InTouch Health: Revolutionizing Healthcare with Remote Presence Technology

Summary

In this article, we will explore InTouch Health, a company that specializes in using robotics to enable physicians to provide consultations remotely when they can’t be physically present in a hospital setting. We will discuss their flagship product, the RP7 robot, and how it has allowed for more expert care to be brought to the bedside in a more timely manner. We will also delve into their latest technology, RPVita, and how it aims to improve coordination of care through a combination of technology, people, and processes.

The RP7 Robot: Bringing Expert Care to the Bedside
InTouch Health’s Success in Deploying Remote Presence Technology
RPVita: The Future of Healthcare
Improving Coordination of Care with RPVita
Conclusion

The RP7 Robot: Bringing Expert Care to the Bedside

InTouch Health’s flagship product is the RP7 robot, which utilizes different enabling technologies such as remote therapies, medical informatics, and ubiquitous communication devices to provide a reliable communication device that enables physicians to be in two places at once. The technology is a two-way video between the patient’s bedside and the practitioner, and it has allowed for more expert care to be brought to the bedside in a more timely manner, which is especially important when it comes to stroke. The ubiquity of bandwidth and the lowering cost of bandwidth over the years have enabled the successful commercialization of the technology. InTouch Health’s technology has been used by small community hospitals to bring expertise right to a patient’s bedside, expanding their ability to provide care to centers remotely.

InTouch Health’s Success in Deploying Remote Presence Technology

InTouch Health, a company that specializes in remote presence technology, has been successful in deploying its technology in over 650 hospitals worldwide. Their technology enables stroke specialists to provide care and expertise via robots to hospitals and patients in need. The company has created about 70 telemedicine networks, and now conducts close to 6,000 clinical consults a month. InTouch aims to deliver better, high-quality care at a lower cost, which is a significant challenge in healthcare. The company believes that data can be complementary to physicians’ ability to deliver quality care. However, there are still adoption and structural barriers to achieving this goal.

RPVita: The Future of Healthcare

InTouch has addressed some of these barriers with their new technology, RPVita. The company believes that the future of healthcare is not like the autonomous health pod from Prometheus but instead lies in their vision for RPVita. RPVita, a remote presence platform, was unveiled at the WIRED Health Conference. The platform was created by InTouch in partnership with iRobot to enable access to healthcare through technology and bandwidth. RPVita is an autonomous robot that can map its environment and be controlled by a physician using a screen instead of a joystick. The challenge of the demo was the need for bandwidth, which is essential for high-quality care to be delivered at the right place and time, reducing costs and providing high-quality care simultaneously.

Improving Coordination of Care with RPVita

The platform works over the public internet, which is now possible due to the proliferation of the internet. RPVita aims to improve coordination of care through a combination of technology, people, and processes. The platform enables physicians to be in two places at once, allowing them to provide consultations remotely when they can’t be physically present in a hospital setting. This technology has the potential to revolutionize healthcare by providing access to specialized care in remote areas, reducing healthcare costs, and improving the quality of care.

Conclusion

InTouch Health has been successful in deploying remote presence technology in over 650 hospitals worldwide. Their latest technology, RPVita, has the potential to revolutionize healthcare by providing access to specialized care in remote areas, reducing healthcare costs, and improving the quality of care. The company’s vision for the future of healthcare lies in the combination of technology, people, and processes. RPVita is a step in the right direction towards achieving this vision.