Interest in Monitoring Devices Growing as Remote Health Sessions Rise: Parks

Two-thirds of U.S. broadband households have had a remote health consultation, said Parks Associates at its virtual Connected Health conference last week. More than half of 5,000 surveyed in Q2 reported owning a connected health or fitness device that captures biometric data, it said. Analyst Kristen Hanich cited a strong correlation for consumers between familiarity with telehealth and wanting the remote diagnostics and monitoring benefits offered by connected health technology. Health systems are increasingly using AI in patient navigation and clinical decision support, said Ada Health Chief Commercial Officer Jeff Cutler. Delivering the benefits of connected health requires a “holistic view of how to harness data, the cloud, and AI” to improve healthcare experiences, costs, and patient outcomes, said Karen Holzberger, Nuance Communications general manager-diagnostics. As virtual healthcare models evolve, “understanding patient vulnerability is critical,” said John Showalter, Jvion chief product officer, referencing lifestyle choices, activity level, health literacy, social supports and connectedness. AI can point to factors that will drive a better outcome, he said.