BALTIMORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--At the American Telemedicine Association (“ATA”) 2014 annual conference, InTouch Health® today announced the launch of the world’s first FDA cleared App for iPad® that enables real-time auscultation from a digital stethoscope. InTouch Health’s CS App for iPad connects over the Internet to its purpose-built Remote Presence medical devices equipped with a stethoscope. Unlike other iPad stethoscopes that only provide store-and-forward capabilities, the CS App for iPad uses sophisticated quality of service technology to transmit real-time live auscultation from a patient to a remote doctor. With the CS App for iPad, InTouch Health broadens its leading Acute Care Telemedicine solutions as critical care doctors (known as “intensivists”) and advanced practice clinicians can now auscultate during remote consults into an intensive care unit (ICU) from any iPad.
Across the country, there is a growing crisis in hospital ICUs. On average, patients admitted into the ICU suffer an estimated 1.7 potentially life-threatening errors each day. The Joint Commission reports that intensivist-managed ICU staffing is associated with a significant reduction in ICU mortality, morbidity and length of stay. However, according to The Journal of the American Medical Association, the current intensivist shortage will become increasingly acute, with the supply meeting only 22 percent of the demand for services by 2020. The CS App for iPad allows hospitals to have greater access to intensivists resulting in higher quality care for more ICU patients.
Jeffrey Sadowsky, MD, a critical care specialist and Director of Critical Care Telemedicine, Orlando Health, said, “With remote presence telemedicine I have the ability to directly assess heart and lung sounds providing key clinical information about the patient’s condition. Our team of ICU doctors can extend its clinical expertise across our regional network of hospitals to better care for patients.”
Yulun Wang, Ph.D., Chairman and CEO, InTouch Health, said, “With the advent of a telemedicine stethoscope for real-time auscultation via iPad, we’re now able to provide ICU patients with increased access to critical care specialists. With more than 1,000 hospital locations already using our Remote Presence solutions to deliver specialty care across 20 specialties, we are poised to expand our leadership position into the critical care space.”
To learn more about InTouch Health, visit booth #5013 at ATA 2014, or www.intouchhealth.com. The latest version of the InTouch Health CS App for iPad is available for download from the Apple App Store today.
About InTouch Health
InTouch Health is a leading provider of acute care telemedicine solutions for high-acuity applications where doctors are required to take immediate clinical action. The InTouch Telemedicine System is the industry’s only fully integrated end-to-end solution encompassing clinical data management, medical imaging, 24/7 technical support, clinical consulting services and the SureConnect® cloud-based infrastructure. By removing time and distance barriers, this System effectively enables physicians to perform real-time consults with hospital patients through a host of FDA-cleared telemedicine devices. Deployed at more than 1,000 hospitals on six continents, the InTouch Telemedicine System is now in use by 15% of all U.S. hospitals.
