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Are you worth insuring? Wearables to decide

Are you worth insuring? Wearables to decide

Technology News |
By eeNews Europe



 

In these figures are included not only the wearable devices (from sensor-laden bracelets to shoe-soles or hearing aids) but also the software and associated services. And listening to the panel of speakers present during the event, big data is where the true value is.

 

Source: (c) Soreon Research

 

According to Christian Stammel, Founder and CEO of business accelerator company Wearable Technologies AG, the hardware is going to be commoditized so much that over the next 10 years, it could probably represent only 20% of the actual wearable value, while the other 80% would be in the data analysis.

"Four to three years ago, big retailers were not adapting to wearables. But now they are creating corners dedicated to wearable electronics", Stammel noted.

"A few years ago, network providers were the clear winners, but wearables are only useful if they are used in an intelligent environment, and now brands like Staples are adapting different IoT devices under one platform. Automotive makers are also looking at wearables because the car is the nearest intelligent platform”.

Stammel expects the most common and useful sensors of first generation healthcare and fitness wearables to end up converging into one central and cheap unobtrusive unit, such as a belt buckle or something not even to be noticed or displayed as a fashion statement. Instead, all the differentiation would be performed in software, deriving different services and applications based on behavior pattern recognition.

In the medical industry, big data can help you cut costs, if you use it for disease prevention and for outbound patients or to reduce your insurance premiums.

Niclas Grandqvist, Director of the Polar Electro Group, briefly mentioned ongoing collaborative work with US insurance companies who push Polar’s fitness-tracking devices to their customers. “We collect the data and analyze it for the insurance companies”, he said, not sure whether this would lead to discriminatory insurance premiums.

In fact, so-called corporate-wellness programs have already been reported in the press, enticing employees to exercise more and benefit from a healthier lifestyle. In return, the employer distributes less sick days and pays lower insurance premiums. But such a pervasive health monitoring program could go against your own understanding of wellbeing, as an individual, should you not want to behave within the “healthy standards” set by the company or the state looking after your health.

Unhealthy behavior (who should set the limits for this?) could turn your data into lower pay, higher taxes or even less or no insurance reimbursements (for damaging the workforce instrument that is your body).

But even if there was a rational recipe for all of us to live healthily for as long as possible, should it necessarily be enforced for the greater “common good” through financial incentives? (read cutting national health expenses).


One important barrier to overcome for these scenarios to happen in Europe is data privacy, lamented some of the speakers. Only political changes and legal reforms could enable big data to truly yield its full Orwellian potential. In the meantime, it is possible to integrate privacy-by-design features into wearables, so the data does not become too personal yet remaining accessible for big data analysis schemes, one example being MIT’s Open Personal Data Store concept.

For now, when using a service, it is still not clear to whom belongs the collected data, commented Dr. Stefan Rüping, Head of the Data Mining group at the Fraunhofer Institute IAIS. “People don’t think too much about that, but this can have many legal implications”.

Without a heavy clamp down on “unhealthy behavior” or making fitness trackers compulsory by law, another barrier to mass adoption is cost of course. And more than medical regulatory issues, the question of reimbursement is critical, highlighted Dr Milo Puhan, Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health and Director of the Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Prevention Institute at the University of Zurich.

Should the health insurances pay for the devices or should these be part of a free public service? In any case, if the devices are not reimbursed in one way or another, most patients won’t want to pay for it, unless they understand that their life depends on it.

It is difficult to convince people to wear health monitoring devices long term only for predictive analysis, even if this is to decrease their risk of having a heart attack or diabetes in the next ten years (by influencing their behavior).

“During all these years when nothing happens, you still have to pay for the back office, interpret the data and eventual coach the individuals, but is this really affordable?” Questioned Puhan. That is why today, only the high-risk patients are monitored (typically those who already had a first heart accident or who feel immediately at risk).


For now, what truly makes the difference between a smart wearable’s success and failure is its level of usefulness, the actual value perceived by the wearer, not only by whoever runs the data analysis. For instance, Hocoma AG’s CEO Dr. Gery Colombo related his experience with the launch of Valedo for the treatment of low back pain.

While many wearable devices are seen as gadgets, Valedo is an easy sell for those who seek medical help, claims Colombo. The kit includes two motion sensors that monitor the wearer’s posture as he/she follow therapeutic gaming instructions on a tablet or a smartphone.

 

Hocoma’s Valedo therapeutic gaming platform ensure the right compliance with low back pain exercises.

 

The minute rehabilitation movements are easier to perform thanks to the avatar’s feedback in real time, and the sessions just feel like playing a game, hence a better compliance with the recommended exercises.

“Eight out of 10 people will be affected by back pain at some point during their lives”, highlighted Colombo, citing this health issue as the number one cause of disability worldwide ($200 billion in lost wages and productivity), and one of the most expensive one to treat.

“We got very good reviews, because we truly bring a solution to low back pain problems, and it is not just fun but also medically proven and certified”.

For Colombo too, in the medical sector, the biggest issue is the prescription habits and reimbursement.

“Patients are used to do what the doctors tell them” he said. “If the doctors prescribe them even the most expensive treatments, if the insurances reimburse them, then the patients will go for that. They always favor the treatments that they know will be reimbursed”.

“In sports, people pay out of their own pocket, but in health, people expect someone to pay for them, either the healthcare or the insurance”, Colombo concluded.

 

Visit Cicor at www.cicor.com

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