A new wireless technology is being touted as the missing link needed to join patients, providers and the health IT that promises to transform healthcare across the globe.

Last week, in a session at the 7th Annual World Health Care Congress in Washington D.C., Patrick Soon-Shiong, M.D., included Toronto-based Ideal Life's solutions for managing chronic disease as part of the "full response medical bag" that he sees as the solution to today's fragmented, expensive health care delivery system.
 
The company’s remote monitoring system is designed to collect a patient's biometric data and then wirelessly transmit the results via a variety of communication channels—land lines, cell phones, the Internet—to a secure data repository where it can be read by their healthcare providers.
 
The technology frees patients to just step on the scale, or take a measurement. The reading is automatically transmitted to their care team. With this real-time data, the team can immediately intervene if there is a problem, avoiding potential hospital admissions, physician office visits and trips to the emergency room.

Ideal Life’s technology also promises to improve patients’ adherence to their medication and care plans through two-way education and coaching, including communication via social networks.

John Farrell blogs regulary at MobileHealthWatch.com.