Enabling patients to monitor their own health status from home and then relay that data to a remote medical center is a concept that has seen the telehealth industry, though still in its infancy, grow at an exciting rate.
By providing frequent and consistent health monitoring, the frequency of required visits to a clinic or hospital can be significantly reduced. This may be exceptionally helpful for patients who require non-local care, such as from a medical specialist.
Simply stated, a telehealth manager is a hub for portable health devices. It interfaces with one or more personal health monitors allowing a patient to both store the measurement data and send it to the patient’s physician.
Major subsystems include:
- User I/O, such as a display and keypad or touchscreen
- MCU
- Connectivity: A telehealth manager exchanges data with both a remote medical center and one or more health measurement devices.
- Power Management
As with most Machine-to-Machine (M2M) related technology, the connectivity aspect of telehealth design is an important consideration. The Continua Health Alliance has an established set of design guidelines for creating interoperable personal health solutions, and also offers product certification to that end.
