Prior to the 5th-annual Connected Health Summit, hosted by Parks Associates, Rob Schneider, VP of Sales and Marketing, Omron Healthcare, Inc. sat down with the firm's analyst team to discuss new cutting-edge innovations in the smart home.

Rob will participate on the Consumer Devices: Expanding into Healthcare Use Cases panel on Wednesday, August 29, at 10:45 AM. Panelists who will join him on this session include:

Sam Ahn, Senior Manager for Healthcare, Samsung Electronics America
Terry Duesterhoeft, President & CEO, A&D Company -- Americas
Harish Kilaru, Director of Business Development, Cardiogram
Joe Liu, CEO, Mivatek Smart Connect
Doug Wolfgram, Chief Technology Officer, CareSpan International

What’s new in 2018 that keeps you upbeat/optimistic about the connected health market?
We’re excited to see greater interest and adoption of connected health devices and apps. That advancement in connectivity allows consumers to build greater collaboration and communication with their physicians and healthcare providers, and apps that help to track one’s health are giving consumers a new reason to engage. Especially with the new scientific guidelines for hypertension that were just released in Nov 2017, we’re seeing greater consumer awareness and they are looking for devices to help them.

What’s the most effective strategy/approach you have seen that engages consumers for health and wellness behavioral changes?
Omron Healthcare’s mission is Going for Zero heart attacks and strokes and we plan to achieve this through a combination of a national awareness campaign and creating new advanced technology that encourages heart healthy behavior. We’re giving consumers both the tools and the information they need to be proactive about their heart health – tools and solutions that are simple, easy to use and fit into our consumers’ lifestyles.

What do you anticipate to happen in 2018 that would have the biggest impact on the connected health market?
We see connected health devices, like blood pressure monitors, making headlines and driving strong consumer interest. In fact, since the new scientific guidelines on hypertension came out late last year, we have seen the annual growth rate of blood pressure monitors triple in comparison to the historical growth rate. New devices have the ability to connect doctors and patients like never before to help build more proactive and preventative treatment plans, keeping consumers much more engaged in the state of their own health. Patients now have access to their blood pressure measurements at all times, and can store, track and share their data with their physician. I anticipate that there will be more emphasis on data analytics and data-sharing, as well as AI to build key learnings from that health information.

How is AI in health helping to improve the care experience?
Data-sharing and artificial intelligence are helping physicians create more informed treatment protocols and, ultimately, better outcomes for patients. We’re finding that AI helps to bring in new insights which healthcare professionals may not have had visibility or access to before, and helps to simplify the wealth of health data from connected health devices and turn them into actionable responses – making more precise health recommendations.

How will innovations in connectivity, such as the emergence of 5G, impact the health market?
Greater connectivity will help make things faster and more efficient for the health market, and aid the speed of response and information. It expands availability of patient care in remote areas, develops a better patient-doctor dialogue, and allows for greater patient independence. For example, connected blood pressure monitors, like the ones from Omron Healthcare, provide peace of mind for consumers with hypertension. They can monitor their numbers with clinical accuracy from home and share their results directly with their physician to adjust treatment plans, identify blood pressure triggers and track their readings over time.

For more information on Connected Health Summit, visit: www.connectedhealthsummit.com.