Philly entrepreneurs market wearable medical information

Two Philadelphia entrepreneurs say their VITAband product can make your workout a little safer. Company co-founders Jason Brown and David Waxman said their bracelet makes medical information wearable.

Buy the bracelet and that buys you access to a scaled-down, online health record that lives in the cloud. The bracelet, which also holds prepaid debit chips, acts as a cash alternative.

“A lot of times when people go out running, they like to detach from technology, and not have their smartphone with them,” Waxman said.

There’s a limit to the amount of information you can inscribe on an ordinary medical identification bracelet. If the unexpected happens, emergency workers can call the VITAband hot line to find a patient’s name and emergency contact information.

“You can put your blood type in, you can put ailments in, medications in. Your doctor’s information, you can even upload a photo if you so choose,” Waxman said.

While Waxman didn’t offer up anyone who’s actually used the bracelet in an emergency, or a health worker who’s used VITAband to identify a patient, he says the bracelet gives his customers peace of mind.

And, he says, the technology may help change people’s habits — getting them to be more comfortable with electronic health records.

“If you talk to doctors, medical insurance companies, they are all going to tell you the same thing,” Waxman said. “They see very low percentages of folks voluntarily using health records.”

Locally, City Sports stores stock the bracelet. The technology is also available in watches.