Patient Generated Data Goes Mainstream

Since 1999, Patientsite, the BIDMC  shared record between doctor and patient,  has enabled patients to track blood pressure, glucometer readings, activities of daily living, mood, pain etc. but few patients have used those features.Why?  Because it requires time and energy to maintain that data.What if data gathering was entirely passive?Today, I own a Withings bathroom scale and Withings Pulse O2 wearable monitor.    When I get up each morning, my weight, body mass index, and fat percentage is measured by my scale and wirelessly sent to the Withings cloud where it is routed to my Microsoft HealthVault account and my iPhone Withings app.As I go through each day, my Pulse O2 device tracks my sleep pattern, my activity level (distance and elevation), my heart rate, and my pulse ox measurement.    Using Bluetooth Low Energy (BTLE), all the data is instantly synched to my iPhone and viewable by hour, by day and by week.There is nothing I have to do.   All of this just happens as part of my activities of daily living.There are three factors that are combining to create a perfect storm for patient generated data to enter the mainstream1.  The devices, standards (content, vocabulary, transport), and usability are good enough.  The total expense of acquiring/using them is cheap enough2.  ACOs are beginning to accept the fact that home care devices such as pulse oximeters, blood pressure cuffs, electronic  scales, glucometers...
Source: Life as a Healthcare CIO - Category: Technology Consultants Source Type: blogs