Qualcomm ($QCOM) has announced a deal with IT specialist Cerner ($CERN) to extend the capture of vital patient data from devices in the home and send it to healthcare providers monitoring their conditions.
The agreement, which involves Qualcomm's cloud-based data-sharing Life2Net platform and Cerner's CareAware device connectivity platform, is expected to enable providers to remotely monitor chronically ill patients in near real-time conditions that could help reduce acute care episodes, both companies said in a press release. Kansas City-based Cerner's Millennium electronic health record and patient engagement system and HealtheLife software also comprise the communication system.
Qualcomm's system collects, stores, and aggregates patient data from a patient's medical devices that can include weight scares, blood pressure monitors and pulse oximeters.
Agnesian HealthCare in Fond du Lac, WI, was one of the first clients to use the combined systems to monitor patients.
"It is increasingly important that providers are monitoring the whole health of an individual, not just at the point of care in the facility," Michael DeGeer, vice president of Population Health Management, Agnesian HealthCare, said in a statement. "Remote Patient Monitoring allows our clinicians to have access to patients health data, within the patient's health record, while they are at home, which will provide the opportunity for clinicians to make informed interventions as needed."
As part of the agreement, Qualcomm Life will join Cerner's CareAware certification program, which is a Cerner initiative to link up with medical device manufacturers to streamline the acquisition of data.
Big Data is quickly becoming big business for devicemakers--especially wearables--and software support and transmission companies, as well as retailers. Earlier this year, Qualcomm announced partnerships with Walgreens and Novartis ($NVS) at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
- check out the release