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WASHINGTON – Federal officials will soon consider a plan toset aside broadband spectrum for wireless healthcare monitoringdevices, opening the door to more and better uses both inside andoutside the hospital setting. At a Thursday morning press briefing at George WashingtonUniversity Hospital in Washington D.C., Federal CommunicationsCommission Chairman Julius Genachowski said the FCC would, at itsMay 24 meeting, vote on allowing the healthcare industry to usedesignated broadband space to develop and deploy mobile body areanetworks (MBANs). The wireless technology is used to continuouslymonitor physiological signs, including pulse rate, blood pressureand glucose measurements. [See also: FCC's broadband plan lauded as critical to health IT ] Calling MBANs "the next big step" in healthcare,Genachowski said the FCC"s action would make the UnitedStates the first nation in the world to devote broadband spectrumto healthcare. "MBANs will improve patient care, increase patient mobilityand improve innovation," he said. According to federal officials, the FCC and the Food and DrugAdministration, which has regulatory control over mobile medicaldevices, are working together to streamline the approval processfor medical devices that use the wireless spectrum. While the FDAis regulating how those devices are used in a medical setting, theFCC is regulating the devices as a means of communication. [See also: Broadband investments to boost 900 healthcare facilities ] The suggestion to develop healthcare-specific broadband spectrumwas first made by GE Healthcare and Philips Healthcare, both ofwhich have been collaborating with GWU Hospital on a number of MBANprojects. The two companies enlisted the help of the Aerospace& Flight Test Coordinating Council (AFTRCC) and the AmericanSociety for Healthcare Engineering of the American HospitalAssociation (ASHE) to pinpoint a range of broadband spectrum thatcould be designated for MBANs. At Thursday"s briefing, Barry Wolfman, CEO and managingdirector of GWU Hospital, and Richard J. Katz, MD, director of thehospital"s cardiology division, said GWU has been workingwith wireless mobile technology for several years, using it tomonitor everything from diabetic patients and those with heartproblems to the progress of wound care. The hospital recentlyreceived a grant from the CTIA, Katz said, to use wirelesstechnology to transmit ECG readings from ambulances to thehospital. "MBANs represent the future of wireless technology inhealthcare," Wolfman said. Michael Harsh, vice president and chief technology officer for GEHealthcare, said patients now coming into a hospital"sintensive care unit are attached to a dozen cables or more, thusrestricting their mobility and comfort level and making itdifficult for clinicians to treat them or move them to anotherdepartment. In addition, he said the monitoring of vital signs onlyoccurs when the cables are attached to the patient. With MBANs, he said, "patients stay connected to theirclinicians" at all times, allowing for the continuousmonitoring of vital signs even while the patient is being movedfrom unit to unit. In addition, he said, patients can be monitoredbefore they reach a hospital and after they"re sent home. Anthony Jones, chief marketing officer for patient care andclinical informatics at Philips Healthcare, said the current formof monitoring patient vital signs is expensive, inefficient andopen to the risk of hospital-acquired infections and other adverseevents. With studies indicating at least half of all hospitalpatients in the United States aren"t having their vital signsmonitored, he pointed out, "minor issues could become majorevents" and lead to more extensive medical care and evendeath. The proposal before the FCC would designate the 2.36-2.4 GHzspectrum for MBANs and would be shared with aerospace manufacturersand the government, which use the 2.3 GHz spectrum to test aircraftand missiles. Neither use would conflict with the other, officialssaid. Genachowski said the FCC"s action is part of a broad-basedfederal effort launched in 2009 to develop a national broadbandplan – and one of the goals of that plan is to make mobilecommunications an independent universal service goal. An estimated18 million Americans, he said, currently live in areas withoutbroadband access. He talked of seeing examples of mobile healthcare technology allover the nation, from wireless devices that monitor heart rate andblood glucose levels to smart pillboxes that tell patients when totake their medications and how much to take. This technology, hesaid, is essential to reducing the costs of healthcare and givingpatients and their care providers an uninterrupted portal throughwhich to share information. As an example, he pointed out that the survival rate for people whosuffer a heart attack while being monitored is 48 percent –but that rate drops to 6 percent for those who aren"tmonitored. ‘If patients aren"t connected, well, they"re justoff the grid," he said. [See also: FCC's broadband plan lauded as critical to health IT ]. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as China Hot Melt Adhesive Tape , Flat Back Tape Manufacturer, and more. For more , please visit Semi Adhesive Tape today!
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