Virtual Pulmonary Exams Telehealth Platform Launches

Oakland, Calif-based Eko has launched Eko Telehealth, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered telehealth platform for virtual cardiac and pulmonary monitoring. Being used by more than 200 health systems so far, Eko Telehealth incorporates stethoscope and ECG live-streaming combined with embedded video conferencing and FDA-cleared AI algorithms for heart murmur and AFib detection.

“Video telemedicine and virtual patient visits only go so far. Patients with complex cardiovascular diseases will receive incomplete care through just video conference. It’s critical that a provider is able to assess a patient’s heart and lung function remotely,” says Connor Landgraf, CEO and co-founder of Eko, in a release. “The Eko intelligent telehealth platform gives providers the most comprehensive picture of a patient’s heart and lung health. Virtual cardiac and pulmonary medicine will become the standard of care even after the pandemic abates.”

Eko Telehealth delivers:

• Lung and heart sound live-streaming for a thorough virtual examination
• Embedded HIPAA-compliant video conferencing, or can work alongside the video conferencing platform a health system has in place
• AI-powered and FDA-cleared identification of heart murmurs and atrial fibrillation (AFib), assisting providers in the detection and monitoring of heart disease during virtual visits
• Single-lead ECG live-streaming, enabling providers to assess for rhythm abnormalities
• Symptoms of valvular heart disease and AFib often go undiagnosed during routine physical exams. With the development of Eko’s AI screening algorithms, clinicians are able to harness state-of-the-art machine learning to detect heart disease at the earliest point of care regardless if the patient visit is in-person or remote.

Clinic-to-Clinic Telemedicine

With Eko, a provider at a patient site, such as a hospital, rural clinic, or nursing home can stream stethoscope audio and ECG to a physician residing in a separate room or at a virtual care center, medical center or specialty clinic, thus reducing in-person exposure to infectious diseases.

“Eko dramatically increased our ability to scale up and care for COVID-possible and COVID-positive patients. It allowed for rapid integration which immediately minimized potential exposures, decreased personal protective equipment usage and increased physician efficiencies involving virtual patient assessments and ongoing observation,” says Craig Davis, MD, of Southern Illinois Healthcare.

At-Home Telemedicine

The Eko DUO is a combined digital stethoscope and 1-lead ECG device designed specifically for patients to operate at home, under the supervision of a healthcare provider. With Eko’s mobile application, patients at home can connect via video conference with their providers and navigate a self-operated cardiac and pulmonary exam. For COVID-19 cases being monitored remotely, Eko helps providers assess worsening symptoms while reducing the need for patients to travel to a medical site and risk exposure or continued spread of COVID-19.

“During the COVID-19 crisis it is no longer safe to send our nurses into patient homes, and this required us to rethink our house call model. Eko has introduced us to new technologies that we can safely share with patients to examine them remotely. Eko Telehealth enables us to use the DUO stethoscope, 1-lead ECG and video with the patient all in one window, making it possible to conduct thorough virtual visits on high-risk patients,” says Neil Solomon, MD, co-founder, chief strategist and chief medical officer at MedZed.

from Sleep Review https://ift.tt/2WUN57p