How Is Digital Health Reviving Clinical Care During the COVID-19 Outbreak?

Since its declaration as a pandemic in March 2020, the novel coronavirus has continued to take a massive toll across the globe, wreaking havoc on the socioeconomic landscape. With the imposition of nationwide lockdowns and increasingly stringent distancing measures, the digital health industry is one among the medical ecosystem that has gained mass prominence. As the scientific and healthcare community continues its fervent efforts toward developing effective therapies or vaccines against the virus, it is becoming increasingly clear the most essential line of defense against this crisis is also the most basic form of public health management—mass social distancing and personal hygiene.
 
The current global healthcare framework took an immense hit once the virus began its global rampage. Given the U.S. healthcare infrastructure is predominantly based on in-person interactions between clinicians and patients, it was largely unprepared for the risk the face-to-face model of care could pose to uninfected patients seeking treatment due to in-hospital environment transmissions. For vulnerable populations such as geriatric individuals and patients with existing comorbidities and immunosuppression, this crisis gave rise to a difficult choice: whether to risk exposure to the virus during a clinical visit or whether to delay care.
 
Since neither of these options is feasible, hospitals and healthcare systems are now rapidly taking urgent action to trigger a transformation in the delivery of healthcare, as well as scaling up their capabilities, by embracing the power of digital technology.
 
Once existing as a rarely utilized employee benefit, the digital health market has emerged as the most widely adopted healthcare option, especially for routine low-acuity consultations, or on the other end of the spectrum for high-risk patients requiring complete isolation to mitigate the risk of exposure in potentially infected or populous areas.
 
A report by Global Market Insights Inc. estimates digital health market size to cross $639.4 billion by 2026.

The Significance of Digital Health
Digital health is basically the integration of digital technology into basic healthcare, living, societal, and overall health practices, with an aim to improve, personalize, and streamline healthcare delivery.
 
Software, mobile apps, machine learning, artificial intelligence, etc., are among the major facets of modern digital health technology. These digital health tools are equipped to enhance diagnostic and treatment abilities and improve the general delivery of care. Virtual health also gives medical practitioners a more holistic view of their patients’ health via access to detailed data, in addition to providing patients more control over health management.
 
The scope of the digital health industry is vast, spanning from health information technology (IT), to mHealth (mobile health) to telemedicine, to personalized medicine, wearable devices, and beyond.
 
These digital health solutions are designed to empower customers to make well-informed decisions regarding their health, and also deliver novel options for early diagnosis, prevention, and management of chronic or potentially life-threatening ailments, outside of conventional healthcare settings.
 
Remote Patient Monitoring Gets a Boost Amid Growing COVID-19 Transmission Concerns
The COVID-19 pandemic has reached a point where hospitals have to triage patients, so the need for telehealth solutions such as remote patient monitoring (RPM) has become more pressing than ever—especially for the care of high-risk individuals. Since the geriatric population and immunocompromised individuals are most at risk for virus transmissions, caregivers are now rapidly shifting their focus to digital healthcare technologies to ensure a wider number of these patients receive an optimum level of care, without the risk of COVID-19 transmission in clinical settings.
 
However, in addition to expanding the reach of healthcare, RPM can also enhance the quality of care. Since clinicians can instantly and directly interact with relevant patient information, RPM allows them to bring more efficiency to their daily routines and mitigates the possibility of errors due to burnout. This leads to more optimal and beneficial delivery of care to patients in need.
 
Furthermore, RPM also enhances patients’ attitude and behavior by making them more engaged and thereby more responsible for their health. Effective remote patient monitoring programs go beyond the intimidating, clinical, and cold aspect of medical technology and make virtual healthcare more familiar and comfortable.
 
For instance, the Health Harmony platform from Care Innovations is equipped with an interface designed to mimic the functionality of familiar, conventional smartphone and tablet devices. Studies suggest over 92 percent of the U.S. population possess cell phones, while 45 percent have tablet devices. This shows the familiarity and level of comfort the population has with mobile devices, and when replicated in a digital healthcare technology like Health Harmony, enhances ease-of-use and engagement via interactive health sessions, video conferencing, educational content, and more. To that end, it does not come as a surprise mHealth apps are expected to register a lucrative CAGR of 38.9 percent through 2026, bringing in substantial returns for digital health market.

Digital Health Moving Forward
Technology has transformed nearly every aspect of modern human life, and healthcare is no exception. Technological transformation is consistently breeding novel opportunities for prevention, treatment, and care, and is paving the way for an advanced and propitious future for healthcare.
 
AI, virtual/augmented reality, and nanotechnology are among the major technological innovations triggering a digital evolution in healthcare. For instance, a research team consisting of experts from Switzerland, South Korea, and the U.S. has already made significant strides in developing nanorobots designed to mitigate blockages and soften clogged arteries through delivery of suitable drugs.
 
Another such development was also exhibited by a research team from the University of California, Berkley. The team has created wearable skin sensors that are being geared up for potentially circumventing the need for blood draws. They do so by supervising perspiration to offer real-time insights into health issues such as fatigue or dehydration.
 
The ongoing pandemic has also put telehealth on track for mainstream adoption. According to studies, before the onset of the pandemic, only about 1 in 10 patients in the U.S. used telemedicine services. However, since the emergence of the global crisis, the adoption of virtual care and telehealth applications has risen by nearly 158 percent in the region, a testament that RPM and treatment is as feasible as the traditional face-to-face healthcare model.
 
The expansive deployment of virtual care services across the U.S. and Canada in the face of this pandemic is likely to push North American digital health market outlook in the years ahead. The region already held an appreciable 46.2 percent of the digital health industry share in 2019. Now with the consistent influx of COVID-19 cases, the situation is more dire than ever, and virtual care and telehealth technologies are being preferred like never before.
 
In light of this revelation, many historically on-premise medical activities, including physiotherapy, dialysis or IV drugs, nursing support, elderly patient care, pathology sample collection, regular health check-ups, and follow up visits are sought after in the comfort of the home. A notable example of this is digital health services such as Lemonaid, which gives users access to at-home drug delivery, online consultations, and even COVID-19 testing at home. With such advanced and technologically charged therapeutic options emerging on the healthcare scene, patients and medical practitioners alike will be able to foster relationships and find more value in personal clinical visits in the long run.