"IDEAL LIFE and Sprint Introduce New Home Health Wellness Communication Gateway"

"IDEAL LIFE and Sprint Introduce New Home Health Wellness Communication Gateway" - http://www.fiercehealthit.com/press-releases/ideal-life-and-sprint-introduce-new-home-health-wellness-communication-gate

Several other companies are also coming out with Health Kiosks too, but these are too costly for the Other 90% of the World.

Let's design an Ultra-Low-Cost Health Kiosk for worldwide use, not just for the rich countries. This could be a challenge for world health organizations, universities, retired engineers/scientists/health care professionals, Doctors Without Borders, Engineers Without Borders, and anyone else interested. Just give this gift to the world and enjoy it.

• This Kiosk could be developed through Open Innovation, Crowdsourcing, Open Source Software, etc. 
• A wiki could provide collaboration of countries, institutions, people, etc.
• Attorneys could help design around active patents, otherwise use expired patents which are in the public domain. Companies could donate or license unused patents to this cause, no strings attached.
• Publish it all over too, to prevent future patenting of technology that would benefit the world so much. 
• Government officials worldwide could "grease the skids" of development. 
• Rich folks could provide the money with no strings attached; attorneys could make sure of that with a donation agreement.

Let's get to work! What do you think?
If you need some start material see my blogs. I've laid down some groundwork for years now, but I'm sure you all can do much better.

Pediatric Tricorder Ready to be Invented?

From HealthyChildren.org - "Is your child sick? Whether you're on the go or at home, this app will help you know what to do next.

What should you do if your child develops a fever, cough, vomiting, rash, sore throat or head injury? When can your child return to school or child care after an illness? These are medical advice questions that all parents have. Health problems can arise anytime – evenings, weekends, when you’re at work or traveling or your doctor’s office is closed.

KidsDoc is designed especially for these times. The care guides help you make smart decisions on what level of care (if any) is needed and how to provide speedy symptom relief for minor illnesses or injuries you can manage on your own.

KidsDoc is derived from the clinical protocols used by pediatricians and nurses in 10,000 practices and 400 nurse advice call centers in the US and Canada. They have been tested for 15 years on more than 150 million symptom calls." - See Full Description at http://www.healthychildren.org/English/tips-tools/Symptom-Checker/Pages/KidsDoc-Symptom-Checker-App.aspx

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Could this be the beginnings of a Tricorder for children? Let's see.....

What else could be added to this symptom checker app to make into a Tricorder?

Maybe this Build-A-Tricorder "Idea Trampoline" might be helpful in your inventing - http://tgideas.blogspot.com/2012/03/could-open-innovation-hasten-creation.html

Good Luck!  Honk as you go by! :-)

Low Cost Medical Innovation Seeping into the U.S. - Like it or not!

Low cost medical innovation is happening outside of developed countries, including the U.S.  This innovation will seep into the U.S. whether big business likes it or not.  Consumers are asking tough questions these days, and not just depend on what they're told.  You can be part of the solution to fix a broken health care system.

This is what caught my eye.... Low Cost Medical Innovation in China and India - http://health-club.org/medical-innovation-china-india

To find more of the same, here are the Google Search Strings I used...

• (low-cost OR affordable OR cheap) (medical-innovation)
• (low-cost OR affordable OR cheap) (medical-innovation) (asia OR india OR china OR brazil OR bricit)

From above, here are some that attracted me...

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/157/bone-drills-lunar-design-stanford - Stanford Bone Drill India 

http://www.economist.com/node/17961922 - Asian Medical Innovation - also http://davidvansickle.com/2011/01/economist-on-low-cost-medical-innovation/ also http://www.economist.com/node/17961922/comments 

http://health.newamerica.net/blogposts/2011/cost_medical_innovation_and_the_affordable_care_act-43533 - related to Affordable Health Care Act 

http://www.msfaccess.org/structural-tags/driving-medical-innovation - List of articles on low-cost medical innovation worldwide 

Medical innovation in the changing healthcare marketplace: conference summary - National Academies Press, May 30, 2002 - Book

And, of course, there is Tom's Personal Clinic - Maybe my work will inspire others.

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-01-18/news/30639136_1_innovation-medical-device-india-and-china - India frugal medical innovation

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/arabic/article.cfm?articleid=2786 - low cost considered "disruptive innovation" by some

http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/page-1/TEC-261590/Medical-Technology-Innovation-Gaining-Ground-in-China-India - India and China

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/mark-finkelstein/2011/09/22/kattys-complaint-why-doesnt-usa-have-40-year-plan-chinas - Why doesn't U.S. have medical innovation plan like China?

http://www.ted.com/talks/r_a_mashelkar_breakthrough_designs_for_ultra_low_cost_products.html - examples in video

http://www.freepressrelease.eu/?p=47664 - example of medical tourism in India

Some Action Steps...if you want to help yourself and others with affordable healthcare

1. Send this to your congress-person, president, or other government leaders. Ask them why we can't be as progressive as India and China are.
2. Send this to your healthcare professional, insurance providers, and the like. Ask them to promote low cost medical innovation.
3. Consider doing what I have done in Tom's Health Care Reform Plan. Take charge of your own life.
4. What else can you or others do? Please comment for all to see.

Disclaimer - For information only, and not medical advice.

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As long as you're on the link, check out the wonderful resources.  Don't whine about not having affordable health care.  Get to work and help yourself and others - even here in the U.S.! (Please)