Digital health: data rules (not the disposable device)

Digital Health Update: Devices are Dead. Long Live the Sensor!

The biostamp  (Photo credit: Xconomy)

"Innovation lies at the poles of digital health–the data and the sensor.
 
First off, I would suggest you read Stephen Davies’ very informative blog post on '10 Sensor Innovations Driving Digital Health'.  It’s a great review of device sensors. He also references an informative article by Jane Sarasohn-Kahn that looks at how these new sensors can impact patient care.  The bottom line is that sensors and the related technology are emerging very quickly and will play an important role in the functionality and capacity of the various 'tin cans' that hold the technology and currently drive the digital health movement.
Which got me to thinking about just where the news really is digital health.
We are all frequently captured by design. Up, Fuel, Shine, Fitbit, to name a few, are all very visual products.  And I’ve even written here about how the device aesthetics may play a role in driving some element of acceptance or even moving devices beyond fitness and health into fashion.  But isn’t the device itself going to disappear into the 'fabric of our lives'?

Wear it, eat it or embed it.

Tomorrow’s physicial device very well may just go away.  Or more accurately, the sensors will be integrated into our lives–you’re going to eat them, embed them or even have have them as part of your stylish wardrobe.  Sensors will be incorporated into the touch points of your daily activities like your toothbrush or even the steering wheel of your car.  The resulting data–the other big innovation–will be processed behind the scenes and served up in an unobtrusive or engaging way, just like your morning weather report. These sensors will play a very active role in your life, but act in a very passive and almost silent way to collect personalized data that reflect the specific needs of the individual. In fact, we’re seeing some interesting changes with the emergence of companies like Tictrac, where the particular product becomes more generic and the data rise above the device.

If it works, it’s already obsolete!

One interesting rule of innovation in a rapidly evolving area is that the marketplace can be a real laggard and offer up a product that is disconnected with innovation itself. While this is a practical reality in many areas–from consumer goods to technology–it can be a concern because the real innovation and most powerful trigger for adoption is unavailable.  Nevertheless, I still wonder if the real magic of digital health lies in the not-so-distant future where the device is intellectually and physically disposable and the the sensor (and data) rule the day."

Forbes