How emerging wireless techs are transforming healthcare

When carriers announce plans to build out faster 4G wireless networks or to ramp up the speeds of their current 3G network, talk typically turns to how it will benefit consumer applications such as mobile gaming or high-definition video streaming. But perhaps an even more important aspect of increased mobile data speeds will be their impact on the mobile "telehealth" devices that doctors are increasingly using to keep track of their patients' conditions. A study released this summer by ABI Research projects that there will be approximately 15 million wireless telehealth sensors and devices in use by 2012, or more than double the number of wireless telehealth systems in use today. ABI says that these systems will be used primarily to "monitor and track the status of patient with chronic conditions" so that their providers can detect early warning signs before they become dangerous.