HSC Weekly     10/09/2009

USC Body Computing 3.0 Brings Leaders Together to Debate Uses of Healthcare Management Devices

Conference Includes Live Demonstrations of New Applications

By Leslie Ridgeway

Leading experts in healthcare and technology will present findings on the next phase of development of applications and devices that help people manage their health at the Body Computing 3.0 conference today at the University of Southern California (USC) campus.

Demonstrations of iPhone and other apps that enable users to track their heart health, and that allow physicians to interact with patients, share data and communicate with other physicians are also part of the conference. The event takes place from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the USC University Park Campus Town and Gown Banquet Hall. The conference is sponsored by the Keck School of Medicine of USC.

Guest experts from companies including Boston Scientific, Proteus Biomedical, Microsoft, Qualcomm, and the Mayo Clinic will join with experts from the Keck School of Medicine of USC, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, and USC School of Cinematic Arts to debate everything from privacy issues posed by the use personal health data in gaming devices to figuring out how to make health monitoring devices that are fun to use.

“We’re getting closer to the day when patients will press a button to check on their own vital signs and transmit the data to their physicians and loved ones,” says Leslie Saxon, M.D., chief, Division of Cardiology for the Keck School of Medicine and principal organizer of the Body Computing conference. “But what about regulatory and privacy issues that could affect that data? Technology is moving quickly, which is why it’s important to ask questions now about where it’s going and what we want it to do.”

Body computing already exists in the marketplace in the form of networked heart defibrillator devices, implanted in more than 250,000 patients in the United States. “Smart pills” keep a tab on medications a patient has taken, and provide health status updates wirelessly to the patient’s physician, who can analyze the results or offer intervention strategies.

“The hope is that technology will not only monitor health, but also manage healthcare costs by eliminating the need for numerous office visits and streamlining record keeping,” said Saxon.

The conference was preceded by the popular Body Computing Slam and dinner on Thursday, Oct. 8, at the Davidson Conference Center, where experts in healthcare, technology and entertainment met to “think out loud” about the future of technology in healthcare.

Demonstrations include:

• Corventis iPhone “Beating Heart” app that allows users to see their normal heart rate and see how heart rate changes with stress. App includes “lie/heart detector” that users can use with friends to see how questions and moods change heart rate.
• Boston Scientific iPhone app enabling physicians to share patient physiological data with other physicians and to communicate information to their patients such as the battery level on their pacemaker.
• Proteus “smart pill” app that helps schizophrenic patients to determine how their bodies are reacting to medication. Patient will be on hand to demonstrate.

For more information on the conference, go to http://www.usccardiology.org/bodycomputing/

Media Contact Information

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