Zuni is a smart pill alert system connected to the Cloud that sends patients reminders to take their medications and records their compliance, which users and, if they choose, their doctors can track.
The Zuri's maker, Zume Life Inc., a San Jose, Calif., start-up, and has started beta tests.
Zuri downloads from the Health Cloud the medication schedule on into the device. The device beeps when medication needs to be taken and by pressing a button, the user can confirm whether or not they have taken the pill.
Zume Life's product is one of a number of "self-care" tools that companies including Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp. are developing to help people monitor their own health and receive feedback from caregivers.
Uses include supporting preoperative care and the management of chronic conditions.
The Market is Huge
Over 125 million Americans had at least one chronic disease, such as diabetes or high blood pressure, and by 2020 the figure is expected to reach almost 160 million, according to research by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
The medical costs for chronic diseases in the USA is already in excess of $500 billion and by 2020 it is expected to top $1 trillion.
These technologies have the potential to lower health-care costs by making the delivery of services more efficient and by empowering consumers to take a more-active role in their own care.
Intel Health Device Services
"With more people living with chronic diseases, we believe care can be increasingly moved outside of the hospital to the home," said Louis Burns, vice president and general manager of Intel's Digital Health Group.
The Intel in-home patient device collects readings from specific models of wired and wireless medical devices, such as blood-pressure monitors and glucose meters. It then displays the data for the patient on a touch screen and sends the readings to a secure host server, where health-care professionals can review the information and provide feedback via video conferencing and email.
Patients also can monitor their health status, communicate with care teams and learn about their medical conditions, according to Intel.
Intel is launching these services in 2009 in the U.S. and U.K.
Microsoft Health Device Services
Microsoft is working with 3rd parties to integrate vital-signs data into HealthVault, an online service the software company recently launched that allow consumers to store and manage and selectively share medical data.
HealthVault account holders can add data from 50 devices, including heart-rate monitors and blood-pressure machines from nine manufacturers, to their personal health records.
Users can then share the data with several applications, such as the American Heart Association's blood-pressure manager.
"We're looking to add more device categories, such as fitness equipment, and finding new applications to support the data from the devices," said Bert Van Hoof, director of partner development at the Microsoft Health Solutions Group.
As predicted, robotic health services will be linked to Cloud Services and set a foundation for artificial intelligence (please refer to AI 4).
