Healthcare in the palm of your hand

Managing your healthcare is moving increasingly to the palm of your hand — with new smartphone-enabled technology and wearable sensors that examine, diagnose and even treat many conditions and ailments.

The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas saw the debut of new applications for “virtual checkups” and ways to treat pain, manage stress and monitor conditions such as diabetes.

French-based health group VisioMed introduced its Bewell Connect health management suite, which includes a smartphone app that communicates with its connected blood pressure and glucose monitor, thermometer and blood oxygen sensor.

“If I have all these indicators I can get a pretty good assessment of your health,” said Benjamin Pennequin, research director for the group. “This is like a personal virtual checkup.”

But the app goes further: If you have symptoms such as chest pain or shortness of breath, it poses a series of questions and delivers potential diagnoses, and allows the user to share the data with a physician.

And a simple button on the app can connect you to a doctor: In France the app locates nearby providers in the national medical service, and Bewell is working to establish a network of connected physicians in the United States.

A hand-held connected device unveiled by Las Vegas-based startup MedWand allows consumers to measure temperature, heart rate, oxygen levels and includes a camera to examine the throat and inner ear to enable doctors to perform an exam online.

Lead engineer Terry MacNeish said the data from the $250 gadget allows for a more thorough exam than most other kinds of telemedicine. “If you’re just Skyping your doctor, it’s just medical chat,” MacNeish said. “With this we can get a picture of your tonsils, we can take your temperature. It’s much more precise.”

MedWand is working with existing telemedicine doctors and plans to start selling the device in June in the United States and globally.

MedWand is in the pre-approval phase for clearance by the US FDA and he said insurance companies are generally positive because a telemedicine exam costs less than one in a doctor’s office.

“The patient saves a lot of time and so does the doctor,” he said.

Continuous monitoring

Putting more health data in consumers’ hands is a big theme at CES.US-based medical device maker Omron unveiled its wrist-worn blood pressure sensor which delivers information to a smartphone.

“Most people only get their blood pressure checked at the doctor’s office once or twice a year,” said chief operating officer Ranndy Kellogg.“This is continuous monitoring. If there is something wrong with your heart, you really want to listen.”

Tech-savvy startups and others are introducing new ways to treat pain, in some cases taking techniques which have been around for decades and adapting them for smartphones and connected wearables.

NeuroMetrix debuted its Quell leg band, which blocks pain signals to the brain, and is an alternative to drugs for people suffering from debilitating pain related to diabetes or other ailments. It recently received approval from the Food and Drug Administration.