Disruptive technologies:wearables in healthcare

Heather SimmonsNovember 7, 2013

How I Met Kate Hartman

Retrieved from: http://www.ted.com/talks/kate_hartman_the_art_of_wearable_communication.html

Why It Matters• Plants can talk with the aid of sensors. Our bodies tell stories, too. • People without voices need someone to talk for them, as do

(sometimes) the elderly.• The percentage of the population over 65 is going to double

worldwide in the next 25 years, from about 7% to about 15%.• The internet of things and mobile internet are two major disruptive

trends that are going to radically affect our ability to care for the elderly cost-effectively. That’s going to change the world (and make someone a lot of money).

• People working in hostile environments (mining, for example) also need their bodies to talk for them, to summon aid in time. Governments are increasingly regulating safety in these environments.

Disruptive technologies• High rate of technology change – growing at

least 50% year on year• Broad scope of impact – billions of people,

billions of devices• Massive economic impact – trillions of dollars• Huge change to status quo – business winners

and losers; creates/destroys whole companies• Digital photography, iTunes, the cloud• Does this describe wearables today?Source:McKinsey & Co., “Disruptive technologies,” May 2013; team analysis

McKinsey’s Big 12 Disruptive Technologies

Disruptive TechnologiesThe Cloud

- Cost of managing a server in the cloud is one third that of an in-house server

- 80% of North American organizations planning to host critical applications on the cloud

Source:McKinsey & Co., “Disruptive technologies,” May 2013. Retrieved from http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/business_technology/disruptive_technologies

Today’s Cool Wearable Technology!

Source: Retrieved from: http://www.pocket-lint.com/review/124655-pebble-review;http://insider.nike.com/us/launch/nike-fuelband/

So Why Aren’t Wearables Mainstream?

• So how come wearables are still the province of geeks? Why haven’t mainstream consumers adopted wearables wholesale?

• Cost matters. Google Glass at $1,500 a pop is not going to cut it.

• There are a couple of tech trends “pushing” wearables to people, but few massive inexorable demographic trends “pulling” people to consider wearables. Yet.

• Wearables are very personal. So design matters a lot, and better, more comfortable, less obtrusive designs will dramatically impact the rate of mainstream adoption.

Cost Matters – the Sweet Spot

EarlyLaterTIME

Source: Martin, T. and Simmons, H. (1993)

Unit Volumes

Few

Lots

$ PricePer Unit

High

Low

Lower Price Points = Accelerated Adoption

Source: “A gadget’s life,” The Washington Post, Parlapiano, A. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/business/a-gadgets-life/

Demographics Matter

Source: Ativa Interactive. Retrieved from http://www.ativa.com/infographic-canadian-retirement/

Economic Impact of Aging Population

Source: Ativa Interactive - Retrieved from http://www.ativa.com/infographic-canadian-retirement/; Ontario’s Action Plan for Healthcare 2012, retrieved from http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/ms/ecfa/healthy_change/

Healthcare:

- At current rates, healthcare spending will consume

70% of Ontario’s provincial budget by 2025

- The cost of care is 3 times higher for a senior than for an average person

Old Age Security:

Aging Population = Disruptive Oppty for Wearables in Healthcare

- Chronic disease management- Health monitoring - Education and quality improvement

Chronic Disease Management• Chronic disease drives 60% of global healthcare spending.• Patients with chronic conditions such as heart disease could be monitored

by attached sensors, which could transmit readings of various measures (such as heart rate) to medical professionals to avert a crisis.

• In one experiment at the US Veterans Health Administration, remote monitoring devices were used by 70,000 patients with chronic diseases. They also engaged in video discussions with their physicians. These patients had 20% fewer hospital admissions than the control group, at a cost of $1,600 per patient per year, a 9X savings relative to home-based primary care services.

• McKinsey estimates that the cost of chronic disease treatment could be reduced by 10-20 percent through the use of mobile sensors, an economic impact of up to $2 trillion per year by 2025.

Source: “The promise of telehealth: 3 case studies of early adopters”, Piper, K., 2013. Retrieved from http://www.piperreport.com/blog/2013/02/11/promise-telehealth-case-studies/ ; “Disruptive technologies,” McKinsey Global Institute, 2013. Retrieved fromhttp://www.mckinsey.com/insights/business_technology/disruptive_technologies

Sensors for Health Monitoring

Source: National Science Foundation. Retrieved fromhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCixWY3eaOc

Education and Quality Improvement

Source: Ohio State University. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbQY1ay8Sew

But Design Also Matters - Data and Compute Management

“The Cloud”

Do a lot of computing hereDo a little computing here

Design MattersActiBelt System for MS Patients

• Multiple sclerosis is a progressive disease that attacks the nerves’ myelin sheath

• Small study conducted in neurological clinic in Bad Neustadt, Germany, 2007-2008

• Collects gait data from a triaxial accelerometer embedded in belt buckle

• Measured step amplitude and velocity• Users upload files to server via USB, data

checked by clinician, results input into Web application for patient viewing

• User complaints: Not real-time, requires software capabilities, on/off button hard for those with MS, unclear whether system working correctly, privacy.

Source: “Adopting pervasive computing for routine use in healthcare,” Orwat, et al (2010). Retrieved from IEEE Library.

Design MattersLifeShirt

Source: “Physical activity recognition using multiple sensors embedded in awearable device”, Nam, et al (2013). Retrieved from ACM Digital Library.

- The LifeShirt has multiple applications: monitoring firefighters for smoke inhalation, monitoring athletes during training, and monitoring patients with chronic conditions.

- The authors of this research recognized that individual sensors have limitations. They therefore combined accelerometer information with a vision sensor and used the OpenCV library to display video images. They used an algorithm, the Support Vector Machine Classifier (“SVM”, HSU et al. 2003), to determine the activity occurring based on the combined sensor results. Accuracy rate was over 92%.

System architecture – “LifeShirt”

Design Matters The Sesame Ring

Source: “One ring to rule all of Boston,” Bonk, 2013. Retrieved from http://www.crunchwear.com/one-ring-to-rule-all-of-boston-introducing-the-sesame-ring/

- Developed to hold rapid transit fare “wallet” (i.e., TTC)

- Funded on Kickstarter (for $19k) in 2013

- RFID-enabled rings made with a 3D printer hold and update account balance information

- $20 per ring- Invented by first year engineering

students at University of Singapore, with assistance from MIT Research Labs

- Patent pending- Similar concept could be used to hold

unique patient identifier, all other info is in database “in the cloud”

Design Matters:Wearable Sensors in Watchbands

United States Patent Application 20130211204: Wearable Sensor Device

Source:”Wearable Sensor Device,” Caduff et al, 2013. Retrieved from: US Patent Application website

Summary• Wearables will likely be a disruptive

technology• But:– Cost matters– Demographics matter– Design matters

• Companies and entrepreneurs who figure these 3 things out will win big

Sources• Ativa Interactive (2013). Infographic: Canadian retirement. Retrieved from

http://www.ativa.com/infographic-canadian-retirement/• Bonk, L. (2013). One ring to rule all of Boston. Retrieved from

http://www.crunchwear.com/one-ring-to-rule-all-of-boston-introducing-the-sesame-ring/

• Caduff, A., Krebs, H., Stalder, G., Talary, M. (2013). Wearable sensor device. United States Patent and Trademark Office, patent application 20130211204 . Retrieved from United States Patent & Trademark Office.

• Drew, T. (2013). Restoration of medical device programming. United States Patent & Trademark Office, patent application 20130283030. Retrieved from United States Patent & Trademark Office.

• Hall, C. (2013). Pebble review. Pocket-link. Retrieved from http://www.pocket-lint.com/review/124655-pebble-review.

Sources, continued

• Hartman, K. (2011). Photo of “talking plant”, from “The Art of Wearable Communication”, TED Talk. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/kate_hartman_the_art_of_wearable_communication.html

• Hill, B. (2013). The iTunes influence, part one: How Apple changed the face of the music marketplace. Engadget. Retrieved from http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/29/the-itunes-influence-part-one/

• Manyika, J., Chui, M., Bughin, J., Dobbs, R., Bisson, P., Marrs, A. (2013). Disruptive technologies: advances that will transform life, business, and the global economy. Retrieved from http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/business_technology/disruptive_technologies

• Martin, T. and Simmons, H. (1993). Technology adoption curve.• Nam, Y., Rho, S., and Lee, C. (2013). Physical activity recognition using

multiple sensors embedded in a wearable device. ACM Trans. Embedd. Comput. Syst. 12, 2, Article 26. Retrieved from ACM Digital Library.

Sources, continued• National Science Foundation (2013). Home sensors enable seniors to live

independently. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCixWY3eaOc• Nike Fuel Band photo (2013). Retrieved from

http://insider.nike.com/us/launch/nike-fuelband/• Ohio State University (2013). Point-of-view surgery shown via Google Glass.

Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbQY1ay8Sew• Ontario’s Action Plan for Healthcare (2012). Retrieved from

http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/ms/ecfa/healthy_change/• Orwat, C., Rashid, A., Wolk, M., Graefe, A. (2010). Adopting pervasive computing

for routine use in healthcare. Pervasive Computing magazine, April-June 2010. Retrieved from IEEE Library.

• Parlapiano, A. (2011). A gadget’s life: from gee-whiz to junk. The Washington Post, January 2011. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/business/a-gadgets-life/

• Piper, K. (2013). The promise of telehealth: 3 case studies of early adopters. The Piper Report. Retrieved from http://www.piperreport.com/blog/2013/02/11/promise-telehealth-case-studies/