Managed Care - February 2009 - (Page 28) Walgreens, the pharmacy chain, is beginning to market a somewhat similar concept and service. And therein lies the future of technology in the DM arena. To use a grossly overused term from the early 1990s, there has been a paradigm shift taking place. But perhaps the most interesting thing is that it is taking place somewhat quietly and naturally. That paradigm shift is away from the concept of technology being able to do something for you or in place of your having to do it to the concept of the technology as a tool to allow you to keep doing things for yourself. It is an important distinction, one that is changing not only the way that devices will be used, but the devices themselves. The driving force behind much of this development is the aging of the American population and, in particular, those post-World War II babies called the “Baby-Boom generation.” Those folks who are now beginning to enter retirement in increasingly large numbers have been caring for their aging parents (who are living longer) and are looking forward to a future where they want to be able to remain independent, active, and healthy in their own homes. The concomitant increases in chronic diseases, the stress that an increase in older Americans will place on the entire medical infrastructure, our growing waistlines, and an increasing comfortableness with technology is bringing together a “perfect storm” of needs, desires, economic realities and quicker/better/cheaper technology that is set to take off. What has started with a series of tools focused on monitoring elderly parents’ safety and daily wellbeing is going to rapidly morph into a system of The call center of the future will be a hub where information is collected, analyzed, stored, and then acted upon by routing it to the place that allows for the most appropriate interaction, says Steven S. Eisenberg, MD. society is driving the development of “smart” technology. And it is that smart technology that is the future of DM, both as an industry and in a much more global sense. “Smart” technology and “smart” devices don’t just passively gather data and transmit it. They have the ability to interact with the data and with other It is the ability of smart devices to do their work without being obvious and without interfering with the day-to-day activities of people that will allow their widespread usage and acceptance. connected technologies that will not only assist in but encourage healthy behaviors. These systems will also allow the early detection of changes that may indicate the onset of disease or the worsening of an existing condition and make sure that the needed information, not just data, is transmitted and gets to the appropriate place in order that it may be acted upon. The very human need and desire to live better and live longer and to remain active as an independent contributing member of devices to not only allow the monitoring of everything from vital signs to blood chemistries to heart rhythms but also the way someone is walking or talking or the amount of exercise they do (or don’t do) and the food choices that they make. They can find patterns in seemingly unrelated things and may hold some promise for early identification/diagnosis of some diseases. They can learn over time and they can share the data and the learning with other devices, centralized or remote mon- 28 MANAGED CARE / FEBRUARY 2009
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