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The Cambridge, Mass.-based New England Health Institute (NEHI), a national health policy institute, has identified 11 emerging technologies that it thinks has the potential to improve care and lower costs for chronic disease patients, especially those in at-risk populations. According to NEHI, the technologies can target a range of chronic illnesses, including diabetes, asthma, stroke, and heart disease.
In addition, the technologies, NEHI says, reflect the growing emphasis on empowering patients to monitor their own care through the use of mobile platforms, social networking and home-based telehealth technologies. They include web-based platforms that enable patients to connect virtually to their physician through their smartphone or personal computer, cell phone apps for medication reminders and asthma control, and in-car wireless systems that monitor patients’ health while they are driving.
“Nearly half of all American adults have at least one chronic illness,” NEHI President Wendy Everett said in a statement. “And these eleven emerging technologies hold the promise of greatly helping them manage their disease and connect with their doctors in real time.”
Each of the technologies are profiled in NEHI’s new report, “Getting to Value: Eleven Chronic Disease Technologies to Watch,” published with support from the California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF). The technologies are as followed.