Digital Health

Digital health is booming. This year has seen funding explode—venture fund Rock Health reported that digital health investments hit $3.4 billion mid-year—and these days it seems that digital health advances break pretty regularly.

Innovators have made significant strides this year. Apple made headlines this year with its ECG App for Apple Watch Series 4, and while others are in the space, the tech giant could drive greater awareness about digital health. Apple could have more planned, as CNBC has reported that Apple has been quietly adding dozens of medical doctors to its payroll.

Digital health companies have been working to demonstrate effectiveness. For instance, one company that presented at BIOMEDevice San Jose 2018—Leaf Healthcare—has shared data that its wearable for monitoring patient position and movement can make a difference. Leaf Healthcare’s wearable sensor has already been used to track the mobility of more than 20,000 patients for more than 1.8 million hours and has helped healthcare facilities reduce the number of hospital-acquired pressure ulcers by an average of 74%, the company reported in August. "Clinicians quickly recognize the benefits provided by the Leaf System," said Barrett Larson, Leaf CEO and co-founder, in a news statement. "Adoption of Leaf leads to immediate, significant, and sustained reductions in rates of hospital-acquired pressure injuries. Leaf has been shown to be highly effective in both real-world clinical environments and rigorous research settings. Leaf is a safer, smarter solution to pressure injury prevention."

Also, a survey conducted at the 2018 American Nurses Credentialing Center National Magnet Conference found that nearly all respondents (98 percent) agree that "a technology solution that helps guide nurses to turn patients with sufficient adequacy would help improve patient outcomes."

Also this year, Propeller Health’s sensor helped uncover the link between air pollution and rescue inhaler use, sending usage data and location alerts to patients’ smartphones. Meredith Barrett, vice president of research at Propeller Health, told MD+DI that “by using this medication-use data, we’re able to look at the daily burden of disease.”

And Adherium's Hailie Bluetooth-enabled sensor is being used to monitor inhaler usage in the SmartAirLA program for asthmatic children. Vik Panda, vice president of marketing for Adherium, told MD+DI that “there is a growing body of evidence that the use of our system reduces the number of missed school days for children and reduces the number of emergency visits to the hospital.”

The coming new year could bring even more digital developments. During MD+DI’s Webcast, “Top Trends to Watch in Medtech” with Arda Ural Ernst & Young LLP, attendees were asked to identify from this list the healthcare technologies that offer the biggest disruptive potential to their business over the next three years: 3D Bioprinting, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Medical Internet of Things, Genetic Technologies, and Robotics. Medical IoT was the leader by far, having been selected by 33.9% of attendees.