| Method and apparatus for mobile health and wellness management incorporating real-time coaching and feedback, community and rewards -> Monitor Keywords |
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Method and apparatus for mobile health and wellness management incorporating real-time coaching and feedback, community and rewardsRelated Patent Categories: Exercise Devices, Having Specific Electrical Feature, Monitors Exercise ParameterMethod and apparatus for mobile health and wellness management incorporating real-time coaching and feedback, community and rewards description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20060205564, Method and apparatus for mobile health and wellness management incorporating real-time coaching and feedback, community and rewards. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This Application is related to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/594,009 filed Mar. 4, 2005 entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MOBILE HEALTH AND WELLNESS MANAGEMENT INCORPORATING REAL-TIME COACHING AND FEEDBACK, COMMUNITY AND REWARDS, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, and claims any and all benefits to which it is entitled therefrom. FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention relates to wireless health maintenance and lifestyle management, and more particularly to the exchange of health and wellness data between an internet-enabled mobile device and a server-based application, based on a lifestyle plan provided by a practitioner, expert system, or the patient/subscriber/user themselves. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] Recent trends suggest that the United States (and to a lesser extent, other industrialized nations throughout the world) are facing a looming public health crisis, the byproduct of an aging population and the increasingly poor nutrition and fitness regimens of the populace. According to recently published public health statistics, over 30% of the US population are considered obese, while 60% are considered overweight. This has led to a dramatic upswing in obesity-related disease states, including Type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and hypertension, with treatment costs associated with these disease states estimated at $117 billion, and is exerting tremendous upward pressure on healthcare costs in the US, which are currently forecast to reach 16% of GDP by 2006. [0004] This trend, which is clearly unsustainable, has led to a slow but deliberate shift in the orientation and focus of the traditional healthcare delivery system, as payers and practitioners alike seek more effective and efficient alternatives to traditional disease treatment programs, such as disease state management and prevention. A common element amongst these alternatives is the realization that the individual plays a critical role in managing their own health and wellness, particularly as relates to those enablers of health for which the individual has ultimate decision-making authority, such as diet, exercise, medication, and vital sign testing. [0005] While the market for consumer-oriented health and wellness products and services is large and growing, research consistently demonstrates that the majority of such offerings (be they diet programs or health club memberships) fail to deliver the sort of measurable, sustainable results that would warrant their expense. Furthermore, while recent advances in technology (in particular, the emergence of wireless, Internet-enabled mobile devices) has led to a broad array of technology-based solutions, each aimed at improving the health and wellness of an individual, a review of the prior art suggests that these solutions each have one or more disadvantages that may ultimately limit their effectiveness--to wit: [0006] Not optimally integrating (and balancing) the roles of practitioners and end users. Practitioner-driven solutions (such as wireless health monitoring solutions) often treat the end user as little more than a passive instruction follower, while consumer-driven solutions provide little in the way of coaching and guidance, often requiring the end user to act as their own practitioner or to access/integrate practitioner knowledge in an awkward fashion, limiting their usefulness. [0007] Lacking the ability to address all of the "enablers" of health and wellness, including (but not limited to) diet, exercise, medication and vital sign testing. Such single-point solutions (e.g. mobile exercise instructional software) require the user to either ignore the other enablers, or to employ multiple solutions to address all of the enablers, again limiting their usefulness. [0008] Focusing on plan delivery at the expense of plan compliance. Such solutions (such as diet tracking software packages) assume that the user needs little motivation to comply with their specified plan, which conflicts with published research highlighting the need for behavioral modification. [0009] Requiring the users to modify their normal activities or routines to utilize the solution. Such solutions (such as on-line fitness journaling sites) often require the users to perform additional tasks, such as creating a temporary, paper-based copy of their health and wellness plan for later transfer to a Web site, obviating the advantages of the technology. [0010] As an example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,602,691 and 6,936,007, and 6,976,958 Quy describes a method and apparatus for interactively monitoring the disease or health state of a patient using a health management device, coupled to an internet-enabled wireless web device to capture health parameters, such as vital signs or exercise outcomes, and to transmit the captured data to a central repository via a wireless network and to facilitate the delivery of a response to the user. However, the referenced design is highly practitioner-driven, encompasses only selected enablers of health and wellness, and does not focus on the driver of plan compliance. [0011] Similarly, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,735,551 Voegeli et al. describe a system for the maintenance and management of the health which permits easy and complete access to all important data of the patient to be treated. Once again, this is strictly a practitioner-driven system, with the patient relegated to the role of instruction follower, and comprises only the monitoring of vitals signs. [0012] U.S. Patent Publication No. 2005/0113649 to Bergantino teaches a method and apparatus for managing a user's health. The teaching, however, focuses primarily on the nutritional and dietary requirements and activity of the end user, is not configured to allow practitioner generation of integrated lifestyle plans, nor does it incorporate functionality intended to drive plan compliance, such as rewards or the ability to share plans and results with a broader community. [0013] Finally, in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2004/0176666 to Chait teaches a health and well being monitoring and advisory system but without coaching and real-time feedback, it is unlikely such system would be effective in ensuring compliance and increase in overall health and well being. ADVANTAGES AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0014] What is missing, then, is an integrated solution that actively involves both the practitioner and the end user, encompasses all of the enablers of health and wellness, focuses on enabling compliance with a healthy lifestyle plan, and integrates seamlessly with an individual's normal routine. [0015] It is an object and advantage of the invention to provide a system and method for improving the health and wellness of an individual (hereafter, referred to as the end user) by delivering an integrated health and wellness management platform, consisting in the preferred embodiment of an Internet-connected server-side application configured to enable the creation of a comprehensive, personalized lifestyle plan by a health and wellness practitioner(s), and connected via wireless synchronization of known method with a client-side application installed on an Internet-enabled mobile device, itself configured to enable compliance with the lifestyle plan through the application of behavior modification techniques such as real-time coaching, outcome journaling and feedback, goal-based rewards and linkage with a broad community. The presence of the mobile device is a critical advantage, ensuring that the end user receives critical coaching and feedback when and where it matters most; that is, at the time and place of decision-making relative to diet, exercise, medication and other key lifestyle choices that impact health and wellness. [0016] For the sake of clarity, in the context of the present invention the term "lifestyle plan" refers to a series of scheduled events, each occurring at a specific time (and in some cases, place) and consisting of one or more actionable activities. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the aforementioned events are related to a user's health and wellness, including: [0017] 1. Fitness events, such as a cardiovascular workout [0018] 2. Nutritional events, such as a meal [0019] 3. Medication events, such as a regimen of antiviral drugs [0020] 4. Vitals events, such as a practitioner-administered blood test [0021] In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, the definition of an event may be expanded to include any scheduled activity, including those that are only tangentially related to health and wellness, such as a social gathering of end users initiated using the system's community functionality. [0022] The invention may be implemented in various different embodiments. Several such embodiments are described herein, although other embodiments, and embodiments which are extensions to the described embodiments can be envisioned. In the preferred embodiment, the role of the practitioner may be assumed by one or more individuals with specific expertise in the field of health and wellness, including (but not limited to) physicians, nurses, pharmacists, dietitians, nutritionists, physical therapists, and personal/athletic trainers. This practitioner (or practitioners) may interface with the system via a web portal, interacting with the server-based application to add, delete or edit user accounts and profiles, to create lifestyle plans that have been personalized based on the profile of the end user (i.e. the practitioner's client), to transmit the lifestyle plan to the end user's mobile device, to track end user compliance with the plan, and to provide feedback and/or modify the plan as required to achieve the overarching lifestyle goals agreed by the end user. [0023] The client may be any personal computer, such as a smart or dumb terminal, network computer, wireless device, information appliance, workstation, minicomputer, mainframe computer, handheld device, or other computing device that has a graphical user interface, and the databases may be either installed along with the client application, or may be retrieved via connection to a local PC or other device with storage means which has communicated with the server previously and has stored the databases for later installation on the client device. In another embodiment, the client device may be connected with another device which provides data communication means to the client, thereby enabling connectivity to the server. [0024] The end user, after downloading or installing the client application and associated databases to their Internet-enabled mobile device in known fashion, may then elect to review their lifestyle plan, to view further information related to activities in the plan, to modify the activities in the plan, and/or to execute the activities in the plan and record the actual outcomes. Additionally, the end user may review the rewards that he or she has "earned" through documented compliance with plan and outcome targets, exchange these rewards for goods and services provided by affiliate companies, and/or share plans and results with others in the invention's system; namely, practitioners, peers and "non-users." Continue reading about Method and apparatus for mobile health and wellness management incorporating real-time coaching and feedback, community and rewards... 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