Wireless sensors have many applications, particularly in the medical space for remote and in-hospital patient monitoring of vital signs. These vital signs include ECG, blood oxygenation, activity, temperature and blood pressure. Currently, most non-intensive care unit (ICU) hospital patients are not extensively monitored.  However, there is a desire to monitor patients for many gains including earlier detection of secondary infections and impending heart attacks. There is also a desire to monitor remote, at-risk patients as part of preventive care or discharged patients as part of post-operative care. Wireless monitoring holds the promise of improved healthcare delivery while ensuring increased mobility by eliminating wires and reducing form factors. However, going wireless has several challenges including sensing and radio power that affect battery life and size, transmission errors and acquisition artifacts. In this talk, we address systems approaches to reduce the radio and sensor powers.