Diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other serious ailments need close, often constant, monitoring. But outside the confines of a hospital or doctor's office, it usually falls to the patient to take and interpret readings that can mean life or death. That's a big problem, especially when the person is elderly or very ill, says Warren Todd, executive director of the Disease Management Association of America, an organization of health-care providers, HMOs, insurance companies, and pharmaceutical manufacturers. New wireless technologies that cater to patients suffering from these sorts of diseases help physicians and clinicians provide the monitoring and preventive care that can stop or slow complications. For the patients, these home-monitoring technologies promise to help them live longer and better lives. For the health-care industry, the potential payoff is lower treatment costs from fewer patient visits to hospitals and critical-care centers.
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