A glimpse into our wired healthcare future

The Future Is Now For Virtual House Calls, is the title of this Wired article from Ryan Singel.

Cisco and UnitedHealth Group are spending millions on an initiative that they hope will make virtual house calls a big part of our medical care. Here’s the idea – reduce the number of “get in our car” office visits, extend specialist care to remote areas and make routine follow-ups simpler than ever. Singel likens it to a web chat in 1080HD with an assistant next to you wielding the digital otoscope that is instantly uploading high quality video of your ear canal to your doctor.

The numbers underscore the opportunity. According to UnitedHealth, the market for telemedicine will grow from $900 million this year to more than $6 billion in 2012. UH and Cisco are betting that remote health care technology will no longer be limited to treating astronauts, African villagers and oil rig workers.

For more on this story, our future and how UH and Cisco are trying to broker the concept to large medical groups, click here.