The Digital Health Update by Paul Sonnier ⋅ Dec 17, 2016 ⋅ #252

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The Digital Health Update by Paul Sonnier ⋅ Dec 17, 2016 ⋅ #252

Dear Group,

There has been a lot of consolidation and extinction in the smartwatch segment of late, but this does not mean that the overall market segment is dead, as many cringe-worthy headlines have claimed. In all the noise it was nice to see Neil Cybart’s perfectly titled and spot on analysis “The Elephant in the Smartwatch Room“, which mentions the fallen players—like Pebble Motorola, Huawei, and LG— and shines a light on the remaining major players: Apple, Garmin, and Samsung. Guess which is the elephant?

While there are a multitude of consumer health and medical uses for wearable tech (the umbrella category under which smartwatches reside), two recent applications caught my eye. A new study suggests that “white-coat hypertension”—where a patient exhibits high blood pressure only during a doctor’s office visit—is actually less common than the opposite condition, “masked hypertension”, in which blood pressure measurements are lower in the doctor’s office. A portable blood pressure cuff revealed that 16% of participants had normal in-office readings but turned out to have high blood pressure the rest of the day. So there are two separate issues highlighted: 1) Doctors may be missing people with masked hypertension and who should be monitored and possibly treated for high blood pressure, and 2) Doctors may be prescribing unnecessary hypertension drugs for people with white-coat hypertension.

After a lot of friction, the National Basketball Association (NBA) and its players have formed a new wearables committee to manage and regulate the use of biometrics and biometric data collected from players. In-game biometric devices are currently banned by the NBA, but the new committee will examine which devices may be permitted in the future and how the data will be monitored, protected and even monetized. Teams are already using devices outside of games to monitor workloads, exertion levels, track sleep, and probably much more. This may explain the recent increase in star players being rested for games, as avoiding injury and having players perform at their peak equals team wins.

A U.S. Senate report on smart toys raises privacy and security concerns related to Internet-connected toys for kids. These devices often gather information on children, including things like their names and other details, which could be used for identity theft. The report points out instances in which kids’ data has already been compromised. Bank accounts, credit cards, and other things opened in a child’s name are liable to go years without detection.

In transportation news, Uber’s self-driving cars hit San Francisco streets and immediately one was caught on video running a red light with a pedestrian in the intersection. The company claims it was being driven by a human at the time and fortunately nobody was injured. However, in another, unconfirmed incident, a self-driving Uber lurched into an intersection and nearly hit a Lyft. Apparently, the robot wars have already begun.

Amazon’s Prime Air delivery drone just accomplished its first real delivery. The 13-minute flight took place in England. The plan is to use this method of delivery to take a package from fulfillment centers “tucked away just over the horizon” to people’s homes.

And the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has proposed new Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) rules, which would have cars share data with each other via short-range communication channels. Broadcasted data would include location, direction, and speed so that cars could warn drivers about dangers they were unable to see or perceive. V2V sensors would also provide information to self-driving cars, helping them brake, slow, or turn to prevent a collision. Expect a future of chatty cars that are, unlike humans, safer as a result. The DOT says that V2V could prevent hundreds of thousands of crashes every year. Separately, the Federal Highway Administration plans to issue guidance for Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) communications, which allow vehicles to communicate with roadway infrastructure such as traffic lights, stop signs, and work zones, which would improve mobility, reduce congestion, and improve safety.

Follow me on Twitter @Paul_Sonnier for all the news I share each day.

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Paul Sonnier
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Founder, Digital Health group on LinkedIn ⋅ 50,000+ members
Creator, Story of Digital Health
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Twitter @Paul_Sonnier
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