Boston Scientific will acquire remote cardiac monitoring company Preventice for $925 million in cash and up to $300 million in milestone payments. The deal is expected to close in mid-2021.
Among the many evolving technologies in the healthcare industry, there may be none more important or impactful than remote patient monitoring (RPM) hardware and software solutions. This technology is opening up new possibilities in extended healthcare – saving patients money, limiting visits to the doctor’s office, and providing healthcare professionals with powerful tools for diagnosing and treating patients. As these tools continue to mature, software and hardware developers are solving critical challenges to enhance their capabilities and impact.
According to a 2019 report published by the Consumer Technology Association, 88% of healthcare providers have invested in, or are evaluating investments in, RPM technologies and services. Increased demand is driven primarily by the rising age of the baby boomer generation and an increase in chronic disease among the American population.
Medical device manufacturers are helping healthcare providers gather data on patients everywhere they go using wearable technology. These connected health monitoring devices come in the form of smartwatches, wearable heart monitors, blood pressure kits, and more. They’re developed with mobile communication technology that sends data using a patient’s smartphone or directly from the wearable device to software platforms that make the information available to healthcare providers and first responders, notifying them in real-time of accidents and/or healthcare concerns.
The need to monitor patients outside of a clinical setting, especially during the pandemic, has become extremely important and demanding. We’re witnessing limited capacity in hospitals, significant challenges related to social distancing and other pandemic-related stressors. RPM technology can be a tremendous help in mitigating these issues.
Despite significant advancements in the art of the possible, RPM is still in its infancy in terms of the potential impact it could have on health and safety. Data security, data accuracy, and systems integration are core challenges that developers of the next generation of innovative RPM devices need to address. This includes overcoming technological and regulatory barriers preventing patient data from being received, making use of machine learning algorithms, and combining real-time data with medical histories.
Developers of RPM devices must also move beyond model-building and into operationalization for the real potential of technology to be realized and create value for healthcare professionals. Specifically, abstract concepts need to be turned into measurable observations. In its blog “Operationalization of Machine Learning Models,” Open Data Science opines, “Data scientists create beautiful models that no one can understand, and the models don’t usually translate to real business value. If a process is isolated from the enterprise, the insights won’t feed into the overall process.”
To make significant advancements in RPM innovation, software developers must build a digital framework that includes:
– Data storage
– Security
– Middleware
– Machine learning and artificial intelligence
– User interface and user experience
It begins with a data storage framework that organizes legacy data and real-time data in the cloud and feeds it into the algorithm. Volumes of data can be huge and the types of data can be various, yet they need to be monitored and managed by a single system.
The next layer of the framework is data security. The challenge is developing a security framework that keeps data confidential for unauthorized users. At the same time, patients must be allowed to establish clear boundaries of ownership over the data, whether that access is given to family members or primary care providers. In the case of an emergency where the patient is incapacitated and unresponsive – the authorized user must be able to quickly access the data to treat the patient.
Next is the middleware, which is software that provides common services and capabilities to applications outside of what’s offered by the operating system. The middleware is customized to meet the needs of the user, in this case, the healthcare provider.
All of the organized and secure data is then funneled into AI and ML algorithms which will learn and recognize patterns derived from a wide range of data points. There needs to be a high level of trust in the data derived from RPM devices. This is achieved through the collection and proper management of data from large and diverse demographic groups. For example, if AI and ML algorithms are fed significant amounts of data from African American females between the age of 50-65, the algorithm can begin to recognize patterns that lead to more informed diagnoses and patient care plans.
The final piece of framework is the user interface and user experience. One of the most significant challenges to developing a healthcare platform for RPM devices is engineering how the data is presented to a healthcare provider. These professionals don’t have time to learn how to decipher data points on a screen –designers and engineers need to create a user interface that translates patterns in the algorithm into valuable and easy to read information that can improve patient outcomes.
When it all comes together, the results are rewarding. Let’s take a look at one of the most promising examples of RPM in the real world today. Lark Health, a chronic disease prevention and management company that uses a cognitive behavioral therapy framework, conversational A.I., and connected devices to help people stay healthy and in control of their conditions. Lark’s A.I. is continuously learning how to personalize the experience for the member and communicates via text-message-like interactions to monitor patients remotely, 24/7, while live nurses and health coaches are available when issues need to be escalated such as severe readings or medication changes.
The challenge of getting the most out of RPM technology is not an easy one. It takes high-level expertise in design, software engineering, and data science, as well as knowledge of AI and ML algorithms to learn how to operationalize it. But with the right framework and data, RPM will continue to revolutionize the healthcare industry.
Roberto Martinez, president, Encora, MexicoRoberto Martinez has been working in the software nearshoring industry for 20+ years. As a senior executive, he is familiar with the needs, obstacles, and challenges faced by small startups as well as big teams. As a leader at Encora, Roberto has helped the company acquire important clients such as OpenTable, Siemens, ZED Connect (Cummins), and others. Roberto has a software engineering background from the prestigious Tecnologico de Monterrey and strategic direction from IPADE.
In the face of COVID-19, healthcare witnessed how crises can become the long-awaited push for creativity and innovation that the industry needs. When our healthcare infrastructure’s weaknesses were exposed, telehealth helped to stitch them up, with the number of telehealth claims increasing 8,336% nationally from April 2019 to April 2020. Out of need, patients quickly turned to telehealth as a new model of care delivery; clinicians adapted to a new avenue for engaging with patients, policymakers began to improve incentives for its use; and home became our hospital.
As we continue the fight to control the virus in 2021, the industry is at a pivotal moment in ensuring this year’s telehealth momentum continues post-pandemic. Healthcare organizations should take time now to strategize how best to hardwire telehealth, so it is embedded into care delivery models long-term. In order to achieve this, leaders need to consider their collaboration with other stakeholders, longitudinal integration strategies that go beyond piecemeal solutions and transform the perception of what “home” means in healthcare to meet consumers where they are.
Step 1: Collaborate to advance technology
If we’ve learned anything from healthcare’s digitization over the years, it’s that technology for technology’s sake is not enough – solving healthcare’s issues is a systems problem, not a disease problem. For telehealth to last, there needs to be a clinical transformation where workflows are rewritten, policies strongly incentivize its use and companies and hospitals partner on outcome-based models that support its scalability.
In the last six months, we have seen more innovation and adoption in healthcare than we’ve seen in the last decade, with typical innovation timelines of years becoming weeks or days. In many ways, this creativity and open innovation saved the U.S. healthcare system from collapsing and helped us survive the initial surge. We also saw the collaboration of all sorts reach new heights, with organizations, federal agencies, private and public companies from different industries coming together to manage surge capacity while maintaining quality care. Another benefit of these partnerships is the emphasis on long-term policy changes that will empower lasting change and adoption of these innovative approaches. Industry efforts, like ours with the ATA, aim to promote telehealth’s growth and support hospitals, payers, and patients across care settings. The pandemic’s productive collaboration cannot stop here. Instead, we should continue to bring dimensions of policy, clinical experience, and consumer voices to imbed telehealth into our everyday systems.
Step 2: Determine avenues for seamless data integration across settings
Telehealth’s power is not in its technical claims, but in the power of presenting caregivers with actionable, meaningful patient data so they can make data-driven care decisions with confidence. This is only made possible with interoperable, cloud-based solutions that collect, digest, and analyze data to inform care. With constant transfer of key patient data through connected devices, such as hospital-grade wearables and biosensors, and translating the data into useable insights, remote patient monitoring empowers care teams with the knowledge needed to intervene earlier and keep patients healthy at home.
Telehealth’s power expands beyond the home, supporting a continuum of care no matter what setting a patient is in. Remote monitoring within the hospital is the crux of minimizing infection risk, handling sudden increases in patient volumes and allocating resources appropriately. These include solutions such as centralized clinical command centers to achieve remote, holistic patient views, or technology that activates scalable patient monitoring for ICU ramp-ups. The solutions we deploy need to be enablers of seamless data transfer – from the ED to ICU, to post-acute and home setting. We now must ensure our informatics backbones mature with these solutions, eliminating gaps in care while ensuring a secure flow of data where and when it’s needed. Deploying cloud-based platforms that bring together the right information across the care continuum will make for a powerful, integrated system that enhances patient and staff safety improves outcomes, and reduces costs.
Step 3: Transforming what “home” means in healthcare
2020 has transformed how we view “home.” Home has become the center of life operations for people across the globe – we work from home, we educate our children at home and we exercise at home. Healthcare is now becoming another cornerstone of the home. With a growing volume of telehealth offerings and household names providing care services, consumer behavior is changing to expect customization, convenience, and instant gratification. The consumer’s voice is loud, and tomorrow’s healthcare will move it from a whisper to a shout – We must be prepared to deliver care when and where patients want to receive it, increasingly let go of healthcare’s brick-and-mortar blueprint, and enable healthcare to match the ease and convenience of other areas of a patient’s life.
However, just like all these other ‘at-home’ activities that require getting used to or training, we need to support health literacy and engagement for all users. The pandemic has made the inequalities in our health system raw. Even before the pandemic, 5% of the patients account for about half of U.S. healthcare spending. This is a sign that they are not receiving the proactive care and support they need. We have an opportunity to change this equation with virtual care and bridge the digital divide by tailoring solutions to meet each patient’s needs and ensuring equitable availability to all patients.
Transforming telehealth into a standard of care
Technology isn’t the answer to telehealth’s success alone – it is virtualizing care where it is needed most and ensuring it is fully integrated across an institution. Healthcare organizations should reflect on where their greatest challenges and populations are, and look for systematic solutions for telehealth so that virtualization can scale efficiently and build from existing technology and workflows. With productive collaboration across sectors, robust data integration infrastructures, and an evolved perception of how we view healthcare, these tools have the power to influence how patients view and engage with their health, pushing the industry toward more proactive care that will have long-term benefits on outcomes and cost.
About Karsten Russell-Wood
Karsten Russell-Wood, MBA, MPH is the Portfolio Leader for Post-Acute and Home at Philips where he is responsible for Innovation and cross-business platform strategy and portfolio optimization. Prior to joining Philips, Karsten held global product management roles within GE’s healthcare businesses with an orientation to targeted patient populations and continues to be active in venture capital and startups in the digital health space.
Heidi Sveistrup, CEO at Bruyère Research Institute
Elza Seregelyi, Director at L-SPARK
The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) is changing the face of healthcare and has the potential to significantly improve patient access as well as system efficiencies. The adoption of telemedicine, for example, spurred on by the Covid-19 pandemic, has spread rapidly. Forrester revised its forecasts to predict that virtual care visits in the United States will soar to more than one billion this year—including 900 million visits related to Covid-19 specifically. Likewise, in the United Kingdom, 40% of doctor’s appointments now consist of phone or video calls.
Even before the pandemic, the adoption of IoMT was already growing rapidly, with the market valued at US$44.5 billion in 2018 and predicted to reach US$254 billion in 2026. There are more than 500,000 medical devices on the market, helping to diagnose, monitor, and treat patients – and more and more of these can, and are, becoming connected – not to mention innovations yet to enter the market. The connected medical devices segment specifically is expected to exceed $52 billion by 2022.
The COVID-19 Effect
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the healthcare landscape more than any other single event in recent memory. The urgent and widespread need for care, coupled with the challenge of physical distancing, has accelerated the creation and adoption of new digital technologies as well as new processes to support their adoption and implementation across healthcare. The MedTech industry is emerging as a key apparatus to combat the virus and provide urgent support.
A simple example demonstrating the potential benefits of IoMT can be seen even within a hospital setting, where monitoring COVID-19 patients is costly in terms of time and PPE (personal protective equipment) consumption, since simply walking into a patient’s room becomes a complex process. IoMT technologies enable medical devices to send data to medical practitioners who can monitor a patient’s condition without having to take readings at the bedside. The same technologies can enable patients who do not require hospitalization to be safely monitored while remaining at home or in a community setting.
From the patients’ perspective, many are embracing virtual healthcare as an alternative to long waits or having to go to a clinic or hospital altogether. And given the growing number and scope of connected medical devices and services, such as remote patient monitoring, therapy, or even diagnosis, there will be even more options in the future.
Catalyzed by the pandemic, the IoMT genie is fully out of the bottle, and it is unlikely to go back.
Increasing Access
This is good news for healthcare and good news for patients and families. Patient access is improving as telehealth, supported by connected devices to enable the collection of health-related data remotely, is helping to lift barriers. This increase in accessibility has the potential to improve the convenience, timeliness, and even safety of access to healthcare services for more people in more places.
IoMT is lifting geographic barriers that have impeded access to healthcare since its very inception. Individuals with transportation or mobility challenges will no longer need to travel to receive routine care if they can be safely monitored while at home. Historically underserved rural or remote communities can gain access to medical specialists without needing to fly or drive great distances, while services can be delivered more cost-effectively.
Furthermore, with fewer clinic or hospital-based appointments required for routine monitoring of patients who are otherwise doing well, doctors would be able to concentrate their in-person time and clinic resources on those most in need of care.
The capacity for specialized medicine enabled by IoMT could also have a dramatic impact. The vast quantities of health data becoming available (with the requisite permissions in place), can enable sophisticated AI-driven health applications that can, for example, predict complications before they occur, better understand the health needs of specific populations, or enable stronger patient engagement and self-care. These models can also equip healthcare practitioners with better sources of information, ultimately leading to better patient outcomes.
Navigating Barriers
That said, while technology capabilities expand, innovation must take into consideration the needs of all the stakeholders within healthcare – from patients and caregivers to healthcare practitioners to administrators and payors/funders. Internet access, infrastructure, and comfort with technology, for example, can pose significant barriers for patients and health practitioners alike.
One approach is to minimize the technological burden facing end-users. Devices should be user friendly and “ready to go” right out of the box, taking into consideration the circumstances and abilities of the potential range of users (patients and practitioners alike). Relying on the patient’s home Wi-Fi to provide connectivity is not ideal from either a usability or security perspective – not to mention availability and affordability. It is better for medical devices to have a cellular connection that can be immediately and securely connected to the network from any location, while also being remotely manageable to avoid burdening the user with network and setup requirements, or apps to download.
Another barrier is the concern that both patients and healthcare providers have about security and data privacy risks. According to the 2016 edition of Philips’ Future Health Index, privacy/data security is second only to cost in the list of top barriers to the adoption of connected technology in healthcare across the countries surveyed.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, FBI, and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services have warned of cybercrime threats against hospitals and healthcare providers. The WannaCry ransomware attacks affected tens of thousands of NHS medical tools in England and Scotland. The enthusiasm in rolling out new digital health solutions must not overlook security principles or create systems that rely on ad hoc patches.
One way of meeting the stringent security requirements of healthcare is to ensure that connected medical devices have security literally built into their hardware, following the most recent guidelines set out by the GSMA for IoT security, including the GSMA IoT SAFE specifications. In accordance with this globally relevant approach, connected devices have a specially designed SIM that serves as a mini “crypto safe” inside the device to ensure that only authorized communication can occur.
Similarly, new medical devices and software that are difficult to implement or cannot communicate with other systems such as electronic health/medical records risk being “orphaned” in the system or simply not used. The latter is a matter of both developing the necessary integrations and ensuring the appropriate access and permissions are managed. More easily said than done, fully integrated systems take time, and some of the pieces may be added incrementally – the key is that the potential to do so is there from the beginning so future resources can be invested in enhancements rather than replacements.
Early Collaboration is Key
Accessibility and usability must be designed right into IoMT solutions from the outset, and the best way of ensuring that is for developers and healthcare stakeholders to have plenty of interaction long before the product enters the market. Stakeholders are many and healthcare systems are complex, so innovators can look to startup accelerators and other thought leaders to help navigate the territory. The time and effort spent by innovators and healthcare stakeholders in collaborating is a sound investment in the future, ensuring that technology is designed and then applied in meaningful and equitable ways to address the most pressing issues.
The telehealth genie, powered by IoMT, is indeed out of the bottle and is set to revolutionize healthcare. By ensuring that IoMT technologies are developed and implemented with security, accessibility, and ease of use for all stakeholders as priorities, we can make sure that the full benefits of this new dawn can be enjoyed by all.
Heidi Sveistrup, Ph.D. Bio
As the current CEO of the Bruyère Research Institute and VP, Research and Academic Affairs at Bruyère Continuing Care, Heidi Sveistrup, Ph.D. is focusing on increasing the research and innovation supporting pivotal transitions in care; meaningful, enjoyable and doable ways to support people to live where they choose; and creating opportunities to discover and create new approaches to identify, diagnose, treat and support brain health with individuals with memory loss. Fostering new and supporting existing collaborations among researchers, policymakers, practitioners, civil society and industry continues to be a priority.
Elza Seregelyi Bio
Elza Seregelyi is the Director for the TELUS L-SPARK MedTech Accelerator program, which offers participants pre-commercial access to a secure telehealth platform. L-SPARK is currently working with its first cohort of MedTech companies. Elza has an engineering and entrepreneurship background with extensive experience driving collaborative initiatives.
– FCC announces initial 14 pilot project selected for $100M Connected Care Pilot Program that will support connected care service across the country and focus on low-income and veteran patients.
The Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) today announced an initial set of 14 pilot projects with
over 150 treatment sites in 11 states that have been selected for the Connected
Care Pilot Program. A total of $26.6 million will be awarded to these
applicants for proposed projects to treat nearly half a million patients in
both urban and rural parts of the country.
Connected Care Pilot Program Background
Overall, this Pilot Program will make available up to $100
million over a three-year period for selected pilot projects for qualifying
purchases necessary to provide connected care services, with a particular
emphasis on providing connected care services to low-income and veteran
patients.
The Pilot
Program will use Universal Service Fund monies to help defray the costs of
connected care services for eligible health care providers, providing support
for 85% of the cost of eligible services and network equipment, which include:
1. patient
broadband Internet access services
2. health care
provider broadband data connections
3. other
connected care information services
4. certain
network equipment
These pilot projects will address a variety of critical
health issues such as high-risk pregnancy, mental health conditions, and opioid
dependency, among others. Here is the list initial list of healthcare providers
that were selected into the Pilot Program:
Banyan Community Health Center, Inc.,
Coral Gables, FL.
Banyan Community Health Center’s pilot project seeks $911,833 to provide
patient-based Internet-connected remote monitoring, video visits or consults,
and other diagnostics and services to low-income and veteran patients who are
suffering from chronic/long-term conditions, high-risk pregnancy, infectious
disease including COVID-19, mental health conditions, and opioid
dependency. Banyan Community Health Center plans to serve an estimated
20,847 patients in Miami, Florida, 85% of which are low-income or veteran
patients.
Duke University Health System, Durham,
NC. Duke
University Health System’s pilot project seeks $1,464,759 to provide remote
patient monitoring and video visits or consults to a large number of low-income
patients suffering from heart failure, cancer, and infectious diseases.
Duke University Health System’s pilot project plans to serve an estimated
16,000 patients in North Carolina, of which 25% are low-income.
Geisinger, consortium with sites in
Lewiston, PA; Danville, PA; Jersey Shore, PA; Bloomsburg, PA; Coal Township,
PA; and Wilkes-Barre, PA.
Geisinger’s pilot project seeks $1,739,100 in support to provide connected care
services and remote patient monitoring to low-income patients in rural
communities in Pennsylvania. Geisinger’s pilot project would serve an
estimated 1,000 patients and would focus on chronic disease management and
high-risk pregnancies, while also treating infectious disease and behavioral
health conditions. Through its pilot program, Geisinger plans to directly
connect all participating patients, 100% of whom are low-income, with broadband
Internet access service.
Grady Health System, Atlanta, GA. Grady Health System’s pilot
project seeks $635,596 to provide Internet connectivity to an estimated 1,896
primarily low-income and high-risk patients who are unable to utilize video
telemedicine services due to lack of a reliable network connection in
Atlanta. The program will focus on using connected care services such as
patient remote monitoring and video visits/consults to treat vulnerable
patients with conditions such as congestive heart failure, COVID19,
hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, and HIV.
Intermountain Centers for Human
Development, consortium with sites in Casa Grande, AZ; Nogales, AZ; Coolidge,
AZ; and Eloy, AZ. Intermountain
Centers for Human Development’s pilot project seeks $237,150 in support to
treat mental health conditions, opioid dependency, and other substance abuse
disorders. The pilot project plans to serve 3,400 patients in Arizona,
including rural areas, of which 90% are low-income.
MA FQHC Telehealth Consortium,
consortium with 76 sites in Massachusetts. MA FQHC Telehealth Consortium’s pilot project
seeks $3,121,879 in support to provide mental health and substance abuse
disorder treatment through remote patient monitoring, video visits, and other
remote treatment to patients in Massachusetts, including significant numbers of
veterans and low-income patients. The pilot project will expand access to
these services by leveraging program funding to increase bandwidth at its
sites, and to provide patients with mobile hotspots. This project would
serve 75,000 patients through 76 federally qualified health centers in
Massachusetts, including rural areas, with an intended patient population of
61.5% low-income or veteran patients.
Mountain Valley Health Center,
consortium with 7 sites in Northeastern California. Mountain Valley Health Center’s
pilot project seeks $550,800 in support to provide telehealth capabilities and
in-home monitoring of patients with hypertension and diabetes. Mountain
Valley’s pilot project plans to serve an estimated 200 patients in rural
Northeastern California, of which at least 24% will be low-income patients and
10% will be veteran patients.
Neighborhood Healthcare – Escondido,
Escondido, CA, Neighborhood Healthcare – Valley Parkway, Escondido, CA,
Neighborhood Healthcare – El Cajon, El Cajon, CA, Neighborhood Healthcare –
Temecula, Temecula, CA, Neighborhood Healthcare – Pauma Valley, Pauma Valley,
CA. Neighborhood
Healthcare’s pilot project seeks $129,744 to provide patient broadband access
to primarily low-income patients suffering from chronic and long-term
conditions (e.g., diabetes and high blood pressure). Neighborhood
Healthcare’s collective project plans to serve an estimated 339 patients, 97%
of which are low-income patients, in five sites serving Riverside and San Diego
counties.
OCHIN, Inc., consortium with 15 sites in
Ohio, 16 sites in Oregon, and 13 sites in Washington. OCHIN’s pilot project seeks
$5,834,620 in support to lead a consortium of 44 providers in Ohio, Oregon, and
Washington, encompassing 8 federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) serving
rural, urban, and tribal communities. OCHIN’s pilot project will provide
patient broadband Internet access service and wireless connections directly to
an estimated 3,450 low-income patients to access connected care services,
including video visits, patient-based Internet-connected patient monitoring,
and remote treatment and will deliver care to treat high-risk pregnancy,
maternal health conditions, mental health conditions, and chronic and long-term
conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease.
Phoebe Worth Medical Center – Camilla
Clinic, Camilla, GA; Phoebe Physicians Group Inc – PPC of Buena Vista, Buena
Vista, GA; Phoebe Physicians Group – Ellaville Primary Medicine Center,
Ellaville, GA; Phoebe Physicians dba Phoebe Family Medicine & Sports
Medicine, Americus, GA; Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital, Albany, GA; Phoebe
Putney Memorial Hospital dba Phoebe Family Medicine – Sylvester, Sylvester, GA. The Phoebe Putney Health System
projects seek $673,200 to provide patient-based Internet-connected remote
monitoring, video visits, and remote treatment for low-income patients
suffering from chronic conditions or mental health conditions. These projects
plan to serve an estimated 4,007 patients, approximately 1,000 of which will be
low-income patients in six sites serving southwest Georgia.
Summit Pacific Medical Center, Elma, WA. Summit Pacific Medical Center’s
pilot program seeks $169,977 in support to provide patient-based
Internet-connected remote monitoring, other monitoring services, video visits,
diagnostic imaging, remote treatment and other services for veterans and
low-income patients suffering from chronic conditions, infectious diseases,
mental health conditions, and opioid dependency. Summit Pacific Medical
Center’s pilot project would serve an estimated 25 patients in Elma,
Washington, 100% of which would be low-income or veteran patients.
Temple University Hospital,
Philadelphia, PA.
Temple University Hospital’s pilot project seeks $4,254,250 to provide
patient-based Internet connected remote monitoring and video visits to
patients, including low-income patients, suffering from chronic/long-term
conditions and mental health conditions. This pilot project plans to
serve an estimated 100,000 patients in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 45% of which
are low-income patients.
University of Mississippi Medical
Center, Jackson, MS.
The University of Mississippi Medical Center’s (UMMC) pilot project seeks
$2,377,875 in support to provide broadband Internet access service to patients,
enabling remote patient monitoring technologies and ambulatory telehealth
visits to low-income patients suffering from chronic conditions or illnesses
requiring long-term care. UMMC’s pilot project would impact an estimated
237,120 patients across Mississippi and serve up to 6,000 patients
directly. Of these patients, UMMC estimates that 52% would be low-income.
University of Virginia Health System,
Charlottesville, VA. The
University of Virginia (UVA) Health System’s pilot project seeks $4,462,500 in
support to expand the deployment of remote patient monitoring and telehealth
services to an estimated 17,000 patients across Virginia, nearly 30% of whom
will be low-income. The UVA Health System pilot project will support
patient broadband and information services, including systems to capture,
transmit, and store patient data to allow remote patient monitoring, two-way
video, and patient scheduling.
The companies have launched a multi-year collaboration to bring digital technologies to fertility treatments integrating informatics, mobile ultrasound diagnostics and more
The collaboration build on Philips’ expertise in maternal & fetal monitoring, Pregnancy+, Baby+ consumer engagement apps, which provide information on diet and exercise along with updates on the baby’s development
The companies will utilize remote patient monitoring, cloud-based platform services and mobile, AI-enabled ultrasound diagnostics to support improved access to care and better outcomes in fertility treatment
Click here to read full press release/ article | Ref: Philips | Image: Philips
– NeuroFlow raises $20M to expand its technology-enabled behavioral
health integration platform, led by Magellan Health.
– NeuroFlow’s suite of HIPAA-compliant, cloud-based tools
simplify remote patient monitoring, enable risk stratification, and facilitate
collaborative care. With NeuroFlow, health care organizations can finally
bridge the gap between mental and physical health in order to improve outcomes
and reduce the cost of care.
NeuroFlow, a Philadelphia-based digital health startup supporting technology-enabled behavioral health integration (tBHI), announces today the initial closing of a $20M Series B financing round led by Magellan Health, in addition to a syndicate including previous investors. Magellan is a leader in managing the fastest growing, most complex areas of health, including behavioral health, complete pharmacy benefits and other specialty areas of healthcare.
NeuroFlow for Digital Behavioral Health Integration
NeuroFlow works with leading health plans, provider systems,
as well as the U.S. military and government to enhance virtual health programs
by delivering a comprehensive approach to whole-person care through digital
behavioral health integration – an evidence-based model to identify and treat
consumers with depression, anxiety and other behavioral health conditions
across all care settings.
Key features of the behavioral health platform include:
– Interoperability: Seamless EHR and system integrations minimize administrative burden and optimize current IT investments.
– Measurement-based Care & Clinical Decision Support: NeuroFlow enables MBC at scale, keeps the patient in the center of care, and continuously monitors for a consistent connection to critical data and clinical decision support.
– Performance Management & Reporting: Recognize
the impact of your BHI program, monitoring the impact of clinical interventions
on quality and cost of care while recognizing outliers requiring program
adjustments.
– Consumer Engagement & Self-Care: personalized
experience that encourages, rewards and recognizes continuous engagement and
monitoring
Maximize Efficiency, Revenue and Reimbursements
By integrating behavioral health into the primary care setting, increasing screening and self-care plans – NeuroFlow’s BHI solution can reduce ED utilization by 23% and inpatient visits by 10%. 80% of NeuroFlow users self-reported a reduction in depression or anxiety symptoms and 62% of users with severe depression score improve to moderate or better.
Telehealth Adoption Underscores Need for Behavioral
Healthcare
With record growth in telehealth adoption and historic spikes in depression and anxiety due to the ongoing pandemic, workflow augmentation solutions and the delivery of effective behavioral health care have been identified as top priorities in the industry. NeuroFlow’s technology increases access to personalized, collaborative care while empowering primary care providers, care managers, and other specialists to most effectively support patient populations by accounting for and addressing behavioral health.
“Behavioral health is not independent of our overall health — it affects our physical health and vice versa, yet most underlying behavioral health conditions go unidentified or are ineffectively treated. Most healthcare providers are overburdened, so introducing the concept to account for a person’s mental health in addition to their primary specialty can be overwhelming and lead to inconsistent and inadequate treatment,” said NeuroFlow CEO Chris Molaro. “Technology, when used strategically, can enhance and augment providers, making the concept of holistic and value-based care feasible at scale and easy to implement.”
Strategic Partnership with Magellan
Magellan Health’s network of more than 118,000 credentialed
providers and health professionals are now poised to join NeuroFlow customers
across the country by leveraging the best-in-class integrated data and
analytics platform to meet the rising demand for enhanced mental health
services and support. By partnering with and investing in NeuroFlow, Magellan
has the opportunity to drive further adoption of NeuroFlow’s behavioral health
integration tools and drive collaborative care initiatives with its customers
as well as its vast network of credentialed providers and health professionals
across the country.
Expansion Plans
NeuroFlow will use the Series B proceeds to scale its
operations and support its growth in data analytics, artificial intelligence,
and direct health record integrations. NeuroFlow’s contracted user base has
grown 10x to over 330,000 in support of almost 200 commercial health systems,
payers, accountable care organizations, independent medical groups, and federal
agencies to provide technology-enabled care solutions.
HIT Consultant sat down with Mike McSherry, CEO, and co-founder of Seattle-based digital prescription platform Xealth to discuss digital health lessons learned in 2020 and what we can expect in 2021. As Xealth’s CEO, Mike also works with Duke Health, UPMC, Atrium Health, and The Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin health network where he uses his background in digital health to connect patients and care teams outside of traditional care settings.
HITC: In 2021, How can digital health reduce race and minority disparities in healthcare?
McSherry: The U.S. has struggled with health disparities, which this pandemic has widened. Many of these disparities can be linked to access, which digital health can assist with – telehealth makes care virtual from any location, clinical decision support can reduce human errors, remote patient monitoring helps keep patients home while linked to care.
Digital health removes hurdles related to transportation, taking time off work, or finding childcare in order to travel in-person for an appointment. It brings care to the patient instead of the other way around, making access simpler. Care through these pathways is also more cost-efficient.
There are still hurdles to overcome. Broadband is widespread but not everywhere and inclusive design of these tools should be considered. How digital tools, including wearables, are built should address differences in gender and ethnicity, especially as these tools are used more frequently in clinical trials, so as not to inadvertently perpetuate disparities.
HITC: Why some hospitals are offering digital health tools to staff but not patients?
McSherry: There are a few factors at play when hospitals offer digital health tools to staff but not patients. One, most health systems are not currently deploying system-wide digital health initiatives, leaving the decisions to individual departments or providers. This can lead to inconsistent patient experiences and more data siloes as solutions are brought in as one-offs.
The second issue is reimbursement. A hospital acting as an employer offering digital health tools as part of its benefits package is different than a patient, who must rely on their health insurance, whether it is a public or private plan. The fact healthcare organizations see digital health tools as a perk shows their value. Now, it is time for CMS and commercial payers to consistently enable their use to help providers care for patients and incorporate digital health as clinicians see fit.
HITC: How hospitals can remain competitive in 2021, especially after tighter margins from COVID-19?
McSherry: Large tech companies, like Google and Amazon, and huge retailers, including Walmart and Best Buy, are looking to deliver the promise of health care that has so far eluded the industry. Venture capital money has been pouring in for funding innovation, with digital health funding hitting a new high in 2020.
These initiatives are all racing to control health care’s front door and if hospitals don’t innovate as well, they run a very real risk of having patients turn elsewhere for care. Payers are also building digital front doors and telling members to go there. People have long expressed their desire to have the same consumer experience in health care that they receive in other industries. The technology is there. It needs to be incorporated with the correct care pathways.
One silver lining during the COVID-19 pandemic is that it showed fast-moving innovation can happen in health care. We worked with hospitals to stand up workflows around telehealth in four days and remote patient monitoring in seven days – an amazing pace. The key is to keep this stride going once we are on the other side of this crisis.
Providers are becoming more digitally savvy to engage patients and deliver holistic care. Hospitals should support this.
HITC: What will be Biden’s impact on COVID-19, how hospital leaders should respond, and what it means that we have a divided congress?
McSherry: Under the current administration, telehealth rules have been relaxed, at least temporarily, along with cross-state licensure so providers are better able to build a front door strategy, helping organizations roll out remote patient monitoring and chronic care management apps. Biden has been a proponent of digitalization in health care and will have a broader engagement. This could lead toward more funding and more covered lives.
A divided Congress will not make much easy for the Biden administration, however, getting on the other side of this pandemic as quickly and as safely as possible is best for everyone. Biden has shown he will make fighting COVID-19 a top priority.
HITC: Will remote patient monitoring become financially viable for hospital leaders in 2021?
McSherry: Why does a diabetic patient need to have every check-in be in-person or a healthy, pregnancy met every few weeks with an in-person visit as opposed to remote monitoring for key values and a telehealth check-in in place of a couple of those visits? Moving forward, hospitals will see the benefit of remote monitoring in terms of lower overhead, along with better patient engagement, outcomes and retention.
To make this work, providers must share risk, and determine digital strategies around attracting patients and then manage them in a capitated way with more digital tools because of the cost efficiencies.
HITC: How do we foster tighter physician-patient relationships?
McSherry: Patients trust their doctors, period. The struggle is going to be more obvious as more people do not have a PCP and turn to health care with a bandage approach to take care of an immediate concern. That will lead to entire populations without that trusted bond who are sicker when they finally do seek care, due to the lack of continuity and engagement early on.
By connecting with people now, where they are comfortable, there is a tighter physician-patient relationship by making it more accessible and reciprocal.
In this webinar on Feb. 10,healthcare experts from Desert Oasis Healthcare and iRhythm Technologies will discuss how Zio monitors, designed to be worn for longer duration than holter monitors, represent a new standard of care in remote cardiac monitoring.
– Withings partners with healthcare IT integration
company Redox, which will make its remote patient monitoring solution, Withings
MED·PRO CARE, compatible with nearly all EHRs used by physicians, hospitals,
and medical institutions.
– Through the partnership, physicians can now order and
ship Withings clinically-validated connected health devices directly to their
patients through their EHR.
– As patients use their Withings devices, which are
designed to be simple to use daily, their physicians can access and analyze
their patients’ data seamlessly through Redox.
Withings, early
pioneers of the connected health revolution, today announced it has partnered
with Redox, a single, secure API
endpoint that connects and integrates provider EHRs with healthcare
products and services. The partnership makes MED·PRO CARE, the
unique Withings remote patient monitoring solution, compatible with nearly all
EHRs used by physicians, hospitals, and medical institutions.
Withings MED·PRO CARE
Withings launched MED·PRO CARE, its remote patient
monitoring platform, to allow caregivers, medical institutions, and private
organizations to manage multiple patients’ physiological data through the
company’s portfolio of connected health devices and data analytical
capabilities.
Patients benefit from beautifully designed devices that
require little to no set up to fit effortlessly into their daily lives. In
fact, thanks to the Withings Data HUB, a plug and play cellular gateway created
specifically for Withings MED·PRO solutions, health providers can even deliver
devices to patients that require no set up or daily management at all.
Clinically Validated Health Devices Now Compatible with
EHRs
Through the partnership, physicians can now order and ship
Withings clinically-validated connected health devices directly to their
patients through their EHR in just a few simple steps. Patients can use their
Withings devices to monitor and track their health in their traditional home
environments while their physicians access and analyze their data seamlessly
through Redox. The solution is HIPAA compliant and uses HL7 international
standards.
“During the pandemic, the importance of remote patient monitoring soared. However, for its long term success and utilization to be assured, it must be simple for both physicians and their patients,” said Mathieu Letombe, CEO of Withings. “Our partnership with Redox means Withings now integrates into practically every EHR system allowing physicians and hospitals to easily send Withings devices to their patients and access insights into their daily blood pressure, weight, sleep patterns, heart rates, and more. With Redox’s one connection and our range of devices, designed to easily integrate into patients’ everyday lives, the entire process is effortless for all involved, and many of the common frictions associated with remote patient monitoring are removed.”
Availability
Withings connected health devices are now available through
Redox.
Through the new partnership, Redox — which connects EHRs to healthcare products and services — will make Withings’ remote patient monitoring solution compatible with nearly all EHRs used by physicians and hospitals.
Prior to the pandemic, telehealth was a limited ad-hoc service with geographic and provider restrictions. However, with both the pandemic restrictions on face to face interactions and a relaxation of governmental regulations, telehealth utilization has significantly increased from thousands of visits in a week to well over a million in the Medicare population. What we’ve learned is that telehealth allows patients, especially high-risk populations like seniors, to connect with their doctors in a safe and efficient way. Telehealth is valuable for many types of visits, mostly clearly ones that involve mental health or physical health issues that do not require a physical exam or procedure. It’s an efficient modality for both the member and provider.
With the growing popularity of telehealth services, we may see permanent changes in regulatory standards. Flexible regulatory standards, such as being able to use platforms like FaceTime or Skype, would lower the barrier to entry for providers to offer telehealth and also encourage adoption, especially among seniors. Second, it’s likely we’ll see an emergence of providers with aligned incentives around value, such as in many Medicare Advantage plans, trying very hard to encourage utilization with their members so that they get the right care at the right time. In theory, the shift towards value-based care will allow better care and lower costs than the traditional fee for service model. If we are able to evolve regulatory and payment environments, providers have an opportunity to grow these types of services into 2021 to improve patient wellness and health outcomes.
Dr. Salvatore Viscomi, Chief Medical Officer, GoodCell
2021 will be the year of patient controlled-health
The COVID-19 pandemic brought the realities of a global-scale health event – and our general lack of preparedness to address it – to the forefront. People are now laser-focused on how they can protect themselves and their families against the next inevitable threat. On top of this, social distancing and isolation accelerated the development and use of digital health tools, from wellness trackers to telehealth and virtual care, most of which can be accessed from the comfort of our homes. The convergence of these two forces is poised to make 2021 the year for patient-controlled health, whereby health decisions are not dictated by – but rather made in consultation with – a healthcare provider, leveraging insights and data pulled from a variety of health technology tools at people’s fingertips.
Anish Sebastian, CEO of Babyscripts
Beyond telemedicine
Telemedicine was the finger in the dyke at the beginning of pandemic panic, with healthcare providers grabbing whatever came to hand — encouraged by relaxed HIPAA regulations — to keep the dam from breaking. But as the dust settles, telemedicine is emerging as the commodity that it is, and value-add services are going to be the differentiating factors in an increasingly competitive marketplace. Offerings like remote patient monitoring and asynchronous communication, initially considered as “nice-to-haves,” are becoming standard offerings as healthcare providers see their value for continuous care beyond Covid.
Daniel Kivatinos, COO and Co-Founder of DrChrono
Telehealth visits are going to supersede in-person visits as time goes on.
Because of COVID-19, the world changed and Medicare and Medicaid, as well as other insurers, started paying out for telehealth visits. Telemedicine will continue to grow at a very quick rate, and verticals like mental health (psychology and psychiatry) and primary care fit perfectly into the telemedicine model, for tasks like administering prescription refills (ePrescribing) and ordering labs. Hyperlocal medical care will also move towards more of a telemedicine care team experience. Patients that are homebound families with young children or people that just recently had surgery can now get instant care when they need it. Location is less relevant because patients can see a provider from anywhere.
Dennis McLaughlin VP of Omni Operations + Product at ibi
Virtual Healthcare is Here to Stay (House Calls are Back)
This new normal however is going to put significant pressure on the data support and servicing requirements to do it effectively. As more services are offered to patients outside of established clinical locations, it also means there will be more opportunity to collect data and a higher degree of dependence on interoperability. Providers are going to have to up their game from just providing and recording facts to passing on critical insight back into these interactions to maximize the benefits to the patient.
Sarahjane Sacchetti, CEO at Cleo
Virtual care (of all types) will become a lasting form of care: The vastly accelerated and broadened use of virtual care spurred by the pandemic will become permanent. Although it started with one-off check-ins or virtual mental health coaching, 2021 will see the continued rise in the use and efficacy of virtual care services once thought to be in-person only such as maternity, postpartum, pediatric, and even tutoring. Employers are taking notice of this shift with 32% indicating that expanded virtual health services are a top priority, and this number will quickly rise as employers look to offer flexible and convenient benefits in support of employees and to drive productivity.
Omri Shor, CEO of Medisafe
Digital expansion: The pandemic has accelerated patient technology adoption, and innovation remains front-and-center for healthcare in 2021. Expect to see areas of telemedicine and digital health monitoring expand in new and novel ways, with increased uses in remote monitoring and behavioral health. CMS has approved telehealth for a number of new specialties and digital health tools continue to gain adoption among healthcare companies, drug makers, providers, and patients.
Digital health companions will continue to become an important tool to monitor patients, provide support, and track behaviors – while remaining socially distant due to the pandemic. Look for crossover between medical care, drug monitoring, and health and wellness – Apple
Watch has already previewed this potential with heart rate and blood oxygen monitoring. Data output from devices will enable support to become more personalized and triggered by user behavior.
Kelli Bravo, Vice President, Healthcare and Life Sciences, Pegasystems
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only changed and disrupted our lives, it has wreaked havoc on the entire healthcare industry at a scale we’ve never seen before. And it continues to alter almost every part of life across the globe. The way we access and receive healthcare has also changed as a result of social distancing requirements, patient concerns, provider availability, mobile capabilities, and newly implemented procedures at hospitals and healthcare facilities.
For example, hospitals and providers are postponing elective procedures again to help health systems prepare and reserve ICU beds amid the latest COVID-19 resurgence. While level of care is always important, in some areas, the inability to access a healthcare provider is equally concerning. And these challenges may become even more commonplace in the post-COVID-19 era. One significant transformation to help with the hurdle is telehealth, which went from a very small part of the care offering before the health crisis to one that is now a much more accepted way to access care. As the rise in virtual health continues to serve consumers and provide a personalized and responsive care experience, healthcare consumers expect support services and care that are also fast and personalized – with digital apps, instant claims settlements, transparency, and advocacy. And to better help serve healthcare consumers, the industry has an opportunity to align with digital transformation that offers a personalized and responsive experience.
Brooke LeVasseur, CEO of AristaMD
Issues pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to be front-and-center in 2021. Every available digital tool in the box will have to be employed to ensure patients with non-COVID related issues are not forgotten as we try to free up in-person space and resources for those who cannot get care in any other setting. Virtual front doors, patient/physician video and eConsults, which connect providers to collaborate electronically, will be part of a broadening continuum of care – ultimately aimed at optimizing every valuable resource we have.
Bret Larsen, CEO and Co-Founder, eVisit
By the end of 2021, virtual care paths will be fairly ubiquitous across the continuum of care, from urgent care and EDs to specialty care, all to serve patients where they are – at home and on mobile devices. This will be made possible through virtualized end-to-end processes that integrate every step in patient care from scheduling, waiting rooms, intake and patient queuing, to interpretation services, referral management, e-prescribe, billing and analytics, and more.
Laura Kreofsky, Vice President for Advisory & Telehealth for Pivot Point Consulting
2020 has been the year of rapid telehealth adoption and advancement due to the COVID pandemic. According to CDC reports, telehealth utilization spiked as much as 154% in late March compared to the same period in 2019. While usage has moderated, it’s clear telehealth is now an instrumental part of healthcare delivery. As provider organizations plan for telehealth in 2021 and beyond, we are going to have to expect and deliver a secure, scalable infrastructure, a streamlined patient experience and an approach that maximizes provider efficiency, all while seeing much-needed vendor consolidation.
Jeff Lew, SVP of Product Management, Nextech
Earlier this year, CMS enacted new rules to provide practices with the flexibility they need to use telehealth solutions in response to COVID-19, during which patients also needed an alternative to simply visiting the office. This was the impetus to the accelerated acceptance of telehealth as a means to both give and receive care. Specialty practices, in particular, are seeing successful and positive patient experiences due to telehealth visits. Dermatology practices specifically standout and I expect the strong adoption will continue to grow and certainly be the “new normal.” In addition, innovative practices that have embraced this omni-channel approach to delivering care are also establishing this as a “new normal” by selectively using telehealth visits for certain types of encounters, such as post-op visits or triaging patients. This gives patients a choice and the added convenience that comes with it and, in some cases, increases patient volume for the practice.
As we close out the year, we asked several healthcare executives to share their predictions and trends for 2021.
Kimberly Powell, Vice President & General Manager, NVIDIA Healthcare
Federated Learning: The clinical community will increase their use of federated learning approaches to build robust AI models across various institutions, geographies, patient demographics, and medical scanners. The sensitivity and selectivity of these models are outperforming AI models built at a single institution, even when there is copious data to train with. As an added bonus, researchers can collaborate on AI model creation without sharing confidential patient information. Federated learning is also beneficial for building AI models for areas where data is scarce, such as for pediatrics and rare diseases.
AI-Driven Drug Discovery: The COVID-19 pandemic has put a spotlight on drug discovery, which encompasses microscopic viewing of molecules and proteins, sorting through millions of chemical structures, in-silico methods for screening, protein-ligand interactions, genomic analysis, and assimilating data from structured and unstructured sources. Drug development typically takes over 10 years, however, in the wake of COVID, pharmaceutical companies, biotechs, and researchers realize that acceleration of traditional methods is paramount. Newly created AI-powered discovery labs with GPU-accelerated instruments and AI models will expedite time to insight — creating a computing time machine.
Smart Hospitals: The need for smart hospitals has never been more urgent. Similar to the experience at home, smart speakers and smart cameras help automate and inform activities. The technology, when used in hospitals, will help scale the work of nurses on the front lines, increase operational efficiency, and provide virtual patient monitoring to predict and prevent adverse patient events.
Omri Shor, CEO of Medisafe
Healthcare policy: Expect to see more moves on prescription drug prices, either through a collaborative effort among pharma groups or through importation efforts. Pre-existing conditions will still be covered for the 135 million Americans with pre-existing conditions.
The Biden administration has made this a central element of this platform, so coverage will remain for those covered under ACA. Look for expansion or revisions of the current ACA to be proposed, but stalled in Congress, so existing law will remain largely unchanged. Early feedback indicates the Supreme Court is unlikely to strike down the law entirely, providing relief to many during a pandemic.
Brent D. Lang, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Vocera Communications
The safety and well-being of healthcare workers will be a top priority in 2021. While there are promising headlines about coronavirus vaccines, we can be sure that nurses, doctors, and other care team members will still be on the frontlines fighting COVID-19 for many more months. We must focus on protecting and connecting these essential workers now and beyond the pandemic.
Modernized PPE Standards Clinicians should not risk contamination to communicate with colleagues. Yet, this simple act can be risky without the right tools. To minimize exposure to infectious diseases, more hospitals will rethink personal protective equipment (PPE) and modernize standards to include hands-free communication technology. In addition to protecting people, hands-free communication can save valuable time and resources. Every time a nurse must leave an isolation room to answer a call, ask a question, or get supplies, he or she must remove PPE and don a fresh set to re-enter. With voice-controlled devices worn under PPE, the nurse can communicate without disrupting care or leaving the patient’s bedside.
Improved Capacity
Voice-controlled solutions can also help new or reassigned care team members who are unfamiliar with personnel, processes, or the location of supplies. Instead of worrying about knowing names or numbers, they can use simple voice commands to connect to the right person, group, or information quickly and safely. In addition to simplifying clinical workflows, an intelligent communication system can streamline operational efficiencies, improve triage and throughput, and increase capacity, which is all essential to hospitals seeking ways to recover from 2020 losses and accelerate growth.
Michael Byczkowski, Global Vice President, Head of Healthcare Industry at SAP,
New, targeted healthcare networks will collaborate and innovate to improve patient outcomes.
We will see many more touchpoints between different entities ranging from healthcare providers and life sciences companies to technology providers and other suppliers, fostering a sense of community within the healthcare industry. More organizations will collaborate based on existing data assets, perform analysis jointly, and begin adding innovative, data-driven software enhancements. With these networks positively influencing the efficacy of treatments while automatically managing adherence to local laws and regulations regarding data use and privacy, they are paving the way for software-defined healthcare.
Smart hospitals will create actionable insights for the entire organization out of existing data and information.
Medical records as well as operational data within a hospital will continue to be digitized and will be combined with experience data, third-party information, and data from non-traditional sources such as wearables and other Internet of Things devices. Hospitals that have embraced digital are leveraging their data to automate tasks and processes as well as enable decision support for their medical and administrative staff. In the near future, hospitals could add intelligence into their enterprise environments so they can use data to improve internal operations and reduce overhead.
Curt Medeiros, President and Chief Operating Officer of Ontrak
As health care costs continue to rise dramatically given the pandemic and its projected aftermath, I see a growing and critical sophistication in healthcare analytics taking root more broadly than ever before. Effective value-based care and network management depend on the ability of health plans and providers to understand what works, why, and where best to allocate resources to improve outcomes and lower costs. Tied to the need for better analytics, I see a tipping point approaching for finally achieving better data security and interoperability. Without the ability to securely share data, our industry is trying to solve the world’s health challenges with one hand tied behind our backs.
G. Cameron Deemer, President, DrFirst
Like many business issues, the question of whether to use single-vendor solutions or a best-of-breed approach swings back and forth in the healthcare space over time. Looking forward, the pace of technology change is likely to swing the pendulum to a new model: systems that are supplemental to the existing core platform. As healthcare IT matures, it’s often not a question of ‘can my vendor provide this?’ but ‘can my vendor provide this in the way I need it to maximize my business processes and revenues?
This will be more clear with an example: An EHR may provide a medication history function, for instance, but does it include every source of medication history available? Does it provide a medication history that is easily understood and acted upon by the provider? Does it provide a medication history that works properly with all downstream functions in the EHR? When a provider first experiences medication history during a patient encounter, it seems like magic.
After a short time, the magic fades to irritation as the incompleteness of the solution becomes more obvious. Much of the newer healthcare technologies suffer this same incompleteness. Supplementing the underlying system’s capabilities with a strongly integrated third-party system is increasingly going to be the strategy of choice for providers.
Angie Franks, CEO of Central Logic
In 2021, we will see more health systems moving towards the goal of truly operating as one system of care. The pandemic has demonstrated in the starkest terms how crucial it is for health systems to have real-time visibility into available beds, providers, transport, and scarce resources such as ventilators and drugs, so patients with COVID-19 can receive the critical care they need without delay. The importance of fully aligning as a single integrated system that seamlessly shares data and resources with a centralized, real-time view of operations is a lesson that will resonate with many health systems.
Expect in 2021 for health systems to enhance their ability to orchestrate and navigate patient transitions across their facilities and through the continuum of care, including post-acute care. Ultimately, this efficient care access across all phases of care will help healthcare organizations regain revenue lost during the historic drop in elective care in 2020 due to COVID-19.
In addition to elevating revenue capture, improving system-wide orchestration and navigation will increase health systems’ bed availability and access for incoming patients, create more time for clinicians to operate at the top of their license, and reduce system leakage. This focus on creating an ‘operating as one’ mindset will not only help health systems recover from 2020 losses, it will foster sustainable and long-term growth in 2021 and well into the future.
John Danaher, MD, President, Global Clinical Solutions, Elsevier
COVID-19 has brought renewed attention to healthcare inequities in the U.S., with the disproportionate impact on people of color and minority populations. It’s no secret that there are indicative factors, such as socioeconomic level, education and literacy levels, and physical environments, that influence a patient’s health status. Understanding these social determinants of health (SDOH) better and unlocking this data on a wider scale is critical to the future of medicine as it allows us to connect vulnerable populations with interventions and services that can help improve treatment decisions and health outcomes. In 2021, I expect the health informatics industry to take a larger interest in developing technologies that provide these kinds of in-depth population health insights.
Jay Desai, CEO and co-founder of PatientPing
2021 will see an acceleration of care coordination across the continuum fueled by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Interoperability and Patient Access rule’s e-notifications Condition of Participation (CoP), which goes into effect on May 1, 2021. The CoP requires all hospitals, psych hospitals, and critical access hospitals that have a certified electronic medical record system to provide notification of admit, discharge, and transfer, at both the emergency room and the inpatient setting, to the patient’s care team. Due to silos, both inside and outside of a provider’s organization, providers miss opportunities to best treat their patients simply due to lack of information on patients and their care events.
This especially impacts the most vulnerable patients, those that suffer from chronic conditions, comorbidities or mental illness, or patients with health disparities due to economic disadvantage or racial inequity. COVID-19 exacerbated the impact on these vulnerable populations. To solve for this, healthcare providers and organizations will continue to assess their care coordination strategies and expand their patient data interoperability initiatives in 2021, including becoming compliant with the e-notifications Condition of Participation.
Kuldeep Singh Rajput, CEO and founder of Biofourmis
Driven by CMS’ Acute Hospital at Home program announced in November 2020, we will begin to see more health systems delivering hospital-level care in the comfort of the patient’s home–supported by technologies such as clinical-grade wearables, remote patient monitoring, and artificial intelligence-based predictive analytics and machine learning.
A randomized controlled trial by Brigham Health published in Annals of Internal Medicine earlier this year demonstrated that when compared with usual hospital care, Home Hospital programs can reduce rehospitalizations by 70% while decreasing costs by nearly 40%. Other advantages of home hospital programs include a reduction in hospital-based staffing needs, increased capacity for those patients who do need inpatient care, decreased exposure to COVID-19 and other viruses such as influenza for patients and healthcare professionals, and improved patient and family member experience.
Jake Pyles, CEO, CipherHealth
The disappearance of the hospital monopoly will give rise to a new loyalty push
Healthcare consumerism was on the rise ahead of the pandemic, but the explosion of telehealth in 2020 has effectively eliminated the geographical constraints that moored patient populations to their local hospitals and providers. The fallout has come in the form of widespread network leakage and lost revenue. By October, in fact, revenue for hospitals in the U.S. was down 9.2% year-over-year. Able to select providers from the comfort of home and with an ever-increasing amount of personal health data at their convenience through the growing use of consumer-grade wearable devices, patients are more incentivized in 2021 to choose the provider that works for them.
After the pandemic fades, we’ll see some retrenchment from telehealth, but it will remain a mainstream care delivery model for large swaths of the population. In fact, post-pandemic, we believe telehealth will standardize and constitute a full 30% to 40% of interactions.
That means that to compete, as well as to begin to recover lost revenue, hospitals need to go beyond offering the same virtual health convenience as their competitors – Livango and Teladoc should have been a shot across the bow for every health system in 2020. Moreover, hospitals need to become marketing organizations. Like any for-profit brand, hospitals need to devote significant resources to building loyalty but have traditionally eschewed many of the cutting-edge marketing techniques used in other industries. Engagement and personalization at every step of the patient journey will be core to those efforts.
Marc Probst, former Intermountain Health System CIO, Advisor for SR Health by Solutionreach
Healthcare will fix what it’s lacking most–communication.
Because every patient and their health is unique, when it comes to patient care, decisions need to be customized to their specific situation and environment, yet done in a timely fashion. In my two decades at one of the most innovative health systems in the U.S., communication, both across teams and with patients continuously has been less than optimal. I believe we will finally address both the interpersonal and interface communication issues that organizations have faced since the digitization of healthcare.”
Rich Miller, Chief Strategy Officer, Qgenda
2021 – The year of reforming healthcare: We’ve been looking at ways to ease healthcare burdens for patients for so long that we haven’t realized the onus we’ve put on providers in doing so. Adding to that burden, in 2020 we had to throw out all of our playbooks and become masters of being reactive. Now, it’s time to think through the lessons learned and think through how to be proactive. I believe provider-based data will allow us to reformulate our priorities and processes. By analyzing providers’ biggest pain points in real-time, we can evaporate the workflow and financial troubles that have been bothering organizations while also relieving providers of their biggest problems.”
Robert Hanscom, JD, Vice President of Risk Management and Analytics at Coverys
Data Becomes the Fix, Not the Headache for Healthcare
The past 10 years have been challenging for an already overextended healthcare workforce. Rising litigation costs, higher severity claims, and more stringent reimbursement mandates put pressure on the bottom line. Continued crises in combination with less-than-optimal interoperability and design of health information systems, physician burnout, and loss of patient trust, have put front-line clinicians and staff under tremendous pressure.
Looking to the future, it is critical to engage beyond the day to day to rise above the persistent risks that challenge safe, high-quality care on the frontline. The good news is healthcare leaders can take advantage of tools that are available to generate, package, and learn from data – and use them to motivate action.
Steve Betts, Chief of Operations and Products at Gray Matter Analytics
Analytics Divide Intensifies: Just like the digital divide is widening in society, the analytics divide will continue to intensify in healthcare. The role of data in healthcare has shifted rapidly, as the industry has wrestled with an unsustainable rate of increasing healthcare costs. The transition to value-based care means that it is now table stakes to effectively manage clinical quality measures, patient/member experience measures, provider performance measures, and much more. In 2021, as the volume of data increases and the intelligence of the models improves, the gap between the haves and have nots will significantly widen at an ever-increasing rate.
Substantial Investment in Predictive Solutions: The large health systems and payors will continue to invest tens of millions of dollars in 2021. This will go toward building predictive models to infuse intelligent “next best actions” into their workflows that will help them grow and manage the health of their patient/member populations more effectively than the small and mid-market players.
Jennifer Price, Executive Director of Data & Analytics at THREAD
The Rise of Home-based and Decentralized Clinical Trial Participation
In 2020, we saw a significant rise in home-based activities such as online shopping, virtual school classes and working from home. Out of necessity to continue important clinical research, home health services and decentralized technologies also moved into the home. In 2021, we expect to see this trend continue to accelerate, with participants receiving clinical trial treatments at home, home health care providers administering procedures and tests from the participant’s home, and telehealth virtual visits as a key approach for sites and participants to communicate. Hybrid decentralized studies that include a mix of on-site visits, home health appointments and telehealth virtual visits will become a standard option for a range of clinical trials across therapeutic areas. Technological advances and increased regulatory support will continue to enable the industry to move out of the clinic and into the home.
Doug Duskin, President of the Technology Division at Equality Health
Value-based care has been a watchword of the healthcare industry for many years now, but advancement into more sophisticated VBC models has been slower than anticipated. As we enter 2021, providers – particularly those in fee-for-service models who have struggled financially due to COVID-19 – and payers will accelerate this shift away from fee-for-service medicine and turn to technology that can facilitate and ease the transition to more risk-bearing contracts. Value-based care, which has proven to be a more stable and sustainable model throughout the pandemic, will seem much more appealing to providers that were once reluctant to enter into risk-bearing contracts. They will no longer be wondering if they should consider value-based contracting, but how best to engage.
Brian Robertson, CEO of VisiQuate
Continued digitization and integration of information assets: In 2021, this will lead to better performance outcomes and clearer, more measurable examples of “return on data, analytics, and automation.
Digitizing healthcare’s complex clinical, financial, and operational information assets: I believe that providers who are further in the digital transformation journey will make better use of their interconnected assets, and put the healthcare consumer in the center of that highly integrated universe. Healthcare consumer data will be studied, better analyzed, and better predicted to drive improved performance outcomes that benefit the patient both clinically and financially.
Some providers will have leapfrog moments: These transformations will be so significant that consumers will easily recognize that they are receiving higher value. Lower acuity telemedicine and other virtual care settings are great examples that lead to improved patient engagement, experience and satisfaction. Device connectedness and IoT will continue to mature, and better enable chronic disease management, wellness, and other healthy lifestyle habits for consumers.
Kermit S. Randa, CEO of Syntellis Performance Solutions
Healthcare CEOs and CFOs will partner closely with their CIOs on data governance and data distribution planning. With the massive impact of COVID-19 still very much in play in 2021, healthcare executives will need to make frequent data-driven – and often ad-hoc — decisions from more enterprise data streams than ever before. Syntellis research shows that healthcare executives are already laser-focused on cost reduction and optimization, with decreased attention to capital planning and strategic growth. In 2021, there will be a strong trend in healthcare organizations toward new initiatives, including clinical and quality analytics, operational budgeting, and reporting and analysis for decision support.
Dr. Calum Yacoubian, Associate Director of Healthcare Product & Strategy at Linguamatics
As payers and providers look to recover from the damage done by the pandemic, the ability to deliver value from data assets they already own will be key. The pandemic has displayed the siloed nature of healthcare data, and the difficulty in extracting vital information, particularly from unstructured data, that exists. Therefore, technologies and solutions that can normalize these data to deliver deeper and faster insights will be key to driving economic recovery. Adopting technologies such as natural language processing (NLP) will not only offer better population health management, ensuring the patients most in need are identified and triaged but will open new avenues to advance innovations in treatments and improve operational efficiencies.
Prior to the pandemic, there was already an increasing level of focus on the use of real-world data (RWD) to advance the discovery and development of new therapies and understand the efficacy of existing therapies. The disruption caused by COVID-19 has sharpened the focus on RWD as pharma looks to mitigate the effect of the virus on conventional trial recruitment and data collection. One such example of this is the use of secondary data collection from providers to build real-world cohorts which can serve as external comparator arms.
This convergence on seeking value from existing RWD potentially affords healthcare providers a powerful opportunity to engage in more clinical research and accelerate the work to develop life-saving therapies. By mobilizing the vast amount of data, they will offer pharmaceutical companies a mechanism to positively address some of the disruption caused by COVID-19. This movement is one strategy that is key to driving provider recovery in 2021.
Rose Higgins, Chief Executive Officer of HealthMyne
Precision imaging analytics technology, called radiomics, will increasingly be adopted and incorporated into drug development strategies and clinical trials management. These AI-powered analytics will enable drug developers to gain deeper insights from medical images than previously capable, driving accelerated therapy development, greater personalization of treatment, and the discovery of new biomarkers that will enhance clinical decision-making and treatment.
Dharmesh Godha, President and CTO of Advaiya
Greater adoption and creative implementation of remote healthcare will be the biggest trend for the year 2021, along with the continuous adoption of cloud-enabled digital technologies for increased workloads. Remote healthcare is a very open field. The possibilities to innovate in this area are huge. This is the time where we can see the beginning of the convergence of personal health aware IoT devices (smartwatches/ temp sensors/ BP monitors/etc.) with the advanced capabilities of the healthcare technologies available with the monitoring and intervention capabilities for the providers.
Simon Wu, Investment Director, Cathay Innovation
Healthcare Data Proves its Weight in Gold in 2021
Real-world evidence or routinely stored data from hospitals and claims, being leveraged by healthcare providers and biopharma companies along with those that can improve access to data will grow exponentially in the coming year. There are many trying to build in-house, but similar to autonomous technology, there will be a separate set of companies emerge in 2021 to provide regulated infrastructure and have their “AWS” moment.
Kyle Raffaniello, CEO of Sapphire Digital
2021 is a clear year for healthcare price transparency
Over the past year, healthcare price transparency has been a key topic for the Trump administration in an effort to lower healthcare costs for Americans. In recent months, COVID-19 has made the topic more important to patients than ever before. Starting in January, we can expect the incoming Biden administration to not only support the existing federal transparency regulations but also continue to push for more transparency and innovation within Medicare. I anticipate that healthcare price transparency will continue its momentum in 2021 as one of two Price Transparency rules takes effect and the Biden administration supports this movement.
Dennis McLaughlin VP of Omni Operations + Product at ibi
Social Determinants of Health Goes Mainstream: Understanding more about the patient and their personal environment has a hot topic the past two years. Providers and payers’ ability to inject this knowledge and insight into the clinical process has been limited. 2021 is the year it gets real. It’s not just about calling an uber anymore. The organizations that broadly factor SDOH into the servicing model especially with virtualized medicine expanding broadly will be able to more effectively reach vulnerable patients and maximize the effectiveness of care.
Joe Partlow, CTO at ReliaQuest
The biggest threat to personal privacy will be healthcare information: Researchers are rushing to pool resources and data sets to tackle the pandemic, but this new era of openness comes with concerns around privacy, ownership, and ethics. Now, you will be asked to share your medical status and contact information, not just with your doctors, but everywhere you go, from workplaces to gyms to restaurants. Your personal health information is being put in the hands of businesses that may not know how to safeguard it. In 2021, cybercriminals will capitalize on rapid U.S. telehealth adoption. Sharing this information will have major privacy implications that span beyond keeping medical data safe from cybercriminals to wider ethics issues and insurance implications.
Jimmy Nguyen, Founding President at Bitcoin Association
Blockchain solutions in the healthcare space will bring about massive improvements in two primary ways in 2021.
Firstly, blockchain applications will for the first time facilitate patients owning, managing, and even monetizing their personal health data. Today’s healthcare information systems are incredibly fragmented, with patient data from different sources – be they physicians, pharmacies, labs, or otherwise – kept in different silos, eliminating the ability to generate a holistic view of patient information and restricting healthcare providers from producing the best health outcomes.
Healthcare organizations are growing increasingly aware of the ways in which blockchain technology can be used to eliminate data silos, enable real-time access to patient information, and return control to patients for the use of their personal data – all in a highly-secure digital environment. 2021 will be the year that patient data goes blockchain.
Secondly, blockchain solutions can ensure more honesty and transparency in the development of pharmaceutical products. Clinical research data is often subject to questions of integrity or ‘hygiene’ if data is not properly recorded, or worse, is deliberately fabricated. Blockchain technology enables easy, auditable tracking of datasets generated by clinical researchers, benefitting government agencies tasked with approving drugs while producing better health outcomes for healthcare providers and patients. In 2021, I expect to see a rise in the use and uptake of applications that use public blockchain systems to incentivize greater honesty in clinical research.
Alex Lazarow, Investment Director, Cathay Innovation
The Future of US Healthcare is Transparent, Fair, Open and Consumer-Driven
In the last year, the pandemic put a spotlight on the major gaps in healthcare in the US, highlighting a broken system that is one of the most expensive and least distributed in the world. While we’ve already seen many boutique healthcare companies emerge to address issues around personalization, quality and convenience, the next few years will be focused on giving the power back to consumers, specifically with the rise of insurtechs, in fixing the transparency, affordability, and incentive issues that have plagued the private-based US healthcare system until now.
Lisa Romano, RN, Chief Nursing Officer, CipherHealth
Hospitals will need to counter the staff wellness fallout
The pandemic has placed unthinkable stress on frontline healthcare workers. Since it began, they’ve been working under conditions that are fundamentally more dangerous, with fewer resources, and in many cases under the heavy emotional burden of seeing several patients lose their battle with COVID-19. The fallout from that is already beginning – doctors and nurses are leaving the profession, or getting sick, or battling mental health struggles. Nursing programs are struggling to fill classes. As a new wave of the pandemic rolls across the country, that fallout will only increase. If they haven’t already, hospitals in 2021 will place new premiums upon staff wellness and staff health, tapping into the same type of outreach and purposeful rounding solutions they use to round on patients.
Kris Fitzgerald, CTO, NTT DATA Services
Quality metrics for health plans – like data that measures performance – was turned on its head in 2020 due to delayed procedures. In the coming year, we will see a lot of plans interpret these delayed procedures flexibly so they honor their plans without impacting providers. However, for so long, the payer’s use of data and the provider’s use of data has been disconnected. Moving forward the need for providers to have a more specific understanding of what drives the value and if the cost is reasonable for care from the payer perspective is paramount. Data will ensure that this collaboration will be enhanced and the concept of bundle payments and aligning incentives will be improved. As the data captured becomes even richer, it will help people plan and manage their care better. The addition of artificial intelligence (AI) to this data will also play a huge role in both dialog and negotiation when it comes to cost structure. This movement will lead to a spike in value-based care adoption
AR tools will see a massive boost in 2021 after a year in which its star grew. Here are some more trends that are poised to make 2021 a meaningful year for healthcare.
Remote monitoring startup BioIntelliSense and Royal Phillips received $2.8 million to test BioIntelliSense’s device for the early detection of Covid-19 symptoms. The startup received FDA clearance for its small, adhesive monitoring device last year.
– Philips and BioIntelliSense has been selected by the
U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command (USAMRDC) to receive nearly $2.8M
from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to validate BioIntelliSense’s
FDA-cleared BioSticker device for the early detection of COVID-19 symptoms.
– Working with the University of Colorado Anschutz
Medical Campus, the clinical study will consist of 2,500 eligible participants
with a recent, known COVID-19 exposure and/or a person experiencing early
COVID-19 symptoms.
Royal
Philips and BioIntelliSense,
Inc., a continuous health monitoring and clinical intelligence company, today
announced they have been selected by the U.S. Army Medical Research and
Development Command (USAMRDC) to receive nearly $2.8M from the U.S. Department
of Defense (DoD) through a Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium (MTEC)
award to validate BioIntelliSense’s FDA-cleared BioSticker device for the early
detection of COVID-19
symptoms. The goal of the award is to accelerate the use of wearable
diagnostics for the benefit of military and public health through the early
identification and containment of pre-symptomatic COVID-19 cases.
Medical-Grade Wearable for Early COVID-19 Detection
As millions of individuals have been screened and tested, the emerging research on traditional screening methods is revealing how challenging it is to detect the risk of COVID-19 infections early. Temperature checks have proven to be unreliable and even amplified testing (PCR) has proven to be ineffective in identifying the virus in the early days of infection.
The FDA-cleared BioSticker is an advanced on-body sensor
that allows for effortless continuous monitoring of temperature and vital signs
combined with advanced analytics, enables the BioSticker to identify
statistically meaningful trends and screen for early potential COVID-19
infection.
“The medical-grade BioSticker wearable, combined with advanced diagnostic algorithms, may serve as the basis for identifying pre- and very early symptomatic COVID-19 cases, allow for earlier treatment for infected individuals, as well as reduce the spread of the virus to others,” said James Mault, MD, Founder and CEO of BioIntelliSense.
Clinical Trial Details
Working with the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, the
clinical study will consist of 2,500 eligible participants with a recent, known
COVID-19 exposure and/or a person experiencing early COVID-19 symptoms.
Individuals may learn more about the study eligibility and enroll online
at www.BioStickerCOVIDstudy.com.
The research will focus on the validation of BioIntelliSense’s BioSticker for
early detection of COVID-like symptoms, as well as assessment of scalability,
reliability, software interface, and user environment testing.
Turning Data into Actionable Insights
While previous studies have shown potential using consumer wearables in relation to COVID-19, this study will leverage BioIntelliSense’s medical-grade wearable, the BioSticker, which enables continuous multi-parameter vital signs monitoring for 30 days and captures data across a broad set of vital signs, physiological biometrics and symptomatic events, including those directly associated with COVID-19. With its integration into Philips’ remote patient monitoring offerings, this is another example of how cloud-based data collection takes place seamlessly, across multiple settings, from the hospital to the home. Allowing data to be turned into actionable insights and care interventions, while providing connected, patient-centered care across the health continuum.
Dr. Vik Bebarta, the Founder and Director of the CU Center for COMBAT Research and Professor of Emergency Medicine on the CU Anschutz Medical Campus added: “The University of Colorado School of Medicine and the CU Center for COMBAT Research in the Department of Emergency Medicine are excited to be a lead in this effort that will change how we care for our service members in garrison and our civilians in our communities. The COMBAT Center aims to solve the DoD’s toughest clinical challenges, and the pandemic is certainly one example. With this progressive solution, we aim to detect COVID in the pre-symptomatic or early symptomatic phase to reduce the spread and initiate early treatment. This trusted military-academic-industry partnership is our strength, as we optimize military readiness and reduce this COVID burden in our community and with frontline healthcare workers.”
Although most organizations have now provided WFH employees with secure computers using endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions or mandated the use of virtual private networks (VPNs), this does not fully solve the security problem.
These solutions may protect the user and network from future attacks, but if network infiltration has already occurred, threats in the form of advanced persistent threats (APTs) may be lying dormant for weeks, months, or maybe even years, on an apparently secure network. To respond to these threats, a network detection and response (NDR) capability is required. This capability looks for activity or patterns of behavior from users or network servers that indicate attacks may be in progress may have taken place or may be developing.
Ideally, EDR and NDR need to be integrated and used together to provide end-to-end network visibility and security.
Exploited Fears
Cybercriminals and other bad actors were quick to exploit the COVID-19 pandemic with, for example, phishing attacks. These exploited the fears of healthcare consumers and healthcare workers who, in the early days of WFH, were often accessing corporate networks on secured mobile phones and personal computers from their home networks.
This led to a variety of security issues; for example, Mirai botnet–type attacks that exploited WFH practices to infect healthcare organizations’ networks or dropper-based attacks that loaded malware to steal users’ credentials and ultimately lead to ransomware attacks. While these attacks still continue, most healthcare organizations have taken the measures necessary to secure their networks and their patient and organizations’ data.
A Spike in State-Sponsored Attacks
Beyond threats from financially motivated cybercriminals looms the threat from highly sophisticated and well-resourced state-sponsored attackers. As widely reported in the media, there has been a spike in state-sponsored security attacks on lab and research facilities working on COVID-19 treatments. For example, the Wall Street Journal cited U.S. officials as suggesting that Chinese and Iranian hackers are targeting universities and pharmaceutical and other healthcare firms that are working to find a vaccine for COVID-19, in an attempt to disrupt this research and slow its development.
In addition to direct attacks on research institutions, software vendors that develop the tools used by these institutions are also at risk. Security is becoming a “supply chain” issue that touches not only all of the network users and assets but also all the precursors to these assets, including the network carriers and software vendors on which network users rely.
Lack of Trust
Who can you trust in this expanded threat environment? To take proper precautions, nobody. As healthcare consumers and the workforce want or need to operate on an “access anywhere, anytime” model, adopting what’s called a Zero Trust security architecture not only makes sense, it is close to an imperative for healthcare organizations.
Zero Trust means that, because the network is under constant attack from a huge array of external and internal threats, all users, devices, applications, and resources on the network must be treated as being hostile. These users and devices need to be rigorously and continuously authenticated, while patient, research, and other data and network assets need to be protected at a much granular level than traditional perimeter-based security models allow.
The Rise of IoMT Devices
Healthcare organizations must also find new, more cost-effective ways to deliver high-quality healthcare to their increasingly tech-savvy consumers – and the use of Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) devices is critical to this process. IoMT devices, ranging from simple telehealth and remote patient monitoring to surgical robots and augmented reality technologies, can reduce operating costs and increase the quality of patient care.
COVID-19 has accelerated the adoption of IoMT technology, a process that will further accelerate with the availability of 5G networks over the coming one to three years. Many of the simpler IoMT devices don’t support traditional security models, so their adoption poses significant new threats unless healthcare institutions act to enhance security by, for example, ensuring that their network detection and response tools are ready for this challenge.
Looking ahead, it’s clear that the world is evolving towards a new normal, which will pose more threats and concerns for the healthcare industry. Recognizing this and preparing for the threats discussed, will create a better game plan for what’s to come and allow for necessary growth within healthcare infrastructure.
About Matyn Crew Martyn Crew is Director of Solutions Marketing at Gigamon. He brings a 30-year background in all aspects of enterprise IT to his role where he focuses on a number of initiatives and products including Gigamon’s Application Visibility and Intelligence solutions.
– Philips acquires BioTelemetry, a U.S. provider of
remote cardiac diagnostics and monitoring for $72.00 per share for an implied
enterprise value of $2.8 billion (approx. EUR 2.3 billion).
– With $439M in revenue in 2019, BioTelemetry annually monitors over 1 million cardiac patients remotely; its portfolio includes wearable heart monitors, AI-based data analytics, and services.
– BioTelemetry business is expected to deliver double-digit growth and improve its Adjusted EBITA margin to over 20% by 2025; the acquisition will be sales growth and adjusted EBITA margin accretive for Philips in 2021.
Philips, today
announced it has entered in an agreement to acquire BioTelemetry, Inc., a U.S.-based provider
of remote cardiac diagnostics and monitoring for $2.8B ($72 per share), to be
paid in cash upon completion.
USD 72.00 per share, to be paid in cash upon
completion. The board of directors of BioTelemetry has approved the transaction
and recommends the offer to its shareholders. The transaction is expected to be
completed in the first quarter of 2021.
BioTelemetry Background
Founded in 1995, BioTelemetry primarily focuses on the diagnosis and monitoring of heart rhythm disorders, representing 85% of its sales. BioTelemetry’s clinically validated offering includes wearable heart monitors (e.g. a mobile cardiac outpatient telemetry patch and extended Holter monitor) that detect and transmit abnormal heart rhythms wirelessly, AI-based data analytics, and services.
With over 30,000 unique
referring physicians per month, BioTelemetry provides services for over one
million patients per year. Additionally, BioTelemetry has a clinical research
business that provides testing services for clinical trials. The total
addressable market is USD 3+ billion, growing high-single-digits driven by an
increasing prevalence of chronic diseases, and the adoption of remote
monitoring and outcome-oriented models.
Acquisition Strengthens Philips’ Cardiac Care Portfolio
The acquisition of BioTelemetry is a strong fit with Philips’ cardiac care portfolio, and its strategy to transform the delivery of care along the health continuum with integrated solutions. The combination of Philips’ leading patient monitoring position in the hospital with BioTelemetry’s leading cardiac diagnostics and monitoring position outside the hospital, will result in a global leader in patient care management solutions for the hospital and the home for cardiac and other patients. Philips’ current portfolio includes real-time patient monitoring, therapeutic devices, telehealth, and informatics. Moreover, Philips has an advanced and secure cloud-based Philips HealthSuite digital platform optimized for the delivery of healthcare across care settings. Every year, Philips’ integrated solutions monitor around 300 million patients in hospitals, as well as around 10 million sleep and respiratory care patients in their own homes.
“The acquisition of BioTelemetry fits perfectly with our strategy to be a leading provider of patient care management solutions for the hospital and the home,” said Frans van Houten, CEO of Royal Philips. “BioTelemetry’s leadership in the large and fast growing ambulatory cardiac diagnostics and monitoring market complements our leading position in the hospital. Leveraging our collective expertise, we will be in an optimal position to improve patient care across care settings for multiple diseases and medical conditions.”
Post-Acquisition Plans
Upon completion of the transaction, BioTelemetry and its
approximately 1,900 employees will become part of Philips’ Connected Care
business segment. The acquisition is projected to be sales growth and adjusted
EBITA margin accretive for Philips in 2021. Philips targets significant
synergies driven by cross-selling opportunities (especially in the U.S.),
geographical expansion, and portfolio innovation synergies, such as Philips’
Health Suite digital platform. Additionally, Philips will drive operational
performance improvements through its proven productivity programs. The
BioTelemetry business is expected to grow double-digits and to improve its
Adjusted EBITA margin to more than 20% by 2025.
– Cerner Corporation today announced with Xealth new
centralized digital ordering and monitoring for health systems, starting with
Banner Health, to foster digital innovation.
– Health systems can prescribe digital therapeutics, smartphones, and internet apps directly within the EHR to address areas such as chronic disease management, behavioral health, maternity care, and surgery prep.
Cerner, today announced it’s building on the recent collaboration with Xealth to offer health systems new centralized digital ordering and monitoring for clients. These capabilities are designed to help health systems choose, manage, and deploy digital tools and applications while offering clinicians access to remote monitoring and more direct engagement with patients. Phoenix-based Banner Health, one of the country’s largest nonprofit hospital systems, is one of the first Cerner clients to use the new capabilities to benefit its clinicians and patients.
Prescribe Digital Therapeutics Via EHR
With the new capabilities, health systems can prescribe digital therapeutics, smartphones, and internet applications to address areas such as chronic disease management, behavioral health, maternity care, and surgery prep. This access to a more holistic view of the organization’s digital health solutions supports the clinical decisions doctors make every day and provides real opportunities to improve medical outcomes and enhance efficiency, meet the increasing demand for telehealth and offer remote patient monitoring.
For example, the new capabilities can help simplify how
clinicians prescribe tools such as mobile mental health apps to monitor anxiety
triggers or a glucose device to help trace blood sugar levels for diabetes
patients.
Digital solutions will be available in a single location in
the electronic health record where health systems can use apps based on
clinical and financial metrics. A wide array of digital health tools is
integrated with Xealth’s offering today and the list is ever-growing. Early
examples of companies that have previously deployed in health systems using
Xealth include Babyscripts, Glooko, SilverCloud Health, Welldoc, as well as
Healthwise Inc., GetWellNetwork and ResMed that have existing relationships
with Cerner.
“As digital tools are increasingly included in care plans, health systems seek a way to organize and oversee their use across the health system. We anticipate the emergence of digital and therapeutic committees to govern digital tool selection similar to how pharmacy and therapeutic committees have historically governed medication formularies,” said David Bradshaw, senior vice president, Consumer and Employer Solutions, Cerner. “Digital health has extraordinary potential to reshape the way we care for patients and, working with Xealth, we are answering the need and helping providers create more engaging and effective patient experiences.”
Why It Matters
Digital health has great potential to make an immediate difference, especially as it relates to automating patient education, delivering virtual care, supporting telehealth, and offering remote patient monitoring. Health systems with a digital health program and strategy in place have the ability to respond faster and more efficiently.
“Now, more than ever, extending care teams to meet patients where they are is critical,” said Mike McSherry, CEO and co-founder, Xealth. “As digital health programs roll out, they should elevate both the patient and provider experience. Cerner building out a digital formulary, with Xealth at its core, is listening to its strong clinician base by delivering tools to enhance patient care, without adding additional steps for the care team.”
Don Godbee Don Godbee, Mobile Solutions Architect at Stratix Don Godbee
Telehealth and virtual care are not brand-new phenomena suddenly cobbled together as a rapid response to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the average US patient could be forgiven for thinking that it is. Indeed, virtual visits to care providers and remote patient monitoring have been available for quite some time, delivering two key benefits:
– Providing a platform to address cost-efficiencies and accessibility to quality healthcare for the populace at large
– Playing a key role in managing a growing population of chronically ill seniors.
Prior to 2020, however, the rules of reimbursement and implementation for associated telehealth services were difficult to navigate, wildly differing at the state and federal level with a host of regulations further complicating matters. Federal reimbursement policies are centered on Medicare, via the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) – the single largest payer for seniors and chronically ill patients. Additionally, compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) dictated rigorous standards for direct and monitoring communications between care providers and patients. Complicating matters further, US states offered a patchwork of individual telehealth laws dictating separate Medicaid policies.
The result was a lack of clarity of how healthcare providers could overcome regulatory and financial reimbursement barriers to implement effective telehealth programs as well as a lack of parity in coverage services and payments for patients. To address this at the federal level, CMS released new guidance in 2020 to relax reimbursement restrictions for providers. Now, we’re at the cusp of a new era of telemedicine where providers could widely offer:
– Virtual office visits that address traditionally in-person services such as primary care, behavioral health, and specialty care (e.g. pulmonary or cardiac health rehabilitation)
– On-demand virtual urgent care to address pressing concerns and urgently needed consultations
– Virtual broader home health services such as remote patient monitoring, outpatient disease management, and various forms of therapy (e.g. physical, speech)
– Tech-enabled home medication administration helping patients receive injectable or consumable medication via monitored self-administration
This is all, of course, dependent upon the mobile technology (e.g. tablets, wearables, etc.) and associated services that telehealth providers will rely upon to make these services happen at parity and scale for their patients. Even more importantly, virtual care programs being scaled up to cover a larger percentage of patients will fall apart if providers don’t have the resources to offer robust support and maintenance options for these devices and services. Quality of virtual care is highly dependent on persistent device and service availability and dependability.
Whether providers have already begun purchasing the mobile devices needed or are still struggling with the choice of what devices and services they need and/or can afford, however, they now face a different quandary: How to stand up these virtual care services at scale in a sustainable way that works within current budget resources and doesn’t pass on ballooning costs to your patients?
One way to make complex mobile technology deployments financially manageable is opting for a mobile device as a service (mDaaS) model which allows you to shift from a CapEx-based spending model to an OpEx spending model for purchasing hardware and allows telehealth providers to bundle or roll up a range of devices, accessories, services, maintenance and support into a single, predictable monthly per-device price. With mobile device technology rapidly evolving, telemedicine providers will need the operational agility to pivot to different solutions and quick technology refreshes as the need arises.
When done with the right third-party partner, it offers the additional advantages of outsourcing end-to-end support and lifecycle management to highly trained agents, who can free up precious IT resources. Most importantly, it creates a level of control over technology and spend that makes standing up virtual care programs convenient and stress-free.
There are many options to consider when expanding telemedicine services rapidly to larger patient bases, whether during disruptive events such as the COVID-19 pandemic or in the years to come. The key to making these services sustainable is finding a financing model that will free up internal resources, offer greater spending flexibility, and offer end-to-end support for your healthcare mobile technology ecosystem.
About Don Godbee Senior Mobile Solutions Architect at Stratix
Don brings a unique perspective to mobility in the Healthcare Vertical with over 25 years of consulting and delivery of critical solutions. Don has delivered various solutions from OEM integration of sensors in medical devices to mobile point of care solutions and services with major EHR software solution providers such as Epic, Cerner, GE Healthcare, Allscripts, and McKesson.
Many in the healthcare industry are keeping an eye on the rollout of 5G wireless, which promises to connect people and things at higher speed and lower latency. In the healthcare realm, this means high-resolution images such as CT scans and X-rays can be taken and transmitted instantaneously to doctors. But it also means good things for lower-bandwidth applications, such as the volumes of rich data found in home healthcare applications.
One of the beneficiaries of 5G will be remote patient monitoring (RPM), which helps seniors live independently and transforms their care. With RPM solutions, vital statistics such as blood pressure, oxygen level, blood glucose, weight, temperature, and other metrics are consistently monitored. Reliable connectivity is required to transmit data between the patient and the physician’s office or hospital. RPM solutions can also be two-way, with voice communications-enabled between doctors and patients. Some RPM solutions can also track data over time and spot abnormalities in readings such as low or high blood pressure or oxygen levels and can connect the patient to the doctor to explore solutions. The goal: Keeping patients healthy and allowing them to take a greater role in their healthcare.
By being able to take these vital signs at home and delivering them to their provider automatically and in real-time, the paradigm of care is shifted from episodic to preventative. This gives senior patients and their doctors much more flexibility in patient care and helps to reduce the need to visit the doctor’s office or hospital. With RPM, healthcare providers can:
– Speak in real-time with a patient who might not be feeling well
– Discuss a patient’s status and review their statistics in real-time
– Proactively care for patients so they don’t end up at the doctor’s office or emergency room
– Intervene in the patient’s care to get their health back to normal
RPM solutions usually connect to the internet via WiFi or cellular. As we move towards 5G, which is the best solution to provide connectivity to RPM solutions?
WiFi
WiFi is the defacto home connectivity option for many people. It is relatively inexpensive, upload and download speeds have been consistently upgraded by service providers, and, in general, it works when needed. But it faces some challenges for home healthcare:
– Lack of ubiquity: According to Pew Research Group, as of 2019, only 59 percent of people over 65 have access to broadband connectivity at home. That makes it challenging to utilize WiFi in RPM solutions, which require a continuously reliable 24×7 data connection.
– Limited ease of use: Wi-Fi can be strongly protected, but that protection comes at a price: the use of complex, multi-variable passwords and other configuration steps, which some seniors may struggle with.
– Lack of 24/7 reliability: WiFi signals drop frequently. If Wi-Fi has a weak signal, loses power, or goes offline for another reason—even if it’s infrequently—it impacts the ability to deliver consistent patient results back to healthcare professionals—and vice versa.
Cellular
Cellular is a more reliable option for home care providers and the patients they serve. Some of the benefits of using cellular connectivity include:
Ubiquity: People understand how cellular works. For patients aged 65 and older, 91 percent own a cellphone and of those, 53 percent own a smartphone, according to Pew Research Group.
Simplicity of set-up: For many RPM devices, complicated configuration is not required. While some solutions providers retrofit tablets, others have purpose-built RPM solutions that simply need to be turned on.
Consistent real-time data sets: Gathering data sets developed in real-time and over time allows healthcare providers to see trends and take preventative action. Cellular is a stronger fit for this type of application.
Upgrade path to 5G, when available: Some vendors are building 5G capabilities into their devices today to prepare for its arrival. RPM solutions that use cellular have a clear upgrade path to 5G’s high-bandwidth connectivity.
The use of open standards and existing infrastructure. Cellular is well-proven, and RPM can use existing infrastructure as the underlying medium to connect patients and their healthcare providers and help patients take a greater role in their healthcare.
The ability to cover hundreds of devices simultaneously. Cellular macrocells are able to cover a wide area, ensuring connectivity is always available for the patient
Doctors and healthcare providers can now gather patients’ rich health data by including real-time and daily readings. This allows patients to get more involved with their care, assess situations in real-time, and speak with a physician when they are not feeling well, and generally to keep patients healthy and out of the doctors’ office or emergency room. RPM solutions are becoming increasingly easier to use and more feature-rich making connectivity choice imperative. Cellular connectivity will ensure solutions are available 24/7 to help keep seniors safe, and when 5G is more readily available at scale, there is a clear upgrade path for RPM solutions.
About Mark Dennissen
Mark Denissen serves as the president and chief executive officer of Anelto. He has a storied career in the technology sector. Mr. Denissen worked for more than three decades with Texas Instruments (TI), serving in various roles before becoming the Vice President of Worldwide Strategic Marketing. In this role, he was responsible for the startup of businesses such as Medical Devices, LED lighting solutions, and motor control solutions. Additionally, he was responsible for the commercialization of breakthrough technologies developed in Kilby Labs, TI’s long-range research and development center, and worked directly with TI’s Chief Technical Officer to move numerous projects towards commercialization. He holds a BSEE degree from the University of California Los Angeles.
Prasad Dindigal, Vice President, Healthcare & Life Sciences, EXL.
Over the past few months, primarily as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth has gone from a “nice-to-have” to a “must-have” for healthcare providers. The surge of COVID-19 patients in the spring, coupled with “stay-at-home” orders in many states, meant that many patients in need of care for chronic conditions and other non-emergent health issues were unable to visit their providers face-to-face.
Telehealth became the emergency solution, aided by relaxation of government regulations and improved reimbursement from health payers, led by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). But then a funny thing happened.
As COVID-19 restrictions eased, many patients and providers found they liked telehealth and wanted to keep it around. Patients liked it because they didn’t have to take hours out of their day to travel to an appointment, go through COVID-19 protocols, wait to be called, wait to see their provider, then travel home again.
Providers liked it because they could work more efficiently and, if they were incorporating remote patient monitoring, obtain a more complete view of their patients’ day-to-day health. Both sides also liked telehealth because, quite frankly, it helped them reduce their risk of contracting a highly contagious virus.
While we are not out of the woods yet – many experts are predicting a fall and winter surge that will make the spring surge look like a warm-up act – there are already discussions about whether telehealth was simply a stopgap measure in a crisis or should be viewed as a standard option for care going forward. In order to make telehealth permanent, however, healthcare organizations will want to know exactly what it can contribute once it’s safe to venture to the office once again.
Advanced analytics can help. They can show what worked, and what didn’t, so providers can make data-driven decisions about where, how, and whether to continue using telehealth. The following are eight ways analytics can contribute to present and future telehealth success.
1. Find the patients for whom telehealth visits offer the greatest benefits. Normally, these will be patients who can be diagnosed or assessed without direct laying-on of hands. They may have a condition such as a rash that can be inspected visually or may be able to use consumer-grade devices to take and report biometric readings. Advanced analytics can help discover them, enabling providers to close care gaps while improving Star ratings and HEDIS scores.
2. Prioritize patients by need. Analytics can help identify patients who are most at-risk of deterioration if they do not follow-up after preventive or elective procedures or are not closely monitored. They can also help providers make the appropriate adjustments to those priorities as patient health changes.
3. Get ready for additional surges. The next surge has already begun, and there are likely to be others before the pandemic is fully behind us. Providers need to have measures in place to keep staff safe and avoid the risk of more lockdowns or other changes that will disrupt their operations. Analytics can help them determine how much to invest in additional telehealth equipment and training to ensure uninterrupted service to their patients.
4. Measure telehealth’s impact on patient outcomes and reimbursement. Telehealth is so new, and the pandemic has caused so many shifts in reimbursement, that it can be difficult to determine exactly what effect it has had on outcomes and revenue. Analytics can uncover which changes have been positive and should be continued, and which should either be discontinued or adjusted to produce better health and/or financial result.
5. Uncover and rectify possible coding errors. As the pandemic took hold in March, CMS launched its “patients over paperwork” initiative. The goal was to ensure providers focused on care rather than worrying about coding accuracy, especially as the path to telehealth opened up. At some point, however, accurate coding will again be required. Analytics can help providers uncover and rectify any coding issues to ensure claims are paid fairly and completely.
6. Enable more effective remote patient monitoring. The presence of a global pandemic doesn’t halt chronic or other conditions affecting patient health. These conditions must continue to be managed to prevent them from deteriorating, which will place more of a health burden on patients while increasing long-term costs. Remote patient monitoring delivers the day-to-day data on these conditions. Analytics use that data to spot trends and update providers on the condition of all those patients, making it easier to ensure successful treatment for all of them.
7. Manage timed events more effectively. Risk-adjustment capture of previously documented conditions, which comes through CMS sweeps, retrospective reviews, and other means, can be disruptive to provider operations. Analytics can take the burden off an already exhausted staff by automating and simplifying the process.
8. Use trend and outcome data to inform the future. There is still much we don’t know about the effectiveness – and cost-effectiveness – of telehealth. This type of forward-looking analysis can be used to deliver policy and regulatory guidance for permanent reimbursement and best practices for telehealth-related visits.
As we continue to battle the global pandemic, telehealth does more each day to demonstrate its value. But what happens when the battle is finally won? Should it go back to the background or become fully integrated into a healthcare organization’s standard offerings?
Advanced analytics can be used to answer these questions and many others, helping providers make the decision that best fits their organization.
About Prasad Dindigal Prasad Dindigal serves as Vice President, Healthcare & Life Sciences, with EXL, a leading operations management and analytics company that helps our clients build and grow sustainable businesses.
– Today, Sony announced an update to our NUCLeUS medical
imaging platform, which improves support for remote patient observation.
– NUCLeUS has added new functionality and features,
including powerful bi-directional telestration capabilities allowing multiple
remote users to simultaneously annotate, draw or highlight areas of interest in
a live stream video or still image.
Sony today
announced an update to its vendor-neutral medical imaging platform NUCLeUS. The latest release introduces Remote
Patient Monitoring (observation) functionality with recording functionalities
for use in the operating room (OR), Intensive Care Units (ICU), endoscopy
suites, procedure rooms or anywhere else in the hospital.
The Smart Digital Imaging Platform for Medical Environments
Developed in consultation with leading surgeons and with vendor
neutrality in mind, NUCLeUS guides clinical staff through the planning,
recording and sharing of video, still images and other patient-related data.
Seamlessly linking Sony and third-party devices, applications, video and most
importantly, people, NUCLeUS focuses on hospital staff requirements and use
cases, adding value to imaging workflows.
New
Bi-Directional Telestration Capabilities
NUCLeUS has added
new functionality and features, including powerful bi-directional telestration
capabilities allowing multiple remote users to simultaneously annotate, draw or
highlight areas of interest in a live stream video or still image. This can be
securely shared with authorized viewers to discuss as a group in real time,
ideally suited for socially distanced environments. Equipped with a full
set of recording functionalities, NUCLeUS is also a valuable tool for
hospitals, outpatient surgery centers and private practices serving a variety
of specialties including Urology, ENT, Obstetrics, Ophthalmic, Plastic surgery,
and Robotics
New NUCLeUS Functionality Features
New functionalities of NUCLeUS include:
Mosaic
Video Wall,
presenting video streams from image sources in multiple ORs and ICUs
simultaneously on a single display, thus providing a situational overview of
activity in a tiled or mosaic format.
An
iPad Streaming function, allowing clinical staff to access images from any modality via
an iPad in virtual real time within the OR, so medical staff can follow the
intervention on their handheld device.
High
quality 4K conversion, allowing any HD resolution video content to be converted to 4K
using advanced resolution-augmentation algorithms superior to conventional
upscaling, giving a crisp ultra-high resolution view of converted video
footage.
Customizable
Expanded Patient Distraction – helping to reduce patient anxiety through music tracks and
video imagery that can be played in the OR to create a more relaxing and
comfortable atmosphere.
Patient
Time-Out Functionality, featuring checklists that simplify time out of safety
standards at the start, during and end of an operation.
Enhanced
Printing capabilities, allowing hard copies of still images captured by NUCLeUS to be
created inside the OR using an optional UP-DR80MD A4 digital color printer. The
Auto Print function also extends CMS (Content Management System) print
functionality to collect a preconfigured number of stills, printing them
automatically.
Full
compatibility with the latest Sony PTZ and fixed cameras including HD and 4K
models.
“Sony is committed to developing NUCLeUS to suit the needs of patients and medical staff at all times,” said Theresa Alesso, pro division President, Sony Electronics. “The Remote Patient Monitoring capabilities within NUCLeUS are a primary example of this and were developed to help hospitals manage day-to-day requirements through the COVID-19 pandemic. We are committed to helping hospitals and healthcare providers reinvent their workflows and provide medical staff with the tools they need to continue delivering excellent patient care.”
Abbott recently released global research on vascular patient care, designed to shine a light on the vascular patient journey. The report called “Beyond Intervention” uncovers the universal challenges faced by physicians who deliver vascular care, their patients, and the hospital administrators who support them. It also explores how the right use of technology and data could potentially enable more precise diagnoses and better treatment strategies to ensure the best possible patient outcomes.
To establish what the state of vascular care looks like around the world today, Abbott surveyed over 1,400 patients, physicians, and health system administrators from nine countries.
The research revealed how important personalized care is for patients. This was a sentiment that came through loud and clear from all the patients surveyed, regardless of geography. Patients desire more of a “tailored for me” approach from their physicians. This includes more face-to-face interaction and time with their doctor, with the ability to have all of their questions addressed.
Likewise, doctors sighted a scarcity of time spent with their patients as well as their limited visibility into patient adherence to treatment and lifestyle changes and challenges with other key factors that influence the quality of care they can provide.
What exactly does more personalized care look like? Here are some of the ideas that resonated with the vascular patients who responded to the survey:
– A consultative, two-way patient-doctor relationship, with the patient playing an active role in informed decision-making
– An individualized treatment plan based on the doctor’s ability to review relevant data pertaining to successes achieved with similar patients (“How did patients like me get better?”)
– Effective and seamless information-sharing among the primary care provider, hospital specialists, and healthcare systems, as well as with individual patients themselves via computer or smart applications.
– The ability for the doctor to monitor the patient’s progress remotely and provide information to verify that the personalized treatment is working, and to pick up early warning signs of relapse or deterioration
If more personalized care is what patients desire, then how can the use of technology and data enable this? We already see signs of this in the form of telemedicine and personalized care plans used to treat patients with chronic disease. We have also seen remote patient monitoring become a necessity and, in the age of COVID-19, a new standard of care, keeping patients “connected” with their physicians. This suggests that health care is moving in the right direction. Rather than simply treating the patient at a point in time for an illness, technology has the potential to harness the power of data to optimize care across the entire patient journey – before, during, and after the intervention. By focusing on the whole patient, and by placing him or her at the center of the healthcare world, providers can see beyond the intervention alone.
The survey also revealed that hospital administrators’ top priority focused on patient satisfaction; successful outcomes that boost the number of satisfied and healthy patients while reducing hospital readmissions and costs. The results showed that administrators place a greater priority on plugging data gaps pertaining to outcomes than the total cost of care.
If the intention is to build data-driven technological solutions that see the whole patient, that could shift the focus from illness and intervention to wellness and prevention, potentially lightening the burden on providers, and delivering a higher quality of life for patients, also at a lower cost.
The existing model of care is clearly not working to its full potential, to the detriment of everyone who must navigate it. But overhauling a healthcare system that is so entrenched in structure and institutional practices is not something that can happen overnight. Change will happen incrementally with the input of all stakeholders. It is up to us in the world of medical devices and technology to take our cues from the medical community, patient advocates, and healthcare systems big and small.
The research motivates us to continuously improve upon what we have already delivered and ask ourselves how we can make our products even better. Without knowledge of their pain points or insights into the challenges they face daily, we would not be able to effectively meet patients’ needs. This research also reinforces what Abbott is consistently striving to achieve: building life-changing technologies to improve the patient’s quality of life and help them live their best lives.
– Cardiac patients and their cardiologists are
experiencing a high number of false positives with remote patient monitoring
devices as a result of signal artifact providing inaccurate data, which can
lead to many complications—other than medical, such as unnecessary tests and
increased medical costs.
– Ambulatory cardiac monitoring provider InfoBionic has devised a way to decrease false positives and increase efficiency.
Remote cardiac monitoring’s false positives—especially on atrial fibrillation (Afib)—hurt everyone, from the patient to the boss who will have to go without an employee when he or she has to go in for unnecessary tests. An estimated 12.1 million people in the United States will have Afib by 2030; Afib increases the risk of stroke, heart failure, and death, and is one of the few cardiac conditions that continue to rise.(1) “We must give the clinician more effective diagnoses, while at the same time increasing confidence in our healthcare technology systems with respect to the accuracy of the same patient data,” expressed Stuart Long, CEO of InfoBionic, a provider of ambulatory cardiac monitoring services.
Impact of Remote
Patient Monitoring on Afib
Afib is a “fluttering feeling that can point to a quivering heart muscle, a notable skipped beat as the mark of a palpitation, and a racing heart rate that sparks other discomforts.” (2) With the rise of remote patient monitoring (RPM) as an effective and economical modality to treat and monitor patients, false positives continue to rise to generate a lack of confidence in the accurate clinical data captured through RPM. False positives can overwhelm the clinician and result in the increased use of resources and downstream costs, and false negatives could have detrimental clinical consequences.(3)
Without a reliable RPM supported by powerful AI solutions, healthcare payers experience higher costs. Heart disease takes an economic toll, as well, costing the nation’s healthcare system $214 billion per year and consuming $138 billion in lost productivity on the job. (4) The cascading effect of false positives run the gamut of the human experience—from the physical and emotional health of the patient to the added out-of-pocket expenses of unnecessary and avoidable tests.
The increased risks of hospital readmissions at a time when healthcare systems are overtaxed and understaffed adds another factor of what could have been an unneeded situation. “InfoBionic AI has all but eliminated the need for physicians to deal with false positives. In fact, 100% of Atrial Fibrillation events longer than 30 seconds are detected accurately (true positive) by InfoBionic’s AI system(6),” said Long.
By
leveraging cloud computing with continuous arrhythmia monitoring to create a
reliable platform with accurate data collection, an ambulatory cardiac monitor,
such as the MoMe® Kardia device, optimizes AI solutions,
allowing for consistency in the treatment. Integrated sensor measures have been
shown to predict heart failure and might have the potential to
empower patients to participate in their own care.(5) Offering
24-hour monitoring through RPM technology that reduces false positives leads to
the patient becoming more comfortable with the RPM service, which increases the
likelihood the patient will adopt the practice of self-care well into the
future. Cardiac patients with pulmonary or electrolyte problems may need
continuous cardiac monitoring to screen for arrhythmias.
“A primary feature of our MoMe® Kardia is its ability to leverage technology in a way that makes physicians feel more confident via analysis precision that verifies detected cardiac episodes through the algorithm,” said Long. Another distinct advantage is the ability to provide 6 lead analysis instead of the 1 or 2 leads provided by other systems. This affords the physician a much better view of each heartbeat, thereby increasing physician confidence in the accuracy of diagnosis.
The AI
provides valuable clinical statistics that guide treatment with the best
patient outcomes. As the leading provider to collect every heartbeat and
transmit it to the cloud in near real time, explains Long, InfoBionic’s AI
algorithms are informed by over 15 million hours of electrocardiogram (ECG)
collected from the entire patient population. With full disclosure transmission
that allows AI algorithms to run on powerful servers in the cloud, the system
utilizes much more intensive processing than could be accomplished on other
patient-worn devices. Multiple patented algorithms are run concurrently on the
ECG stream, each with superior performance on a variety of clinical conditions.
– Mayo Clinic announced a collaboration with Vocalis
Health to to research and develop new voice-based tools for screening, detecting
and monitoring patient health, beginning with a study to identify vocal
biomarkers to detect pulmonary hypertension (PH).
– The clinical validation study will utilize Vocalis
Health’s proprietary software, which can operate on any connected voice
platform (mobile, computer, tablet, etc.) to analyze patients’ health based on
voice recordings.
– Following this initial phase, researchers will work to
identify vocal biomarkers targeting additional diseases, symptoms and
conditions.
Mayo Clinic and Vocalis Health, Inc., a company
pioneering AI-based
vocal biomarkers for use in healthcare, today announced a collaboration to
research and develop new voice-based tools for screening, detecting and
monitoring patient health. The collaboration will begin with a study to
identify vocal biomarkers for pulmonary hypertension (PH) which could help
physicians detect and treat PH in their patients.
Impact of Pulmonary Hypertension
Pulmonary hypertension is a severe condition causing high blood pressure in the lungs, but
as the symptoms are similar to other heart and lung conditions, it is often not
detected in routine physical exams. While traditional blood tests can sometimes
detect pulmonary hypertension, it frequently goes undiagnosed. This
strategic collaboration aims to provide an
alternative and highly scalable method to check patients for PH, using only a recording of the patient’s voice, to understand their health and the progression of the disease.
Study Establishes Relationship Between Certain Vocal Biomarkers
& Pulmonary Hypertension
In a previous trial with Vocalis Health, the Mayo research
team established a relationship between certain vocal characteristics and PH.
In this new collaboration, Mayo will conduct a prospective clinical validation
study to further develop PH vocal biomarkers. The clinical validation study
will utilize Vocalis Health’s proprietary software, which can operate on any
connected voice platform (mobile, computer, tablet, etc.) to analyze patients’
health based on voice recordings. Following this initial phase, researchers
will work to identify vocal biomarkers targeting additional diseases, symptoms
and conditions.
Vocalis Health Background
Vocalis Health is an AI healthtech company pioneering the
development of vocal biomarkers – where health-related information is derived
from analysis of people’s voice recordings – to screen, detect, monitor and
predict health symptoms, conditions and diseases. Vocalis Health is currently focused on
screening users for COVID-19 and on monitoring patients with chronic diseases
such as COPD.
“We have seen the clinical benefits of voice analysis for patient screening throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and this collaboration presents an opportunity for us to continue broadening our research, beginning with pulmonary hypertension,” said Tal Wenderow, CEO of Vocalis Health. “Voice analysis has the potential to help physicians make more informed decisions about their patients in a non-invasive, cost-effective manner. We believe this technology could have important clinical implications for telemedicine and remote patient monitoring in the very near future. We are excited to work with Mayo Clinic and have already started planning clinical trials for additional indications.”
Remote patient monitoring has emerged as the next significant challenge for virtual healthcare and that challenge is creating significant opportunities for many companies largely outside of the traditional healthcare technology marketplace. In particular, it is potentially setting up an opportunity for Big Tech companies like Apple, Google, and Amazon, to revolutionize telemedicine and healthcare similar to what those companies have accomplished in mobile phones, Internet search, and retail.
Next Generation Remote Health Monitoring
Next generation remote healthcare monitoring will likely look much different than anything done before. What is emerging today is the potential for the broad adoption of remote health monitoring devices and systems that leverage consumer wearables, smart home communication systems, and big data to produce holistic views specifically for healthcare providers. The pandemic has thrust telemedicine solutions forward by years if not a decade or more in the short span of three to six months. This is creating an opportunity for remote patient monitoring to provide even better visibility into patients beyond what can be accomplished with basic video conferencing.
But while telemedicine is now becoming more firmly established, remote monitoring seems to still have a long way to go. This is evident in a new report by KLAS Research (a healthcare industry research firm) published on August 27th, where they interviewed 19 executives from 18 healthcare organizations regarding their challenges and solutions during the outbreak of the pandemic. Not surprisingly, telemedicine was the top challenge with 32% of the executives. Overall, though, 84% of the executives indicated that the telemedicine issues were already solved and the remining 16% indicated that the solutions were in progress. However, remote patient monitoring ranked as the second most significant challenge with 26% of the respondents. But furthermore, only 22% of the executives indicated the remote monitoring challenges were solved, with 33% saying it was in progress, and 45% indicating it was completely unsolved. So, a clear opportunity exists.
Big Tech’s Virtual Healthcare Market Leverage
For Big Tech, the leverage into virtual health comes from the ability to offer remote monitoring solutions across wearables, ambient sensors, and smart home communication devices, as well as the capability to apply big data, AI, and machine learning to the information from those devices. Big Tech is even combining these technology solutions with healthcare specific services like telemedicine, prescription drug delivery, and medical testing. Market evidence suggests that Big Tech is already putting these pieces together and using this leverage to expand into the broader healthcare market.
Wearables and Ambient Sensors
Wearables and ambient sensors, and particularly consumer-oriented versions of these products, are a key enabler of next generation remote healthcare monitoring by serving as the principle connection with the individual. Over just the last few years the overall market for wearables has increased significantly and the market demarcations are blurring between traditional medical wearables and consumer health and fitness wearables.
Apple leads the overall wearables market with its Watch, Beats, and AirPod products. Across those product lines the company shipped 29+ million units in Q2 2020 and holds an approximate 30% market share, which is nearly three times the size of its nearest competitor. In addition, the Apple Watch is aggressively pushing into classical medical applications with its ability to measure blood oxygenation levels, its electrocardiogram (ECG) capability, and its ability to detect atrial fibrillation (AFib) as well as other cardiovascular conditions. (5)
Smart home communication devices such as smart speakers and home control systems will also be a key component of next generation virtual healthcare. These systems can serve as communication access points to the Internet for lower power wearables and ambient sensors, and also enable intelligent personal assistant capabilities, such as reminders to take medications, and help in monitoring exercise and other behavioral health aspects.
Amazon is the dominant market leader in smart home communication devices with its Echo Alexa personal assistant, which has estimated 50%+ market share as of January 2020. Amazon was first-to-market with its smart speaker system and continues to augment its capabilities with an ever-expanding array of interactive skills. This includes skills to integrate Amazon’s Ring home security and control system, its portfolio of Alexa wearable devices, and numerous third-party products.
Google has the second position in the smart home communications device market with an approximate 30% market share for its Nest smart speaker products. (8) Recently the company make a $450 million investment in ADT, Inc. with the aim of growing its Nest deployments specifically in the home security market. Google also has a relationship with the Cleveland Clinic that has recently materialized into a capability for its Nest smart speakers that allow users to ask for Cleveland Clinic health tips. This is a perfect example of the virtual healthcare synergies that can be accomplished with smart home communication devices.
Apple is behind the competition in the smart home communications market. The company’s HomePod smart speaker is a distant 4th in market share at only 2.8%. So, while Apple’s Siri assistant has been an integral part of its iPhone for quite some time, the company has yet to make an impact in combining Siri and HomePod for the home market.
Big Data
The big data processing of medical information will become increasingly important as virtual healthcare remote monitoring grows. The ability to analyze the vast amounts of real-time, streaming data to produce trends, correlations, and medical diagnoses can potentially transform how healthcare is applied at both an individual and societal level. Big Tech is uniquely positioned with shear corporate size and technology assets to pursue remote monitoring big data. In addition, Big Tech is already pursuing healthcare data relationships with significant healthcare providers and can leverage those projects into new applications processing remote monitoring data.
In 2019 Google made waves in establishing relationships with both Ascension Health and the Mayo Clinic to partner on the development of digital tools that integrate healthcare data into new patient care models. While the Ascension deal, in particular, raised concerns about patient data privacy, the two relationships will provide Google valuable experience in processing healthcare data that can be leveraged into future remote monitoring data applications.
Apple is leveraging its iPhone and wearables products in its health data initiatives. In 2018 the company introduced a health records app for the iPhone where Apple partners with healthcare providers to deliver a patient’s records to their mobile phone. In addition, Apple has established a variety of research relationships with organization such as Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, University of Michigan, and others, that focus on cardiovascular projects related to the Apple Watch and hearing projects related to the AirPod earbuds.
Amazon’s principle relationship for health data is with Cerner Corporation, which has an approximate 25% share for electronic health records systems across the entire healthcare marketplace. In 2019, Cerner chose Amazon Web Services as its preferred cloud provider for its healthcare patient data. More recently the companies announced a further collaboration where consumers using Amazon’s Halo wearable can opt-in to share their activity and health data and allow that information to be stored in their patient record in Cerner’s systems. The patient’s healthcare provider can then access and evaluate that information directly in the patient’s records. This is another example of virtual health synergies accomplished via the integrated capabilities of a consumer wearable, health data systems, and a patient’s healthcare provider.
Healthcare Services
As the most straight-forward initiatives toward revolutionize healthcare, Big Tech is also directly entering the healthcare provider and services market, which at a minimum provides a convenient platform to leverage its healthcare technology and data solutions.
In 2018 Apple launched a group of health clinics called AC Wellness for its employees and their families. These clinics are generally focusing on providing primary care but have extended that to also included on-site lab testing and wellness care such as exercise and dietary programs.
Last September Amazon introduced its pilot telemedicine program, Amazon Care, for its employees in Seattle. This service includes virtual primary care as well as home consultations and prescription drug services via Amazon’s PillPack division, a virtual pharmacy Amazon acquired in 2018.
Google’s most recent activity takes a different approach where on August 24th it announced it was investing $100 million in telemedicine provider Amwell. The synergies mentioned in the deal specifically focused on Google’s cloud computing services, but the intersection extends into its data processing and machine learning expertise and can potentially tap into its home personal assistant products for remote monitoring capabilities.
Challenges and Opportunities Ahead
When Big Tech pursues business growth, the companies must think big and look for markets that are ripe to be thoroughly transformed. With the global healthcare market size at more than $8 trillion and new technologies poised to transform how healthcare is executed, a prime opportunity exists. But significant questions remain in terms of the technological solutions, the market competitive and relationship dynamics, and of course, concerns about regulatory and information privacy.
Despite the market positions of Big Tech in wearables, smart home communications, and big data, there continues to be significant venture capital and start-up activity in the technological areas of virtual health that tend to focus on opportunities that Big Tech hasn’t yet pursued. The companies that achieve some degree of success will likely experience a very attractive market to be acquired by not only Big Tech competitors like Apple, Amazon, and Google, but also the leading telemedicine companies like Teladoc Health, Amwell, MDLIve, and SOC Telemed as well as technology-oriented insurers like UnitedHealth Group. From a Big Tech product portfolio perspective, two of the more significant gaps pertain to Apple’s position in smart home communications and Amazon’s position in wearables. In the smart speaker market, Apple’s 4th place position behind Sonos Inc. has led to speculation that Apple might buy Sonos purely to increase its market share. This is very unlikely to happen given Apple’s reluctance to large M&A deals and, more importantly, its recent announcement that it is will stop selling Sonos products in the Apple Store. So, for the moment, Apple looks to be preparing to grow its market share on its own. For Amazon in the wearables market, the situation is similar. There doesn’t look to be any wearable or smartwatch companies that help Amazon’s market position. Even if Amazon were to acquire a company like Garmin, it would only improve its market share by a few percentage points.
The competitive and relationship dynamics of the virtual healthcare market will continue to be very active as broad industry solutions come together. Ultimately, this market is a non-trivial combination of technology, information systems, and healthcare providers. Big Tech has significant positions in many key markets, but lacks considerable exposure to others, most notably in the healthcare provider area. The first six months of the Covid-19 pandemic has thrust telemedicine providers like Teladoc Health, Amwell, MDLive, and SOC Telemed to the forefront and positions them as key parts of future virtual health solutions. Teladoc just recently announced an $18.5 billion deal to acquire Livongo, a company focused on remote monitoring and virtual health services for diabetes and related health issues. Amwell, MDLive, and SOC Telemed are all accessing the public markets to shore up access to capital and the ability to leverage stock as an acquisition currency. So, watch for all these companies to be active acquirers. But for Big Tech there are many more private telemedicine companies that could be acquisition targets to improve Big Tech’s connection to the healthcare provider market. These include companies such as Doctor on Demand, Crossover Health, 98point6, and HealthTap. In fact, Amazon just recently announced a partnership with Crossover Health to provide health services to its employees and health centers near its fulfillment and operations facilities. This could potentially be a precursor to a more significant acquisition opportunity.
Last, but certainly not least, are the concerns over regulatory issues and information privacy. For Big Tech, under the current environment, any initiatives to capture significant portions of the next generation virtual healthcare market are likely to attract even more scrutiny regarding antitrust issues and the companies’ abilities to keep patient information private. But even these challenges are unlikely to deter Big Tech’s pursuit of healthcare. The market opportunity is just too attractive.
Jim Moeller provides business intelligence data analytics consulting services into projects involving strategic planning, competitive analysis, technology assessment, and intellectual property research.
– Babyscripts today announced a commercial partnership with
Roche Diagnostics, a division of the world’s largest biotech company and a
global pioneer in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics.
– Roche will partner with Babyscripts on the
development of Babyscripts’ remote patient monitoring (RPM) programs to
leverage groundbreaking data science through the next generation of RPM in
pregnancy.
Babyscripts, a
Washington D.C.-based virtual care platform for managing obstetrics, today
announced a commercial partnership with Roche
Diagnostics, a division of the world’s largest biotech company and a
global pioneer in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. Roche Diagnostics and Babyscripts will collaborate on the next generation of
digital and diagnostic combinations in women’s health.
Commercial Partnership to Power Next-Generation of RPM in
Pregnancy
Under the terms of this collaboration,
Roche will partner with Babyscripts on the
development of Babyscripts’ remote patient
monitoring (RPM) programs to leverage groundbreaking data science through the
next generation of RPM in pregnancy. These programs will be focused on solving
issues of blood pressure-related complications through RPM, such as prenatal
hypertension. Babyscripts participated in Startup
Creasphere, Roche’s digital health accelerator
program, which was instrumental in initiating this collaboration.
Babyscripts Virtual
Care Platform Background
Babyscripts has spent
the last six years building a clinically-validated, virtual care platform to
allow OBGYNs to deliver a new model of prenatal and postpartum care. Using
internet-connected devices for remote monitoring, Babyscripts offers
risk-specific experiences to allow providers to manage up to 90% of pregnancies
virtually, allowing doctors to detect risk more quickly and automate elements
of care.
“Roche’s investment in Babyscripts solutions is a tremendous validation of our vision for improving maternal care, and an example of the kind of strategic collaboration essential to moving the needle on outcomes,” said Juan Pablo Segura, co-founder and President of Babyscripts. “Roche’s vast expertise in the field of women’s health diagnostics and clinical science combined with our on-the-ground experience in the virtual maternal health space is going to prove a game changer for rethinking how we approach prenatal and postpartum care.”
Amwell expanded its partnership with Tyto Care, a startup that makes connected exam kits for telehealth visits. The companies will design new integrations of their technologies, and Amwell will become a reseller of Tyto Care’s devices.
– Validic launches the newest version of its remote
patient monitoring (RPM) offerings, Validic Impact: Rapid Deployment.
– This new standalone version of Validic Impact requires
no EHR integration and can be used as a fully standalone solution.
Validic, a Durham,
NC-based provider of health data platforms and solutions for scaling remote
patient monitoring (RPM), has announced the release of a major update to its
remote patient monitoring solution, Validic
Impact. This new release offers the ability to deploy an end-to-end
technology solution for chronic and acute condition monitoring, rapidly.
Validic Impact: Rapid Deployment Features
Validic
Impact: Rapid Deployment offers providers a standalone, web-based
application to manage device-driven RPM programs. The solution is designed for
scale and offered with an ease of use that allows provider groups to quickly
purchase and launch.
Validic’s RPM solutions offer the alerting, visualization
and analytics capabilities needed to engage and manage patients from their
home. The Validic Impact solutions can support the management of acute and
chronic conditions, such diabetes, hypertension, heart failure, and COVID-19
(coronavirus). This new version of Validic Impact requires no EHR integration
and can be used as a fully standalone solution.
– Set up and launch rapidly – with no technology
integration and minimal configuration requirements, providers can deploy
comprehensive RPM programs rapidly.
– Create protocol templates – standardize
templates for the conditions you want to manage with default programmed alerts,
consent language, etc.
– Enroll patients quickly – invite a patient to
a program within seconds – enabling them to consent and connect their device(s)
from any browser.
– Personalize and monitor – easily adjust and
personalize goals and alerts for each patient; automate outreach to patients
who are not submitting readings, trending in the wrong direction, or flag
readings of concern for timely interventions.
Validic’s RPM model allows physicians to tap into the
devices their patients already own and use. The solution can integrate over 480
consumer and clinical health devices via Validic’s core health data
platform. In addition to supporting a bring-your-own-device (BYOD), Validic
Impact also supports kitted device fulfillment and 24/7 device support through
strategic relationships with device logistics companies.
Why It Matters
“COVID-19 was a call to action for healthcare,” Drew Schiller, CEO of Validic said. “Our platform-first RPM approach enhances virtual visit offerings. Right now, that means quickly replacing clinical data usually gathered during in-person visits, such as weight and blood pressure, with home health data.”
Schiller added, “Beyond improving the quality of care delivered through telehealth, RPM will continue to serve as a staple of virtual care and extend in-person care offerings.”
Though the rest of 2020 is still unknown, one fact is very clear: Clinicians will need to continue to lean heavily on technology like RPM, AI and telehealth to ensure successful patient outcomes across the board.
– Philips today announced the launch of its Rapid
Equipment Deployment Kits, which provide doctors with critical care patient
monitoring solutions they can quickly implement in the ICU. The Rapid Equipment
Deployment Kits use advanced patient monitoring technology to enable care teams
to swiftly scale up critical care capabilities within just a few hours, and
help hospitals meet on-demand access during these pressing times of COVID-19.
– Arriving at hospitals fully configured and
ready-to-deploy, the kits are pre-built and pre-packed into sturdy cases and
can be transferred from hospital to hospital as needed. After a crisis/surge
has passed, the kits are disinfected and stored to have available in
preparation for future emergencies.
Royal Philips, today introduced its Rapid Equipment Deployment Kit for ICU ramp-ups, allowing doctors, nurses, technicians, and hospital staff to quickly support critical care patient monitoring capabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently successfully in use in the first health systems across the US, the Rapid Equipment Deployment Kit combines Philips advanced patient monitoring technology with predictive patient-centric algorithms enabling care teams to quickly scale up critical care patient monitoring capabilities within a few hours. As health systems in the U.S. continue to experience surges in critical care and emergency care demand related to the COVID-19 crisis, the kit provides hospitals a way to quickly and easily expand their critical care capacity.
The Rapid Equipment Deployment Initiative for COVID-19
Response
The Philips Rapid Equipment Deployment Kit is a fully configured and ready-to-deploy ICU patient monitoring solution, which includes 20 ICU monitors, 20 measurement servers and one central management monitoring station. The kits are pre-built, pre-configured and pre-packed into sturdy cases that can elevate a hospital’s general care area to a critical care level in a matter of hours. Kits are complete with step-by-step instructions allowing the pre-configured system to be deployed by hospital staff, with remote technical and clinical support from Philips. Kits can be transferred from hospital to hospital as needed. Once a crisis/surge passes, the kits are disinfected, packed up and stored to have available in preparation for future emergencies.
Why It Matters
“The current health crisis has demonstrated a clear need for
us to deliver innovative solutions to our customers that provide a complete
critical care monitoring solution with all of the equipment they require on
demand. This eliminates the need to source and configure individual pieces of
high-demand equipment during a crisis,” said Peter Ziese, General Manager of
Monitoring Analytics at Philips. “To help ensure economical and more
efficient use of hospital resources, the Rapid Equipment Deployment Kits
provide the speed, flexibility and ease of implementation for advanced critical
care patient monitoring that many of our customers must have during this most
pressing time.”
In June, Philips announced it had received Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA for Philips’
IntelliVue Patient Monitors MX750/MX850 and its IntelliVue Active
Displays AD75/AD85, for use in the US during the COVID-19 health emergency.
These patient monitoring solutions support infection-control protocols and
remotely provide critical patient information when caring for hospitalized
COVID-19 patients. The MX750 and MX850 monitors are the latest additions
to Philips’ portfolio of integrated patient monitoring solutions to help
support improved clinical and operational workflows. Updated features, include
enhancements to monitor and assess clinical and network device performance, and
additional functionalities to strengthen cybersecurity.
– Cerner and Xealth announce a collaboration to foster
tighter physician-patient relationships by giving patients easier access to
digital health tools.
– These assets will be prescribed directly within the physician’s EHR workflow to manage conditions including chronic diseases, behavioral health, maternity care, and surgery preparation.
– Cerner and LRVHealth have together invested $6 million
in Xealth as part of this agreement, with Cerner and Xealth planning to jointly
develop digital health solutions that extend the value of the EHR.
– Already integrated into Epic, the integration puts
Xealth in the EHR of record for more than half of the U.S. hospital systems.
Xealth, a Seattle, WA-based company enabling digital
health at scale, and Cerner
Corporation, today announced a collaboration that will bring digital
health tools to clinicians and patients to improve the healthcare experience.
As part of this agreement, Cerner and Xealth plan to jointly develop digital health
solutions that extend the value of the electronic health record
(EHR). Already integrated into Epic, this integration puts Xealth in
the EHR of record for more than half of the U.S. hospital systems.
In addition, Cerner
and LRVHealth have together invested $6M in Xealth. Cerner joins Xealth
investors including Atrium Health, Cleveland Clinic, Froedtert and the Medical College of Wisconsin, MemorialCare Innovation Fund, Providence
Ventures and UPMC as well as McKesson, Novartis, Philips, and ResMed.
Xealth/Cerner EHR
Integration Details
At its core, the
relationship between Xealth and Cerner aims to give patients their own digital
data so they can be more engaged in their treatment plans. The Xealth platform
is designed to help clinicians easily integrate, prescribe and monitor digital health
tools for patients from one location in the EHR. Care teams will be able to
order solutions directly from the EHR to manage conditions including chronic
diseases, behavioral health, maternity care and surgery preparation. Incorporating Xealth into Cerner’s technology and patient portal
provides easier access to personal health information and gives care teams the
ability to monitor patient engagement with the tools and analyze the effects of
increased engagement on their healthcare and recovery.
The collaboration
between Cerner and Xealth will provide care teams and patients convenience and
help improve care accessibility. Better communications and engagement with key
members of their care team will create an experience that is connected across
settings before, during and after a care encounter.
Why It Matters
During the recent
surge of COVID-19 across the world, tools that automate patient education,
deliver virtual care, support telehealth and offer remote patient monitoring
have become even more prominent, creating new methods to inform care decisions
and keep care teams and patients connected.
“Today, we have the unique opportunity to improve people’s lives by allowing active participation in their own treatment plans,” said David Bradshaw, Senior Vice President, Consumer and Employer Solutions, Cerner. “Patients want greater access to their health information and are motivated to help care teams find the most appropriate road to recovery. Xealth and Cerner are making it easier and more convenient for patients and clinicians to accelerate healthcare in a more consumer-centric experience.”
Incorporating Xealth’s
digital health platform with clinician recommendations has been shown to
increase patient engagement rates as compared to a direct to consumer approach.
The company powers more than 30 digital health solutions, connecting patients
with educational content, remote patient monitoring, virtual care platforms,
e-commerce product recommendations and other services needed to improve health
outcomes.
“In order for digital health to have lasting impact, it needs to show value and ease for both the care team and patient,” said Mike McSherry, CEO and Co-Founder of Xealth. “We strongly believe that technology should nurture deeper patient-provider relationships and facilitate information sharing across systems and the care settings. It is exciting work with Cerner to simplify meaningful digital health for its health partners.”
“Combining our expertise in developing interactive digital solutions that improve the patient experience with Cerner’s world-class platforms creates immense opportunity for our clients to better meet the needs of today’s highly connected healthcare consumer,” concluded McSherry.
– Innovaccer has recently partnered with CareSignal to
address healthcare’s urgent need amidst the COVID-19 pandemic: to create and
maintain solid, clinically actionable relationships with patients in a new set
of predominantly virtual care.
– CareSignal offers evidence-based end-to-end support services for chronic medical conditions such as asthma, CHF, COPD, diabetes, depression, hypertension, and hospital discharge support, and maternal health monitoring.
Innovaccer, Inc., and CareSignal today announce a partnership to address healthcare’s urgent need amidst the COVID-19 pandemic: to create and maintain solid, clinically actionable relationships with patients in a new setting of predominantly virtual care.
Partnership Details
The partnership combines more than two dozen
condition-specific patient monitoring programs with population
health data insights for a more integrated care and improved clinical
outcomes with industry-leading financial returns.
CareSignal offers evidence-based end-to-end support services for chronic medical conditions such as asthma, CHF, COPD, diabetes, depression, hypertension and hospital discharge support, and maternal health monitoring. With a focus on prevention and addressing the social determinants of health, each program offers personalized clinically-validated features to deliver even more value from Innovaccer’s population health, care management, and organization-specific offerings.
“Innovaccer has always stayed on top of delivering on promises to our customers, and our partnerships with leading organizations have been instrumental in achieving 100% client satisfaction,” says Abhinav Shashank, CEO at Innovaccer. “Working with CareSignal supports our mission to help healthcare care as one. With CareSignal as our partner, we will strengthen our approach towards better patient engagement and enable smart deviceless remote patient monitoring.”
The executive order would call on the Department of Health and Human Services to develop a new pilot payment model for rural hospitals, and would set up a task force to improve broadband infrastructure in rural communities.
– Philips receives 510(k) clearance from the FDA for its pre-hospital
wireless monitoring solution (Tempus LS- Manual), now offering its remote
monitor and defibrillator solution (Tempus ALS) to EMS customers in the U.S.
– Solution delivers real-time bidirectional data transfer
for remote patient monitoring, giving EMS responders a new approach to
pre-hospital care.
Philips, today announced the launch of its
remote monitoring and defibrillator solution (Tempus
ALS) for pre-hospital settings in the U.S. The solution is a complete
end-to-end system that combines innovative hardware and advanced software to
expand the pre-hospital scope of care for first responders. The professional
defibrillator (Tempus LS-Manual) is the final element of the overall
solution to receive 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) and is now available for sale in the U.S. market.
Tempus
ALS with IntelliSpace Corsium
As a
unique modular platform, the remote monitoring and defibrillator solution (Tempus
ALS) consists of a remote portable vital signs patient monitor (Tempus Pro),
and remote professional defibrillator (Tempus LS-Manual). While the monitor and
defibrillator can be used separately, the devices also connect wirelessly to
share data and transfer vitals, waveforms and images into Philips web-based
software platform (IntelliSpace Corsium). The software platform provides
robust, real-time transfer of clinical data and events, interactive ECG
measurement, two-way communication and more, enabling rapid clinical and
transport decision support and seamless electronic patient care recording
(ePCR) integration outside the hospital in emergency settings.
“In emergency situations, where seconds count, having access to advanced patient data collection and sharing and real-time secure data streaming, can help inform confident treatment and transport decisions outside the hospital,” said Arman Voskerchyan, General Manager of Therapeutic Care at Philips. “The integrated remote monitoring and defibrillator solution combined with our web-based software platform will help front line responders provide emergency care, diagnosis, and treatment – including defibrillation therapy, data management, and clinical and operational efficiency features – in a fully integrated solution.”
Emergencies and care events outside the hospital continue to rise, with an estimated 240 million calls made to 9-1-1 in the U.S. each year. In addition to the stress of the unknown and what to expect at the scene of the call, emergency medical providers must deal with manual handling issues. Equipment carried is heavy, often damaged due to use in unpredictable conditions, and has limited data connectivity – inhibiting the ability for on-scene support. In an effort to address these challenges, both elements of the Philips remote monitoring and defibrillator (Tempus ALS) solution are designed with a small, rugged exterior and a long-lasting battery to allow emergency medical providers to focus on caring for the patient without the hassle or distraction of bulky equipment.
Philips leadership in Emergency Care solutions
Earlier this year, Philips launched its new emergency care
informatics suite in the U.S. market, previously in use in Europe, helping
care teams spot life-threatening conditions remotely, improve accuracy of
support from on-scene crews, and enhance tailoring of in-hospital care based on
pre-hospital physiology. In October 2019, Philips announced a
first-of-its-kind collaboration with Air Ambulance Kent Surrey Sussex (AAKSS) where
helicopter Emergency Service (HEMS) teams were able to live stream patient
medical information from the scene to the hospital through the Philips
pre-hospital solution. Philips offers a wide range of emergency care offerings,
including automated external defibrillators (AEDs), advanced life support
monitors, and more.
After Withings co-founder Eric Carreel bought the connected device company back from Nokia two years ago, the company has charted a more clinical course. With $60 million in new funding, Withings plans to build out a remote monitoring program for its medical devices.
– Current Health has partnered with Dexcom to add continuous
glucose monitoring (CGM) capabilities to its remote patient monitoring (RPM)
platform – enhancing care and improving outcomes for diabetics.
– Dexcom CGM data will transmit directly into the Current
Health wearable and platform for review by the care management and clinical
teams, improving post-discharge and chronic care of diabetes patients outside
the hospital.
– Through this partnership, Current Health is now able to
offer a complete view of patients’ health indicators, no matter where that
patient is located – a critical need as keeping patients out of the hospital is
even more important than ever with the COVID-19 pandemic. With these insights,
healthcare providers are able to proactively address issues associated with
diabetes and provide the best possible care.
Current Health today
announced it has partnered with Dexcom to
add continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) capabilities to Current Health’s AI-poweredremote patient
monitoring (RPM) platform. By continuously monitoring patients’ glucose
levels – largely considered the fifth vital sign – the Current Health platform
will empower health systems to secure actionable and comprehensive insights
into overall patient health, resulting in improved patient outcomes and
decreased healthcare costs.
Integration Details
As part of the integration, Dexcom CGM data will transmit
directly into the Current Health wearable and platform for review by the care
management and clinical teams, improving post-discharge and chronic care of
diabetes patients outside the hospital. Dexcom and Current Health is supplied
pre-configured and ready to go out of the box with a setup time of less than 5
minutes, the patient applies Dexcom and the Current Health wearable, so
continuous vitals and continuous glucose are immediately available for review
by the care management or clinical team. The integration will be an optional
add-on for patients using the Current Health wearable, offered first to
patients with diabetes. The integration will become widely available later this
year.
COVID-19 Underscores Need for Continuous Glucose Monitoring
With an estimated 463 million people across the globe
– or one out of every 11 adults – suffering from diabetes, health systems need
insight into patients’ whole health – including glucose levels – to best manage
at-risk patients. With people with diabetes particularly vulnerable to a
variety of illnesses, including cardiovascular disease, nerve damage and
Alzheimer’s disease – not to mention COVID-19 –
healthcare providers need to be able to continuously monitor glucose levels to
ensure they can proactively address issues associated with diabetes and provide
the best possible care.
“Our focus has always been on delivering the best care to people with diabetes through continuous glucose monitoring,” said Matt Dolan, senior vice president and general manager of new markets at Dexcom. “By integrating our leading CGM system into Current Health’s RPM platform, we can expand the clinical utility of our technology and also offer a more comprehensive view into a patient’s whole health. These factors together mean that more patients will get the best care possible.”
Muthu Alagappan, MD, Medical Director at Notable Health
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an unprecedented shift in the way consumers view and access a variety of goods and services—and healthcare is no exception. Recent studies show that many patients, including vulnerable populations like those living with cancer, are delaying recommended care and procedures—and will continue to do so for at least several months amid fears over the safety of in-person visits. In response, reports of providers adapting to offer care virtually are all the more commonplace, with almost half of physicians now treating patients through telemedicine platforms, up from just 18 percent in 2018.
These trends have solidified virtual care as a mainstay, and as a result, the virtual visit has become a commodity—a service that can be provided by many capable vendors. However, the logistics that power the adoption of virtual care are often overlooked. As healthcare administrators turn to telemedicine to resume “non-urgent” healthcare services, we must ensure that best-in-class technology solutions are utilized to improve the virtual care experience—for providers, clinical staff, and, importantly, patients.
Health systems and their networks face significant operational issues when delivering care in a remote setting, due to the range of potential interactions and diversity of devices—adding to the already recognized administrative burden that comes with routine patient care. With each patient visit comes over a dozen manual tasks, including patient intake and registration, in-visit clinical note writing, as well as back-office billing and claims processing. The virtual visit adds even more steps, such as helping patients access the appropriate technology for a two-way video interface or sending custom links to a “virtual waiting room” at the right time.
Facilitating a seamless virtual care experience before, during, and after a patient’s visit should be top-of-mind—particularly as patient expectations have heightened and healthcare has progressed towards a technology-enabled future. Fortunately, the automation of operational workflows can help healthcare administrators smooth the friction around conducting virtual visits at scale.
Intelligent automation extends our capacity in healthcare by enabling us to do more with the same workforce and technology infrastructure. In fact, digital medical assistants can use artificial intelligence to automate repetitive, cognitively tiring, and error-prone tasks. This technology can support the influx of virtual visits by offloading administrative processes, such as co-payment collection, clinical documentation, and pre-population of common clinical orders.
For patients not as familiar with digital interactions and the variety of telemedicine modalities, which can include platforms like Amwell, Doctor on Demand, and Teladoc or video conference solutions like RingCentral and Zoom, participating in virtual visits can be a daunting change. Additional technological challenges associated with virtual care can result in heightened frustration, increased no-show rates, or decreased activation, so maintaining patient engagement throughout the patient journey is even more important in a virtual environment. Digital medical assistants can automate appointment reminders, offer detailed setup guidance for patients, and provide “just-in-time” virtual visit links to ensure patients and providers can make the most of their time together.
The COVID-19 pandemic has also introduced new variables and risks that patients, providers, and healthcare institutions at-large must consider when seeking and delivering care. Until recently, it was a relatively straightforward process to determine where a patient should receive routine care. Now given the risk of disease spread, providers find themselves considering which patients to see when to see them and whether to see them virtually or in-person.
This creates additional complexity in determining when to schedule patients and in which medium to conduct the visit. Platforms that leverage intelligent automation can help clinical teams to pre-screen all scheduled patients, collect a thorough medical history, intelligently segment patients into risk cohorts and triage each cohort to an individualized destination, be it a return to in-person care or a virtual environment.
In the “virtual exam room,” things also look a little different. From the provider’s perspective, one of the oft-cited drawbacks of virtual visits is the limited ability to measure vital signs, perform a physical exam or order point-of-care diagnostics. At-home diagnostics, wearable devices and remote patient monitoring tools allow providers to collect continuous clinical data that can be gathered asynchronously and quickly, resulting in a more comprehensive picture of a patient’s health. Further, platforms that use intelligent automation algorithms to organize data collected across the care continuum can parse these data streams to identify at-risk patients and then automate outreach and care management to follow clinical care pathways.
The COVID-19 pandemic has given us a unique opportunity to reimagine healthcare using a modern suite of technology for patients, providers and staff that does away with outdated and inefficient processes. But we also have a responsibility to replace them with solutions that improve digital experiences by supporting patients before visits, automating repetitive workflows, and parsing large amounts of data to support clinical decision-making.
Combining intelligent automation with virtual visits creates a powerful tool to efficiently manage patient populations and offer an experience that feels intuitive while enabling healthcare systems to do more with less. By accelerating the digital transformation of healthcare today, we can position ourselves for a future of increased capacity, decreased overhead, and improved quality.
Muthu Alagappan, MD, is an attending physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, a trained engineer, and medical director at Notable Health, a healthcare experience automation company.
– Dario Health enters strategic partnership with Williams
Medical marking its expansion into the UK remote patient monitoring market across
the UK and Ireland.
– Williams Medical is the leading provider of medical
goods and services to primary care in the UK, and this agreement supports both
companies’ commitment to drive growth and deliver innovative solutions to
frontline healthcare.
DarioHealth Corp., a
pioneer in the global digital therapeutics market, announced that the company
has entered into a new strategic partnership with Williams Medical to make the
DarioHealth Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) digital therapeutics platform
available to Healthcare Professionals (HCPs) across the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Dario’s turn-key RPM solution integrates the company’s
existing open platform, application technology, and the DarioEngage coaching
platform, to allow Healthcare Professionals to monitor their patients
remotely. Dario’s digital solution is intended to provide relief for
primary and secondary care providers challenged by the COVID-19 pandemic and
facing potential serious winter pressures in the healthcare system. Equipping practitioners
to proactively treat, monitor and manage patients with long-term conditions
within the community will ultimately result in reduction of the ongoing
pressure on general practitioners, emergency departments, and in-patient
services.
Partnership Details
Williams Medical is the leading provider of medical goods
and services to primary care in the UK, and this agreement supports both
companies’ commitment to drive growth and deliver innovative solutions to
frontline healthcare. Williams’ goal is to further enhance their comprehensive
product range by adding Dario’s RPM capabilities. The initial offering will
provide digital patient services to primary care practices in the management of
patients with a broad range of chronic conditions, such as diabetes.
With a broad base of over 8,000 general practices and
healthcare providers in the community and domiciliary care sectors,
Williams’ comprehensive sales network serves as an ideal platform to
promote and strengthen the Dario’s suite of digital therapeutic solutions in
the British and Irish healthcare markets.
– Microsoft released the public preview of Azure IoT
Connector for FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources), the latest
update to the Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare.
– The Azure IoT Connector for FHIR makes it easy for
health developers to set up a pipeline to manage protected health information
(PHI) from IoT devices and enable care teams to view patient data in context
with clinical records in FHIR.
This week, Microsoft released the preview of Azure
IoT Connector for FHIR—a fully managed feature of the Azure API for FHIR.
The connector empowers health teams with the technology for a scalable
end-to-end pipeline to ingest, transform, and manage Protected Health
Information (PHI) data from devices using the security of FHIR APIs.
Telehealth
and remote monitoring. It’s long been talked about in the delivery of
healthcare, and while some areas of health have created targeted use cases in
the last few years, the availability of scalable telehealth platforms that can
span multiple devices and schemas has been a barrier. Yet in a matter of
months, COVID-19 has accelerated the discussion. There is an urgent need for
care teams to find secure and scalable ways to deliver remote monitoring
platforms and to extend their services to patients in the home environment.
Unlike other services that can use generic video services
and data transfer in virtual settings, telehealth visits and remote monitoring
in healthcare require data pipelines that can securely manage Protected Health
Information (PHI). To be truly effective, they must also be designed for
interoperability with existing health software like electronic medical record
platforms. When it comes to remote monitoring scenarios, privacy, security, and
trusted data exchanges are must-haves. Microsoft is actively investing in
FHIR-based health technology like the Azure IoT Connector for FHIR to ensure
health customers have an ecosystem they trust.
Azure IoT Connector for FHIR Key Features
With the Azure IoT Connector for FHIR available as a feature
on Microsoft’s cloud-based FHIR service, it’s now quick and easy for health
developers to set up an ingestion pipeline, designed for security to manage PHI
from IoT devices. The Azure IoT Connector for FHIR focuses on biometric data at
the ingestion layer, which means it can connect at the device-to-cloud or cloud-to-cloud
workstreams. Health data can be sent to Event Hub, Azure IoT Hub, or Azure IoT
Central, and is converted to FHIR resources, which enables care teams to view
patient data captured from IoT devices in context with clinical records in
FHIR.
Key features of the Azure IoT Connector for FHIR include:
– Conversion of biometric data (such as blood glucose, heart
rate, or pulse ox) from connected devices into FHIR resources.
– Scalability and real-time data processing.
– Seamless integration with Azure IoT solutions and Azure
Stream Analytics.
– Role-based Access Control (RBAC) allows for managing
access to device data at scale in Azure API for FHIR.
– Audit log tracking for data flow.
– Helps with compliance in the cloud: ISO 27001:2013 certified supports HIPAA and GDPR, and built on the HITRUST certified Azure platform.
Microsoft customers are already ushering in the next generation of healthcare
Some of the healthcare organizations who are embracing the technology include:
– Humana will accelerate remote monitoring programs for
patients living with chronic conditions at its senior-focused primary care
subsidiary, Conviva Care Centers.
– Sensoria is enabling secure data exchange from its Motus
Smart remote patient monitoring device, allowing clinicians to see real-time
data and proactively reach out to patients to manage care.
– Centene is managing personal biometric data and will
explore near-real-time monitoring and alerting as part of its overall priority
on improving the health of its members.
– Philips integrates the BioIntelliSense FDA-cleared
BioSticker™ sensor as part of its remote patient monitoring solutions for
patients outside the hospital.
– Multi-parameter sensors aid monitoring across multiple chronic conditions with medical-grade vital signs for physicians to remotely track core symptoms, including COVID-19.
– Healthcare Highways is the first to leverage the BioSticker sensor as a part of Philips’ RPM program in the U.S.
Philips, today announced it has formed a strategic collaboration with BioIntelliSense, a continuous health monitoring, and clinical intelligence company, to integrate its BioSticker™ medical device into Philips’ remote patient monitoring (RPM) offering to help monitor at-risk patients from the hospital into the home. With the addition of multi-parameter sensors, Philips’ solutions can enhance how clinicians monitor patient populations living with chronic conditions – including diabetes, cancer, congestive heart failure and more – in their homes with passive monitoring of key vital signs, physiological biometrics, and symptomatic events via a discreet wearable patch for monitoring up to 30 days.
COVID-19 Pandemic Underscores Need for Remote Patient Monitoring
Remote patient monitoring and telehealth-enabled clinical programs offer care teams a sustainable and scalable way to manage patient populations with chronic or complex conditions at home and plays a key role in supporting care for COVID-19 patients who do not require hospitalization. By regularly transmitting patient data that can provide critical insights into a patient’s condition, the collaboration will empower care teams in the U.S. with a more holistic patient view and the ability to intervene earlier before adverse events occur. With single-use sensors and patient-owned technology supporting remote monitoring, care teams can also help reduce the need for clinicians and patients to interact in person.
“With more patients interacting with their doctors from home and more hospitals developing strategies to virtually engage with their patients, remote patient monitoring is now, more than ever, an essential tool,” said Roy Jakobs, Chief Business Leader Connected Care, member of the Executive Committee at Royal Philips. “Building on Philips’ global leadership in patient monitoring, which includes an extensive suite of advanced monitoring solutions, platforms, and sensors, this is the latest example of our capability to allow more seamless, cloud-based data collection across multiple settings from the home to the hospital and back into the home. Patient data, coupled with our clinically differentiated and leading AI-powered technology, quantifies the data into relevant actionable insights to help detect deterioration trends and support care interventions – all while outside the walls of the hospital.”
Wireless, Secure Data Transfer of Key Vital Signs
The
BioSticker is a single-use, FDA-cleared 510k class II wearable medical device
to enable at-home continuous passive monitoring with minute level data across a
broad set of vital signs, physiological biometrics and symptomatic events (skin
temperature, resting heart rate, resting respiratory rate, body position,
activity levels, cough frequency) on a single device for thirty-days. Symptoms,
including those directly associated with COVID-19 such as temperature and
respiratory rate, can be remotely monitored in confirmed cases of Coronavirus
and also for those patients not sick enough to be hospitalized, or those
suspected of having COVID-19.
In
addition to COVID-19, the BioSticker device will help transform the way
clinicians monitor and manage patients living with chronic conditions from the
home.
“Multi-parameter
sensors are the natural next phase for remote monitoring, especially at a time
when more patients are engaging with their physicians from home,” said James
Mault, MD, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of BioIntelliSense. “Clinicians
need medical grade monitoring and algorithmic clinical insights for COVID-19
exposure, symptoms and management. Accelerated by the COVID-19 crisis, the
practice of medicine has been irreversibly enlightened as to the safety and
efficacy of virtual care. Philips is a demonstrated leader in remote patient
monitoring, and we look forward to BioIntelliSense’s technology playing
an integral role in simplifying and enhancing outcomes for patients and their
doctors.”
Healthcare Highways first to leverage BioSticker as a part of
Philips’ RPM solutions
Healthcare Highways, a provider of health plans, high-performance provider networks, pharmacy benefit management, population health management, and benefit plan administration, is the first to leverage the BioSticker sensor as a part of Philips’ RPM program in the U.S. Out of the seven programs that will be deployed with Healthcare Highways, one will focus specifically on monitoring patients with COVID-19. The remaining six will focus on conditions across the acuity spectrum, including patients with congestive heart failure, hypertension, diabetes, total joint replacement, cancer and asthma. The program will help Healthcare Highways improve insights to patient health status across its provider network.
“Healthcare Highways was built on the idea of delivering measurable value and access to quality care to our members. We work in partnership with our providers to innovate on the care model, and look at Remote Patient Monitoring as the next frontier of how providers will connect with patients,” said Creagh Milford, DO, MPH, Chief Medical Officer of Healthcare Highways and Chief Executive Officer of HighCare Health. “COVID-19 has underscored the need for proactive care management. Resources are strained and by integrating an RPM program with biosensor technology, we’ll be able to drive further value for our unique member base, providers and employers to establish a new way of care delivery.”
