NEWLY RATIFIED ZIGBEE HEALTH CARE PROFILE ...

NEWLY RATIFIED ZIGBEE HEALTH CARE PROFILE NOW AVAILABLE FOR PUBLIC DOWNLOAD

 

Public availability will spur innovation in telemedicine to help people live healthier, independent lives

 

San Ramon, Calif. - April 5, 2010 - The ZigBee® Alliance, a global ecosystem of companies creating wireless solutions for use in energy management, residential, commercial and consumer electronics applications, today announced the Board of Directors has ratified ZigBee Health Care and made the standard publicly available. ZigBee Health Care offers new ways to help people of all ages live healthier and more independent lives while lowering healthcare costs.

 

ZigBee Health Care provides a global, open standard for interoperable, low-power wireless devices enabling secure monitoring and management of noncritical, low-acuity healthcare services targeted at chronic disease management, elderly care, wellness, in-patient and asset tracking. It supports thousands of devices on a single network and provides full support for IEEE 11073 devices, making each device eligible for FDA certification. ZigBee Health Care products are ideal for use within homes, fitness centers, retirement communities, nursing homes and other medical care facilities. The standard meets the diverse requirements of consumers, service providers, care providers, payers, product manufacturers and policymakers. More information, and the standard download, can be found at www.Zigbee.org/healthcare.

 

In June 2009 the Continua Health Alliance, the leading non-profit coalition of major health care and technology companies in the industry, endorsed ZigBee Health Care as Continua’s low power local area network (LAN) standard. Continua recommends ZigBee Health Care for sensing and control in professional settings, homes, recreation centers and across large campuses as it offers secure, robust, battery-efficient wireless connectivity for patient activity and facilities monitoring while delivering the freedom of wireless operation outside of buildings.  In addition, ZigBee is a proven low-power technology that coexists with other wireless technologies, including Wi-Fi.

 

“ZigBee Health Care provides a wide variety of remote and wireless health monitoring services that can inspire everyone to take a more active role in their own wellness and fitness,” said Dr. Robert F. Heile, chairman of the ZigBee Alliance. “Wireless products based on ZigBee Health Care will enable people to get the care they need without sacrificing their independent lifestyles and mobility.”

 

The ZigBee Alliance and the American Telemedicine Association (ATA) are currently working together to educate both health care professionals and consumers on the benefits of telecommunications technologies.

According to a recent report by Pike & Fischer, telemedicine spending is projected to reach $3.6 billion annually by 2014. In the United States, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 includes $20 billion for health information technology, with a focus on electronic medical records and telemedicine.