Koninklijke Philips N : How the 'Healthcare-as-a-Service' concept works as a business and care model

Ready-made solutions already exist to support a HaaS model, including remote patient monitoring; a command center driving collaborative care; tele-critical care; tele-radiology; retail health applications; and healthcare financing. Here's a closer look at a few.

Tele-critical care
Designed to be highly collaborative, tele-critical care solutions offer providers centralized, remote clinical surveillance by skilled professionals. It's like having an 'extra set of eyes' on patients' vitals. These solutions can offer clinical expertise and proprietary algorithms that provide early warnings for proactive care and continuous programmatic improvement. This centralized collaborative model helps expand access to specialized care in remote locations and transforms the cost-to-care equation.

Tele-radiology
Already widely used, tele-radiology allows images to be obtained in one location and then transmitted over distances and viewed remotely for diagnostic reading or consultation purposes, including guidance on the next steps in the care process. For instance, the Philips Radiology Operations Command Center solution takes advantage of this accessibility by providing a multi-modality platform that works across multiple imaging sites, enabling an efficient 'hub and spoke' model for imaging. It enables care teams to collaborate throughout the enterprise and imaging networks to stretch their expert talent in their main centers, making it available across all their sites.

Retail healthcare
Since COVID-19 has accelerated telehealth and virtual care outside of the hospital, the introduction of small kiosks or wellness pods in retail locations connected to larger hubs could increase access and expand coverage. The pods could provide a convenient way to deliver a wide range of non-acute health services, including in-person, virtual, and preventative care services. Key enablers for this approach include wearable sensor technology combined with predictive analytics, digitization, and interoperable systems facilitating data sharing across the continuum of care.

VPS Healthcare is already exploring this concept of 'retail healthcare' with some wellness kiosks in shopping malls in the UAE. And, Philips Virtual Care Station, part of the United States Veterans Affairs ATLAS (Advancing Telehealth through Local Access Stations) program, is a potential community-based telehealth solution for further development.