June 19, 2020
Philips recently announced it has once again joined forces with the American Telemedicine Association (ATA) to help further the adoption of telehealth across the industry, demonstrating its commitment to connecting care across acute, post-acute, and home care settings.
Philips said the continued collaboration spotlights the growing adoption and momentum in telehealth amidst COVID-19, and the need to convey the exponential shift to telehealth capabilities.
The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the share of Americans participating in telehealth from 11% in 2019 to 46% today, with healthcare systems reporting a 50 to 175-fold increase in telehealth volume compared to pre-pandemic levels [1]. As the world begins to move from the first wave of reactive care, into a more proactive phase and beyond, virtual care solutions are supporting the recovery of COVID patients as they transition through their care journey, and non-COVID patients as they return to elective surgeries, diagnoses, prevention and treatments that have been put on hold since the onset of the pandemic.
“There is no better time for Philips to team with the ATA. Philips is creating proactive, AI-powered solutions to improve patient monitoring, precision diagnosis, and clinical workflows at every point along the continuum. This directly aligns with our vision for telehealth — to drive the transformation of health by integrating virtual care from the hospital to physician offices and the home,” said Ann Mond Johnson, CEO, the ATA. “Major industry players like Philips joining the ATA reconfirms the importance of telehealth and creates important new opportunities to deliver quality care whenever and wherever it’s needed.”
“Philips has been a leader in telehealth across acute care and post-acute care settings in the hospital and in the home for over three decades, helping health systems deploy and scale telehealth solutions to help improve patient outcomes, enhance patient and staff experience and lower care costs,” said Roy Jakobs, Chief Business Leader Connected Care, member of the Executive Committee at Royal Philips. “Our alignment with ATA will help promote strong growth and faster adoption of telehealth and policy changes escalated during the COVID crisis as we pivot to innovate ‘virtual first’ strategies to support hospitals, payers, and patients across care settings, including digital health technologies to support healthy living in the home.”