New Clinics Use Telehealth to Bring VR Treatments to the Patient’s Home

This March, payers and care providers in eight states and the District of Columbia will be able to prescribe VR therapy through a telehealth clinic, giving patients the chance to receive treatment at home. Healthcare providers and payers in eight states and the District of Columbia will soon be able to prescribe VR therapy through a telehealth clinic, giving patients an opportunity to use the digital health technology at home for remote patient care.

Up until recently, VR, AR (augmented reality) and MR (mixed reality) treatments have been used in health systems like Los Angeles-based Cedars-Sinai and primarily focused on inpatient settings. But with the commercial availability of VR glasses and gaming platforms marketed by Samsung, Dell, Oculus and HTC, providers are beginning to look beyond the hospital setting to remote patient monitoring.