Durham, North Carolina-based health data platform company Validic has announced a new technology at CES 2016 called VitalSnap. VitalSnap allows data from non-connected devices to be captured and digitized by using a smartphone's camera.

“We’re excited to announce this innovative technology that will provide a strong stepping stone for connected health strategies across healthcare,” CEO Ryan Beckland said in a statement. “Validic is working to connect to any health device on the market using a variety of technical solutions to ensure healthcare organizations, our clients, have access to the actionable data they need. We can’t improve care without critical patient data; this is the reality in healthcare right now. Access to real-time device readings allows caregivers to make quicker, better care decisions.”

Users will be able to point the phone's camera at non-connected devices like blood glucose meters, blood pressure monitors, or pulse oximeters and capture the data from their screens without actually taking a picture. This data can then be sent to healthcare providers and other Validic customers just the same way data from a connected device would be.

At initial launch, VitalSnap will function with 18 devices, and the app will be available for both Android and iOS. This brings the total number of devices in the Validic ecosystem to 244.

Validic works with healthcare providers and others to help them integrate data streams from many different apps and devices into one secure, easy-to-interact with pipe. This includes consumer devices like those made by Fitbit and Jawbone, sports devices like those from Polar and Garmin, and, increasingly, medical devices — anything that connects to a smartphone via Bluetooth. Now the company will be able to incorporate non-connected devices as well, making it easier to fit into providers' existing workflows.

"Without technology like VitalSnap, there is still a digital divide between patients trying to share the data and providers trying to access data," Brian Carter, senior director and general manager of population health at Cerner, said in a statement. “Considering patient outcomes are most affected by what he or she is doing on a day-to-day basis outside the physician's office or hospital, we as an industry need to start better integrating data from these activities and biometrics in the treatment process.”