Sprint has partnered with BL Healthcare, a provider of remote health management technology, to provide 3G connectivity to the latter's new lineup of telemedicine solutions.

BL Healthcare, based in Foxboro, Mass., offers several solutions that allow patients to securely receive medical care in their homes, at work, at nursing homes and assisted living homes, and remote clinics such as pharmacies or retail stores. The solutions allow the right medical professionals to deliver appropriate care from any remote location.

The new embedded devices join an existing array of wireline and wireless touch screen, kiosk and television-based solutions that enable patients to take a more proactive role in the management of their care.

[See also: Healthcare's increasing presence at CES harbinger of things to come.]

The expanded range of capabilities now includes HD multipoint video conferencing, multimedia support for educational programs, instant messaging, real-time alerts and notifications, and the ability to communicate with a wide range of vital sign measurement and peripheral medical devices.

BL Healthcare solutions are FDA cleared and HIPAA compliant for patient confidentiality.
 
Many home-based healthcare applications and services providers have already embraced wireline, as well as wireless 2G and 3G technologies and, with the availability of 4G mobile networks, wireless device and service connectivity will continue to power the future home care industry, which is expected to top $4 billion by 2013, Sprint executives note.

Perhaps the biggest opportunity for wireless-enabled home care products, they say, is the management of chronic diseases such as heart disease, stroke, cancer and diabetes, which according to the CDC, accounts for 70 percent of all deaths in the United States, and are among the most common, costly and preventable of all health problems.

"We believe Sprint's unique combination of network assets and open architecture provide key components in the development of next-generation of remote healthcare-related services," said Michael Mathur, president and CEO of BL Healthcare. "We are excited to enter this partnership with Sprint and develop a new standard for healthcare management that offers dramatic improvements in the overall quality and efficiency of healthcare while reducing costs."

In addition to the availability of embedded 3G devices, Sprint, BL Healthcare and representatives from Lancaster General Health, a regional healthcare system serving Lancaster County in Pennsylvania and a BL Healthcare customer, will provide a first look at a kiosk demo powered by 4G at the Sprint booth (#2551) during the 2011 Healthcare Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Annual Conference in Orlando, Fla.

"Wireless technologies, 3G and 4G in particular, have really established telemedicine systems as the future of healthcare," said William Dunstan, vice president of home health services with Lancaster General Health. "With functionality such as embedded multipoint videoconferencing, multimedia support, instant messaging, real-time alerts, and the ability to communicate with multiple wired and wireless vital sign measurement and peripheral medical devices,  hospitals and home health agencies are able to reduce costs while greatly improving the quality of care."

[4G tech as game changer: Next: Handheld healthcare.]

Something for developers, too
The next-generation BL Healthcare remote health management platform also offers an alternative approach for healthcare application developers and other healthcare service providers to generate incremental revenue by marketing innovative new applications and services that leverage their expertise and protocols.

"We are proud to expand our relationship with an established leader in the development of innovative health care solutions around new technology," said Tim Donahue, vice president of Industry Solutions, Sprint. "BL Healthcare remote healthcare solutions are an excellent example of how wireless technologies, combined with mobile machine-to-machine applications, can transform healthcare by boosting efficiency, raising quality and improving access, regardless of location, age, gender or disability."

Powered by the Sprint nationwide network, including the first wireless 4G network from a national carrier, Sprint executives bill the company as a leader in providing healthcare companies with a full range of wireless and wireline data services and unmatched expertise with embedded mobile computing and M2M communications, enabling them to bring new products to market.