The HealthSpot platform demonstrates a perfect example of the use of technology to change the human experience; specifically, telepresence is making a tremendous improvement to the experience of healthcare.
Hidden in plain sight during the 2013 International Consumer Electronics Show was a HealthSpot Station, allowing attendees to experience how technology is being used to counteract one of the weaknesses of modern medicine: access. The possibilities of telepresence for medical services is often limited to telephone consultations between doctors and the online distribution of images and reports — simply, telemedicine has been leaving the immense opportunities of modern technology untouched. The HealthSpot Station at CES provided a live demonstration of what a patient would experience when receiving care from a physician that might be a continent away.
“We are making it possible to seamlessly deliver advanced healthcare through modern technology. We are not just hardware; we are not just software; we are a complete integrated network of traditional doctor care and cutting-edge telemedicine. We are healthcare reinvented.”
— Steve Cashman, HealthSpot CEO and Founder
The telehealth platform that HealthSpot has created collects real-time vital signs, physical data and images of the patient and transmits them to the physician allowing the “personal” and “physical” examination to occur even when the provider and patient are located in remote locations. The essential support of the HealthSpot technology is an extensive network of board-certified physicians and nationally recognized healthcare providers — delivering patients as many healthcare choices as possible from as many HealthSpot Stations as possible.
The patient’s experience is a new kind of self-service healthcare: inside a fully enclosed 8-foot by 5-foot (ADA accessable) HealthSpot Station audio and video brings a board-certified doctor to patients. Assistance is available at every station from an accredited medical assistant staffs the location. The HealthSpot Station records the patient’s weight from a scale built into the floor. During the examination, the doctor can unlock small cabinets that hold digital medical devices that transmit information, audio video and pictures back to them through a secure connection.
Pilot locations are currently in place in Ohio and HealthSpot Stations are expected to be in targeted locations (including retail sites such as grocery stores; urgent care facilities, emergency rooms, doctor and specialist’s offices; large businesses; rural areas; as well as military locations, college campuses, nursing homes) in the first quarter of 2013. For more information on HealthSpot, go to www.healthspot.net.
