AirStrip Technologies, makers of AirStripOB, on of the very first FDA approved medical applications in Apple's AppStore, today announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had cleared its AirStrip Remote Patient Monitoring solution (RPM), which includes AirStrip RPM Critical Care and AirStrip RPM Cardiology. The clearance significantly expands AirStrip's suite of applications.

Is it just me or are FDA approvals of wireless health devices ramping up? This year the FDA has already cleared Proteus Biomedical's wireless sensor "Raisin" patch as well as Corventis' Nuvant wireless heart monitor technology. And now AirStrip. I know of at least two other mobile health companies that are expecting FDA clearance very soon, too.

AirStrip RPM is now available to AirStrip's medical professional customers who use the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4, iPod touch, and the iPad. Other smartphones and form factors are currently under development, according to the company.

The company's first offering, AirStripOB, which received FDA clearance in 2006, and now counts 200 installations in labor and delivery units hospitals across the US.

"With FDA clearance in place, AirStrip now extends its virtual real time remote patient monitoring technology to a broad array of acute patient clinical settings, which include the intensive care unit, the emergency department, the operating room, the neonatal ICU, and virtually any other care environment," the company stated in a release.

AirStrip RPM enables medical professionals to use their smartphones to see vital signs, critical waveform data and other clinical information, which is sent directly from the hospital and can be accessed from virtually anywhere a cell-phone or other wireless connection is available, the company said.

"There are times when the physician simply cannot be at the bedside. However, with the AirStrip RPM solution, multiple patients can be monitored virtually anywhere, anytime," Dr. Cameron Powell, President and CMO of AirStrip Technologies.

For more on the FDA's clearance of AirStrip RPM, read the full release here