Qualcomm Life, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. (QTI), has announced the availability of its wireless healthcare services offering in Europe.
Qualcomm Life’s 2net™ Platform and Hub are designed to enable medical device manufacturers and service providers to wirelessly connect their medical devices via a secure, cloud-based solution so that biometric information is easily accessible by device users, their healthcare providers and caregivers.
The 2net Platform and Hub are each individually certified as Class I Medical Devices in Europe, and FDA listed as a Medical Device Data System (MDDS) in the US The announcement took place at the International Telecare & Telehealth Conference (TSA) being held at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole Hotel from November 12–14.
“We have a number of customers in Europe and the US who want to extend their mobile health solutions in multiple regions around the world, and they need to provide a reliable service that is not impacted by geographic boundaries,” said Rick Valencia, vice president and general manager of Qualcomm Life. “Launching our wirelessly enabled healthcare ecosystem into Europe is another step toward the realisation of our vision – a world with access to healthcare anytime and anywhere.”
Two of Qualcomm Life’s first European customers are Telbios and Cystelcom. Telbios is a leading service provider of remote health monitoring solutions for chronic care and disease management in Italy. Telbios is working with Qualcomm Life as its technology solution provider to reduce costs and remove technological complexities. Qualcomm Life’s wireless solution allows Telbios to lower the economic and operational barriers required to expand and scale its innovative chronic care services faster. By connecting to the 2net Platform, Telbios will be able to combine data from several devices into one data stream to allow for improved access and sharing of patient data, improving care coordination for general practitioners.
Cystelcom, an engineering software development company that provides products and services to the telecommunications industry, has formed the newly created mHealthAlert. mHealthAlert offers an open remote monitoring platform for chronic disease patients to reduce readmissions and the length of hospital stay. Qualcomm Life’s 2net Platform and Hub will provide added ease of use for patient populations such as the elderly and chronically ill patients using the mHealthAlert solution. Cystelcom will be distributing Qualcomm Life’s 2net Hub in the territory of Spain, selling to the Health Department of the autonomous governments, insurance companies and private hospitals.
Mobile health holds significant potential in Europe to defray healthcare costs and increase the quality and quantity of care, helping to address anticipated shortages of qualified healthcare professionals. Globally, Europe has the highest burden of chronic disease, and the continued increase in prevalence is considered an epidemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO), which estimates chronic diseases will claim the lives of 52 million people in the European region by 2030.
“There is a clear imperative for health services providers and manufacturers to invest in remote monitoring solutions to improve patient outcomes and align with preventive care initiatives. Europe’s governing bodies have demonstrated a commitment to robust pilots, such as the 3 Million Lives project sponsored by the Department of Health in the UK,” said Laurent Vandebrouck, managing director of Qualcomm Life Europe. “Qualcomm Life has been helping its customers pave the way for wireless health in the US, and this is an exciting time to extend our services and offering in Europe.”
The 2net Platform is designed as a secure end-to-end, technology-agnostic, cloud-based service offering that interconnects health devices so that information is easily accessible by device users and their healthcare providers and caregivers. The 2net Hub is one of four gateways onto the platform, and is a plug-and-play Class I Medical Device under the EU directive 93/42/EEC (MDD) that collects data from a patient’s medical device and sends the information to be stored in the 2net Platform over a mobile connection, following encryption. A connection to the 2net Platform can also be obtained through three additional gateways including mobile phones, other mobile-enabled devices, and application program interfaces that connect to the customer service platform.
Connectivity is provided through a pan-European SIM with no roaming fees allowing deployment of customer solutions anytime, in any place and in any European country. More than 100 medical device manufacturers, application developers, healthcare services companies and payors are in various stages of integration with the 2net Ecosystem.
Qualcomm Life is showcasing the 2net Platform, Hub and its integrated customers’ devices at Booth #24 and also is participating in the Self Care Zone at TSA 2012. Don Jones, vice president, global strategy and market development for Qualcomm Life, will participate in the panel discussion on “The Big Debate: Getting behind the headlines, can telehealth and telecare really facilitate a transformation in services?” on November 13, from 2:10–3pm GMT.
