Telehealth and remote patient monitoring are two of the innovations that will have a major impact on healthcare delivery in 2018, says the Cleveland Clinic.

Each fall the Cleveland Clinic, No. 1 in the Internet Health Management 2017 Digital Hospital 500 rankings, releases a list of the technologies, medical procedures and medications it believes are the best innovations likely to “transform healthcare” in the coming year.

The list of up-and-coming technologies was selected by a panel of Cleveland Clinic physicians and scientists led by chief wellness officer Michael Roizen. Of the top 10 innovations which include an artificial pancreas to help diabetics, a pacemaker for sleep apnea and gene therapy for blindness, telehealth was ranked by the Cleveland Clinic as the fifth most important innovation and the centralized remote monitoring of hospital patients came in at ninth.

Telehealth is now a mainstream way to deliver healthcare, says the Cleveland Clinic. Extending the healthcare environment to the patient’s home has been a goal for decades and removing geographic barriers to care can result in timelier, more efficient and more optimal outcomes as well as significant cost savings, the clinic says. “Telehealth can enable care for both the physically challenged and those most vulnerable to infection,” says the Cleveland Clinic.

Due to an increase in connectivity through mobile technology and consumer demand, hospitals are getting ready for widespread adoption in 2018, says the clinic. 90% of healthcare executives reported to have or are currently building a telehealth program. Reports also predict 7 million patient users in 2018, a 19-fold increase from 2013.

These technologies are also expanding beyond the simple two-way video platform, Roizen says. “More patients are now equipped with attachable devices that record and report medical information to doctors to monitor their condition,” he says. Over 19 million patients are projected to use these remote monitoring devices in 2018. “With momentum building, experts believe that the emergence and acceleration of distance health technologies and services are assured in 2018,” Roizen says.

Remote patient monitoring from a central hospital command center is also a healthcare innovation that will expedite patient care next year, says the Cleveland Clinic. Hospitals have long struggled with “alarm fatigue,” when busy caregivers become desensitized to the constant noise emanating from cardiac telemetry monitoring systems, according to the Cleveland Clinic. “Important warning signs can be missed in the din of nuisance pings,” Roizen says. Reports indicate that up to 44% of inpatient cardiac arrests are not detected appropriately. Consequently, fewer than one in four patients survive an in-hospital cardiac arrest according to the American Heart Association.

Centralized monitoring has emerged as the answer, as part of a “mission control” operation in which off-site personnel use advanced equipment, including sensors and high-definition cameras to monitor blood pressure, heart rate, respiration, pulse oximetry and more, says the Cleveland Clinic. “Complex data are assimilated to trigger on-site intervention when appropriate while filtering out many unimportant alarms,” the clinic says. A study reported a 93% survival rate of cardiopulmonary arrests among patients for whom the centralized monitoring unit gave advance warnings.

Since then, further innovation has yielded a system that can double the number of monitored patients per technician, improve clinical outcomes, and decrease communication transit times, says the Cleveland Clinic. “The results of the ‘eye in the sky’ approach are capturing the attention and imaginations of hospitals around the world,” says the Cleveland Clinic.

The 10 healthcare innovations ranked overall for 2018 from the Cleveland Clinic include:

• Hybrid closed-loop insulin delivery system.  An artificial pancreas, which is a closed-loop insulin delivery system that helps make type 1 diabetes more manageable.
• Neuromodulation to treat obstructive sleep apnea.  An implant that delivers stimulation to open key airway muscles during sleep.
• Gene therapy for inherited retinal diseases. The ability to deliver a new gene to targeted cells in the body via viral “vectors” is expected to provide visual function improvements in some patients
• The unprecedented reduction of LDL cholesterol. Doctors now have the tools and the research to take the fight to LDL cholesterol, also known as the bad cholesterol, bringing about fatty deposits that can clog arteries.
• The emergence of distance health. Telehealth
• Next generation vaccine platforms. Upgrading the entire vaccine infrastructure to support the rapid development of new vaccines, as well as novel mechanisms to deliver new and existing vaccines to vast populations
• Arsenal of targeted breast cancer therapies. A variety of new targeted treatments such as inhibitors for patients with specific mutations in breast cancer.
• Enhanced recovery after surgery. Protocol that permits patients to eat before surgery, limits opioids by prescribing alternate medications, and encourages regular walking reduces complication rates and speeds recovery
• Centralized monitoring of hospital patients.  A “mission control” operation in which off-site personnel use advanced equipment, including sensors and high-definition cameras to monitor blood pressure, heart rate, respiration, pulse oximetry and more
• Scalp cooling for reducing chemotherapy hair loss: Reducing the temperature of the scalp a few degrees immediately before, during and after chemotherapy.

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