Philips has won FDA approval for two telehealth programmes that allow home management of chronic conditions.

Its eCareCoordinator and eCareCompanion applications focus on patient care within the home and give clinicians real-time access to objective health data, such as blood pressure and vital signs, and subjective responses collected via questionnaires.

Jeroen Tas, chief executive officer at Philips Healthcare Informatics Solutions and Services, said: “The FDA clearance of the Philips applications marks the first major step in realising our vision for a digital health platform that seamlessly integrates data to transform the way we deliver patient care.”

eCareCoordinator provides clinicians with a daily review of their patients to support population health management and eCareCompanion serves as a patient portal to assist with health self-management.

Philips is in the process of separating its traditional lighting business as part of a bid to more focus more on health care.

At a recent product event in Eindhoven, the company explained that its lighting offerings will still be used in products for the new HealthTech business, ranging from baby monitors and smart air purifiers to smartphone applications that alert deaf people about an incoming call by flashing a brighter light.

The Amsterdam-based company said it also has plans to create a new range of products for people to monitor their health, sports activities and nutrition on their smartphones and other devices.

These include a prototype wearable system for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), that will be debuted at a US conference today.

The system feeds data collected from patients at home to clinicians through Philips' cloud-based HealthSuite Digital Platform to its eCareCoordinator and eCareCompanion applications – with the hope of presenting a more complete view of a patient's illness.

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