Digital Health Tech Soars to New Heights in 2013

The field of digital health continues to explode. As a case in point, consider that so far $1.5 billion has been invested in the digital health segment this year, according to the Rock Health Digital Health Funding Update: Q3 2013. That puts 2013 on track to be another record-breaking year for funding, and considerably higher than the $889 million that was invested in the segment in 2011.

Digital health technologies getting a lot of attention this year include surgical applications of Google Glass, Scanadu's medical tricorder, and even the iPhone 5S, which includes a coprocessor designed for mobile health applications.

The smartphone itself is emerging as a health-tracking tool and enabling technology for medical devices. In some cases, app software can transform the smartphone into an FDA-regulated medical device, as explained in FDA's final guidance on mobile medical apps.

As the infographic below points out, there are more 40,000 health apps available. One in five smartphones has a healthcare app installed on it. The infographic also reflects how commonly the Internet is used as a diagnostic tool. More than one third of U.S. adults have used the Internet to diagnose themselves or others. 59% have looked up health information online in the past year.

(A larger PDF version of the infographic is also available.)

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Presented By Qmed.com

Brian Buntz is the editor-in-chief of MPMN and Qmed. Follow him on Twitter at @brian_buntz.