West Wireless Health Institute Reinventing It’s Mission-Moving Towards Reducing Cost of Care with Technology With Collabor

The institute has been closely affiliated with Qualcomm in San Diego and now they feel the direction of the institute is better served as working towards better care and saving money through the use of wireless technologies in healthcare.  There have been several resignations from some who came from big corporate conglomerates and with a new direction the marketing section appears to be taking  a back seat to further research and development into how products can be used in the healthcare market.  Back in September of 2010 you can read about their first Innovation Day in DC and see the picture with Aneesh Chopra when he visited the institute. 

This looks like a move in the right direction as it appears that the “innovation” headlights have turned off as they realize that is present anyway and are focusing on a collaboration of various companies, devices, software and more.  They are working still with many big names such as Medtronic, Cisco and healthcare institutions as well and this looks like a good move to put mHealth on a new productive track instead of loads of software written just because folks can.  Amongst all of this too is to keep in mind we need to not lose track of participator sensing with devices so we don’t create “monsters” that nobody wants to deal with either due to complexity or privacy issues.  BD

Participatory Sensing – Medical Devices Reporting Data for Patient Compliance

When the West Wireless Health Institute named Don Casey as its first CEO last year, the San Diego nonprofit said the former Johnson & Johnson executive was hired to drive development of the institute as “a world-class research organization focused on accelerating wireless health innovations, technology incubation, advocacy and education.”

Today the institute is describing its mission differently. Instead of working to “accelerate wireless health innovations” (as an end in itself), the institute has a more pronounced mission to lower the cost of healthcare. Casey says the difference does not reflect a change in the institute’s core strategy as a catalyst for innovation—but rather a shift in emphasis.

When the West Wireless Health Institute named Don Casey as its first CEO last year, the San Diego nonprofit said the former Johnson & Johnson executive was hired to drive development of the institute as “a world-class research organization focused on accelerating wireless health innovations, technology incubation, advocacy and education.”

Today the institute is describing its mission differently. Instead of working to “accelerate wireless health innovations” (as an end in itself), the institute has a more pronounced mission to lower the cost of healthcare. Casey says the difference does not reflect a change in the institute’s core strategy as a catalyst for innovation—but rather a shift in emphasis.

Casey also confirmed some notable departures, however, including Amir Jafri, who was recruited from Cardinal Health last year to serve as the institute’s chief operating officer , and Mehran Mehregany, who was named as the institute’s executive vice president of engineering and the chief of engineering research.

“Mehran’s passion is pursuing academic and educational training [in wireless technologies],” Casey said. “And as we focused more and more on cost savings, he felt he could better achieve his objectives outside the institute.”