A dedicated and scalable telehealth solution from Philips can help primary care physicians and hospitals manage patient increases from the COVID-19 outbreak by screening and monitoring patients, the company says.
The solution, which is based on Philips’ existing Patient Reported Outcomes Management solution, facilitates the use of online screening, follow-up questionnaires and monitoring, and external call center collaborations.
- Patients complete an online questionnaire at home.
- Based on the results, the caregiver can let the online solution assign patients to a risk class and take appropriate actions.
- If needed, patients can be monitored via automated follow-up surveys.
- Patients with a high-risk score are called by a call center for additional information.
- If the call center determines that care is required, the patient is referred to the GP, who can then provide the necessary care or send them to the hospital.
While the questionnaire is intended to support care providers, it is explicitly not a substitute for regular or emergency care.
“The outbreak of the new coronavirus is a major challenge for everyone in healthcare,” “That is why we have equipped one of our existing and proven telehealth solutions with the capabilities to screen and monitor patients remotely.
“This remote screening solution supports healthcare institutes to diagnose and treat patients at alternative points of care and is helping to safeguard the scarce critical care capacity,” said Roy Jakobs, chief business leader, Connected Care, Royal Philips.
Ronald Liem, head of Surgery at the Netherlands’ Groene Hart Hospital, which contributed to the technology’s development, added: “We are using this application to relieve the enormous pressure currently placed on our healthcare system. Together with general practitioners and the Dutch public health service, we can now focus on the most urgent cases and determine, based on the answers from the surveys, which patients do and which do not need additional care.”
