Mobile Healthcare Inc. Launches 'Lifewatcher'
Mobile Healthcare Inc. today announced the launch of Lifewatcher, a world first in integrated mobile disease management. The new service, which operates over a mobile phone or other handheld device, is the first comprehensive mobile disease self-management system for diabetes or obesity sufferers or individuals with restricted dietary and health needs.
With mobile phone penetration in Japan now approaching 70% and, in response to the combined negative ramifications of an alarmingly sharp rise in diabetes sufferers and the incidence of obesity, Mobile Healthcare KK has developed and launched Lifewatcher. Since its inception, the company has had strong positive feedback on the service from a number of Japan’s major hospital groups and health organisations, notably, the Japan Red Cross.
Dr. Toru Hiyoshi from the Japan Red Cross, a specialist in diabetes treatment said: “It is critical for diabetes sufferers to be able to track key health indicators such as blood pressure, blood-sugar levels, calorie intake and weight. Lifewatcher is an easy and intelligent tool that allows patients and practitioners to input and retrieve data in an instant. This is not only going to enhance a patient’s quality of life but could also be tantamount to their survival in an emergency situation.”
Also supporting the new service is Apple Computer Japan, who actively participated during the development phase by providing fully loaded Xserves.
As a mobile service, lifewatcher has been designed to be easily scalable as well as replicable on a range of personal mobile devices and gadgets that go beyond the mobile phone.
James Nakagawa, CEO and Founder of Mobile Healthcare KK said: “We expect to have more than 100,000 subscribers within our first year in operation. As awareness of the service grows both in Japan and abroad, the cost-efficiency and flexibility of the system will also lend itself well to swift scaling up as we race to meet what is expected to be escalating demand as individuals come to understand the immense lifestyle value in taking personal medical care literally into their own hands.”
About Lifewatcher
– An anytime, anywhere, always on service operable from a mobile device, providing real-time access to your health record, medical history, daily medication and nutritional intakes and other key health indicators.
– Allows patients to take more control of their own care while at the same time providing doctors, nutritionists and primary care givers remote access to key data via a PC login page.
– A one glance health portfolio of your daily blood sugar, blood pressure, hemoglobin A1C, BMI, Today’s Kcal, favorite foods, cholesterol, and programmable medicine alarms that can be set to ring or send an email reminders to a patient, care giver or both.
– An easy to use search function that lets you search by kcal, or perhaps left over kcal. By inputting the kcal food amount desired (i.e. 350-kcal search) or by sugar or salt level search, users can hit the enter button and find information on restaurants in specified geographical vicinities, with the option to view actual menus along with accompanying nutritional values and caloric breakdowns.
– Features color graphs, daily, weekly, monthly readings – even daily average blood-sugar readings.
– Application contains over 12,000 food items from official Japanese and American government food agencies, as well as from registered convenience stores and fast-food restaurants with a view to increasing this to over 25,000 listed food items by the second half 2003, making lifewatcher the largest database of nutritional values in Japan.
– 953 yen/month ( 1,000 yen /month including consumption tax)
– Currently available on i-mode, EZWeb, J-Sky
– http:/www.lifewatcher.com
About Mobile Healthcare KK
Mobile Healthcare KK is a strategic research, consulting and systems integration company providing real-time mobile solutions to the healthcare industry in areas of chronic disease management, tele-medicine, mobile personal record keeping, and online channel centric strategies.For further information, please visit the Mobile Healthcare KK home page at: http://www.lifewatcher.com
Contac tJames NakagawaMobile Healthcare Inc.79-2-407 Shimizu-cho, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo, Japan 174-0053www.lifewatcher.comE-mail: info@lifewatcher.com English Inquiries: (Mobile): 090-7016-7583 Apr. 11, 2003, 11:48 (JST)
Source: Mobile Healthcare KK
Mobile Healthcare KK
http://www.lifewatcher.com