As we come down to the last two matchups, I’m facing some tough decisions: A gesture control wristband from Playtabase and eyeglasses that can make finding good veins easier for nurses and phlebotomists from Evena Medical. A consumer-driven device or a clinician-facing tool? It may not be a fair matchup in some ways. But it is perfect in others because both technologies are derived from the gaming and entertainment industry. It’s a gaming in healthcare faceoff.
Readers decided Reemo should advance. It received 67 percent of the vote compared with Eyes on Glasses, which secured 33 percent.
Reemo’s wristband and other gesture-control devices find their roots in gaming technology from companies such as Microsoft with Kinect and Nintendo’s Wii platform. Evena Medical’s Eyes on Glasses is the product of a partnership with Epson, which developed Moverio glasses for augmented reality.
Reemo’s glasses are supported by home automation systems and have general control of a Windows PC and Mac computer. It also is designed to enable the control of lamps and fans.
I think the Reemo makes a stronger design because it fits a broader medical need. If the Affordable Care Act’s goal is to try to keep people in their homes as opposed to hospitals, Playtabase’s wristband reflects the technology push that will be needed to implement that approach to healthcare. Although stroke recovery patients represent a sizable patient population, other groups that would benefit from this technology include people with diminished motor skills, arthritis patients and those in accident rehabilitation, among others.
That’s not to diminish Eyes on Glasses’ applications. I think it’s a hugely useful tool that has the potential to make healthcare more efficient. But I am unsure that its implementation will have as wide an impact.
Winner: Reemo by Playtabase
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
[Photo from Big Stock Photo Win-Win concept with interface and world map on blue background]
