Prior to the 5th-annual Connected Health Summit, hosted by Parks Associates, Joe Liu, CEO, Mivatek Smart Connect sat down with the firm's analyst team to discuss new strategies to engage consumers in health and wellness behavioral changes and the future of connected health.

Joe 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
Rob Schneider, VP of Sales and Marketing, Omron Healthcare, Inc.
Doug Wolfgram, Chief Technology Officer, CareSpan International

What is new in 2018 that keeps you upbeat/optimistic about the connected health market?
There is reason for significant optimism in the connected health market. Certainly, one of the factors is the entrance of so many new players into the market. As more companies join the field, the increased competition generates increased innovation and lower consumer costs. In addition, consumer attitudes towards connected health solutions are growing more positive: consumers, especially seniors, who were resistant to innovations like telemedicine and connected health devices have softened their attitudes and have begun to embrace these solutions far more willingly.

What is the most effective strategy/approach you have seen that engages consumers for health & wellness behavioral changes?
It’s hard to pinpoint one specific strategy or approach that stimulates consumers into behavioral changes that are better for their overall health. Ultimately, it comes down to providing consumers with information that they can easily digest and understand. Fitbits are a great example. Most people have accepted that walking a minimum of 10,000 steps a day will give them a decent cardio workout. Often, when people are ready for bed and realize they haven’t walked their 10,000 steps, they’ll start walking around the room until they hit their goal. Other wearables, which monitor heart rate, cholesterol levels, even blood oxygen content, also fall into this category. Having specific information – a target number, for example – plays a big role in getting people to modify their health and wellness routines.

What do you anticipate to happen in 2018 that would have the biggest impact on the connected health market?
Ultimately, the biggest impact will come from the continued merging of smart home technology and connected health. Once viewed as two separate market areas, there is no question that smart home technology and connected health are interrelated. Of course, there are connected health devices such as fall alerts, medical adherence tracking systems, etc. But other smart home devices, not necessarily created for connected health, can be very valuable in that realm. For example, sensors placed on refrigerators can tell a caregiver if the elderly person they care for has eaten that day. If the refrigerator door hasn’t been opened, the caregiver (often, an adult child) will get an alert and can check on their parent’s status. The point is, connected health and smart home technology are becoming more and more intertwined.

How is AI in health helping to improve the care experience?
AI will have a significant impact in improving healthcare delivery and, more importantly, outcomes. Diagnoses will be more accurate, as different physicians can look at the same MRI or X-Ray and interpret it different ways. Oncological diagnoses will be even more accurate, as AI can more accurately diagnose not only the existence of cancer but the specific type. Heart disease, eye care, and other areas of diagnosis will also improve. AI can even be used to help predict medical emergencies and conditions before they occur. Ultimately, according to an article from BigThink, AI can help diagnose illness, offer novel treatment options, eliminate human error, and take care of all the repetitive tasks that clog up the system. These time saving measures mean more efficiency and reduced costs.

How will innovations in connectivity, such as the emergence of 5G, impact the health market?
5G wireless, by all estimates, will be significantly times faster than 4G. As it relates to connected health, research firm IHS Markit predicts that 5G will enable more than $1 trillion dollars in products and services for the global health care sector. What’s more, the higher speeds of 5G networks — possibly up to 12 times faster than 4G LTE — will enable medical and surgical procedures in more remote locations, as current network technology limits what sorts of medical procedures can be accomplished remotely. In addition, the increased speed and increased connection reliability are critical to achieving the necessary data speed and capacity demands for IoT devices – including all the at-home monitoring devices used in aging-in-place scenarios. 

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