Title of Video Can
Go In This Space
MEASURING SUCCESS IN DIGITAL HEALTH
The path to a new
era of predictive care.
For most patients, the process of reaching a diagnosis is familiar and predictable. You meet with your physician, undergo a battery of tests at the doctor’s office, work toward an interpretation of your symptoms and plan for care.
But what if it didn’t work that way? What if, instead of following a reactive approach to treatment, doctors had access to technology that could help identify early warning signs using data captured from genomic analysis, advanced imaging or a wearable device—and then, rather than treating an existing illness or condition, devise a plan to keep you healthy?
A CALL FOR CARE
“We’re using the digital concept to keep people out of the hospital and treat diseases sooner in the process using interventions based on remote patient monitoring,” says Dr. Curtis Lowery, director of the Institute for Digital Health and Innovation at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. “Now we’re able to treat people in their home, with data flowing in from an electronic scale, a blood pressure monitor or even a pulse oximeter.”
“We’re using the digital concept to keep people out of the hospital and treat diseases sooner in the process using interventions based on remote patient monitoring.”
Dr. Curtis Lowery
Director of the Institute for Digital Health and Innovation | University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Devices like this ensure that diabetics get a better quality of life, and physicians are also empowered to provide care in a more timely manner, helping patients better manage their disease and potentially even slow its progression.
“It’s better to measure the patient over a long period of time rather than only in a controlled, clinical environment. The inclusion of real-world conditions provides much more accurate data, giving physicians a better way to manage the health of their patients,” Cotter says. “An even more exciting proposition would be to non-invasively track the progression of chronic diseases, so that we can someday keep the patient from progressing to even needing a particular medication.”
“An even more exciting proposition would be to non-invasively track the progression of chronic diseases, so that we can someday keep the patient from progressing to even needing a particular medication.”
Martin Cotter
Senior Vice President of Sales and
Digital Marketing | Analog Devices
U.S. healthcare spending in 2017
Healthcare expenditures in the United States are the highest in the world, and costs are only expected to grow in the years ahead.
The Rising Cost of Healthcare
Ultimately, Lloyd explains, the goal of digital health isn’t just to reduce strain on the system by providing more accurate diagnoses or by helping people better manage their chronic illnesses. The true hope is that care can someday be administered preventatively, to the point where physicians’ main focus can be on keeping healthy people healthy—with significant potential savings resonating across the care system.
Bringing imaging into focus
“I’m seeing an appetite among practitioners for digital technology that helps manage the cost of healthcare, to be able to reduce the amount of time that people are ill or cure something before it becomes a problem. My sense is that we’re in for decades of potentially very explosive growth in the healthcare sector, both at the large machine diagnostics level and at the everyday, human level.”
Vincent Roche
President and CEO | Analog Devices
Wall Street Journal Custom Content is a unit of The Wall Street Journal advertising department. The Wall Street Journal news organization was not involved in the creation of this content.
A NEW STANDARD
OF CArE
Analog Devices is setting the stage for the next step in digital health.
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Wearable devices could soon allow patients to continuously monitor various health parameters, driving a more preventative approach to care. Meanwhile, wireless connectivity would arm physicians with a continuous stream of data.
Care You Can Wear
With decades of expertise developing sensors used for vital signs measurement, Analog Devices is enabling the next generation of wearables that could put the healthcare industry (and patients) on a more positive path. For example, picture the traditional fingerstick test diabetes patients use, typically multiple times a day, to monitor blood glucose levels and administer insulin. Now picture a low-profile sensor that sits at the surface of the skin and takes continuous measurements, providing an uninterrupted view of the patient’s health.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 6 in 10 Americans live with a chronic condition, such as diabetes or heart disease. These illnesses are among the leading causes of death in the United States and, along with mental health, comprise 90% of the country’s $3.5 trillion annual healthcare expenditures. Add an aging population and a projected shortage of registered nurses into the mix, and you begin to understand the urgency around the adoption of new digital health solutions.
“There’s a very serious challenge for the finances of the healthcare system, and it will ultimately result in poor patient care unless we can intervene and transform it to be more patient-centered,” says Martin Cotter, senior vice president of sales and digital marketing at Analog Devices. “That means driving efficiency for all the different partners of the ecosystem, whether it’s the physician, provider, payer or patient.”
Projected spending by 2027
While some continuous monitoring solutions are already available, the technology has yet to fully proliferate throughout the industry, leaving the door open for all manner of innovation. ADI’s wearable health monitor resembles a typical smart watch, but constantly pulls data about the wearer’s heart rate, body temperature and other vital signs. It can be worn on the wrist or as a patch on the skin, storing measurements on an SD card or wirelessly sending them to a smart device.
With its combination of embedded sensors, processing power and wireless communication, ADI’s wearable health monitor could be a model for the next stage of digital health. “We’re getting pretty close to being able to deliver what we would call highly reliable, clinical-grade, vital signs-monitoring electronics,” says Vincent Roche, president and CEO of Analog Devices. “All around this is a virtuous cycle that we’re beginning to get in terms of the availability of the sensing, communications and computing technology.”
Digital imaging solutions drive efficiency in the hospital while supporting physician decision-making.
THE PICTURE OF HEALTH
Precision sensors and digital processors improve image quality and reduce scan times, exposing patients to less radiation.
CT SCANS
Converting an analog signal can save thousands of dollars in chemical processing costs and can result in a clearer, lower-noise image.
Digital X-RayS
Analog-to-digital converters with higher resolutions and data rates are paving the way toward 3D imaging while bringing down the cost of machines.
Ultrasounds
While some of healthcare’s biggest opportunities will take place in the home, the instrumentation used in hospitals and clinical settings is also getting an upgrade. The technology behind common tests like X-rays and CT scans is becoming more sensitive and precise, resulting in higher-resolution images with lower noise levels.
Analog Devices’ deep experience developing signal processing technology and sensors enabling data collection—connecting the physical world with the digital one—plays a similarly vital role here. “With CT scanning, precision sensing allows for faster scan times, reducing the dose of radiation to the patient,” says Jen Lloyd, vice president of healthcare and consumer at Analog Devices. “Meanwhile, artificial intelligence can be applied to the images to draw the physician’s attention to certain key areas, allowing them to work more efficiently.”
Wall Street Journal Custom Content is a unit of The Wall Street Journal advertising department. The Wall Street Journal news organization was not involved in the creation of this content.
CREATING THE INTELLIGENT FACTORY
Wall Street Journal Custom Content is a unit of The Wall Street Journal advertising department. The Wall Street Journal news organization was not involved in the creation of this content.
However, delivering those savings (and spurring digital health forward) may depend on a larger restructuring of the industry. “In most parts of America, the healthcare delivery system is still largely fee-for-service, where keeping someone out of the hospital is counterproductive to generating revenue,” Lowery says. “Instead, healthcare needs to move toward a model of value-based care, where you look at digital health solutions and start to say, ‘Could we reduce hospitalizations and save money?’ You begin to look for ways to treat patients earlier, more aggressively and keep them out of the hospital using approaches we’ve never tried before.”
Realizing that vision will require more than just further investment in digital health, but the sophistication of the wellness, imaging and vital signs measurement solutions developed by partners like Analog Devices suggests it’s firmly within reach.
Sources: “National Health Expenditures 2017 Highlights,” Department of Health & Human Services;
“National Health Expenditure Projections 2018-2027,” Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.
Ultimately, Lloyd explains, the goal of digital health isn’t just to reduce strain on the system by providing more accurate diagnoses or helping people better manage chronic illnesses. The true hope is that care can someday be administered preventatively, to the point where physicians’ main focus can be on keeping healthy people healthy.
In some regards, the next step in digital health is already within reach. The industry’s leading innovators are putting next-generation technology into the hands of physicians and administrators, making it easier to capture data from a patient’s physiology and extract actionable insights. The results are paving the way for an approach to care that takes place continuously—even when the patient leaves the doctor’s office.
“We’re using the digital concept to keep people out of the hospital and treat diseases sooner in the process using interventions based on remote patient monitoring,” says Dr. Curtis Lowery, director of the Institute for Digital Health and Innovation at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. “Now we’re able to treat people in their home, with data flowing in from an electronic scale, a blood pressure monitor or even a pulse oximeter.”
But what if it didn’t work that way? What if, instead of following a reactive approach to treatment, doctors could catch early warning signs using data captured from genomic analysis, advanced imaging or a wearable device—and then, rather than treating an existing illness or condition, devise a plan to keep you healthy?
“We’re using the digital concept to keep people out of the hospital and treat diseases sooner in the process using interventions based on remote patient monitoring,” says Dr. Curtis Lowery, director of the Institute for Digital Health and Innovation at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. “Now we’re able to treat people in their home, with data flowing in from an electronic scale, a blood pressure monitor or even a pulse oximeter.”
Ultimately, Lloyd explains, the goal of digital health isn’t just to reduce strain on the system by providing more accurate diagnoses or by helping people better manage their chronic illnesses. The true hope is that care can someday be administered preventatively, to the point where physicians’ main focus can be on keeping healthy people healthy—with significant potential savings resonating across the care system.
Sources: “National Health Expenditures 2017 Highlights,” Department of Health & Human Services;
“National Health Expenditure Projections 2018-2027,” Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.
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