Improving Care and Monitoring at Home Through Technology

One of the prevailing themes as we continue to work through the COVID-19 pandemic is the need for—and the benefits of at-home patient monitoring, telehealth, and engagement. As technologies continue to emerge and improve, what does the future look like for remote options, and how have they impacted care over the past months and years?

Boston-based Current Health recently merged with Best Buy to increase access to home health options. Chief Medical Officer Adam Wolfberg, MD, was part of discussions about expanding work in this area prior to the pandemic. But when COVID-19 hit, “Current Health quickly realized we had an opportunity to serve an important role,” he says. “Healthcare had a capacity problem, and we were expanding capacity to let relatively less acute patients be cared for at home.”

At the same time, Wolfberg says, patients across the world were getting sick but wanted desperately to stay out of healthcare facilities. “It was a really busy, scary, meaningful time. We’re not out of it yet, but we know so much more,” he says. “The core mission of the healthcare community has essentially remained the same, which is to serve patients in need of care. As policymakers and healthcare leaders are thinking about the next pandemic I’d say we didn’t do a great job planning for this pandemic, and I think everyone is committed to doing a better job next time.”