An Inventor's Perspective on Consumer Health Informatics

Healthcare providers have less time to help patients make the lifestyle changes required to minimize their risk of a serious disease—such s cancer, heart disease, and diabetes—or best deal with ne. However, advances in health informatics and onsumer-oriented health applications will transform ealthcare systems.We are seeing a rapid proliferation of ome monitoring devices that can flow through a cell hone to the web, or directly to the web. Soon a constant nline sea of real-time health data will be available, helpng consumers understand their health-related issues. ost health information coming to consumers will ultiately need to be mediated by this data. As we cross over his tipping point, online software health helpers—contantly taking into account the consumer’s needs, data, rogress, and psychology—will become a primary source f patient information. The purpose of this paper is to describe a platform hat Keas, Inc., a software company dedicated to imroving health, is building that enables the rapid deelopment, deployment, and enhancement of these nline helpers. Constantly available, these helpers will se data from different sources to provide important dvice and information to patients and practitioners. his has the potential to aid in the prevention and anagement of lifestyle-related chronic diseases. Just s spreadsheets were a platform enabling financial aplications to be built by almost anyone, this platform an enable health experts to translate expertise into nline helpers, and through the aegis of the web and obile communications, support consumers outside he provider’s office in a highly personalized manner.