November 14, 2007

Frank Wartena

Frank Wartena is a Research Scientist at Philips Research. He joined Philips Research in 2004 after receiving his master's degree in Computer Science with honors from the University of Twente.

For the past two years Frank has been active in the personal healthcare domain addressing the whole spectrum from technology to business models. During this time Frank spent three months working at Philips Medical Systems in Seattle, WA. He recently received the Distinguished Scientist 2006 award from the Philips Research Europe management.

Abstract:

Taking healthcare outside of the hospital is our only way of dealing with the increasing costs of an aging world. Caring for people with chronic diseases accounts for 75% of healthcare expenditure in Western societies and with the growing group of people over 65 this is likely to increase even further. Solutions that will allow people to better take care of them selves outside of the traditional care institutions are expected to significantly reduce healthcare costs and increase quality of life. These solutions are known by many names: Personal Healthcare, Healthcare Unbound, Telehealth, etc.

For the PowerPoint presentation, click here.

The Continua Health Alliance is driving for interoperability between and increased adoption of these personal healthcare solutions. At the same time non-medical companies are entering the personal healthcare arena, such as Google and Microsoft. The next few years will show if personal healthcare can deliver on its promises and become a mainstream part of the healthcare domain.

For more information about his current work for the Continua Health Alliance, see www.continuaalliance.org.