• by Scott Holmes , September 10, 2013

As we continue to develop omnichannel mobile applications across a broad array of vertical markets, it’s becoming evident that some industries can benefit more than others.

Retailers are integrating digital with physical retail spaces and products…and back again by including offers, inventories and loyalty incentives into cloud-based mobile point-of-sale systems. Although retail markets are already an obvious place to continue the omnichannel discussion, what about the healthcare industry? Could the healthcare marketplace benefit from retailers’ early lessons on customer care, engagement, and loyalty offerings?

The institutional and personal healthcare industries represent an excellent opportunity for the creative application of mobile technologies and omnichannel applications, especially in addressing ongoing and emerging pain points in an increasingly expensive enterprise. The cost of health care is continuing to challenge the minds of many governments across the globe, and each year costs move relentlessly upward to an extent where they have now reached unsustainable levels in many developed countries. Within the United States, spending is now over $2 trillion, and many organizations working in this field are increasingly becoming interested in using mobile technology to cut costs and improve efficiency.

An example of a recent mobile technology development that could revolutionize our healthcare industry is Bluetooth LE (Low Energy). This provides a brief overview of why Bluetooth LE technology mobile apps can have an enormous impact on the bottom line and customer satisfaction where it’s needed most…in “urgent customer care.”

Everyone knows Bluetooth - a wireless protocol used to link mobile phones with hands-free headsets, controllers with video game consoles, and peripherals to computers and tablets. Newer Bluetooth LE devices can operate with a battery that is a fraction of the size of existing Bluetooth devices, with standby times in months or years, as chips are designed to turn themselves off completely for long periods of time -- waking up only when there is data to be sent. A device acting as a slave (utilizing “Bluetooth Smart”) can in this way announce that it has something to transmit to the master (utilizing “Bluetooth Smart Ready”). LE is not a substitute for standard Bluetooth, but it has been purposefully designed so that it can be added on to a standard Bluetooth chip for almost no additional cost. The latest version (4.0…out now), uses even less power than previous versions, and enables various devices to replace propriety sensor technology, hampered by custom components and platforms, with an inexpensive standard poised to blow the market wide open.

So why does all this matter? Bluetooth LE capability is perfect for transmitting small amounts of data connected to one’s mobile phone with the capacity to deliver services, information and even indoor GPS without significantly draining battery life. LE has the potential to render any electronic device a “remote control” with applications for home monitoring, entertainment, fitness, m-commerce, and healthcare.

Regarding healthcare applications, one of the toughest problems facing portable medical devices today is power consumption, and it is here that Bluetooth LE can be uniquely valuable. Low-cost drug delivery devices -- especially for those with chronic medical conditions, like diabetes -- could log dosage stats as well as vital health information, transforming what is usually a complicated calculus into an automatically self-updating database. A device could alert the patient or the doctor about any irregularities in dosage intake or health status. In addition, a secondary advantage with this type of mobile app design is the interface with SMS texting technology with a payload of 160 characters per message. This would allow data to be sent automatically and immediately to medical staff or the patient.

Makers of glucometers for diabetes are already designing Bluetooth LE into their devices, and other home instruments like blood pressure monitors and weight scales will follow soon. Other medical device apps include wireless networking of stethoscopes and pulse oximeters which can monitor heart rates and stream data to laptops or mobile devices in real-time.

Another example can be found in logging one’s exercise regime and weight as LE devices are now cheap enough to put in exercise bicycles, treadmills, pedometers and weight scales so that an individual can run an application on a smartphone that collects this data and reports how one is doing.

Beyond wirelessly connecting medical devices, opportunities to solve problems in healthcare delivery abound. Bluetooth LE geo-fencing capabilities allow healthcare providers to recognize when a patient arrives at a predetermined radius around a specific location and can deliver appropriate greet-by-name “welcome” or instructional messages to smooth the entry process into what is usually an otherwise stressful visit experience. When one arrives for an appointment, hyperlocal maps and directions can be delivered to one’s mobile phone. Proximity indoor GPS apps can track patient behavior within a healthcare facility, medical campus or smaller assisted living facility.

Beyond existing mobile marketing tactics already in practice, hyperlocalized wireless Bluetooth LE systems can deliver marketing messages with relevancy and immediacy appropriate to a physical condition (and product solution) happening in the here and now. It is not farfetched to claim that from an institutional or individual healthcare perspective, marketing messages can someday be delivered with lifesaving practicality.

According to Cambridge Consultants in the EE Times, by the end of the decade, there will be 50 billion Bluetooth LE connected devices in the world. A broad and deep range of healthcare technology applications are destined to cut costs, improve efficiency and facilitate the patient care experience…and, ultimately, allow consumers to take charge of their own personalized health records and medical plan for a mobile future of better health.