Studies indicate that amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, number of people purchasing home monitoring devices and availing telemedicine services monitoring has increased drastically. Telemedicine is one of the most effective manifestations of remote monitoring, says Rohit Saini, GM- Sales & Marketing, OMRON Healthcare India. In an interaction with Raelene Kambli, he explains how remote monitoring aids, including home healthcare monitoring devices, play into the increasing use of telemedicine and are the need of the new normal during the COVID-19 pandemic
How much does remote monitoring aid in the fight against COVID-19?
It plays a great role primarily by minimising the physical contact of the person by reducing the need to step out of the home for visiting a hospital or a clinic. Many of the high-risk category patients – the ones suffering from hypertension and diabetes – can spruce up their protection against COVID-19 by taking care of remote monitoring aids including the home healthcare monitoring devices. The trends also report so. Studies indicate that amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, number of people purchasing home monitoring devices and availing telemedicine services monitoring has increased drastically.
The smart home monitoring aids like OMRON Blood Pressure Monitors play a great role here. They enable a patient to measure his blood pressure accurately and also upload the data conveniently on cloud with the help of OMRON Connect app which helps the physician to gauge the measurement effectively and take more informed decision without asking the patient to come to the clinic just to get the BP measured. It also reduces the chances of inaccurate readings owing to white coat & mask hypertension and anxiety caused by the prevailing fear around the pandemic.
How does remote monitoring help in tracking real-time data during COVID-19?
The technology endowed in the remote monitoring devices help in tracking and transmitting the real-time data to the physician. For example, as explained above, OMRON provides all of its BP monitors users as well as non- OMRON users access to its app – OMRON Connect which enables the user to upload the data conveniently on their smartphone and the same could be shared with their doc with a single text / Whatsapp. Our blood pressure monitors also come with inbuilt memory function, so an instant analysis and comparison can be drawn with previous readings. Features like IntelliSense and IntelliWrap make the whole monitoring experience technologically advanced by giving insights into irregular heartbeat, atrial fibrillation and add value by enabling the patients omit the inaccuracies caused by small -small things like wrong placement of cuff. Last but not the least, the data is accurate owing to the advanced sensing technology used in these equipment.
COVID-19 requires scaled interactions with populations in near real-time. How do you think remote monitoring facilitates these interactions efficiently?
For any long-term disease management, a patient needs to interact with the doctor continuously in order to go through the required course of action. This requirement became little challenging during COVID-19 owing to the disease per se as well as the restrictions on physical movement. And this is where the concept of telemedicine pitched in. It was there before the pandemic too however it gained more significance during the COVID-19 era. Based completely on remote monitoring phenomena, an efficient telemedicine environment creates a smart, AI based, real-time interface between patients, doctors and home monitoring devices. OMRON has recently ventured into this field and set up India’s first and largest virtual hypertension management service in collaboration with the artificial intelligence (AI) enabled healthcare management player Phable Care.
The service provides a one-stop remote hypertension management services at home. It brings technology and healthcare together, enabling hypertensive patients to avail all kinds of services right from diagnosis to monitoring to treatment under one roof. It’s an amalgamation of doctors’ expertise, patients’ data, health devices and the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) onto a single platform so that millions of patients can utilise the monitoring services efficiently under the supervision of doctors from the comfort of their homes.
The patients get access to an accurate monitoring device, proper diagnosis, prescription, real time tracking and monitoring, and even efficient drug delivery and risk analysis under this solution.
What role does telemedicine play in remote monitoring and how is telemedicine ushering new opportunities for the same?
Telemedicine is one of the most effective manifestations of remote monitoring. As explained above, it creates a seamless environment where a patient avails end-to-end services spanning from diagnosis to consultation to drug delivery from the comfort of his home. It creates a strong, advanced technology (AI) based interface between the patients, doctors, home monitoring aids, and other stakeholders supporting the treatment like pathologists and paramedics.
Considering the current situation, it is the need of the new normal and the trend is here to stay. Many patients who come in the vulnerable category or who are senior citizens have already started using it and the usage is expected to rise in the future. This would promote efficient health monitoring and treatment.
What should healthcare organisations do to operationalise remote monitoring during this pandemic?
I feel adopting the right technology is the key. It plays the most important role in the whole ecosystem of remote monitoring right from offering the deliverables to making it reach the masses to its effective utilisation. To start with, healthcare organisations have to adopt technology in the best possible manner in order to match the basic requirements needed by a remote monitoring set up.
For example, healthcare monitoring devices players have to make their devices ‘smart’ and ‘connected’ and yet they have to be accurate. Then comes creating or collaborating with the right technology platform so that it reaches the masses and they get benefitted out of it effectively and conveniently. The whole purpose is to add value so that patients are able to cope up with the new normal and it cannot be done without technology.
How can they capitalise on this business model more effectively and in a more legal manner?
Remote monitoring has been a practice for last couple of years and it is a legal practice. Telehealth is a reality and even Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has been undertaking various initiatives using Information & Communication Technologies (ICT) for improving efficiency & effectiveness of the public healthcare system. The ministry is continuously working on planning and introducing more of ICT initiatives. The way of capitalising is by spreading more and more awareness and by harnessing the wide penetration of mobile connectivity (~ 1 billion connections).
The US FDA has recently come up with guidelines for remote monitoring for manufacturers of such equipment. How much of these guidelines are applicable in India?
US FDA has issued this guidance to provide a policy to help expand the availability and capability of non-invasive remote monitoring devices. This is to facilitate patient monitoring while reducing patient and healthcare provider contact and exposure to COVID-19 for the duration of this pandemic.
It means this policy is intended to remain in effect only for the duration of the public health emergency related to COVID-19 declared by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. We are yet to see any implication of these FDA guidelines in India.
What are the regulatory policy/framework for remote monitoring devices in India and how much of it is followed?
In India, remote monitoring devices such as a blood pressure monitor was not notified as medical devices till the 2019. Government of India gave an extension of one year for the preparedness and readiness of the implementation. Various trader, importers and association bodies also requested the government to extend it further. Now, it would be happening as on January 1, 2021. Also, so far, there are no specific clinical guidelines for home blood pressure monitoring. OMRON follows The International Standards like AHA (America Heart Association), BHS (British Hypertension Society) and Hope ASIA guidelines. As a global leader, in future, if there comes a guideline set up by government or medical body about the standards on home blood pressure monitoring, we will definitely abide by the same to be the best compliant device in India as per the Indian standards.