I just learned of a cool technology in my own backyard. The geek doctor has one every week, but he is a CIO and I'm an administrator.
Digifit uses wireless technologies (Apps) to help users track their health and fitness data -- automagically! Why is this important?
Well, we have this huge transformation going on in healthcare that will move our emphasis on prevention and taking responsibility for ones own health. However, we are human and don't always keep up with inputing data, such as, our heart rate, calories burned, weight, etc. However, wireless technology is now here to help us make the process a little more easy and fit better into our busy schedules. More importantly, the data captured can also be uploaded to a PHR and/or shared with our health care providers, allowing us to have a more meaningful conversation during our visits.
Health and Fitness hasn't really fit well into healthcare historically, because our system was focused on caring for disease, illness and injury. I suspect this will start to change as Accountable Care Organizations and other providers start to look for ways to help individuals better manage their weight, which in turn, helps them manage their diabetes, hypertension and other chronic diseases. I can also see employers facilitating the use of these tools to help them better manage their insurance costs.
So, this is my cool technology and it comes from right here in Santa Barbara! Let me know what you think, especially if you give it a try. It is available for the iPhone and I understand will be available for Blackberry's soon.
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