Intel executives say remote care is “on the edge of going big,” and the tech giant is ready to jump into the market with IntelHAP, a new application software platform for remote care providers.

Managing patients with serious or chronic conditions with remote care has shown to reduce hospital admissions by 40 percent and readmission rates by 75 percent – and lower U.S. employer healthcare costs, according to Intel.

[Also: American Well, Medtronic partner for combined telehealth and remote patient monitoring]

Dave Ryan, general manager of Healthcare IoT at Intel, sets the number of patients monitored remotely today at more than 7 million, and he anticipates 44 percent growth as the market ramps up.

Despite proven potential, remote care adoption still faces challenges, Ryan notes.

[Also: UMMC pinpoints ideal patients for remote monitoring with predictive analytics]

Today, for example, patients are able to check their blood pressure or glucose level from home via their smartphones or tablets and send it to their healthcare providers.

However, Ryan warns that general-purpose consumer devices, and even connected devices created for specific healthcare use, can become unstable or unreliable as operating systems or applications are updated. Also, hospitals and physicians grapple with incompatible technologies, stringent regulatory and compliance guidelines and issues of data security and privacy, and pressure to reduce costs. 

To create the Intel HAP platform Intel collaborated with technology manufacturer Flex, which built a computing engine that provides wireless connectivity to verified peripherals such as blood pressure and glucose monitors, pulse oximeters, weight scales and more.

Jonathan Ballon, vice president and general manager of the Intel IoT Group is set to speak about the disruptive nature of remote care and the need for its adoption as a new standard of care during his keynote at the Connected Health Conference in Boston on Oct. 26.

Clayton Christensen, professor at the Harvard Business School and an authority on disruptive innovations, will also be speaking at the conference.

Twitter: @Bernie_HITN
Email the writer: bernie.monegain@himssmedia.com