You’ve seen Jack Bauer use it in President Taylor’s office on 24. Now there is a version customized for healthcare. At the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Conference in Atlanta this month, Cisco announced the release of the Cisco HealthPresence™ platform. The TelePresence product customized for healthcare includes transmission of patient vital signs in addition to video images. Plus it can be configured for one-to-one, one-to-many or many-to-many sessions.
Advanced Video Collaboration Technology Gives Patients Immersive and Highly Secure Remote Health Care Experiences Comparable to In-Person Doctor Visits
You’ve seen its blatant product placement in President Taylor’s office on 24. Now there is a version customized for healthcare.
At the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Conference in Atlanta this month, Cisco announced the availability of the Cisco HealthPresence™ platform. Cisco staff described HealthPresence as "an advanced, care-at-a-distance technology platform that allows patients to connect with doctors and clinicians for health care consultations."
Traditional telemedicine or telehealth approaches, they explained, have focused mostly on the problem of physical access to medical care. They emphasized that Cisco HealthPresence addresses four additional key health care delivery challenges:
- Capacity (the scarcity and productivity of clinical expertise)
- Collaboration (one patient with many clinicians, many providers with many providers, and many patients with many patients)
- Information exchange (the ability of participants to share and view vital health information)
- Personalization (engaging patients in ways that make them more active participants in consults)
The newly released system extends and expands access to health services by creating streamlined clinical encounters through the integration of two technology innovations: Cisco TelePresence™ and Cisco® Unified Communications. With high-definition video, clear audio and connected medical devices, Cisco HealthPresence supports collaboration and personalization rarely accomplished in traditional face-to-face consultations. Patients in HealthPresence encounters can see images and listen to sounds from a variety of diagnostic devices, such as digital stethoscopes, actively participating with what clinicians see and hear.
During a year of trials, patients have described how the immersive video experience, along with the real-time transmission of physiologic information, draws them into the medical encounter. At the same time, clinicians report more effective patient management.
In its HIMSS exhibit booth, Cisco personnel demonstrated how HealthPresence allows multiple members of a patient’s care team to simultaneously participate in consultations. "This is a significant innovation from typical point-to-point telemedicine solutions and even traditional in-person medical examinations," a Cisco sales representative stated. "With HealthPresence, primary care physicians and specialists, care managers and rehabilitation therapists, family members, and caregivers can all participate in treatment and care planning."
From the Cisco fact sheet:
- Cisco HealthPresence is planned to be available beginning March 2010 in markets across the United States, Canada and Europe. It is classified as a Class I medical device by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
- To evaluate patients in an interactive and highly participatory way, Cisco HealthPresence arms clinicians with the essential tools, including:
- Cisco Vitals Software, which captures physiological data and streaming high-definition video feeds, sending them to the clinical team with a high degree of security.
- Cisco TelePresence units in clinical and patient locations.
- Integrated voice, video and data capabilities that collect patient medical information for transmission among multiple health care providers or between a single doctor and patient before, during and after telemedicine consultation. Custom software offers highly secure encryption technology.
- Medical devices located at the patient’s end unit: a general camera for external observation, ear-nose-throat camera, digital stethoscope, and a vital signs device to capture blood pressure, temperature, pulse rate, and blood oxygen levels.
- Cisco HealthPresence can be deployed in permanent facilities or mobile units.
- Cisco HealthPresence was piloted by the Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG)
- Cisco HealthPresence has already been successfully adopted through pilot programs in the United States and other countries, including:
- A pilot with Molina Healthcare, two community health centers in San Diego, and the state of California to provide health and wellness services to underserved communities throughout the state.
- Pilots in Aberdeen, Scotland, with a division of the Scottish National Health Service, and in San Jose, California with employees at Cisco’s corporate headquarters. More than 90 percent of participants said they would recommend the service to others.
- Helping connect patients in need with critical medical resources in international locations including France, the United Kingdom, South Africa and China.
Supporting Quotes:
Dr. Kaveh Safavi, vice president and global lead, Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group Healthcare Practice
“Health systems globally are challenged to meet increasing demand for quality services. Patients often have limited access to health care, particularly when they require specialty services or need care for chronic illness, in both urban and rural settings. Cisco HealthPresence is poised to transform how doctors practice medicine and how patients experience care, by allowing individuals to easily and safely connect with the most appropriate clinician or specialist for their particular needs, and to receive some of the best care possible regardless of location.”
Dr. Michael M. Siegel, vice president and medical director, Molina Healthcare, Inc.
“Citizens expect more options for health care services, and new models of care delivery need to be introduced in order to make care-at-a-distance a reality. For Molina’s medical offices, Cisco HealthPresence eliminates the need for clinicians and patients to be located in the same physical location. Our facilities are now able to reach a much wider and highly dispersed patient base, in order to provide the appropriate care.”
http://www.cisco.com/web/strategy/healthcare/cisco_healthpresence_solution.html
