New Medical Smartphone Gives You a Check-Up Over the Phone

There are smartphones to track your run, measure your heartbeat and take and send glucose readings to your doctor.

And now, a new medical smartphone is available to help patients manage chronic disease and stay healthy, while taking their healthcare information and storing it in the cloud.

But what makes LifeWatch different, its executives say, is that it assists health-conscious consumers who have already recovered from, or are suffering from, a chronic medical condition to alert health centers to any changes in their health using seven sensors. “With this phone, all the basic measurements are available to us. For patients, it enables effective management of their illness,” said LifeWatch chairman and CEO, Dr. Yacov Geva.“Everything is inside, including medical apps, such as nutrition management, pedometer, and medication reminder.”

It’s as simple as placing four fingers on the sensors of the device on both sides for an ECG in 25 seconds, or pressing it to your forehead for your temperature, in 10 seconds. It can also calculate blood saturation levels, body fat analysis and stress levels.

The device works as a phone, but also records important medical information and uploads it to LifeWatch’s remote monitoring service, which records a user’s health and updates his medical records, alerting emergency services when necessary. 

Data is sent to three emergency call centers in the U.S., and to the patient's doctor and to insurance companies, but the data is primarily intended for the consumers using the phone.Last year, LifeWatch announced that it would provide members insured by UnitedHealthcare in-network access to LifeWatch cardiac monitoring services and technologies.