Digital health on spotlight as pandemic shifts tech show focus

Digital health care is on the spotlight at the tech industry's special day this week amid a pandemic which has highlighted the importance of remote offerings, with a potentially long lasting impact on medical delivery.

THE BUYER Electronics Show, which has been held online, is showcasing technology for remote patient visits, biosensors and a variety of other gadgetry which can help people avoid doctors' offices and waiting rooms.

Demand for telehealth companies was projected to have risen 64 percent found in the U.S. by itself, according to Frost & Sullivan researchers, underscoring the need for better communications systems, home monitoring gadgets and more.

"We've learned that entering waiting rooms with different sick patients could be problematic and persons are searching for other ways of getting treatment," stated Samir Qamar, a family group doctor and founder of MedWand, which is expected to launch its device with 10 diagnostic equipment for remote health care this year.

Qamar, who's speaking at a good CES panel, said the pandemic as well exposed gaps found in telemedicine including too little accessible internet for a few population segments.

"Among the big problems may be the lack of ability to examine clients remotely," Qamar told AFP.

Companies have already been developing remote equipment that can be used at home, including stethoscopes, otoscopes, center and blood circulation pressure monitors, but have to show they are highly accurate in order to gain regulatory acceptance, Qamar noted.

CES exhibitors will end up being showing devices that screen older people living alone for signs of medical concerns, wearables that support with early recognition of disease together with various diagnostic tools.

Also in display will be a range of workplace health gadgets, from smart thermometers to air purifiers and sanitizing robots.

"Crazy devices such as personal air purifiers which were viewed with amusement this past year will be viewed as much more relevant this season," explained Richard Windsor, an unbiased technology analyst who pens the air Free Mobile blog.

Another important factor for remote health care is monitoring health data and using analytics tools to raised understand the risks for Covid-19 along with other diseases, notes Bettina Experton, chief executive at the digital health system Humetrix, a longtime CES exhibitor.

With more people embracing telemedicine, "quite often the physician might possibly not have a preexisting relationship with the individual, so there exists a critical need for their health background," Experton said.

"We've developed various cellular applications with health background which you can tell the push of a good button."

The platform, which is available for individuals and insurers, also uses artificial intelligence to greatly help assess risks for folks afflicted by the coronavirus.

Similarly, Tokyo-based Axion Exploration will be unveiling an early-detection system that predicts disease risks, including for cancer and Alzheimer's, using AI to "map" people's health outlook.

While CES has long focused on consumer products for fitness, it has increasingly been put on the healthcare field as technology developments, said Robin Murdoch of the consulting group Accenture, who follows the express.

"It has been focused on the consumer side of health, but there is some crossover," Murdoch said.

"You will have smartwatches and different devices which screen your pulse, your bloodstream oxygen and more, and that delivers a whole lot of data" which can be requested medical purposes.