The COVID-19 outbreak has created uncertainty in all aspects of our lives – work, family, social activities, and certainly healthcare – both in the healthcare system and the clinical trial space.
For healthcare providers, it’s been a dual challenge. They have patients who require ongoing care for their existing chronic conditions and other “normal” healthcare needs. At the same time, they have to manage a highly contagious virus. It’s a tailor-made case for Kencor Health as the “care continuum” which has allowed many providers to continue treating patients safely and more efficiently.
Kencor is taking on this challenge in health systems across the USA as part of this “new normal” scenario, using our core values of patient engagement ecosystem:
- SAMi Chatbot: Connecting with patients through a HIPAA-secure chat by providing “human engagement”.
- Telehealth: Providers have expanded options, governments have removed restrictions, and vendors have rolled out upgrades and advances. Would we ever want to go back to a time without Telehealth? The new normal has been defined.
- Remote Patient Monitoring: This is Kencor’s flagship product. Remote Patient Monitoring has traditionally been used after a patient’s discharge, to monitor and reduce readmission rates. The technology has always been capable of being more widely used to reduce in-person visits for check-ups and routine appointments.
The ‘new normal’ needs to go beyond clinical care
Today’s Telehealth is a combination of Remote Patient Monitoring and Telehealth (which was just video conferencing). Kencor delivers these and more: rapidly advancing virtual in-home technologies monitor patients, providing biometrics and alerting providers to temperature spikes, respiratory changes or sudden weight changes — symptoms that may indicate a need for in-person evaluation or medication changes.
Embracing these technologies in this time of urgency paves the way for increased use beyond the current crisis. This has enormous positive implications for those hoping to stay in place, and especially for those living in rural communities who lack easy access to health care facilities and services more commonly available in suburban and urban settings. The ability to link together these new technologies and integrate their data for improved decision-making, as well as the ability to provide patients access to their preferred, trusted providers, will be important markers of long-term success. To add to it segmenting consumers and understanding unique preferences among consumer types will also remain important to avoid overgeneralization of the insights found during this fast-paced time.
Stay safe and we look forward to taking care of you.- Muthu Krishnan, President & CEO
