Qualcomm is ratcheting up its presence at this year’s HIMSS12 Conference and Exhibition with a new subsidiary and a new solution designed to wirelessly connect home-based medical devices and transmit data back to caregivers and providers.
Both Qualcomm Life and the 2net hub were introduced by the San Diego-based telecommunications company at the mHealth Summit last December in Washington D.C., and both have gained considerable traction in the mobile health industry since then. Anthony Shimkin, Qualcomm Life’s senior director of marketing, said the 40 telehealth companies and healthcare providers that had signed on as partners in December have now grown to more than 50.
“For us, HIMSS was always big – a chance to make ourselves known in the healthcare space. Now we actually have the proprietary products and services to show off,” he said. “This is a much different year for us, something we’ve spent eight years getting ready for.”
“We’re really excited in the progress we’ve made in a short amount of time.”
Shimkin said the 2net hub “provides viable solutions to care outside the hospital” by “unhooking the biometric data that is captured in devices at home” and sending that data back to clinicians.
“The patient goes home with this mobile device and this mobile gateway, they plug it in and it works,” said Rick Valencia, vice president and general manager of Qualcomm Life, in an interview at last year’s mHealth Summit. “We’re solving the problem today of devices that are sitting at home that aren’t sending out any messages … because the can’t connect.”
Aside from Qualcomm Life and the 2net hub – which will be on display at the Qualcomm booth in the Exhibit Hall – the company is also highlighting the Qualcomm Life Fund, a $100 million investment fund for venture-backed wireless health companies and start-ups. Investments have been announced for six companies, the latest being San Antonio, Texas-based AirStrip Technologies, which develops a platform that connects clinicians to patient monitoring data – such as heart tracings, blood pressure, temperature, oxygen saturation, weight and pulse – taken from EMRs, bedside monitors and devices and laboratory and other clinical information systems. That data can be accessed via a mobile device, giving physicians instant access to enhance clinical decisions.
Shimkin said the company is poised to make several announcements in the coming days, including the naming of an advisory council, the latest updates on the venture fund, and the results of a recent survey conducted with HIMSS Analytics on the state of remote monitoring in the U.S.
“We’re kind of coming out of the gate as a new business here,” he said. “We’ve got a lot to offer now.”
