More than 200 million people in the U.S. and Europe suffer from one or more chronic diseases for which home remote monitoring is a treatment option. Conditions being monitored include cardiac arrhythmia, sleep apnea, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), among others.  By the end of 2011, more than 2 million patients globally used a home-based remote monitoring device. According to a recent report, that number will more than double to nearly 4.9 million by 2016. This is an innovation that is long overdue, as the benefits are significant, ranging from improving access to healthcare, alleviating the burden on the health delivery system, lowering costs, and generally improving health and well-being.

Most of the systems available today, such as those from Parental Health and Care Innovations, are geared toward the senior market. Future systems will be targeted even more broadly, covering things such as medication adherence and activity logging, and will expand to capture both rational as well as emotional inputs to drive more productive, longitudinal health experiences. We expect to see entirely new care models arise out of these kinds of technologies.

Larry Mickelberg is chief digital officer, Euro RSCG Life Worldwide. Doug Barr is director of innovation, Havas Drive. This piece was excerpted from their "What's Hot in 2012" post on Euro RSCG Life's Havas Drive blog.

Image source: Medtronic