Wireless Defibrillators Come with Opportunities, Challenges
The St. Louis Business Journal published a good overview of the issues around implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICDs). Since cardiovascular diseases are the number one source of deaths in the US, this is obviously a sensitive issue. These devices can not only regulate the patient’s heart rate, but they can also monitor and upload vital data such as blood pressure and body weight over the internet. This lets doctors adjust medication prescriptions remotely, saving some hospital checkups and emergency visits in the process.
Wireless models offer more convenience since users can collect the data without an external wand. They also report how they are functioning, which might make some patients feel safer. Indeed, with recent defibrillator recalls by Guidant, Medtronic and St. Jude Medical, these devices have not been trouble-free. At $25,000 or more, they are far from cheap. And while the reduced number of hospital visits helps cut costs, remove tracking on the other hand can lead to a need for more nurses. Companies such as Advanced ICU Care and Visicu partner with intensive care units (ICUs) by providing remote monitoring of their patients, but that does not necessarily solve the extra burden of monitoring patients once they are back at home.
03/06/06 update: BusinessWeek article.
February 24, 2006 Related topics: Cardiology