How far is mobile medicine overturning traditional medical care?

The device detects Tririni's blood pressure on a daily basis, then sends the monitoring data to a smartphone-related application that sends the reader data to the doctor. Tririni said. The device, produced by ihealth, an individual health-management start-up, has saved him several times to see the doctor.

In fact, portable blood pressure meter is not new things, has been around for some time. But the idea of connecting a small wearable device to smartphones and software apps shows exactly how entrepreneurs use wireless technology to create innovative services.

Rather than empowering doctors and caregivers to monitor patients remotely, simplifying the collection of data on a large number of therapeutic effects, the goal of the mobile medical industry is to reduce the cost of treatment while improving the patient's treatment.

Emerging markets are already experimenting with new types of mobile devices and applications that are easing the pressure on those underfunded and outdated clinics and hospitals. But it is not the emerging world that has benefited most from the rise of the mobile healthcare industry, but the US. Because of inefficiency, America's health-care system spends $2.8 trillion a year. Passionate entrepreneurs have changed the prospects for health care. Last year, venture capitalists invested 2.2 billion of dollars in health start-ups, including $564 million in mobile healthcare, according to Mercomcapitalgroup, a global clean energy communications and consulting firm.

The mobile medical market can be divided into two major types. The first category of products is to monitor the wearer's fitness through applications and electrical equipment, such as Nike, fitness accessories manufacturer Fitbit and Jawbone. They install various chips in their wristband and other wearable electronic devices, allowing users to use the equipment to record their physical performance and calorie consumption while walking down the street or sweating in the gym.

The second type of product is the other applications and equipment that will physically connect the patient's physical condition to the medical system. Last month, for example, Google announced it was developing a contact lens with tiny wireless chips and sensors that could detect and transmit blood sugar levels in tears in diabetics. Apple, in December last year, gained an embedded heart rate monitor patent.

Health apps may help people keep their workout plans and make people healthier at the right time. But in the short term, these apps will not have a big impact on the health care system, and may not make a lot of money for many investors. IMS, a research firm, says there are more than 33,000 health-care-related applications in the GooglePlay App Store, with 15% of the total downloads of these applications coming from 5 apps, two of which are calorie-computing apps.

A growing number of entrepreneurs believe that the second category of products that seek to transform the current medical model can make a lot of money. Of course, it's not just startups that stare at the fat, but big companies find opportunities. Qualcomm set up the mobile medical department Qualcomm Life (QUALCOMM), and set up a technology platform, so that mobile medical enterprises can be more convenient to people's medication and the results of testing and other data integration, to facilitate the doctor to obtain more complete user health information.

In addition, many mobile medical enterprises have begun to sell products. AliveCor Company launched a mobile heart detector, the price of 199 U.S. dollars, the device is connected with the user's smartphone, users only need to put two fingers on the detector of the metal sheet, you can measure the electrocardiogram. At the end of the measurement, the data will be displayed in the mobile app, and the data can be transmitted to the cardiologist for evaluation, of course, it's paid for. In addition to the mobile heart tester, the company sells a veterinary animal electrocardiogram tester. Another start-up, CellScope, a mobile medical diagnostics provider, unveiled a headset that connects to the iphone and applications and transmits the images directly to physicians.

Medtronic, a large medical equipment maker, spent 200 million dollars last year acquiring Cardiocom, a provider of disease management and patient care services. Verizon, a mobile telecoms operator, launched a platform last October that allows users to transfer data stored in household devices, such as household blood glucose monitors, to the company's cloud servers.

As Tang Jones, vice president of high Life, says, it's like a car electronic device telling drivers about a car, mobile medical devices and applications that "let people have dashboards, measuring instruments and warning lights", allowing users and their physicians to easily track their physical condition, Users may receive a warning before they are hospitalized with deteriorating health conditions. The average cost of a hospital ward in the United States is about $4300 a night, and given such high costs, mobile medicine will be able to save a lot of money for patients.

Another way to use technology to avoid a health crisis is to check the patient's medication. Mobile Health Management platform Propeller Healt has launched a device that is installed above the asthma inhaler to detect patient usage. In addition, Proteusdigitalhealth, a mobile medical company, is testing a digestible electronic chip for pharmaceuticals. The chip, after swallowing, can react with gastric juices to form a circuit, and then transfer information to smartphones, allowing doctors and caregivers to track the patient's medication time.

In any case, the goal of mobile medicine is to improve the health of users while saving money. The average annual treatment cost for patients with high blood pressure, due to failure to take medication in time, is close to $4000 trillion, higher than the average cost of treatment for those with high blood pressure on time.

If mobile medical products are able to deliver on their promises to patients, the medical jobs that trigger large numbers of technology will disappear, and a large number of medical technicians may face unemployment. The development of mechanical intelligence ultimately or means that people are less reliant on doctors and experts to analyze the results of medical tests.

The problem, however, is that the enthusiasm of technologists for this innovation is in opposition to the conservatism of the healthcare industry. Doctors in the United States are in direct proportion to the number of patients they are attending, and mobile medical products will lead to a decrease in the number of paid patients, so the traditional healthcare industry remains sceptical about such products.

In addition to reducing the workload of doctors, insurers may worry that the spread of mobile medical devices and applications could lead people to covet their own disease. As long as there is any irregular data, people will worry about their health, and eventually lead to hospital clinics crowded with a variety of "suspected disease" patients. If that happens, doctors are busier than ever, and rising health-care costs will not be curbed.

So if you want doctors, hospital managers, and insurance companies to accept mobile medicine, mobile healthcare companies need to come up with evidence that they can actually improve the outcome of their treatment while lowering their medical costs.

Bessemerventurepartners partner Stephen Klaus Stephenkraus, a private venture, says many mobile medical companies are optimistic that all you have to do is "apply" health care, and the world will change. Venrock partner Bob Keshel (Bobkocher), a venture-maker, believes that many sophisticated mobile medical products are targeting doctors, clinics and hospitals for their own purposes, not patients, and if so, they have to build a sales force like a pharmaceutical company. It takes a long time to consume money.

There are also mobile medical devices that may have to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Last year, the FDA announced a plan to regulate only mobile medical products with traditional medical devices, such as ECG. Even so, to get FDA approval, there are still a lot of cumbersome procedures to face.

Despite the difficulties, there are optimists who believe that the healthcare industry is undergoing mobile change. Proteusdigitalhealth's boss, Andrew Thompson Andrewtompson, hopes that the sensors and software that his company is developing can become a "platform" for mobile medicine, just as Facebook dominates social networks, Let other enterprises develop applications for their own platforms.

But mobile healthcare start-ups may face daunting challenges. Kosher that giants such as Google and Apple may also build mobile medical platforms. In search of alternative-coded biometric technology, Apple has acquired a heart rate monitoring patent in the United States, meaning that the iphone may be able to identify users through a heartbeat sensor. Because of the tight regulation, Apple needs to be careful and think twice before entering the medical equipment market. But in the development of wearable devices, Apple has completely concealed its interest. If consumers end up being as enthusiastic about the healthcare industry as their current investors are, Apple is bound to meet consumers ' needs.

Patience and financial resources are essential for businesses that want to make money in mobile medicine. However, they may be able to rely on technology enthusiasts to convince their doctors to use new mobile medical devices and applications during the treatment process. For example, Tririni, who is one of the first to mention the article, says, "I don't trust medical measures that don't take these new technologies." ”

(Responsible editor: Lu Guang)