Google Glass: What Really Needs to Be Discussed

Wearable technologies like Google Glass are generating lots of buzz about their impact on many industries, including health care. The innovative and highly publicized approach from Google has cast a much-needed light on the potential applications of Glass and other forms of wearable technologies.

There are many unique ways Glass could be applied to health care. Some surgeons have been using Glass so their colleagues can witness a live procedure from the eyes of these surgeons. Glass could help a nurse relay health data in real-time from the home of a patient to a doctor. But what consumers could do with Glass and other wearable technologies may play a key role in ushering in a new era in health care.

My Own Wearable Experience

Believe me – I know firsthand how basic wearable technology and other means can improve your health. Six years ago – before I joined Humana – I took it upon myself to make some health changes. I lost 50 pounds over a six-month period through the use of a Garmin watch, a heart monitor and a $15 app that helped me manage my calorie consumption and activity.

It wasn’t easy so I tried to keep it simple: stick to my maximum daily calorie intake and track my physical activity, which helped me lose a certain number of pounds a week. My heart monitor that I wore when I ran showed me when I didn’t give it my all. In the end, this approach helped instill improved lifestyle changes in me that’s helped keep the weight off.

The Glass “Data” Factor

My weight loss story is really a microcosm of how wearable technologies can improve health. Glass and other wearable technologies will no doubt usher in a new wave of apps that will ultimately help people better manage their health. This will also lead to a new era in personal health data that is going to take the concept of the “quantified self” to places we have only imagined. And it requires the health industry to manage this data:

  • First and foremost, privacy of this data must be protected. As personal health data is gathered from wearable devices, protections need to be in place that allows the data to be shared in a secure manner. Like an electronic health record, the data must be treated as personal health information.
  • Second, providers and companies providing this technology must be able to securely share personal health data from wearable technologies as requested by consumers – in a simple fashion – in real-time in order to help their patients improve their health. This is likely to be supported by the delivery of analytics-based insights back to the person via the cloud to a mobile device.
  • Third, personal health data must be packaged in a way that is consistent across the industry spectrum and doesn’t leave anything open to interpretation. For example, there is no difference when a Verizon customer uses her or his phone to send a text or a picture to an AT&T customer.
  • Lastly, simplicity of experience in using Glass and other wearable devices is a must, including the ability to easily, yet securely, share data and garner insights from it. The harder something is to share or do, the less likely it will become part of the routine of someone’s life.

Let’s Leave No One Out

Wearable devices aren’t just for athletes or weekend warriors. Millions of people who have chronic conditions like diabetes could benefit. For example, Google, Microsoft and others are already experimenting with wearable devices that enable people with diabetes to measure their glucose levels.

Wearable devices provide people with a quantifiable basis on where their health is in real-time and could potentially give their primary care physicians timely and frequent information that could be used to improve their health. Whether it’s Glass, a Samsung or Nike watch, or something from Apple, wearable devices represents a new paradigm in mobile technology.

This innovative technology is here to stay. Let’s be sure we harness the data generated from Glass and other devices to help make it easier for people to improve their health.

Michelle Robich

Robich Insurance Services

9y

I hope there will be a way that it can be used without logging in...

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Jackie francis Francis

Food & Beverages Professional

9y

Mr smart president what your achievement when you post the kit with cancer i dont think you normal layer the card on table With some explaination this dąys manager with no brain

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Kawa Cheong, MS, BSN, RN, CPHQ, CSO, CQO, CDO

Hospital Management Professional | Director of Operations | Mayor Quality Award Winner | Expert in Healthcare Service, Education, Quality,Payor, and Business Development | International and domestic expertise

9y

I am a RN and I can certainly see many opportunities with wearable devices like Google Glass. However, I am not sure if the technology is mature enough to provide the functionality needed.

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Fred Hofstetter

Director, Operations for the Office of the CDO

9y

Susan Paddock - I assume your concerns about privacy are two-fold, that is, the recording of you in a setting where you do not give consent (say, in a restaurant) by another wearing this technology, as well as the potential accidental or illegal acquistion of data about the wearer by an unauthorised third party. If there is data worth capturing, someone will seek away to beat security and get it. Heck, people have already hacked SmartTVs, just so they can use the cameras to watch the viewers in the living room. But, do the potential benefits, when used appropriately, outweigh the risks. Only you can decide for yourself. Getting legislation in place may actually hinder progress, unless the whole privacy system is overhauled.

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