Cloud-Based Telehealth System Connects Physicians and Patients

A virtual exam room (VER) telehealth system allows patients to interact in private with physicians and share medical images and data.

The Dictum Health (Oakland, CA, USA) VER is a completely private examination room that uses clinically accurate medical devices to allow patients to access a physician and share real-time vital signs, cardiopulmonary data, and medical images over a secure, real-time connection. Using the IDM100 integrated medical tablet, patients can establish the physician-to-patient videoconferencing session. The tablet also stores and seamlessly synchronizes patient data to electronic medical records (EMRs).

With the assistance of auxiliary devices, the IDM100 can capture three and 12 lead electrocardiogram (ECG) readings, and can also serve as a digital stethoscope. Two integrated cameras are used for face-to-face videoconferencing or to take an image. The auxiliary devices are used for weight, height, and body mass index (BMI) calculation; noninvasive blood pressure measurement; temperature reading; SpO2 pulse-oximetry and spirometry; and an audiogram hearing test. To take advantage of the auxiliary devices, the tablet is provided with both Bluetooth and USB connectivity.

At the other end, physicians enter the VER using the proprietary Care Central web interface from their laptop or tablet. When a virtual exam is conducted with the IDM100, the clinician can remotely view the patient's diagnostic data in real time with the clinical accuracy of an in-office exam. Using Care Central, clinicians can also set and manage customized alerts and reminders for remote patient monitoring, and can make expedited clinical decisions by analyzing trends of biometric data. The Dictum Health VER platform and IDM100 integrated medical tablet have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

“The Virtual Exam Room addresses the need for a highly mobile, patient centric model of care that reaches large populations in a way that the old brick and mortar, provider-centric model cannot,” said Elizabeth Keate, vice president of product management at Dictum Health. “What makes the VER stand out is its ability to deliver the same clinical quality as an acute care setting or physician office to patients at a remote location or in their home. This highly secure, portable, telehealth system reinforces the physician/patient relationship in a population health world.”

“Few patients require the level of continual, sophisticated monitoring that cardiac patients require,” said Susan Eisenberg, MD, medical director of the cardiac rhythm center at John Muir Health (Walnut Creek, CA, USA). “Dictum Health’s innovative virtual exam room delivers not only the highest level remote monitoring of our cardiac patients, but enables me as their cardiologist to be present with them in a way that wasn’t previously possible. That’s a critical element in patient-centric care.”

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