On the move: Mobile medicine and portable devices
Tim Jennings, Custom Case Group, explains how the trend for mobile medicine in the US is leading to new considerations for portable medical device R&D.
It’s a fact of life, convenience is expensive. However, new research in the healthcare industry is challenging this long-held notion, showing that in the US, house calls—possibly the epitome of convenience—cost less than in-office healthcare in the long term. Since doctors on the go need equipment that goes just as easily, the future is looking very dynamic for medical device manufacturers.
Recent research
A slew of research has emerged in the past few years, revealing that the trend in the US for house-call-style healthcare is picking up steam. Following are three of the more recent additions to this growing body of evidence.
- A first-year analysis of the Independence at Home program, created by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, showed that the program saved Medicare about $13,600 per patient in 2014, with a total reported savings of $25 million.
- A 2014 study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society showed that, over a one-year period, house calls saved Medicare 17% by reducing hospital and nursing home admissions.
- This year, a report prepared by the online publication Health Affairs and the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF) showed that an in-home medical and wellness care programme for senior and homebound patients saved money over time. Researchers accounted for the possibility of higher costs as more patients aged into the program, as well as operational differences across regions.
Industry developments
Encouraged by this kind of research, more companies are jumping on the mobile medicine bandwagon. Several innovative business developments have recently hit the news. These include:
Heal. Dr Renee Dua developed the Heal App for mothers who, like herself, were frustrated with the inconvenience of children’s medical care. With the app, parents can schedule house calls every day from 8am to 8pm with a licensed physician who arrives within two hours. Heal currently only serves a few cities in California, but apps like it are popping up all over.
Gerrard. This sterilisation robot developed by Xenex has been a favorite among hospitalised children for years. In July, though, Gerrard’s job took a new turn. Eleven-month-old leukaemia patient, Vaughn LaMarque, was released from hospital on July 4. Though everyone was glad Vaughn was healthy enough for release, the family would miss the ‘friendship’ and excellent sterilisation the robot provided. The LaMarques asked Xenex if Gerrard could make home visits for Vaughn’s sake. Xenex said yes, and Gerrard became the first mobile robotic doc.
Express Care at Home. When Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica was looking for a new way to simplify patient care, its research led them to launch Express Care at Home. This house-call-style programme, which launched in July, incorporates a mobile app like Heal. Patients schedule visits with Providence’s health care providers who can provide examinationss, make diagnoses and write prescriptions for non-acute illnesses. The docs will even come to a patient’s hotel room.
What it means for medical plastics
Not surprisingly, portable medical devices R&D is picking up speed alongside this trend. And as the healthcare model becomes increasingly mobile, protection and transport features are becoming even more critical in the design and engineering of medical devices. Obviously, the R&D of portable devices has always considered the elements of portability, but the house-call trend could shift things in such a way that the features around protection and functionality will be paramount.
This shift could give medical plastics manufacturers a unique opportunity for growth. If mobile health care is destined to become the norm rather than the exception, protection and ease-of-use will become highly competitive areas of design engineering. In the future, it is likely that everything from dialysis and MRI machines to transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation systems will need to be easy to move and carry. These machines will also need to be impervious to the everyday bumps, drops and vibrations a mobile health care system is sure to bring. Plastic technologies will be the gold standard for addressing these needs.
Those of us on the plastics side of the medical device industry, then, would be wise to shift some of our creative focus to innovations in this area. To support the health care system of the future, we’ll need to start viewing external and internal portability and protection features as integral elements, rather than afterthoughts, in the overall design of these critical devices.