填空题

Wireless Health Care
A．Is it possible that among all the advertisements about Apple’s iPad, one potential use has been overlooked Larry Nathanson, head of emergency-medicine "informatics" at one of Harvard Medical School’s hospitals, has experimented with using the device in the patients’ rooms. He writes that "initial tests with our clinical applications went amazingly well... the EKGs (心电图) look better on screen than on paper. It was great having all of the clinical information right at the bedside to discuss with the patient."
B．Dr. Nathanson’s enthusiasm hints at the potential of wireless instruments to improve health care, and to ensure more personalized treatment in particular. Experts have long predicted that advances in genetics will bring in a golden age of individually tailored therapies. But in fact it is much lower-tech wireless devices and Internet-based health software that are speeding up the mass personalization of health care, and creating entirely new business models in the process.
C．Wireless health is "becoming universal" in hospitals, according to Kalorama Information, a market-research firm. It estimates that the market for such devices and services in America alone will grow from $2.7 billion in 2007 to $9.6 billion in 2012. Don Jones of Qualcomm, a maker of networking technology, argues that the trend speeds diagnosis and treatment, and saves doctors’ and nurses’ time. GE, an industrial giant, and Sprint, an American mobile operator, have joined forces to offer hospitals such services. GE’s software allows the secure monitoring of patients’ health via mobile phones, as does rival software from Airstrip.
D．Doctors are an obvious early target for wireless health. A forthcoming report by the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), a think tank, estimates that two-thirds of American physicians already have smart-phones. Over one-third of American doctors use Epocrates, a program for mobiles and laptops which offers instant information on drug-to-drug interactions, treatment recommendations and so on. The software will soon be able to access electronic health records (EHRs) via mobiles—which the author of the CHCF’s report thinks could be "the killer application" of wireless health.
E．The hope is that nimble new technologies, from smart-phones to EHRs to health-monitoring devices, will give more power to patients and doctors, and thus improve outcomes while cutting costs. The popularization of mobile phones is the chief reason to think this optimistic thought may come true. Patients with smart-phones can certainly benefit from interactive "wellness" applications that track diet, exercise and important signs.
F．But Carolyn Buck-Luce of Ernst & Young, a consultancy, points out that "Mobile Health" is transforming health care in poor countries as well as rich ones. Medical Home, a Mexican team that provides medical consultations by mobile, already has millions of customers. Paul Meyer of Voxiva, an American technology firm that has set up Mobile Health systems in Rwanda and Peru, among other places, says that such schemes have been so successful in the developing world that they are now being adopted in the rich world, too. His firm has helped the American government with its recent launch of "Information Baby", a public-health movement to educate pregnant mothers (they receive free text messages with medical advice) that will soon become the biggest such effort in the world.
G．What is more, mobile phones are but one part of a broader wireless trend in health care that McKinsey, a consultancy, estimates may soon be worth up to $60 billion globally. Many companies are coming up with "home health" devices based on the wireless technology. Some are obviously used in clinical. Medtronic, a devices giant, is developing a bedside monitor that wirelessly tracks the blood sugar levels in diabetic children sleeping nearby. GE has come up with "body sensor networks", tiny wireless devices that track the vital signs of those who wear them.
H．The most successful devices may be, as Eric Dishman of Intel puts it, "secret". His firm, a big chipmaker, is investing in devices to track the health of the elderly, such as "magic carpets" that sense erratic (不稳定的) movements and thus can predict a fall. Continua, an industry group, is developing shared standards so that blood-pressure monitors and scales can wirelessly transfer readings to doctors’ offices or personal EHR services like Google Health.
I．All these devices and services do not just allow doctors to make more accurate diagnoses, prescribe more effective treatments and keep better track of patients’ conditions. They also allow health services to tailor treatments depending on patients’ personal preferences and behavioral shortcomings. Studies show, for example, that although some patients with long-standing diseases are not caring about taking pills properly, others are careless or forgetful. Some prefer efficient electronic reminders, whereas others respond best when a nurse calls home. A global consumer survey released on April 6th by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), a consultant company, finds that the elderly prefer high-quality care with lots of personal attention, whereas younger types prefer low-cost care and health schemes.
J．Many health systems, PWC’s report finds, are beginning to divide customers into different categories to arrange treatments accordingly. For example, Discovery Health, a South African insurer, uses a variety of different methods to get patients with diseases to follow through on their treatments, from text messages reminding them to take their pills to rewards for good behavior.
K．A similar scheme run by Health Media, a health firm owned by Johnson & Johnson, a big drugs firm, uses online tools (it calls them "digital health coaches") to help patients manage diabetes and lose weight. Its studies suggest that half of the digitally directed people do lose weight. And the improved health of those with chronic conditions is worth $1000 a year to their employers. Virgin Health Miles, an American rival, has taken the same idea a step further, using online social networks, through which co-workers or family members can cheer on or remind patients electronically, in order to encourage exercise or weight loss. Patients seem to like this kind of thing: one patient who suffers from heart disease, for example, has created a forum for fellow sufferers that can be accessed through an iPhone application.
L．All these measures are particularly promising because they help bring about behavioral change, normally the hardest element of any treatment. Patients often ignore doctors’ lectures, but are more inclined to listen to supportive friends and family. By the same token, doctors and nurses are not always on hand to encourage healthy behavior, but mobile phones and other wireless gadgets can be. That is something that even personalized genetic therapies could not offer.
Patients often ignore doctors’ lectures, but are more likely to follow the advice of supportive friends and family.