KARACHI, Pakistan – Beyond stepping up manufacturing of the medical devices it needs to fight COVID-19, Pakistan is using technology platforms to reach out to a large diaspora for help. The country is taking steps to leverage limited resources through a more comprehensive system of telehealth applications that allow for faster self-diagnosis and make it possible to tap into the expertise of Pakistani doctors.

Dermtech Inc., of La Jolla, Calif., has had a busy couple of weeks, revealing late last month that its noninvasive melanoma detection test is available for use via telemedicine. Now, the company has unveiled first-quarter results that saw assay revenue of $0.8 million, a 238% increase from the first quarter of 2019.

If nothing else, the unfolding coronavirus has advanced the implementation of a wide variety of digital health tools. Panelists at the World Medical Innovation Forum on May 11 explored several current use cases.

BOGOTA, Colombia – As it works to more efficiently fight COVID-19, Chile is developing new regulations to support and boost telemedicine with an eye on the current outbreak but also on improving the provision of health care in the country in the long term. Patients with chronic conditions, who are at a greater risk from COVID-19, are being prioritized as the focus for telemedicine progresses.

The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) said that they will offer enforcement discretion for their respective final rules for electronic health records (EHRs), a nod to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) said that they will offer enforcement discretion for their respective final rules for electronic health records (EHRs), a nod to the COVID-19 pandemic. The term of the delays of compliance for several of these rules is not uniform, ranging from “late 2020” to “spring 2021,” and vendors thus will have to be vigilant to ensure they do not cross any compliance tripwires.

Tyto Care Ltd. nabbed $50 million in an oversubscribed round of funding the company will use to expand commercialization of its integrated telehealth platform and remote device with examination tools, which has seen a surge in demand with COVID-19. The new cash nearly doubles the New York-based company's total funding, bringing it to $105 million. Insight Partners, Olive Tree Ventures, and Qualcomm Ventures LLC led the latest round.

Many adaptations to the coronavirus pandemic will remain standard features of health care long after the pandemic wanes, according to Brian Chapman, managing partner at ZS Associates, an Evanston, Ill.-based pharmaceutical and medical technology consultancy. In the long term, telehealth will be a clear winner as payers look to lower ongoing costs, more procedures and care will move out of hospitals, rapid diagnostics will gain importance, and government and payer coverage of infectious disease testing of all kinds will expand, he predicted.

The emergence of the new variety of coronavirus has had a massive effect on medical care across the globe, which has boosted telehealth coverage while suppressing non-emergency procedures. Several medical societies have published guidelines for procedures during the COVID-19 outbreak, however, which in the aggregate suggest that many procedures will be significantly delayed.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has received funds for another telehealth program in less than a year. An agency statement indicates that the program “would immediately support health care providers” working to thwart the COVID-19 outbreak. This would be achieved in part by supporting purchases of devices and other items needed to provide telehealth, which the Connected Health Initiative said will help drive an overdue overhaul of health care in the U.S.