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Philips unveils consumer, connected health bid featuring app and 5 devices, including watch

Philips unveils consumer, connected health bid featuring app and 5 devices, including watch

Tue Sep 08 2015By Other Author

 

Royal Philips ($PHG) has released the outlines of its approach to monitoring consumer health. The system can incorporate data from at least 5 different kinds of devices into one cloud-based system that's accessible via an app. Consumer health is at the core of Philips' ongoing, year-old HealthTech refocus in which it opted to shed other businesses in favor of focusing exclusively on consumer and health products.

Philips plans to roll out health programs focused on specific areas such as heart health and back pain, as well as others. It plans to debut its first health program at an upcoming early September consumer electronics conference in Berlin, Germany; the first personal health programs from Philips will go on sale in Germany in October and in other markets in 2016.

"Consumers are increasingly engaged in their personal health and they want solutions that empower them to stay healthy and prevent illness," said Philips EVP and CEO of Personal Health Pieter Nota in a statement. "They understand that there is a need for active health management to stem the rising tide of chronic diseases and unhealthy lifestyles."

The 5 connected devices include the Philips health watch, which measures "a wide range of health biometrics" including heart rate activity and sleep patterns. It is designed specifically for use as a medical device to aid in the prevention or mitigation of lifestyle-induced chronic conditions.

The other four connected devices are an upper arm blood pressure cuff; a wrist-worn blood pressure and heart rate monitor for continuous use; a body analysis scale that measures weight, estimates body fat and calculates BMI for up to 8 users; and an ear thermometer for use in adults, children and newborns.

All of these connect to the Philips HealthSuite Digital Platform, which is cloud-based and wirelessly integrates the health data from these devices as well as inputs from other sources. The health programs are intended to be compliant with health data and security standards including the EU Privacy Directive and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). All of this data and analysis is expected to be accessible via an app.

"Philips is the only technology company with a range of professional and consumer offerings that can combine clinical and personal health data across the health continuum to encourage prevention and healthy living, to speed diagnosis and treatment, and to enable better recovery and home care," concluded Nota.

 

This article was originally published on Fierce Medical Devices.

 

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