Medical devices: When should you make them smarter?

The drive toward value in healthcare has increased demand for smarter medical devices able to provide information for real-time feedback, as well as after-the-fact analysis.

So when does it make sense to actually make a medical device smarter? And how do you go about it? Tom KraMer, CEO of Kablooe Design outside Minneapolis, has a warning: “Never fall into the trap of having a technology that’s looking for a place to be used.”

Medical device creators, according to KraMer, need to start out by figuring out what might be useful and actionable for patients, health providers, health insurers and more. It’s about user-centered methodologies.

KraMer mentioned ADAMM — a wearable, smartphone app and web portal that helps asthma sufferers spot precursor symptoms earlier — as an example of a smart medical device that is providing something valuable for the healthcare system. The device is making asthmatics’ quality of life better and preventing health emergencies.

Listen to MDO’s latest podcast to find out more from KraMer about when it makes sense to make a medical device smarter.