Digital healthcare is reaching new heights, previously only dreamt about.
AliveCor, based in San Francisco, has just gotten approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to market its latest development- a heart monitor devised by Dr. David Albert, using an iPhone and application.
Using a device facilitated by your iPhone 4 and 4S, two electrodes are snapped to the back of the phone (like a phone cover) and then by placing it over your heart, a clinical-quality ECG can be generated on the phone. This device takes mhealth to a whole new level in achieving participation digitally between patients and their healthcare providers, making interaction in the Meaningful Use 2 mandate functional.
Over $10.5 million has been raised to make this device available in January 2013. According to Vinod Khosia of Khosia Venture, a venture capital firm of AliveCor, “machines will one day replace 80% of middling doctors.”
This may be the first step in the process that was depicted in “the Jetsons” where you place your body in contact with a computer, and your diagnosis as well as treatment options are given to you with no human involved. While it is obviously time consuming, this may or may not be in our best interest as it also eliminates the human touch which we all need for healing.
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