Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA), a global leader in health technology, today announced that it can help general practitioners and healthcare institutions manage the increased patient flows resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak through a dedicated and scalable telehealth solution that facilitates the use of online screening, follow-up questionnaires and monitoring, and external call center collaborations. It aims to prevent unnecessary visits to general practitioners and hospitals and the remote monitoring of the vast majority of COVID-19 patients that are in quarantine at home.
As a first step, patients complete an online questionnaire at home. Based on the results, the caregiver can let the online solution assign patients to a risk class and take appropriate actions. If needed patients can be monitored via automated follow-up surveys. Patients with a high-risk score are called by a call center for additional information. If the call center determines that care is required, the patient is referred to the GP, who can then provide the necessary care or send them to the hospital. While the questionnaire is intended to support care providers, it is explicitly not a substitute for regular or emergency care. The solution is based on Philips’ existing and proven Patient Reported Outcomes Management solution, which is being used by more than 100 healthcare institutions globally.
The Groene Hart Hospital in Gouda, the Netherlands, is one of the healthcare institutions that has not only already started using the COVID-19 screening and monitoring solution but has also contributed to its development. "We are using this application to relieve the enormous pressure currently placed on our healthcare system," said Ronald Liem, Head of Surgery at the Groene Hart Hospital. "Together with general practitioners and the Dutch public health service, we can now focus on the most urgent cases and determine, based on the answers from the surveys, which patients do and which do not need additional care."
This remote screening solution supports healthcare institutes to diagnose and treat patients at alternative points of care and is helping to safeguard the scarce critical care capacity.
Roy Jakobs added: "We have a broad portfolio of telehealth and remote care solutions at Philips. We are now working with hospitals and GPs to see how we can use these solutions to help frontline healthcare workers and their patients during the COVID-19 crisis."
Hospitals, general practitioners and other care providers who want to know more about Philips’ screening and monitoring solution for COVID-19 patients can visit our website.
About Royal Philips
Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a leading health technology company focused on improving people's health and enabling better outcomes across the health continuum from healthy living and prevention, to diagnosis, treatment and home care. Philips leverages advanced technology and deep clinical and consumer insights to deliver integrated solutions. Headquartered in the Netherlands, the company is a leader in diagnostic imaging, image-guided therapy, patient monitoring and health informatics, as well as in consumer health and home care. Philips generated 2019 sales of EUR 19.5 billion and employs approximately 80,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries.