PCHAlliance Certifies Healthcare Semiconductor Solutions From Renesas to Enable Personal Connected Health Device Ecosystem

Apr 04, 2018

ARLINGTON, VA, APRIL 4, 2018 -- The Personal Connected Health Alliance (PCHAlliance), a HIMSS organization, today announced it has recognized three Renesas Healthcare Meters Kit modules developed by Renesas Electronics as Continua Certified products.

PCHAlliance has validated Renesas’ blood pressure, heart rate/pulse-ox, and blood glucose modules meet the Continua Design Guidelines (CDG) for both compliance and interoperability for personal connected health devices and services. The certifications are Continua Reference Systems, available to other organizations for use in developing Continua compliant end-product solutions. The Renesas Healthcare Meters Kit is based on the Renesas Synergy S3 Series of microcontrollers (MCUs), a low-power Intelligent Bluetooth Smart RL78/G1D MCU, and a USB Charger IC.

“Continua enables the integration of medical-grade health/sensor data gathered by a multitude of monitoring devices, from consumer devices to local, regional or national EHR applications, to data lakes, in a safe and secure manner,” said Kaushal Vora, Director of Home & Healthcare Marketing Department, Renesas Electronics Corporation. “Our Continua Certified modules will help ensure interoperability, shorten time-to-market, lower NRE, and reduce regulatory efforts for personal connected health devices.”

“This set of Bluetooth LE device Reference Systems greatly simplifies the process and expense for any organization to begin building Continua-compliant products,” said Michael J. Kirwan, Vice President of Continua at PCHAlliance. “Renesas has opened the door for many, by meeting the medical-grade requirements of the Continua certification program.”

PCHAlliance maintains the Continua Certification program for markets and customers requiring demonstration of product conformance to the Continua Design Guidelines in third-party test labs. This program includes the Certified Product Showcase, featuring products and promoting engagement between buyers and sellers.

To learn more about Renesas-certified Reference Systems, please visit the Continua Certified Product Showcase .

Visit the PCHAlliance website to learn more about Continua Compliance.

About the Continua Design Guidelines

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) recognizes the Continua Design Guidelines as a formal international standard for personal health systems and makes them available free of charge in the six official languages of the United Nations, including Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. The 2017 Design Guidelines include the world’s first implementation of the FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) standard to upload personal generated health data to an electronic health record system.

Personal Connected Health Alliance

The Personal Connected Health Alliance (PCHAlliance), a non-profit organization formed by HIMSS (Health Information and Management Systems Society), believes that health is personal and extends beyond healthcare. PCHAlliance accelerates technical, business, policy and social strategies necessary to advance personal connected health. PCHAlliance members are a vibrant ecosystem of technology and life sciences industry icons and innovative, early stage companies along with governments, academic institutions, and associations from around the world. To support its vision, PCHAlliance convenes the global personal connected health community at the annual Connected Health Conference, the premier international event for the exchange of research, evidence, ideas, innovations and opportunities in personal connected health. The Alliance also publishes and promotes adoption of the Continua Design Guidelines, recognized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as the international standard for safe, secure, and reliable exchange of data to and from personal health devices.

NOTE:  Continua Certified is a registered trademark of the Personal Connected Health Alliance. Renesas Synergy is a trademark of Renesas Electronics Corporation. Bluetooth is a registered trademark of Bluetooth sig, Inc.