Telehealth has changed how we treat and care for those who have medical maladies and are vulnerable. The latest innovations in this field are enabling people to live safer, fuller lives without the need for constant human supervision. The COVID-19 pandemic has made this abundantly clear; more healthcare facilities than ever before are embracing telemedicine in an effort to keep patients from in-person appointments that risk exposure to the deadly virus.

Recent telehealth innovations such as wearables heavily rely on the Internet of Things. With this technological paradigm, we can securely transmit and analyze data in order to unearth life-improving care plans. These capabilities allow aging populations to continue to live in their own homes while reducing the burden that many care facilities are experiencing at the moment. In this post, we’ll examine the benefits of furthering telehealth connectivity innovation and the factors needed to make it happen.

Enabling Patient Independence

Good connectivity is essential for three types of telehealth monitoring: passive, active, and condition.

Passive monitoring deals with medical applications and technologies in the patient’s home that quietly monitor his or her behavior. These devices usually only initiate action if they notice something concerning. For instance, the Alcuris Memo Hub connects a variety of smart devices around a patient’s home, like a tea kettle, TV, and lighting. If this platform notices a change in the patient’s typical pattern of behavior, it will issue an alert. It can also observe and trigger an alert for gradual changes that may indicate a revision to a health regimen is required.

Active monitoring entails devices such as panic buttons and two-way intercoms. In summation, these devices require proactive action, either from the patient or a caretaker.

Lastly, as its name implies, condition monitoring involves the monitoring of specific health conditions. It combines aspects of the first two approaches we’ve discussed with detailed health data, like blood pressure, heart rate, and movement.

Simplicity Is Essential

Digital health innovations help improve the quality of life for aging populations as well as patients living with chronic conditions and disabilities. They also help lower the costs and resources needed for adequate healthcare delivery for these cases.

Ensuring that telehealth devices have enough connectivity to reliably capture, share, and analyze data is absolutely necessary. Without proper connectivity, wrong conclusions (and consequently, outcomes) could be reached. But these connected devices need one more feature to take telehealth to the next level: the ability to work right out of the box.

Telehealth device manufacturers should configure their devices to seamlessly connect to a healthcare provider’s system seamlessly without any complexities. They should also be able to work anywhere, whether that’s Beijing or Los Angeles. Making telehealth devices and platforms plug-and-play is imperative since a large portion of their audience may not be tech-savvy or have the time to set up complicated systems.

Overcoming Connectivity Obstacles

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past decade, chances are good that you have some experience with mobile phones. This means you’re also painfully familiar with the occurrence of black spots where your mobile device can’t receive a strong, reliable signal. Can you imagine this conundrum for a device that your life depends on?

When a patient’s life is on the line, we cannot compromise on connectivity. To mitigate this issue, telehealth devices should be capable of selecting the best network based on its location and even change between networks to minimize drop-out time. During a critical moment, a dropped connection can mean the difference between life and death. So any device in the telehealth market should offer strong, reliable, and continuous connectivity.

To ensure optimal connectivity, medical device makers must consider its importance from the start of the design process. This often translates to a few common factors for the device. For example, it must be lightweight, easy to operate, robust, and unobtrusive. Often, these elements restrict the design of these devices, which is something that manufacturers may have not dealt with before if they previously focused on larger or fixed devices.

On top of this, manufacturers must also think through what occurs at the back end of their telehealth devices. Do they connect to a cloud service through which analyses are run? Or is the data being transmitted to another human who needs convenient access to it? In this case, how should the information be presented? Alongside connectivity, this focus on communication must also be considered at the beginning of the design stage.

Don’t Forget Security

End-to-end security is always crucial for anything that handles sensitive data such as telehealth devices. Whether it’s your hardware or software, all of your connectivity platforms must be secured properly in order for your device to work effectively.

Unfortunately, several consumer SIMs lack advanced security protocols. They actually send data over standard internet channels, which increases the risk of this information being stolen or lost. To mitigate this, prioritize security early on in the device design phase.

Numerous IoT manufacturers treat device security as an afterthought. As we know from the IoT industry’s track record with data breaches, this has not worked out well. The same mistakes cannot be made when it comes to the personal data of patients.

Dedicated end-to-end security solutions are usually the best for telehealth devices. This involves measures such as data encryption at the device level, communication through trusted private networks and secure gateways, authentication, and authorization.

If you want to take things a step further (which is never a bad idea), add in data flow monitoring tools to detect any unusual activity. These could be your first indicators of a malicious attack taking place. Lastly, consider consulting a third-party pen tester before deployment.

Are You Ready for the Future of Telehealth?

We hope you’ve enjoyed this overview of how connectivity can help accelerate telehealth innovation. It may not be the first topic that comes to mind when you think of new capabilities in digital medicine, but it’s certainly among the most important. By emphasizing connectivity during the design of a telehealth device, you’re able to give patients and providers more peace of mind and unlock better outcomes for both parties.

Have you had any unusual experiences with telehealth connectivity? As always, let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

The coronavirus pandemic has wreaked unfathomable damage on the lives of Americans and the country’s economy. To move forward in the right direction, we must take new and drastic action to address this crisis. This includes employing cutting-edge developments in medical technology to the best of our abilities.

Dogtown Media fully supports the Connected Health Initiative’s request for the Biden-Harris administration to extend the existing declaration of a public health emergency (PHE) so that the use of connected health technology is available to all U.S. citizens during this time of need.

Innovation Can Help Flatten the Infection Curve

It has become painfully clear that we must leverage connected medical technologies such as telehealth if we are to ever beat COVID-19. But antiquated regulations will stand in the way unless the declaration of PHE is extended. The Connected Health Initiative (CHI) aims to make that happen.

An initiative of ACT | The App Association, CHI is a coalition of healthcare industry stakeholders and partners that strives to lead efforts to effect policy changes that allow medical providers to harness the power of technology in order to improve patient engagement and outcomes. Its steering committee consists of the American Medical Association, Apple, Intel Corporation, Microsoft, Dogtown Media, and many other notable figures in the tech and healthcare space.

CHI recently sent a letter to the Biden-Harris administration that not only congratulates them on their victory in the 2020 Presidential Election but also urges them to continue to use digital health technologies such as telemedicine, remote patient monitoring (RPM), artificial intelligence (AI), and other modalities to defeat the coronavirus pandemic. Each of these innovative modalities allow us to implement effective and necessary measures to flatten the infection curve in the United States.

Telehealth Technology Is Key to Managing The COVID-19 Crisis

Alongside CHI, we believe that congressional action focused on permanent telehealth policy changes can help provide immense relief from the damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Such changes would play an integral role in defeating this crisis. Not only this, but permanent policy changes for connected healthcare tools can also help to modernize American medical laws so that they correctly reflect the value that these paradigms offer. We also think that Congress should prioritize providing all Americans with the high-speed broadband infrastructure needed to use these digital health tools.

Of course, we know that pursuing these congressional efforts can take time. So it’s critical that the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) continues to extend the existing declaration of PHE. This provides millions of Americans with the allowance to use connected health technology. During the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth and RPM have been invaluable in preventing, diagnosing, and treating American citizens as we all adhere to social distancing guidelines. These must not only be maintained throughout the entirety of the pandemic but also built upon so that this country is better equipped to handle future health crises.

Should the PHE expire before the Biden-Harris administration is in place, the new HHS Secretary under them should immediately reinstate it.

Actions That Can Help Us Fully Leverage Digital Health Tools

CHI’s letter to the Biden-Harris administration is meticulous in detail and spans several suggestions. Below, we’ve outlined some of the most crucial ones:

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) should ensure that Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) and rural health clinics (RHC) can provide RPM services.

Both FQHCs and RHCs are key actors on the frontlines of America’s medical ecosystem. Thus, they should be able to monitor key patient-generated health data (PGHD) metrics for the populations they are serving on a permanent basis. This includes those receiving treatment for COVID-19.

CMS should provide Anti-Kickback Statute relief for digital health.

Many clinicians are remotely monitoring COVID-19 patients. This has raised concerns that any equipment or access to software platforms provided free of charge could inadvertently trigger Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) liability. The CHI has requested that HHS Office of the Inspector General (OIG) provide clarity that access to software platforms for PGHD or telehealth at low or no cost doesn’t violate the AKS.

HHS should provide certainty with regard to HIPAA’s application to various remote technologies during the PHE.

The HHS’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) recently announced enforcement discretion for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) that clarifies that the use of private, secure telehealth tools which aren’t part of the provider’s official offerings will not draw a penalty as long as the provider makes their patients aware of the risks. CHI is urging OCR to issue guidance that certain telehealth tools are merely “conduits” and thus don’t require business associate agreements (BAAs). The guidance should also clarify that the providers of these telehealth services should only store electronic protected health information (ePHI) temporarily.

HHS should leverage AI-enabled technology to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

There’s no doubt that AI has incredible technology to augment healthcare by preventing hospitalizations, reducing complications, and improving patient engagement. Unsurprisingly, public health experts and providers are already using AI to combat COVID-19. This has given rise to a variety of opportunities and challenges for U.S. policymakers to consider (e.g., bias, inclusion, and transparency). As a coalition with many leading developers of AI, CHI urges for the design of healthcare AI systems to be informed by human-centered design, real-world workflow, and end-user needs.

Unrecognizable woman doctor using tablet in office with double exposure of creative ncov coronavirus covid 19 treatment and vaccine search icons. Toned blurry image

COVID-19 Will Come To an End

From New York City to our hometown of Los Angeles, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented tragedy and hardships to many of our lives. The Biden-Harris administration represents an opportunity for America to tackle this problem in a new and better way.

We stand by CHI’s request of the President-Elect and Vice President-Elect to fully leverage telehealth and other emerging technologies to mitigate this crisis. With time, proper guidance, and unity, this too shall pass.

Telemedicine concept with doctor and smartphone

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed several processes in medicine, but perhaps the biggest was moving from in-person doctor appointments to conducting them over a video call. Telehealth has been great for many patients and physicians across the world, but it still comes with its own set of challenges. With that said, many people are wondering if telehealth is here to stay after the pandemic, or will it fade back into obscurity?

It turns out that the mass adoption of telehealth won’t be as smooth as we’d like to think, but there is a lot of merit in keeping it around for the benefit of both patients and providers.

The Good News

Medical applications like telehealth aren’t new: it’s been around since the Internet was invented, but Internet speeds weren’t fast enough to handle video conferencing. Now, with the roll-out of more affordable high-speed Internet, we are seeing users adopt telehealth with more enthusiasm. Telemedicine can fill in gaps for at-risk and elderly populations by offering better access to care for those populations. And, as we’ve seen during the COVID-19 pandemic, it can also be a safe way to see the doctor when you’re not feeling well enough or are scared to go in person.

Doctor telemedicine service online video for virtual patient health medical chat . Remote doctor healthcare consultant from home using online mobile device connect to internet for live video call .

Telehealth also affords patients more privacy of medical services, security of their sensitive information, and safety from being exposed to infections and illnesses. Better yet, the service offers a lowered cost of service for patients and a reduced workload for providers. Ultimately, it’s convenient for both patients and providers.

With the increasing popularity of smart devices, telemedicine has expanded and grown in the past few years. Compared to 35% of hospitals in 2010 employing telehealth, there was a major uptick to 76% of hospitals offering the service in 2019. Experts expect the telehealth industry and market to grow from $34 billion in 2018 to $185 billion in 2026.

What To Improve in Telehealth

It seems, for all intents and purposes, that telehealth is here to stay — for good. But there are many hurdles for the technology and its proponents to get over. For one, not all medical providers are comfortable enough with technology to offer it as a service. It doesn’t make sense to force the technology on these providers because it could lead to a loss of privacy and data security for their patients.

On that note, there’s also no way to ensure that providers are upholding a decent or consistent quality of service and care between offices and regions. There are no standards of care set out by the federal government or by the governing medical association. Because there are no standards or rules in place, regulation, reimbursement, and billing become more convoluted.

The telemedicine concept with doctor and smartphone

On the other hand, there are entire populations of patients that may not be able to use the service or know how to access it without getting in-person training, which erodes a major benefit of telehealth: convenience. Patients may not know that telehealth is being offered by their insurance company or doctor. And speaking of insurance companies, providers are noticing that insurers are not providing enough support for the service.

Many patients lack local infrastructure and a good-enough Internet connection. While patients in Los Angeles or New York have adequate access to a high-speed connection, rural patients and those in developing third-world countries face disadvantages in conducting video calls. If all medical providers switch to remote health delivery, many people will die from a lack of medical service. Experts say the quality of the Internet connection could determine the accuracy of the diagnosis, which is terrifying to think about.

There is also the issue of cybersecurity, which affects all digital and emerging technologies, not just telemedicine or digital healthcare. With medical records increasingly becoming electronic, there is a risk of losing privacy as well as a need for proper cyber hygiene protocols. Experts say that to achieve an adequate level of awareness for providers and patients, it would require a large investment in digital literacy campaigns.

The Pandemic’s Effect

Up until the pandemic, the adoption of telemedicine was moving at a steady rate, and it was largely viewed as a new service to accommodate even more patients. But with the pandemic setting in, the shift to telemedicine was forcefully accelerated due to a need for remote, accessible, and reliable delivery of healthcare.

For many patients, most of whom had never taken a doctor appointment over a video call, the new service was a great alternative to an in-office visit. Surveys of patients who used telehealth show that 74% reported a high level of satisfaction from using telehealth services and support further development of the technology used. Surveys of providers who used telehealth to meet with patients showed that 57% have become more favorable towards using telehealth after exposure to COVID-19, and 64% are more open to the idea of working remotely.

The pandemic also shifted healthcare policies and streamlined the rapid adoption of telemedicine. Regulatory committees and insurance companies have even worked together to lift restrictions on remote healthcare in 2020.

Medicine Moving Forward

Because telehealth is a new technology, there are a lot of improvements needed before it can become the primary delivery of medical care for the world. But that doesn’t mean that it isn’t already a viable doctor appointment options as it stands.

Still, it’s imperative that we work together with Internet companies, local and federal regulators, and infrastructure departments to bring this amazing technology to those who need it most. There is hope, for both patients and providers, that telehealth will rise up to its challenges and meet its potential, even if it happens long after the pandemic ends.

Have you taken a telehealth appointment? How did it go? Let us know in the comments below!