LAS VEGAS — In a panel session on medical electronics Thursday morning (Jan. 8th) at the Consumer Electronics Show here, Howard Jay Chizeck, a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Washington, posed -- as one futuristic possibility in medicine -- a scenario in which one doctor simultaneously directs robots doing several routine surgical procedures on different patients, without even washing his hands between operations.
These and other medical advances are within reach, according to the members of a panel called "Your Robot Will See You Now," except for one overshadowing issue: who pays and how.
Subtly, but repeatedly, panel members lamented the fact that technology holds amazing potential for gathering complex information from patients and applying it to prevention and treatment, but that the U.S. health care system inhibits or prohibits many of these available innovations.
Among the most prominent obstacles to technology-enhanced care is the absence of a unified medical records system that could follow a patient all over the world, at the touch of a keystroke.
Many IT advancements are hindered, moreover, by issues of liability. It's possible today, said panelist Dr. Marshall Stanton, Medtronic's vice-president for clinical research, that a physician could read remotely a patient's blood pressure or heart rate from a device implanted in the patient's body.
However, the physician has no way to collect payment from an insurance company if he makes direct contact with the patient's heart. Moreover, if he makes a mistaken diagnosis based on that reading, he faces unexplored issues of malpractice liability.
Implantable electronic monitoring devices, with a current installed base of 5.5 to 6 million patients, are used far less effectively than they could be, because the health care system has no way to accommodate their speed, variety and functionality.
The panelists, however, were notably cautious in suggesting any changes in -- or even finding fault with -- the health care system, apparently preferring to wait and see what the future might bring politically.
Technologically, they were more sanguine toward the future.
Rajiv Mehta, CEO of Zume Life, went so far as to suggest that a health care system is superfluous to most patients' needs, if they can avail themselves of an array of technical and common-sense "self-care" options that involve personal monitoring of controllable factors like diet, exercise, medication, bio-metrics, anxiety, mood, pain, sleep and other personal health data.
"Humans have a great deal of sensitivity of their own," he said. "A lot of problems go away when the health care system is not a factor."
RSS
Digital
10 emerging technologies to watch:
EE Times has compiled a list of emerging technologies that we think will be worth watching out for in 2010. Biofeedback or thought-control of electronics are among the contenders.
Hot applications in 2010:
We've compiled a list of 10 technology applications you should watch for in 2010, ranging from e-book readers to 3-D TVs. We examine the features that make these apps so compelling as well unresolved issues.
Top 25 predictions for semis in 2010:
2010 is just beginning to unfold in the electronics industry. Looking into our crystal ball, we have released our own chip forecasts--and other predictions--for 2010.
Seven things to fix in 2010:
The editors of EE Times came up with their own informal list of things we hope engineers fix in 2010, spanning everything from nano-lithography to space travel. What do you want to see get done this year?
'09 moves that are shaping the future:
This was a brutal year, but the industry gets a nod for showing grace under fire. Here's our Top 10 guide to the coming year, illustrating what to expect in 2010.
10 CEOs out in 2009:
It's been a tough year for the global electronics industry and CEOs. We survey the dismissal of 10 industry CEOs during the first three quarters of 2009 and what's ahead for the rest of the year.
Notable women in microelectronics:
There is no better time than a global economic recession to examine the keys to successful corporate governance. So, EE Times has compiled an international list that celebrates women who are business and technology leaders in semis.
EE Times updates Silicon 60:
Seventeen companies have been added to the lastest version of our Silicon 60 list of emerging startups. Forty-three companies survived as emerging companies that are still worth watching.
RSS| 
Digital| 
Mobile
