On Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission published a final rule for the Medical Device Radiocommunications Service -- known as MedRadio -- after accepting suggestions from medical device companies, Health Data Management reports.
MedRadio is an ultra-low power, unlicensed mobile radio service that allows patients and health care providers to transmit data for medical implant devices, including pacemakers and glucose monitors, without interfering with other radio wave users.
The final rule accounted for changes submitted by medical device manufacturer Medtronic, which requested that FCC adjust how transmitter power is measured to allow for:
- Previous transmission measurement techniques; and
- Development of next-generation devices.
St. Jude Medical, also a medical device manufacturer, raised a similar concern that implementing a new "peak power" measurement rule would reduce the range of some devices (Goedert, Health Data Management, 8/26).