Reprint from September 17 and 24, 2020
Second of four parts
The following article by Nate Berg was published in FastCompany magazine, an online journal originally and inThe Voice in 2020.
In part one last week, the focus was on hospital work done in homes. Among others, Raphael Rakowski, Bruce Leff, and Rami Karjian, made it their detailed work.
“All (Rakowski) had to do was get hospitals on board. ‘I started going on a marched mission to convince hospitals to take patients out of their own hospitals, to care for them at home,’ he said. ‘And of course they’re in the business of putting heads on beds and not in the business of discharging patients, so it was a very lonely, expensive, and time-consuming, effort to get thrown out of some very famous health systems.’
“But as technology improved, two-way video calls, remote monitoring of patient vital signs, and easily portable medical equipment such as electrocardiogram machines made it possible to provide more care more reliably in peoples’ homes. Patients who’d otherwise be admitted to the hospital for pneumonia or low-blood flow related to congestive heart conditions or an infected wound can now be treated directly in their homes.
“Medically Home is working with health-care systems in five states and soon will be expanding into two more. Its recently found a partner with the Mayo Clinic and is now operating in two of its markets, in Florida and northwest Wisconsin. Using Medically Home’s technology, the Mayo Clinic can have its doctors make scheduled virtual rounds by way of video connections in patient homes, where a nurse or contracted paramedic is standing by to administer intravenous fluids or otherwise be the doctor’s hands. Vital signs are streamed directly to the doctor’s control center, and Medically Home’s software coordinates the delivery of medication or the scheduling of visits by specialists such as physical therapists. Unless the patient’s condition worsens to the point of needing to go to an ICU, nurses and other practitioners administer care based on the orders of the doctor. In the majority of cases, the doctor can guide treatment without leaving their office.”
Continued next week