Intel gets FDA OK for personal health system

Intel Corp, the world’s biggest computer chip maker, said on Thursday it won clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to sell a personal in-home health monitoring system for patients with chronic conditions.

The system, called Health Guide, combines an in-home patient device as well as online access that enables healthcare professionals to monitor patients and remotely manage care.

It incorporates interactive tools for personalized care management and integrates vital sign collection, patient reminders, multimedia educational content and feedback and communications tools such as video conferencing and e-mail.

The Health Guide system can connect to specific models of wired and wireless medical devices, including blood pressure monitors, glucose meters, pulse oximeters, peak flow meters and weight scales. It also stores and displays the collected information on a touch screen and sends to a secure host server, where healthcare professionals can review the information.

“With more people living with chronic diseases, we believe care can be increasingly moved outside of the hospital to the home,” Louis Burns, vice president and general manager of Intel’s Digital Health Group, said in a prepared statement.

“We believe the Intel Health Guide represents a new category of personal health systems that go beyond the simple remote patient monitoring devices available today,” he added.

Intel said it expects the system to be commercially available from healthcare providers in the United States and the United Kingdom late this year or early next year.

CHICAGO (Reuters)