5 Responses

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   ICMCC Newspage » Blog Archive » Consumer acceptance of self-monitoring devices

   June 3rd, 2008 at 1:21 pm

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   [...] that come with (potentially) unnecessary visits to the office to monitor chronic conditions.” Article Ted Eytan, 3 June [...]

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   e-Patient Dave

   June 4th, 2008 at 12:06 am

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   As someone who just drove 100 miles today to & from his hospital for a quarterly CT scan, let me tell you, the more gas prices go up, the more people will want home monitoring devices. Buy stock in companies that are doing that stuff!

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   Ted Eytan

   June 4th, 2008 at 6:57 am

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   Dave,

   I’m glad you commented on this - it’s an issue that has been raised multiple times in this proposed project. Would an employee/patient/person want to engage in monitoring of blood pressure on their own? Would there be a difference if the call to action came from their employer vs. their doctor (or does the “who” not matter, but the “how” it’s brought up).

   This data and past literature seem to indicate that patients are interested, what’s your take?

   With regard to stock buying, I know your appeal was to other readers rather than to me, but I want to mention that I am committed to remaining free of ties to device and other medical product manufacturers as I mentioned here.

   More importantly, I hope your quarterly CT turns out for the best - there are many more pots that need to be stirred with your help (my that’s a heavy spoon…),

   Ted

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   e-Patient Dave

   June 4th, 2008 at 7:25 am

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   Re my jaunt to/from Boston, I’m especially glad that last year I bought my Prius - the current tank averaged 50.0 mpg, and last week it hit its best ever: 516 miles on 9.x gallons, 55.4 mpg. Woot!

   What do I think about whether patients are interested? Well, empowerment-based guy that I am, I can’t speak for anyone else. I know there are people who’d rather not know. (My father was one of them.) But for anyone who’s interested in doing EVERYTHING THEY CAN to help their own cause, more-frequent monitoring is a no-brainer.

   What I’m really waiting for is WiFi or Bluetooth or cellular connections between at-home monitors and the Mother Ship, a la Joe Kvedar’s ConnectedHealth group at Mass General. My ultimate vision for that is that the monitors will send data to Mother Ship, where yet-to-be-implemented “wobble detector” software will do profoundly early detection before any visible signs arrive.

   That software might seem improbable but a friend has implemented it in industry successfully and has been beginning to apply it more generally: http://systemhealth.blogspot.com/. So that’s MY vision.

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   Ted Eytan

   June 4th, 2008 at 10:41 am

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   Ahh…I like that idea “for anyone who’s interested” - that’s the key, because it may not be the “who” (employer, doctor, health plan, family member) asking a patient to do this, but the “how” they engage the patient for them to be interested in the first place (”the information you need to decide to be interested in taking care of this”).

   I have spoken a bit with iMetrikus, inc. and posted some pictures of their tools on this blog - the have many of the capabilities you are looking for, and that we’re interested in trying out in California. The idea is, as you say, to connect consumers to their care and the community that supports them. Posting most recent project plan in a little bit.

   Thanks for adding your view to the conversation - it’s very important,

   Ted