ADI recently announced that it will cooperate with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to develop technologies for the next generation of patient monitoring devices. Through MIT's newly established Center for Medical Electronic Equipment Implementation Center, senior ADI engineers and MIT R&D scientists will work together to develop new technologies for portable devices so that patients can check vital signs such as heart rate and blood pressure in a comfortable home. , blood oxygen and respiratory rate.

Behind this cooperation, it reflects the change in the mode of medical care services and the trend toward the use of related monitoring equipment.

Going home to bring about the industry changes

According to the statistics of the United States Medical Insurance and Medical Assistance Service Center, in the United States, the expenditure on medical care in the United States was 2.5 trillion US dollars in 2009, of which more than 50% was spent on inpatient medical services and doctors' clinical services. Hospitalization fees accounted for a relatively high proportion of total health expenditures. part. In the process of medical advancement vigorously promoted by various countries, home patient monitoring equipment can shorten the length of hospital stay for patients and reduce the number of visits required by doctors for routine monitoring, thereby significantly reducing related costs, and is therefore increasingly drawing attention from governments and industry in various countries.

Patrick O'Doherty, ADI's vice president of health care, said: "With the development of modern technology, medical equipment that could only be seen in hospitals and doctors' offices has gradually transformed into the homes of ordinary people." As a professor at MIT Dr. Charles Sodini, co-founder of MEDRC, stated: “Transferring patient care to the family marks a fundamental change in the way health care services are delivered. In order to achieve this major transformation, innovation in medical devices is indispensable. ADI's cooperative R&D goal is to provide medical device companies with the technology needed to build a continuous monitoring system for vital signs."

The aging of the global population and soaring medical costs have driven a huge market demand for home healthcare solutions. As smaller, cheaper portable home care technologies replace large, expensive equipment, the number of healthcare products on the market continues to increase, and the development of semiconductor technology has driven the popularity and cost reduction of home healthcare. ABI Research predicts that 59 million wearable home healthcare devices will be put into use by 2014, when the total number of wearable devices will reach 420 million, including sports and fitness equipment.

Telemonitoring is not a dream

Currently, there are already 15 primary health care service providers in the UK using Docobo's HealthHUB and doc@HOME systems to monitor hundreds of patients. HealthHUB is a portable home tele-monitoring system that can make chronic illnesses at home and community centers recuperate and record information such as blood pressure, blood glucose, electrocardiogram, blood oxygen and other vital signs, symptoms, lifestyle, and quality of life. This information is safely transmitted to the clinical database of the Doc@HOME system of the healthcare institution.

Currently, Docobo's clinical testing services in Europe have spread to countries such as the United Kingdom, Estonia, Germany, Finland, Sweden and Portugal. The cost of family disease management and monitoring services is approximately 45 euros per month, with thousands of users in the UK alone. Diseases monitored and managed mainly include heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, asthma, cancer, chronic lung disease, delirium, and postoperative care. Other services also involve maternal health care and nursing homes.

Freedonia Group, a market research company, believes that the market value of home healthcare equipment is now well over US$7 billion. The technologies involved include respiratory therapy, intravenous injection, dialysis, patient monitoring, wheelchairs, assisted walking, medical equipment and safety equipment. And, today's medical devices can provide patients with lower-cost and more secure monitoring methods, and in some cases can even handle their health in their own homes, reducing the need to go to hospitals, clinics or doctors' offices. Healthcare is becoming more and more decentralized.

In addition, a growing number of portable home healthcare monitoring devices include blood glucose meters, sphygmomanometers, heart rate monitors, digital thermometers, pulse oximeters, asthma meters for the treatment of asthma and other respiratory diseases, and for the elderly. Disabled people's fall and motion detection equipment and digital scales for weight monitoring and management, as well as equipment for the treatment of sleep apnea, and even many home fitness equipment have been upgraded to add health measurement and management functions.