Continua Health Alliance is an international non-profit, open industry group of nearly 240 healthcare providers, communications, medical, and fitness device companies. Continua was a founding member of Personal Connected Health Alliance which was launched in February 2014 with other founding members mHealth SUMMIT and HIMSS.

Overview

Continua Health Alliance is an international not-for-profit industry organization enabling end-to-end, plug-and-play connectivity of devices and services for personal health management and healthcare delivery. Its mission is to empower information-driven health management and facilitate the incorporation of health and wellness into the day-to-day lives of consumers. ts activities include a certification and brand support program, events and collaborations to support technology and clinical innovation, as well as outreach to employers, payers, governments and care providers. With nearly 220 member companies reaching across the globe, Continua comprises technology, medical device and healthcare industry leaders and service providers dedicated to making personal connected health a reality. Continua Health Alliance is working toward establishing systems of interoperable telehealth devices and services in three major categories: chronic disease management, aging independently, and health and

physical fitness Physical fitness is a state of health and well-being and, more specifically, the ability to perform aspects of Outline of sports, sports, occupations, and daily activities. Physical fitness is generally achieved through proper nutrition, modera ...

Devices and services

Continua Health Alliance version 1 design guidelines are based on proven connectivity

technical standard A technical standard is an established Social norm, norm or requirement for a repeatable technical task which is applied to a common and repeated use of rules, conditions, guidelines or characteristics for products or related processes and producti ...

s and include

Bluetooth Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is li ...

for wireless and

USB Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard, developed by USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), for digital data transmission and power delivery between many types of electronics. It specifies the architecture, in particular the physical ...

for wired device connection. The group released the guidelines to the public in June 2009. The group is establishing a

product certification Product certification or product qualification is the process of certifying that a certain product has passed performance tests and quality assurance tests, and meets qualification criteria stipulated in contracts, regulations, or specification ...

program using its recognizable

logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name that it represents, as in ...

, the Continua Certified Logo program, signifying that the product is interoperable with other Continua-certified products. Products made under Continua Health Alliance guidelines will provide consumers with increased assurance of interoperability between devices, enabling them to more easily share information with caregivers and service providers. Through collaborations with

government agencies A government agency or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government (bureaucracy) that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, ...

and other regulatory bodies, Continua works to provide guidelines for the effective management of diverse products and services from a global network of vendors. Continua Health Alliance products make use of the ISO/IEEE 11073 Personal Health Data (PHD) Standards. Continua design guidelines are not available to the public without signing a

Non-disclosure agreement A non-disclosure agreement (NDA), also known as a confidentiality agreement (CA), confidential disclosure agreement (CDA), proprietary information agreement (PIA), or secrecy agreement (SA), is a legal contract or part of a contract between at le ...

. Continua's guidelines help technology developers build end-to-end, plug-and-play systems more efficiently and cost effectively.

Milestones

Continua Health Alliance was founded on June 6, 2006 Continua Health alliance performed its first public demonstration of interoperability on October 27, 2008 at the Partners Center for Connected Health 5th Annual Connected Health Symposium in Boston. Continua Health Alliance certified its first product, the Nonin 2500 PalmSAT handheld pulse oximeter with USB, on January 26, 2009. By the end of December 2014 there are more than 100 certified products. Continua selected Bluetooth Low Energy and Zigbee wireless protocols as the wireless standards for its Version 2 Design Guidelines which have been released. Bluetooth Low Energy is to be used for low-power mobile devices. Zigbee will be used for networked low-power sensors such as those enabling independent living. Beginning in 2012, Continua invites non-members to request a copy of its Design Guidelines after signing a non-disclosure agreement. Continua has working groups and operations in the U.S., EU, Japan, India and China.

Members

Continua Health Alliance currently has nearly 220 member companies.Member Companies (English)
/ref> Continua's Board of Directors is currently composed of the following companies:
/ref> * Fujitsu *

Intel Corporation Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and incorporated in Delaware. Intel designs, manufactures, and sells computer components such as central processing ...

Oracle Corporation Oracle Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational computer technology company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Co-founded in 1977 in Santa Clara, California, by Larry Ellison, who remains executive chairman, Oracle was ...

* Orange *

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...

Qualcomm Qualcomm Incorporated () is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. It creates semiconductors, software and services related to wireless techn ...

* Roche Diagnostics * Sharp *

UnitedHealth Group UnitedHealth Group Incorporated is an American Multinational corporation, multinational for-profit company specializing in health insurance and health care services based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. Selling insurance products under UnitedHealth ...

Organisational structure

The organisation is primarily staffed by volunteers from the member organisations that are organised into working groups that address the goals of the alliance. Below the board of directors sit the following main working groups:{{Cite web, url=http://www.continuaalliance.org/static/cms_workspace/Continua_Overview_Presentation_7.16.12_web.pdf, title=Personal Connected Health Alliance * Emerging Markets Working Group * EU Working Group * Global Development and Outreach Working Group * Marketing Council * Market Adoption Working Group * Regulatory Working Group * Technical Working Group * Test & Certification Work Group * Use Case Working Group * U.S. Policy Working Group

Relevant standards

* ISO/IEEE 11073 * ISO/IEEE 11073 Personal Health Data (PHD) Standards *

* HL7 *

Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise Integration may refer to: Biology *Multisensory integration *Path integration * Pre-integration complex, viral genetic material used to insert a viral genome into a host genome *DNA integration, by means of site-specific recombinase technology, ...

* Zigbee

Website

The Continua Alliance website contains a full listing of member organisations, a directory of qualified products, and a clear statement of their mission.

References

External links

Continua Health Alliance website
** New Website
Personal Connected Health Alliance
Health informatics organizations Interoperability Telehealth