I'd Better Get a Laminated Membership Card…
I've posted a few times about the great home monitoring programs we're participating in --- most recently the Kaiser Colorado study that showed a 50% better chance of maintaining healthy blood pressure levels by using HealthVault-connected devices at home (boy is it fun to say that).
Devices are important because they allow providers to extend chronic care into the home, which just makes sense on all counts: it's more convenient, we catch problems before they become emergencies, it saves a ton of money - hard to argue with the results.
By creating a common platform for aggregating device data and moving into the enterprise, we get to play a key role in accelerating the adoption of home monitoring. So of course, it's in our best interests to get as many devices as possible hooked up. We're doing pretty well on that front - we've got dozens, including blood pressure monitors, glucose monitors, weight scales, peak flow meters, heart rate and exercise monitors, weight scales, pedometers, handheld ECG monitors and pulse oximeters. Not bad!
Now, just about two years ago, I wrote a post about the Continua Alliance and why we hadn't joined. The legal framework didn't make sense for us, and they were early enough - and we were busy enough -- that it just wasn't high on our list of things to worry about. So we took a pass and kept our eyes open.
Then about a year ago, when Continua devices started appearing in the market, we took another look. We did some investigation and demonstrated at the Connected Health Conference that integrating the Continua devices into our driver model was indeed as straightforward as we thought it would be. Good news - but still just investigation.
Today after another year, I'm glad to say that not only is the Alliance continuing to increase their traction with real devices, but that the lawyers have figured out how to work through the challenges to membership. So --- we've officially joined Continua, and have agreed to collaborate on a Continua class driver for HealthVault. We're still working on timelines and the details, but it is exciting to be in a position to work together.
Seems like this market is starting to get real --- feels good to have out bets on the table! Now --- where's that membership card I was promised?