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Leading Health And Technology Companies Form Alliance To Improve Personal Health Through Connected DevicesSAN FRANCISCO, June 6, 2006 – Given the rise of chronic conditions and the rapid aging of the population, the methods of managing health will need to shift from traditional institutional settings to peoples’ everyday environments, including the home. To enable this shift, a group of technology, healthcare and fitness companies have formed the Continua* Health Alliance, an open industry group that will establish an ecosystem of connected personal health and fitness products and services, making it possible for patients, caregivers and healthcare providers to more proactively address ongoing healthcare needs. Founding members of the group include BodyMedia*, Cisco Systems*, GE Healthcare*, IBM*, Intel Corporation, Kaiser Permanente*, Medtronic*, Motorola*, Nonin*, Omron Healthcare*, Panasonic* (Matsushita Electric*), Partners HealthCare*, Polar Electro*, Royal Philips Electronics*, RMD Networks*, Samsung Electronics*, Sharp*, The Tunstall Group*, Welch Allyn* and Zensys*. “First and foremost, this alliance is about helping to empower people with the information they need to better manage their health and the health of their loved ones,” said David Whitlinger, Chairman of the Continua Health Alliance and Director of Healthcare Device Standards in Intel’s Digital Health Group. “We are creating an organization where several seemingly disparate industries can work together to combine their products and services through connectivity standards and provide millions of people with the tools they need to better manage their health and the health of their families.” The Continua Health Alliance efforts will be focused on three major categories: chronic disease management, monitoring the health and healthcare needs of aging people and proactive health and fitness. By enabling a network of readily connected health and medical devices, people with diabetes or other chronic diseases will be able to share glucose-levels and other vital sign information with their doctors. Adult children will be able to remotely watch over their aging parents and proactively help them manage safely in their own homes. Diet and fitness conscious individuals will also be able to seamlessly share their weight and exercise data with fitness consultants through the Internet. “The benefits of interoperability go beyond improved healthcare for consumers. It provides the opportunity for a more cost effective and efficient health care system,” said Marc Holland, program director, Health Provider Research, Health Industry Insights. “Medical and health device manufacturers can more rapidly develop interoperable devices and services using industry-developed connectivity standards. And healthcare providers can offer better quality care through personalized health solutions assembled from a rich marketplace of interoperable healthcare devices and services.” The Continua design guidelines will not create new networking standards, but will be based on proven connectivity standards. Proven connectivity standards that will be considered include Bluetooth*, USB, Wi-Fi*, Z-Wave* and ZigBee*, among other established transports. The group plans to deliver the guidelines within the next 18 months. The group also intends to establish a product certification program with a consumer recognizable logo signifying the promise of interoperability with other certified products. Products made under Continua guidelines will provide consumers with increased assurance of interoperability among devices, enabling them to more easily share information with care givers and service providers. Through collaborations with government agencies and others, the alliance will work to provide guidelines for the effective management of diverse products and services from a global network of vendors. To learn more about the Continua Health Alliance and its participating companies and to find out how to become a member, visit www.continuaalliance.org. Alliance Member QuotesBodyMedia “BodyMedia’s wearable body monitors provide gold standard information about the minute-by-minute lifestyle of the wearers. This information, though, is only useful to the extent that the health and wellness ecosystem can use this information to evaluate, treat, and support behavior modification in well and unwell populations. The Continua Alliance is the industry’s best chance, on a global scale, to bring the health and wellness technology ecosystem into the kind of alignment that can and should result in an explosion of valuable new products and services.” Cisco Systems “The Continua Health Alliance is an important first step in creating a highly supportive and technology enabled environment for personal health and wellness. Empowering people to manage their personal healthcare and wellness results in better health and outcomes.” GE Healthcare “GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our vision for the future is to enable a new ‘early health’ model of care focused on earlier diagnosis, pre-symptomatic disease detection and disease prevention. We are proud to be a part of the Continua Health Alliance to help create interoperability standards that will allow the healthcare industry to break barriers of adoption, permitting doctors to track and treat patients over time and enable personalized medicine.” IBM “Working with organizations such as the Continua Health Alliance is important as we collaborate to improve patient lives and the overall quality of healthcare. Connectivity standards that will allow new solutions to better manage on-going healthcare needs is another step in bringing us closer to patient-centric healthcare.” Intel Corporation “Today is a great day for consumers around the world. The technology industry is combining strengths with the healthcare industry to create a more robust set of products that work together seamlessly to help us care for ourselves and each other in a better way.” Kaiser Permanente “Kaiser Permanente is a major consumer of biomedical technology and has a long-term vision to leverage the electronic health record from the hospital to the home. Our sponsorship of this alliance is an investment in defining the infrastructure necessary to achieve our vision and transform how care is delivered.” Medtronic “Historically we have observed the patient at staged intervals, for example in the emergency room or the doctor’s office or through data in a patient file. Our goal is to create a construct with real-time monitoring for consumers so that analysis can be done any time, any place. True disease management is understanding the human condition in real-time, and delivering better solutions to people when they need them, not when it's too late.” Motorola “As a leading global technology innovator with more than 75 years of experience, Motorola offers world leadership in mobile wireless communications and extensive expertise deploying millions of mobile communications devices worldwide. We welcome this opportunity to be part of this much anticipated alliance and look forward to bringing our innovative technology to the healthcare industry.” Nonin Medical “A major barrier to better health for millions of people will be eliminated when health-related devices are able to send health readings – from blood pressure and heart rate to blood oxygen saturation and glucose levels – to doctors and caregivers. The technology to enable seamless connections among these devices is already available, yet it is virtually untapped in the health care arena. The Continua Health Alliance's guidelines will enable manufacturers to develop products that are able to ‘speak the same language’ and share the vital information that patients, doctors, coaches and caregivers need to make health decisions.” Omron Healthcare “With the rapidly increasing prevalence of diabetes and hypertension, and other diseases resulting from the growing obesity epidemic, preventive medicine can be the key to a longer, healthier life for millions of people. We are confident that our products and technology will be able to significantly contribute to this Alliance. Connecting the home to the hospital or physician’s clinic more accurately addresses people’s healthcare needs and underscores Omron Healthcare’s goal.” Panasonic (Matsushita Electric) “Panasonic is a leading provider of consumer healthcare devices and is delighted to be a part of the founding of the Continua Healthcare Alliance. We are committed to the Alliance’s objective of using established and agreed-upon industry standards for the operation of and communications among healthcare devices and systems. Panasonic’s goal is to provide our customers with products that are easily networked so as to maximize the health and well being of our society.” Partners HealthCare “As a practicing physician, I must commend these technology leaders for their vision and spirit of cooperation, to come together to help advance telemedicine and patient care in the home through the cooperative application of technology. This collaboration will be successful if we can improve the quality of patient care and overcome many of the burdens being faced by our healthcare system. That is our goal, and we are already seeing great strides being made. At Partners Telemedicine, we are realizing the advantages technology can bring to healthcare, helping patients become more informed and involved in their care, enabling more appropriate and efficient patient monitoring and the ability to better manage wellness and disease management programs. With the resources and experience of the Continua Alliance, we expect to make even faster progress in improving patient care.” Polar Electro “This a valuable opportunity for us to achieve change and to lead the way in developing new methods for improving the wellbeing of people. Furthermore, the companies involved have the opportunity to share and develop new ideas that can open new business opportunities while working to counter the challenges we face.” RMD Networks “A fundamental and urgent need for improving our healthcare system is to better facilitate communication, collaboration and information exchange between multiple providers, patients and healthcare devices. The Continua goal of achieving interoperability and collaboration through the appropriate application of standards is very much in harmony with this need and RMD’s corporate mission. We are delighted to participate in this important alliance.” Royal Philips Electronics "Healthcare touches everybody, everywhere, at any time. It’s about providing patients and consumers access to affordable and available care of good quality, in the developed and in the developing world. To meet the healthcare needs and challenges of today and tomorrow, we provide integrated, innovative healthcare solutions across the entire care cycle, enhancing the health and well being of patients and consumers, as well as the work satisfaction of healthcare professionals. At Philips, we increasingly empower people at home with innovative self-care solutions that allow you and your caregiver to diagnose, monitor and improve your health and well-being. By being a founding member of the Continua alliance, Philips aims to achieve this vision of personal health solutions through interoperable, connected care devices.” Sharp “We are now facing an historical turning point in preventive medicine due to the increase of the rate of chronic disease and the rapid growth of the aging population. We have decided to take steps to contribute to a safer and healthier life style using our advanced technologies. Imagine digital appliances with sensors providing continuous observation of your health and delivering appropriate information in real time using network technologies.” The Tunstall Group “We are standing on the verge of an incredible opportunity to change the face of healthcare delivery throughout the world, to the benefit of those most in need. The creation of The Continua Alliance will allow the advantages of healthcare technology to be opened up to everyone. Interoperability will enable health care providers and individuals, to develop truly personalized health solutions which will result in better quality care programmes than we have ever been able to deliver and we at Tunstall are delighted to be a part of this exciting venture.” Welch Allyn “The Continua Health Alliance is and extremely important to Welch Allyn, the customers we serve, and the Healthcare recipient since I believe it will play a significant role in facilitating and driving Healthcare interoperability and delivery across the complete continuum of care – departing from encounter based Healthcare to personalized Healthcare, which is to move away from reactiveness and toward proactiveness; to move from application specific to Healthcare recipient holistic; to move from existence of life to life quality; and to move away from treatment to toward prevention. It's about empowering personalized Healthcare.” Zensys “The evolution of the healthcare industry and the aging of the global population is creating a growing need for individuals to play a more active role in their healthcare. This is a significant focus for Zensys given the role that wireless home controls will play in monitoring and managing health – whether you have a sick relative who lives thousands of miles away, or a nearby neighbor living alone with no living relatives. Knowing that they’re safe with the push of a button takes healthcare to a whole new level.” Intel is a trademark or registered trademark of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. * Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. |
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