Sprint is partnering with healthcare and wireless companies to deliver care more efficiently by sharing its network and expertise in embedded mobile computing and Machine to Machine (M2M) communications. To meet the demand for developer support and network certification, Sprint recently opened their new M2M Collaboration Center in Burlingame California.
The Center a hands-on interactive environment is working to facilitate ideas, knowledge, and technology to produce wirelessly enabled M2M concepts, products, and solutions. This means that Sprint engineers and their partners are teaming up to rapidly bring new M2M ideas to the marketplace.
To further collaborative efforts, Sprint has attracted the attention of many entrepreneurial healthcare companies who understand that chronically ill patients recover faster and are more comfortable at home than in hospitals. For example, American TeleCare (ATI), Inc powered by Sprint 3G and 4G has the capability to use a remote stethoscope at 9.6 kbps in clinic-to-patient home settings and uses an interactive video technology to access more patients at lower bandwidths. Sprint and ATI are also working very hard to find connectivity solutions in patient’s homes to better care for chronically ill patients.
In another case, the company Reflection Solutions offers a product called “Reflection” powered by AFrame Digital that provides wireless personal health monitoring. A device worn as a wristwatch wirelessly connects patients and their caregivers to monitor the patient’s health and physical activity.
The watch has a traditional PERs panic button and can even automatically send an alert in the event of a fall, even if the user is unable to activate the PERs button. Boosted by the Sprint network, Reflection is able to extend care beyond traditional limitations while working in conjunction with the caregiver’s mobile phone and PDA.
A sampling of other companies shows how Sprint’s wireless solutions are helping these companies:
• AirStrip Technologies has developed remote patient monitoring applications to deliver real-time vital waveform and other critical patient data directly from hospital monitoring systems to mobile devices. This enables providers to continually monitor vital signs wherever the provider is located
• BodyMedia provides a holistic weight-management system consisting of an armband monitor, online activity manager, optional display and free smartphone apps. It automatically tracks the calories burned during daily activities, and even monitors the quality of sleep. In April, the companies launched the “Sprint BodyMedia ID Pack”, a customized bundle of widgets, applications, wallpapers, ringtones, and wellness content for selected Sprint smartphones
• Calgary Scientific has developed an application called “ResolutionMD” Mobile powered by PureWeb to provide advanced visualization of critical medical images such as MRIs and CAT scans directly to Sprint devices such as the “HTC EVO” 4G and Samsung Epic 4G. Attending or acute care physicians are able to have real-time access to specialists such as neurologists, regardless of where the physicians and patients are located
• IDEAL LIFE manufactures in-home health monitoring equipment for individuals with chronic conditions such as congestive heart failure, hypertension, diabetes, asthma, and obesity. Their system works wirelessly using the Sprint network to transmit medical data to healthcare providers.
• Omnilink tracks individuals who have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or some other form of dementia. With Omnilink, the family can be assured that the Alzheimer’s patient is being well-cared for even while away from a doctor’s office or care facility
For more information on these projects, email Randy Spolter at Randal.Spolter@Sprint.com or call (703) 592-8507 or cell (703) 930-2671.
