Entering into its 10th year, Digital Health has grown 10x since its start, to become one of the largest sections at CES. There is even a specific sub-conference called Digital Health Summit. Health related topics covered at CES focused largely on IoT and AI and its impact on preventative care, digital therapeutics, remote and virtual care, genetic analysis, chronic diseases management, and the opioid crisis. Here is an overview of some of the remarkable innovations, trends, and advancements that are not only transforming consumer healthcare, but fueling the evolution of the insurance industry.
Platform
Validic is a digital health platform that enables convenient and quick access to patient data from in-home clinical devices, wearables, and patient healthcare applications. This cloud-based platform collects the patient generated data from these devices and empowers healthcare professionals to remotely monitor and analyze medical conditions such as diabetes. The Validic Inform solution is the first and only advanced streaming platform for personal health data, helping practitioners efficiently analyze and turn data into actionable decisions.
Sleep
Did you know that a good night’s sleep can lead to a happier, healthier, and more productive life? Understanding the importance of sleep is meaningful to your health, as insufficient sleep can correlate to heart conditions, hypertension, weight gain, and even cancer. SleepScore Labs partnered with Exploragen to launch their SlumberType DNA app on the SleepScore ecosystem. Exploragen assimilates the knowledge from published, peer-reviewed scientific studies to utilize DNA to inform lifestyle traits such as sleep, caffeine metabolism, and more. It will provide users with information on the genetics of sleep and the way it is influenced by DNA, as well as enable personalized insights that can be used to improve and optimize lifestyles. SleepScore also announced a partnership with Dr. Oz for a program designed to monitor, analyze, and improve sleeping habits.
Hearables
“Hearables” are an interesting data collection source that is becoming increasingly popular due to their unique capabilities and accuracy with biometric sensors and vital signs, as well as for it’s convenience and unobtrusiveness. Valencell and Starkey’s Livio AI technology advancements are notable to keep an eye on as they make headway in redefining the way consumers utilize hearables.
Textile Computing
Smart fabrics have been deemed by some as the “future of wearable technology for healthcare,” as it enables unprecedented connection to the human body that leads to contextual insights into health, well-being, and life experiences through textile. Myant, a textile computing startup, aims to democratize access to health analytics by means of smart textiles. Their innovative technology is integrated into everyday fabrics such as clothes, car seats, and bed sheets to monitor heart, health, maternal & fetal ECG, remote rehabilitation, sleep health, and more.
Opioid Crisis
Chronic pain is the most common diagnosis among patients, more common than other chronic diseases such as diabetes, aids, and cancer combined. Neuromodulation is a treatment used to manage chronic pain and has the potential to greatly improve or even solve the opioid crisis. Although this has not been a widely used treatment option in the past, advances in AI have made this tech an increasingly viable alternative. Nevro, a medical device startup, manufactures a device for the non-pharmacologic neuromodulation treatment of chronic pain. Other notable players contributing to these initiatives include Boston Scientific, Medtronic, and Abbott but also Quell was present at CES.
Digital Therapeutics
Digital therapeutics is a treatment option that utilizes digital and online health technology to prevent, manage, and treat medical conditions in a non-pharmaceutical way. For example, Healthcare providers can prescribe a program such as GlucoseZone to treat diabetes, rather than treating with medication. The GlucoseZone digital exercise platform empowers patients to manage and control diabetes by providing advice on what kind of exercise is appropriate based on current blood sugar levels, weight loss guidance, etc. — participants reduce their medication intake by half on average.
Health Data
Seqster is a HIPAA-compliant, nationwide platform that houses DNA data, EHR data and wearables data together in one place, with the goal of empowering individuals to collect, share, and truly understand their health data. The platform has a phenomenal number of existing connections to hospitals and health databases that enables both individuals and families to access, integrate, manage, and own all of their health data in one consolidated digital platform.
Heart Monitoring
Omron, a global player in personal heart and wellness technology, announced the highly anticipated HeartGuide, the first wearable blood pressure monitor in the form of a wristwatch. The Omron Complete was also previewed, which is the first blood pressure monitor in the U.S. with EKG capability in a single device for home and personal use. This integrates with the Omron Connect Mobile app to store, track, and share blood pressure and EKG readings for physicians to gain insights that lead to improved treatment.
Ingestibles
Ingestibles are a small sensor that can be swallowed to track and monitor from the inside. While ingestibles can be used for more general health and wellness tracking, it can also enable detection of disease or other conditions such as gastrointestinal disorders, something 60–70 million Americans suffer from. The human digestive system is extremely complex, consisting of mechanical, chemical, and other processes, which makes it hard to measure from the outside with things such as EKG. Imec is developing an ingestible sensor that monitors important digestive processes and eating habits, while providing nutritional coaching in real time.
Virtual Care & Prevention
Global leaders in healthcare, Johnson & Johnson, Philips, and Teladoc are moving prevention to the forefront by reinventing advanced preventative care. Teladoc preventive care via IoT (e.g. teams that reach out following connected devices data warnings) is one example of a solution forecasted to become available within five years. As utilization rate of virtual care at Teladoc is growing faster than member growth, this is a viable solution to keep an eye on in the coming years.
Something similar applies to CherryHome.ai. The latter is a device that can be easily placed in the home of an elderly person to monitor their condition and offer immediate care.
