Digital Health Services through Patient Empowerment: Classification, Current State and Preliminary Impact Assessment by Health Pod Systems

Featured Application The innovative systems called health pods are exploiting digital health concepts by delivering preventive medicine services in a distributed hospital setting. Health pods are new systems such as small spaces equipped with medical devices where users can measure several biomedical parameters related to their health status and receive other medical services. Their impact on health over a life course could be relevant in defining healthy aging strategies and/or management of chronic diseases and the early detection of possible symptoms related to some common pathologies. The generated data have not only a personal value but even at a community/society level. Health pods also support educational and empowerment actions to enable the 5P medicine approach, and specifically prevention, health promotion, and public health policymaking. This paper aims at defining their taxonomy, conducting a market and typologies survey, and discussing their potential impact in preventive medicine, presenting data of a pilot test carried out placing two health pods in a superstore environment to validate the demand and the participation of people in a prevention campaign. A 57-day period was observed at two sites: the number of free accesses and administered tests was impressive for size and completeness. The test revealed a good picture of the general health status of the population, with satisfying AGE values in the cardiovascular check and stress index through an HRV analysis. The body composition test revealed a small number of overweight subjects, more in males than in females. This pilot confirmed the huge demand for personalized services for improving well-being, health status, and quality of life and the relevance of these solutions for their individual and societal impact in preventive medicine.

Automated summary

Health pods are innovative systems that utilize digital health concepts to provide preventive medicine services. They can measure various biomedical parameters related to health and offer other medical services. The data generated by health pods have personal and societal value. These systems are important for defining healthy aging strategies, managing chronic diseases, and detecting symptoms of common pathologies. They also support education and health promotion.