DrChrono launched today new telehealth capabilities that are fully integrated with its mobile EHR, billing and practice-management platform, and has additional plans to release a patient-facing telehealth offering next month, the company told MobiHealthNews.

"We are aiming to help providers from around the world through technology to care for patients from anyplace. Using telemedicine technologies can help slow the spread of the virus," Daniel Kivatinos, COO and cofounder of DrChrono, told MobiHealthNews. "If a provider gets sick, and they still want to see patients remotely via a Video Visit, they can now, and the same goes for patients. If a patient gets sick, they can meet virtually with their care team in a safe way."

The first component is the DrChrono Telehealth Video Visit app, which the company has made available to the roughly 10,000 medical providers that are using its existing platform.

Once requested and enabled, this tool will allow providers and staff to setup and schedule video visits from within their calendar. And while providers can begin the video visit by clicking on the appointment within their calendar, patients can also join the visit from inside DrChrono's existing patient portal without having to download and launch video-conferencing software.

"After the Video Visit, the practice can take advantage of our simple payments app and submit all video visits to any insurance company, including Medicare," Kivatinos said. "One of the most time-consuming tasks for any practice is getting paid from an insurance company. With DrChrono, we have processed over 4 billion in medical claims last year, and now with the influx of providers looking to get Video Visits going, it is simple – they simply get the app enabled within the platform."

As for next month's launch, DrChrono said that it is preparing a telehealth physician search for patients.

After logging into the Physician Marketplace service, they can select the specific condition and medical specialty they are seeking, as well as their personal contact, insurance and payment information. Patients will receive a list of doctors and potential appointment times, select their preference, and – similar to the provider tool – will launch their video visit directly through the patient portal. By doing so, all notes and other medical information generated through the visit are added to the patient's EHR.

WHAT'S THE IMPACT?

The demand for telehealth has hit a record high as COVID-19 continues to limit the availability of in-person health services. DrChrono's releases not only provide the company's customers with this virtual modality, but also aim to streamline the practice and delivery of telehealth care by baking these services into the platform's other mobile practice-management capabilities.

"We have a simple all-in-one platform, meaning that with DrChrono, you can have a fully unified MACRA/MIPCS [EHR], practice management solution designed to work together right out of the box, now with Telehealth Video Visits included," Kivatinos said. "What this means is the staff and a provider do all work from one place, one interface."

THE LARGER TREND

DrChrono is best known as a forerunner of mobile EHRs, and worked closely with Apple and others to ensure that its software ran well on the tech giant's hardware. Just a few months ago, the roughly nine-year-old company closed a $20 million round intended for tech-platform enhancements and new hires.

The demand for virtual care is striking the entire healthcare industry, and DrChrono is far from the only digital health platform embracing telehealth during the ongoing pandemic. Last week DarioHealth announced an integration with MediOrbis' MySpecialistMD network that will add in-app telehealth visits for a range of conditions to the mobile glucose-management system. Hims has similarly pushed its mail-order health-and-wellness business further into telehealth with new virtual primary and behavioral-care offerings.

This month has kicked off with a slew of announcements about tracing efforts. From India’s new policy requiring all workers to download its government app to China’s new fever-senseing glasses, governments are looking for ways to keep tabs on the virus. 

As of today, all Indian employers are responsible for making sure their domestic employees – in both the public and private sector, download a government-run tracing app that is aimed to help track the spread of the coronavirus, ETtech India reported. The new platform called Aarogya Setu was designed to inform users about their risk of infection, as well as alert public health officials. Users can access the tool in 11 languages. 

“It shall be the responsibility of the Head of the respective Organizations to ensure 100% coverage of this app among the employees,” India’s Ministry of Home Affairs wrote in the order. 

The app will also be required in “Containment Zones” or hot spots where the virus is most prominent. Here the local authorities are responsible for enforcing the use of the app. 

Currently India has 39,980 confirmed coronavirus cases. Unlike the US and the bulk of Western Europe, it is still not classified as having community transmission, but rather a cluster of cases, according to the World Health Organization. However, the number of cases in India continues to grow, and several critics point out that the number of tests conducted in the country are some of the lowest rates in the world. 

In France, where there are now close to 130,000 coronavirus cases, the government plans to roll out its new tracing app next week, Reuters reported. Dubbed StopCOVID, the new Bluetooth-enabled app will use a centralized approach to tracing. Instead of tracking GPS location, it will use the Bluetooth to detect when two phones come close to one another. 

Lastly, while it may not be exactly tracing, China is looking into being able to gain a little more data on its population's helath through tech. Chinese tech startup Rokid built a new pair of augmented reality-enabled glasses that are able to calculate a person’s temperature from a distance, according to Reuters. The Chinese government has already purchased 1,000 for its public employees. 

The company has previously dipped into manufacturing, entertainment and health. 

WHY IT MATTERS 

The number of coronavirus cases continues to grow, now surpassing three million, according to the WHO. This has sent scores of countries and US states into lockdown mode. However, as some countries overcome this first peak, governments and business are starting to look for the best course of action when reopening, and tracing is a hot topic. 

While many governments are pursing this technology as a way to get back to a form of normalcy, there is still a lot of debate around the tools. A new review published by the Ada Lovelace Institute in the United Kingdom said that its research points to significant technical limitations and social risk in employing such tools. 

“Contact tracing apps collect and combine two highly sensitive categories of information: location and health status,” Ryan Calo, a professor of law at the University of Washington, and Kinsa CEO Inder Singh, said during a U.S. Senate committee hearing on big data and privacy protections. “It seems fair to wonder whether these apps, developed by small teams, will be able to keep such sensitive information private and secure. To the extent digital contact tracing – or any private, technology-driven response to the pandemic – involves the sharing of healthcare data with private parties, there is also the specter of inadequate transparency or consent.”

THE LARGER TREND 

Here in the US we’ve seen two of our biggest tech companies, Apple and Google, collaborate on a contact-tracing tool. The pair plan on creating APIs that will enable interoperability between iOS and Android products by way of official apps from public health authorities. 

In the longer term, the two companies have committed to building a Bluetooth-based contact-tracing functionality into their underlying operating systems. 

The public still awaits this release. However, this morning the pair gave Reuters a little bit more information about the new tool. The companies will not be using GPS location. Instead, like the French tool, they will also use Bluetooth technology to detect whether two phones are close. 

While this effort made headlines internationally, it hasn’t all been smooth sailing. Last week the U.K. announced that it would not be using Apple and Google’s contact-tracing tool, as originally planned, according to the BBC. Apple and Google’s model pitches a decentralized system for tracing, while the NHSX – which works on the UK’s digital health efforts – is proposing a centralized system.