Home Health Care Hospitals turn to technology to combat coronavirus

Hospitals turn to technology to combat coronavirus

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As more states report suspected cases of COVID-19, some patients are turning to their phones before the doctor’s office. Health systems are bringing in telehealth tools to check on patients with mild symptoms, limiting healthcare workers’ exposure to the virus.

With cases of COVID-19 now reported in 73 countries, and at least 10 deaths in the U.S. related to the disease, hospitals are coming up with plans in case they experience an influx of patients. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has recommended that hospitals ensure they have enough protective equipment for staff and use telehealth tools with patients who can be cared for at home.

Facilities across the globe are turning to new technologies to help lighten their workload, whether by helping speed up diagnostics or allowing doctors to monitor quarantined patients remotely. Here are some of the companies that are working with hospitals across the world to combat the coronavirus.

 

Infervision:

In China, where the number of new COVID-19 cases is beginning to decline, Beijing-based Infervision is working with hospitals to speed up diagnosis by analyzing CT scans. The startup’s AI tool was originally designed to diagnose lung cancer from CT images. Now it’s using those images to spot COVID-19 and distinguish it from other respiratory infections. The hope is by diagnosing cases more quickly, healthcare workers can limit their exposure to the virus.

While manually reading a CT scan can take up to 15 minutes, Infervision can process the image in 10 seconds, according to an article published in the Lancet. The technology is currently being used by Tongji Hospital in Wuhan, one of the largest hospitals with a total of 4,000 beds. Sites in other cities across China are also using Infervision’s technology.

 

Current Health

Current Health is currently in conversations with hospitals in the U.S. and the U.K. that are interested in using its devices to monitor patients remotely. The Edinburgh-based company makes an arm-based device that can capture information on a user’s pulse, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation, skin temperature and step count.

CEO Chris McCann said inquiries began picking up over the last 72 hours, though he couldn’t disclose which hospitals were interested.

“Now, hospitals are starting to draft emergency preparedness plan,” he said. “Part of that is how do we get more capacity within the hospital?”

Health systems could use Current Health’s technology to remotely monitor patients who suspect they might have COVID-19, as well as increase hospital capacity by allowing patients that don’t need critical care to be monitored at home. It could also be used with immuno-compromised individuals, such as cancer patients, to care for them while reducing the likelihood of infection.

“It’s still early days. Most of the focus with public health is still on containment,” he said. “(Providers) are trying to be in a position where if it does get worse, they can manage it.”

 

Datos

At Sheba Medical Center in Israel, the hospital is caring for a group of quarantined patients that were on the Diamond Princess Cruise Ship in Japan. Though the 11 Israeli citizens did not show symptoms of the virus, they were quarantined for two weeks.

During that time, physicians at Sheba Medical Center used a number of tools to monitor patients remotely, limiting staff from possible exposure to the virus. One of those solutions, Datos, allows physicians to conduct video calls, and lets patients continuously record their body temperature.

“If and when the virus does come to Israel, we may end up being overwhelmed with a large number of coronavirus cases, all diagnosed at the same time, which could result in both staff and patients being at risk despite taking the most extreme precautions,” Sheba Head of Telemedicine Services Dr. Galia Barkai said in a news release. “Datos’ solution can help us greatly reduce this risk by enabling us to monitor less severe patients outside the hospital, in the relative safety and comfort within their homes, with the telemedicine app enabling us to communicate with them via video whenever necessary.”

 

TytoCare

Another technology being used by Sheba Medical Center, TytoCare gives patients a number of tools for remote examinations. The startup gives users a kit with tools to conduct a remote examination with their doctor.

For example, it includes a stethoscope that allows the physician to listen to a patient’s heart and lungs remotely, and also includes tools to send images of their ears, throat and skin.

The startup, which has headquarters in New York and Netanya, Israel, began selling its kits at Best Buy last year. It works with more than 50 providers in the U.S. and Israel.

 

Teladoc:

Telehealth giant Teladoc hasn’t announced any specific partnerships related to the coronavirus, but they might be baked into the company’s stock price. Teladoc’s stock jumped more than 20% to $135 last week, even as the market slumped.

In a February 26 earnings call, the company’s chief medical officer, Lewis Levy, said Teladoc had been partnering with the CDC for several weeks.

“We are equipped to provide near real-time disease surveillance data as well as proliferate disease specific clinical practice guidelines,” Levy said.

CEO Jason Gorevic told investors it’s still too early to quantify the impact the outbreak could have on Teladoc’s business.

Photo credit: elenabs, Getty Images

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