MedRhythms Inc., a digital therapeutics startup based in Portland, Maine, has received FDA breakthrough device designation for its Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation (RAS) treatment platform for people with chronic walking impairments due to stroke. This product is the first in the Company's pipeline of digital therapeutics for neurologic disease and injury.
Digital health is at the forefront of transformation in the healthcare industry. Digital disruption in healthcare has been underway for years, with healthcare organizations trying to digitize operations and processes to maximize efficiency, reduce costs, while increasing quality care. Significant digital health solutions like EHRs, digital therapeutics, telehealth, AI, wearables, and blockchain are the foundation of the industry's digital awakening. Successful implementation of digital health tools starts with a reliable roadmap that emphasizes shifting staff/patient perspectives and proactive outreach.
Apple, Google Partner Up to Offer COVID-19 Contact Tracing Recently Apple and Google partnered together on contract tracing to help slow the spread of COVID-19. Contact tracing makes it possible to combat the spread of the COVID-19 virus by alerting participants of potential exposure to someone who they have recently been in contact with, and … Continue reading COVID-19 Digital Tools & Resources | Apple, Google Partner Up to Offer COVID-19 Contact Tracing
Four months into 2020, the world is facing an existential global health crisis: the outbreak of a novel coronavirus– caused respiratory disease (COVID-19). Cases of a novel coronavirus were first reported in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, in December 2019 and have since spread across the world. It can be argued that ultimately it would've been impossible to resist the health tech revolution as we move into the 2020s. The COVID-19 pandemic just helped speed the need for digital health tools to be adopted and implemented into the clinical setting.
Titled the Guiding Principles on Virtual Care, the proposals were developed by various virtual care companies affiliated with CTA, including Livongo, Doctor on Demand, Validic and 98point6. Reports show that patients with access to their own health data are far more likely to engage with the information in ways that improve the quality of care and their overall healthcare experience. The above principles laid out by the CTA are based on concepts and best practices currently present and developing in the U.S. regarding the provision of virtual care and consumer protection.
Over the past decade, patients have taken a more active role in educating themselves and directly managing their own health. And with more than 80 percent of consumers now researching their healthcare options, new technologies provide consumers new ways to engage in their own healthy living and in managing certain conditions. In other words, technology is empowering consumers to take control of their health. Uber Health, Lyft, Walmart Health, Amazon Care are just a few organizations entering the healthcare space.
Confidence in patient engagement technology's (PETs) potential remains high as health systems continue to invest in a more digital health care experience - focusing on connecting with, communicating with, and monitoring patients outside the walls of the health system. While it's encouraging to see health systems being proactive by embracing the growing demand by consumers for a more digital health care experience, successful patient/health system adoption is much more than investing in and implementing new technology.
Successful adopters of PET have started with buy-in at the senior leadership level, redesigning the organizational strategy to become more consumer/patient-obsessed.
