Partnerships, alliances target telehealth

A new alliance and several partnerships are helping telehealth continue to expand its utilization.

Former congressional legislators launched an alliance to promote policy reform around telehealth and remote patient monitoring. Former Sens. Majority Leaders Tom Daschle and Trent Lott, and former Sen. John Breaux unveiled the Alliance for Connected Care, a coalition working to raise awareness about telehealth advancements and build a regulatory environment “in which patients have more access to connected care and medical providers are empowered to deliver safe, high-quality care using advanced delivery methods,” according to an announcement.

Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics and the University of California-San Francisco (UCSF) will partner to accelerate validation and commercialization of promising new sensors, algorithms and digital health technologies for preventive health solutions by establishing the UCSF-Samsung Digital Health Innovation Lab.

Researchers and technologists will be able to develop and run trials to validate new mobile health technologies and the joint innovation lab will serve as a test bed where entrepreneurs and innovators will be able to validate their technologies and accelerate the adoption of new preventive health solutions.

And, the National Institutes of Health's Fogarty International Center has launched a program that that aims to further development of mobile technology and research into how it can be used to improve health, especially in low-resource countries.

The new initiative, Mobile Health: Technology and Outcomes in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs), aims to support multidisciplinary teams to research possible new mHealth tools or interventions either for chronic diseases or for other health issues.

From the Beltway to low-income areas around the globe, telehealth is making an impact.

Beth Walsh

Clinical Innovation + Technology editor