The report describes how the ability to scan RFID devices (microchips that are set to replace barcode labels) with mobile phones could provide shoppers with a wide range of dietary and healthcare related information when they are buying groceries. Wireless Healthcare believe that while these services will be created by independent organisations, retailers will use them to show they are keen to promote healthy eating. The report, Wireless Healthcare 2004, suggests that retailers could become important players in the public healthcare sector and highlights examples such as Wal-Mart and Basha Stores in the US who have already experimented with in-store testing for diabetes and skin cancer. The report points out that mobile and wireless based healthcare services will cause gradual fragmentation of the healthcare sector, as an increasing number of clinical processes and patient monitoring services are provided by private companies. The report identifies home monitoring of the elderly and GPS enabled phones that double as heart monitors as technologies that have been productised and are marketed to patients. Wireless Healthcare feel these services could provide significant revenue for mobile operators, and enable a number of clinical processes to be outsourced or supported off-shore where staffing costs are lower. Peter Kruger, Senior Analyst at Wireless Healthcare, believes wireless and mobile technology has come along at an opportune time. The report concludes that while the NHS is already geared up to dealing with an increasing number of elderly patients, and could probably cope with a rise in instances of obesity related diseases, it cannot do both without automating clinical processes and using technology to improve public health.
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