Here's what I'll call the "60/60 challenge". Sixty percent of the world now has a cell phone, according to a recent UN report – and 60% of Canadian adults now live with one or more chronic conditions, such as diabetes, cancer, asthma, hypertension or depression. Chronic illness spares few among us: The world is getting fatter, older and sicker.
Add to this a global financial meltdown and a swine flu outbreak – and we have a perfect storm. Many healthcare systems are unsustainable. Forget for a moment about fancy robotic surgery, personal genomics or the electronic medical record (EMR) – a digital transcript of a doctor's visit, including patient histories, exam notes, tests and medications. An EMR, though critical to patient safety, costs money and takes time to launch. Let's think instead about cell phones.
Lots of very smart people across the world ‹ from Menlo Park, Calif., to Bihar, India – are churning out low-cost, low-tech innovations that can help
people manage their chronic conditions. Cell phones may be a large part of the answer. Imagine if medication reminders, scheduling notifications or lab test information could be transmitted to cell phone users using text messages.
Could mass cell messages from the U.S. Centers for Disease control remind us to wash our hands and cough into our sleeves, thereby slowing viral spread during a pandemic? Imagine if you could receive diabetes management tips through your cell phone. Or imagine if a nurse could send a cell phone alert to a worried Mom telling her how long she'd need to wait before her sick child could see an Emergency Room doctor. Imagine if doctors and nurses were reimbursed for such alerts.
All of this is eminently feasible. HealthPia America, a Newark-based company, has a cell phone that also serves as a blood glucose monitor and
pedometer (a device that counts your steps). British patients with diabetes have, since 2002, been signing up for Sweet Talk, a service that reminds them via cell phone to take their insulin and offers general education about how to live well with diabetes. Your cell phone is the doctor in your pocket: It offers real-time intervention and targeted clinical decision support.
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