NOVEMBER - 20219Virtual Care­While use of telemedicine has been growing for years, COVID-19 has dramatically accelerated its use. One of the first steps that physician practices and hospitals took was to move appointments to virtual care. The ready availability of smartphones and tablets and the devices' ease of use have facilitated this trend. Video conferencing and digital monitoring are being used to deliver care to people as a means of reducing their exposure to COVID-19. In-person physician visits have dropped dramatically, coinciding with a massive increase in telehealth appointments. The Department of Health and Human Services reported that within months, almost 44% of Medicare primary care visits were being provided by telehealth, compared to 1% before. Remote patient monitoring technologies that track and transmit a patient's vital signs using wearable devices allow clinicians to make informed decisions on patient care and curb readmissions to hospitals.Communication­Public education and cooperation are big factors in effective intervention, so a communication strategy is of the utmost importance. With about 4 billion people on the internet and 5.2 billion mobile phone subscribers, digital platforms are an unmatched tool for targeted communications. Most federal, state and local government websites now carry information on COVID-19, and many countries are using text messaging to access people who do not have internet. Chat-bots driven by AI to simulate natural human conversation are helping consumers navigate their way to the best care options based on their symptoms and care for lower-acuity conditions. Digital communication platforms are also helping to reduce the spread. Video conferencing and collaboration platforms like Zoom and Microsoft Teams are allowing adults to work from home and students to take classes online. During the pandemic, patient visitation in settings like hospitals and nursing homes has been at times severely restricted. In such settings, video conferencing plays a very important role in keeping patients connected to their loved ones and also for the hospital and nursing homes to provide updates to the families.Many individuals and businesses have experienced technology in a new way during this pandemic, and as the situation evolves, so, too, does the use of technology. This innovation is helping people around the world as we deal with the challenges of COVID-19. For places like airports that experience mass movement of people, high-performance infraredthermal cameras have been used to detect people with elevated temperatures
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