming of disease
management.
What fits into this category is the advent of intelligent home health hubs that can individualize suggested
wellness steps based upon the answers of a couple of simple questions. These questions may lead to what
to do suggestions and feedback loops showing progress trending, mood trending, calendaring or
medication adherence. These hubs are rudimentary and intended for the aging at home patient who is
not technologically savey. The daily questions they offer have branching logic that is used to determine
what content to serve up based on a profile of you - similar to adds that Google search individualizes for
you. It is an exploratory way to keep the content fresh and engaging to prevent user fatigue and
patient's slipping back into unhealthy habits.
Another vein of population management is “patient engagement”- another prevalent buzz word - which
uses behavioral design thinking to get us to be better at healthy habits. When speaking with Philips, the
term “behavioral science” came up several times when talking about their DirectLife product. One of the
leaders in behaviorial design for healthcare application is the Persuasive Technology Lab at Stanford and
being led by BJ Fogg and his "Behavior Design" model - interesting and attacks the biggest problem in
healthcare - compliance.
Amoung the leading EHR vendors, there was a paucity of remote care technology. The exception was Epic
who demoed MyChart Bedside, a tablet concept for the home, where the patient can be monitored and
manage activities of daily living (ADL) like “meals on wheels.”
Implications: Clearly both of these examples indicate the beginnings of a trend from a one to many
delivery of healthcare to a one to one "engagement." We already see this 1-2-1 in our daily online lives
as ads are served up to us based on some mysterious database somewhere being common. This is also

2. the beginning of a platform model for healthcare where the consumer/patient also creates value by
becoming a source of data that allows individualization of message for better wellness and if physiologic
monitoring is included, preemptive interventions that avoid acute care episodes. What I saw at the
conference is that everyone is very focused on ICD 10, Meaningful Us, ACO/PCMH and EHR
implementations. What I heard was that all see the possibility and value of BYOD, mHealth and remote
care technology, but lacked of bandwidth to do much with it now.