Turning Connected Drug Delivery Pipe Dreams Into Reality

In this article, Mindy Katz, Vice-President, Marketing and Alliance Management, at Eitan Medical, discusses the benefits of integrating homecare technologies that are patient centric and connected.

Prior to the fateful month of March 2020, the introduction of hospital-grade medical devices and technologies into the home had been looming on the horizon. Catalysed by COVID-19, the healthcare industry had to fast-track the deployment of remote care solutions, including telehealth, digital health and connected devices, to deliver care at home. Unlike previous industry trends, the need for home-based care solutions was strongly influenced by patient demand, rather than by major players (providers, hospitals, payers, etc) within the healthcare sector.

With hospitals overloaded and fear of contagion at an all-time high, people were hesitant to receive care in hospitals. In addition, hospitals were limiting the number of non-critical services being made available. This resulted in a greater need for homecare workers, as observed by the National Association of Homecare and Hospice,1 which saw a 125% increase in February 2021. Understandably, the implementation of homecare technologies and the subsequent trend towards developing patient-centric devices that would allow patients to “selftreat” brought about a behavioural change from providers and patients. This change will eventually see hospitals and clinics focus on providing critical care and enable patients to care for themselves independently in less-critical situations from the comfort of their homes. In particular, for patients with chronic conditions without acute incidents, home-based models of care can become the primary pathway for care delivery.

However, for more independent homecare treatments to succeed, providers will need to offer solutions that are patient-centric and connected to ensure patient adherence and regimen upkeep, and to maintain open lines of communications with care providers, especially within the drug delivery space.