Connected medicine cabinets

(SWEEPS FEED)- As health and personal care companies grow, more and more sensor-equipped products are on the market to help you keep up with your health with the touch of a few buttons on your smartphone.

When Heather Brooker’s daughter doesn’t feel well, she whips out her phone to take her temperature.

“It’s a great tool for me because a lot of times, when your child is sick, you forget things because you’re so focused on them,” Brooker said.

Brooker’s smartphone is connected through an app with this Kinsa thermometer and it registers whether little Channing has a fever, then logs it, along with any medications or symptoms she has, and sends it straight to her doctor if Brooker wants.

“I don’t have to get out a pen and notepad and start writing things down,” Brooker said. “It’s all right there at my fingertips.”

It’s one of many new devices that are part of an exploding trend in high tech medicine.

For example, some pregnancy tests now have apps that sync with the kit to help deliver the results.

There are connected EpiPen cases that sound an alarm to make sure those who need them never leave home without it. There’s also a Bandaid-like sticker from Loreal that tells you when you’re getting too much sun.

But Pam Dixon of the World Privacy Forum wants people to know there can be potential downsides with some connected medicine cabinet items.

“The questions to ask in this situation are, ‘okay, who gets this information and what information are they getting?'” Dixon said.

Why does that matter? In some cases, it may not even be medical data being collected.

“There is a medical app, and it, in addition to other fields it collects, it collects your SMS metadata, so what that means is that it collects everyone who you’ve called, their phone number, and it collects how long you talked to them and how often,” Dixon said.

In fact, a recent study found that privacy policies on health apps are often weak or completely missing. Health innovations also aren’t necessarily covered under health privacy laws, or HIPAA.

“If I take my medical information, and I give it to someone who is not a doctor and not covered under HIPAA, it’d be like just, you know, giving that person, you know, any piece of information. They’re not, not bound by that privacy law,” Dixon said.

Dixon makes it clear the devices can be life-changing, just know your risk. But when it comes to Brooker’s techy thermometer, she says she’s not worried about someone stealing her information.

“Everybody’s moving more toward tech-based things. Everyone wants life to be a little bit easier,” Brooker said.

Dixon says this is especially important if the device is used as part of a wellness program at work or you’re looking for insurance coverage.

In that case, the device you are using to assist you in your health may be tattling on you in a way that you don’t want. Dixon says most of the time, there’s not going to be a problem but you want to be certain, so double-check where the data goes.