Big Health Advances in Small Packages: report from the third annual Medical Device Connectivity conference

Andy Oram | O'Reilly Radar | September 9, 2011

At some point, all of us are likely to owe our lives--or our quality of life--to a medical device. Yesterday I had the chance to attend the third annual Medical Device Connectivity conference, where manufacturers, doctors, and administrators discussed how to get all these monitors, pumps, and imaging machines to work together for better patient care.

A few days ago I reported on the themes in the conference, and my attendance opened up lots of new insights for me. I've been convinced for a long time that the real improvements in our health care system will come, not by adjusting insurance policies, payment systems, or data collection, but by changes right at the point of care. And nothing is closer to the point of care than the sensor attached to your chest or the infusion pump inserted into your vein. 

What sorts of innovation can we hope for in medical devices? ...