The material cost of COVID-19 has been at the center of public discourse since the early days of the pandemic. In 2020, growth in federal government spending on healthcare increased 36 percent, compared to the 5.9 percent bump in 2019. While the distribution of vaccines has allowed for a version of pre-pandemic life to resume, hospitals are still not recovered from the high rates of hospitalizations that occurred in March 2020, and the indirect costs of the pandemic continue to loom over the American population as a result of strained health systems. 

During the early days, the cost of hospitalizing a patient seemed obvious: the sheer volume of long stays, expensive ventilators, a lack of one-size-fits-all treatment solutions, and the pause of elective surgeries. Now, Covid-19 continues to wreak havoc on our health systems, but in a more covert way. With only 4% of Americans fully boosted as we move into this winter’s ‘triple-demic’ – and long covid impacting the lives of as many as 16 million people on a daily basis – it’s clear that public health officials need to do more in order to support the American population and our struggling health systems. 

The Cost of Healthcare Provider Burnout 

Across the country, healthcare providers are reporting extreme rates of burnout. It is important to underscore that healthcare providers and hospital systems were stressed prior to Covid-19, but the pandemic has exacerbated it. Employment across healthcare is down 1.3 percent, or 223,000 jobs, from pre-pandemic levels. Over 90 percent of nurses said they are considering quitting their jobs by the end of 2022 in a survey, with 72 percent of nurses stating they had already experienced burnout before March 2020. In addition, the increased stress that doctors have experienced is resulting in worse patient care – with 28% of doctors who reported burnout sharing that the quality of care they are providing has significantly declined. 

We are amid a mass healthcare provider exodus, and, according to estimates, each instance of physician turnover costs healthcare organizations at least $500,000, and each instance of staff registered nurse (RN) turnover costs $46,100. Without proper staffing, hospitals are at risk of closure and patients’ health is at risk of worsening. 

The Cost of Hospital Closures 

Before the pandemic, hospitals closed for several reasons, including insufficient staffing, lack of funding, and/or having a large uninsured patient population. Since March 2020, 21 hospitals across the United States, predominantly in rural areas, have closed. Health systems are still recovering from the significant loss of revenue from canceled appointments – according to a report from The Chartis Center for Rural Health, 82 percent of the rural hospitals surveyed said suspension of outpatient services resulted in a loss of at least $5 million per month. 

So, what happens when hospitals and health systems close? 

Rural areas experience more Covid-19-related deaths than urban communities and public health experts attribute these deaths to the rampant hospital closures, as well as a general lack of healthcare providers. It is a vicious cycle: Covid-19 strains hospital systems, healthcare professionals leave, hospitals close, and more patients will die from infectious diseases like Covid-19, the flu or respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) – not to mention the other reverberating public health complications that come as a result of these closures. Vaccinations have helped these hospitals stabilize, but to keep up with covid fatigue and the ever-evolving variants we need a variety of treatments in our arsenal. 

More Covid-19 Treatments Will Bolster Struggling Health Systems  

Increasing the number of vaccinated individuals around the world, in addition to broadening access to effective non-vaccine treatments, such as antivirals and monoclonal antibody therapies, will significantly lessen the impact of the disease on individuals and lessen the burden on the healthcare system. Antiviral treatments have proven to reduce hospitalization, but diversity in treatments is essential to keep up with the ever-evolving Covid-19 variants. Dr. Andrew Pavia, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at the University of Utah Health, was quoted on the effectiveness of antivirals: “If there is anything we know about viruses and antiviral drugs is that eventually, we will see some sort of resistance.” For the time being, antivirals are effective – this is not a call to leverage one type of therapy over another – this is a call to help patients and our health systems survive by equipping healthcare professionals with as many treatments as possible. 

One such treatment that has proven highly effective when applied properly are neutralizing monoclonal antibody therapies. Like antivirals, monoclonal antibodies reduce hospitalization, the risk of death, and shorten the length of the infection – resulting in better patient outcomes and stronger health systems. 

According to Yale Medicine, it is estimated that about three percent of the United States population, or up to 25 million individuals, is considered moderately-to-severely immunocompromised, making them more at risk for serious illness if they contract Covid-19, or other viruses. Monoclonal antibodies are a highly safe and efficacious treatment, which is extremely important for this vulnerable population, especially as a complement to vaccines for prevention. An infusion can reduce the risk of hospitalization by 80 percent or more in a high-risk person, and unlike antivirals, monoclonal antibodies target specific parts of the virus spike protein leading to fewer side effects and interactions with other drugs. 

Collaboration between the government and the biotech industry will be essential for creating a portfolio of therapies to treat a variety of patient profiles who experience a range of Covid-19-related health issues. With our healthcare systems in such a precarious state, investing resources in the development of these treatments will prepare hospitals for future variants that threaten the health of our nation. The hope is that by bulking up our Covid-19 hospital response strategy, our already volatile health system will have a chance to recover, increase individuals’ access to quality healthcare, and ensure a healthier population. 

About Eugene Y. Chan, MD 

Dr. Chan is a physician-inventor. He is currently Chairman, Co-Founder of Abpro, CEO of rHEALTH, and President, CSO of DNA Medicine Institute, a medical innovation laboratory.  He has been honored as Esquire magazine’s Best and Brightest, one of MIT Technology Review’s Top 100 Innovators, and an XPRIZE winner. His work has contributed to the birth of next-generation sequencing, health monitoring in remote environments, and therapeutics. Dr. Chan holds over 60 patents and publications, with work funded by the NIH, NASA, and USAF.  Dr. Chan received an A.B. in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard College summa cum laude in 1996, received an M.D. from Harvard Medical School with honors in 2007, and trained in medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital.  He is one of few individuals who has been in zero gravity. 

Virtual care is everywhere and ubiquitous. But at a time when the world is amid a global pandemic, virtual care is also being underutilized. The technology exists today to help our healthcare system not only more effectively and efficiently manage care during COVID-19, but also exponentially scale capacity in the face of future outbreaks. 

Virtual care defined

Virtual care is a broad term. It encompasses all the ways healthcare practitioners provide for care remotely. This can mean video visits or secure text conversations with a doctor or nurse practitioner — essentially any way care teams remotely communicate with patients. It is also used interchangeably with telehealth, telemedicine, or digital health, and it’s becoming the norm. 

Patient adoption of virtual at the beginning of 2020 was up 33% over the previous year, while funding has been booming and the market is expected to reach $185.6 billion by 2026.

In one recent survey, 80% of patients reported it very easy to schedule a virtual care visit, 77% were completely satisfied with the virtual care experience, and 70% were very likely to recommend the experience to others. Another report by Accenture confirms that globally, patients have embraced virtual care and want to see it continue post-pandemic. Nine out of ten patients indicate that the quality of care is as good or better than it was before. They see virtual care as more time-efficient. And they believe the use of technology has allowed healthcare providers to maintain or improve the patient experience. 

So while face-to-face visits are still essential in some cases, for most scenarios, there is a growing general agreement amongst consumers of healthcare that virtual visits will suffice for many of the scenarios where we interface with the healthcare system. 

The barriers to adoption begin to fall

In the United States with CMS, both Medicare and Medicaid now have codes that allow practitioners and institutions to get reimbursed for virtual care. This opening up of the economic pathways coupled with new care constraints created by the pandemic has accelerated virtual care adoption. 

According to the American Medical Association, physicians and other health professionals are now seeing 50 to 175 times the number of patients via telehealth than they did before the pandemic. The report notes that 46% of patients are now using telehealth to replace canceled in-person visits, up from just 11% of patients who used telehealth in 2019.

The dams are breaking down to allow for an exponential increase in the uptake of virtual care. When you look at the healthcare ecosystem in the United States, patients, clinicians, payers, manufacturers, and distributors are now on board. So for the consumer or provider who is interested in delivering this level of care, there should be no barriers. There are lots of choices. There’s lots of access. And doctors will be more than adequately reimbursed for these services. 

COVID-19 builds a strong case for digital healthcare delivery

So how can virtual care help us with COVID-19? By way of example, I’d like to share the story of a doctor friend of mine, Rick. He was recently isolated because of an exposure he had to a COVID+ individual. He’s a very active physician in his community. While in isolation, he was able to provide continued care to his patients using video conferencing. He’s still being compensated for his time. He’s conducting business as usual and still managing to put a dent in the pandemic without ever leaving his home. That’s just one illustration of the power of virtual care from a pandemic perspective. Virtual care can also be used to screen out those patients who are worried or ill. Technologies can be used to remotely monitor those with a suspected or proven infection. We can provide care to other patients who have nothing to do with COVID-19, but who need ongoing care because of their chronic conditions. And, most importantly we can minimize our exposure as healthcare workers. We’re a limited resource due to COVID-19 and virtual care allows us a pathway to safely continue to serve those in need. 

When you think about how virtual care is being used during the pandemic to screen out patients and to provide care, I’d argue it is better than before. So, why then, with all the tools available to us are we still resorting to parking lot pop-up screening clinics with hours-long line ups and paper charts versus digital surveys? You can only imagine the emotional stress and toll this is having not just on those waiting, but the health care teams doing the screening. 

There is a better way to deliver these services. And I would argue that it’s virtual. It’s safer for both the practitioner and the patient. For instance, what if we have a community outbreak and public health would like to conduct a mass survey of the community. By using a digital survey, people can access it to screen themselves. If they are self-isolating or quarantining, they can monitor their symptoms. From the digital information gathered, public health can identify those who should go on to have further screening, or perhaps a nasopharyngeal swab. It can be used for assessment and triage, and in combination with plug-and-play Bluetooth devices, vital signs information such as temperature can be automatically collected. Processes can be automated so should patients meet a certain threshold, caregivers can be notified to trigger screening or hospitalization. 

Just imagine the burden this would take off the healthcare system if we were to do all this remotely using existing digital technologies and cloud-based systems. In this scenario, a physician such as myself could manage hundreds of patients from the comfort of my own home or in my clinic without seeing them face to face. I’d be able to instantly identify those needing further action, whether that is an email, a video visit, a message, or an alert that they should go to a hospital immediately. 

Emerging technologies can unlock improved care delivery and greater efficiencies

In the not too distant future, new technologies will emerge (likely at an accelerated rate given that the pace of innovation speeds up when necessity is the driver) that will be hugely beneficial in a future pandemic. 

Imagine a smartphone app that allows doctors to screen people with coughs and classify a normal cough from one that is based on a diseased state. It could be used for mass screening and perhaps even diagnosis of a respiratory illness. This technology is being tested as we speak to verify people with active tuberculosis in Africa. 

Imagine a technology that uses artificial intelligence to scan the Internet for information to help early identification of outbreaks. It exists today and the startup behind it was the first organization on the planet to identify the Wuhan outbreak — before the WHO was even aware of it using its conventional news and big data tracking. 

And imagine a wearable that can continuously track and measure a person’s critical vitals including their blood pressure on a beat to beat basis, heart rate, ECG, breathing rate, positional information, oxygen levels, and temperature, all in real-time, with information streamed to the cloud and into the hands of caregivers, instantly alerting them should a condition deteriorate. For the average person, this may be overkill. But for someone with COVID-19 sent from the hospital to recover at home, or for another patient that is at high risk, this technology could be a lifesaver. 

It’s just about great care. 

Virtual care is not something extraordinary or special. It’s just care. Those of us who have now digitally intersected with the healthcare system, whether through an app, or a video visit, or an email or text, would likely agree with me. 

Virtual care is hugely beneficial during a pandemic. It’s safe, efficient, and accessible, and most certainly better than the pop-up drive-through screening clinics we’re seeing in parking lots across North America.  

If there is one big sticking point, it is that we are under-utilizing virtual care. In this time of need, administrators are acting too slowly and in a way that is not best-suited to society’s needs. Virtual care is safer, more efficient, and less costly. And with some of the new technologies on the horizon, can be useful for earlier detection, earlier intervention, and better care during future outbreaks and during normal non-pandemic times.   

About Dr. Kohli’s

Dr. Sonny Kohli is a practicing Physician in Internal Medicine and Critical Care and is Faculty at SingularityU Canada as well as McMaster University. In 2008/09, Sonny was a top 40 Astronaut Candidate in the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) recruitment campaign. He is also an alumnus of the International Space University, a trained flight surgeon with the Canadian Forces, and was awarded a CSA scholarship to Johnson Space Center & Wyle Labs. While studying at ISU, he helped deploy the Image Reversal In Space (IRIS) experiment on the International Space Station.

In 2010, while volunteering in post-earthquake Haiti, Sonny experienced first-hand the perils of inadequate health care faced by Earth’s most marginalized peoples. Intrigued by space-age and digital solutions to the world’s health problems, Sonny co-founded Cloud DX to create a fully autonomous ‘digital doctor’ called Vitaliti. Sonny and Cloud DX were bestowed as XPRIZE’s first ever ‘Bold Epic Innovator’ as part of the Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE competition.

What You Should Know:

– Intel pledges an additional $50 million in a pandemic response technology initiative to combat the coronavirus through accelerating access to technology at the point of patient care.

– Intel is committed to accelerating access to technology that can combat the current COVID-19 pandemic and enable new technology and the scientific discovery that better prepares society for future crises.

Intel is pledging an additional $50 million in a pandemic response technology initiative to combat the coronavirus through accelerating access to technology at the point of patient care, speeding scientific research and ensuring access to online learning for students. Included in Intel’s effort is an additional innovation fund for requests where access to Intel expertise and resources can have an immediate impact. This is in addition to prior announcements of $10 million in donations that are supporting local communities during this critical time.

$40M Fund for COVID-19 Response and Readiness and Online Learning Initiatives

Approximately $40 million will fund the Intel COVID-19 Response and Readiness and Online Learning initiatives. The Intel COVID-19 Response and Readiness Initiative will provide funding to accelerate customer and partner advances in diagnosis, treatment and vaccine development, leveraging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing and edge-to-cloud service delivery.

Through the initiative, Intel will help healthcare and life sciences manufacturers increase the availability of technology and solutions used by hospitals to diagnose and treat COVID-19. It will also support the creation of industry alliances that accelerate worldwide capacity, capability and policy to respond to this and future pandemics, building on Intel’s own experience in driving technology innovation in the health and life sciences arena.

The Intel Online Learning Initiative will support education-focused nonprofit organizations and business partners to provide students without access to technology with devices and online learning resources. In close partnership with public school districts, the initiative will enable PC donations, online virtual resources, study-at-home guides and device connectivity assistance. The Intel Online Learning Initiative builds on Intel’s long-standing commitment to technology that improves learning. It will begin immediately in regions with the greatest needs across the United States and expand globally.

$10M Innovation Fund

The company has also allocated up to $10 million for an innovation fund that supports requests from external partners and employee-led relief projects, addressing critical needs in their communities. For example:

Collaboration with India

Intel is working with India’s Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad, to deploy Intel client and server solutions to help achieve faster and less expensive COVID-19 testing and coronavirus genome sequencing to understand the epidemiology and AI-based risk stratification for patients with comorbidities. Intel is also collaborating with India’s National Association of Software and Service Companies to build an application ecosystem and multicloud back end to enable population-scale COVID-19 diagnostics, to predict outbreaks and to improve medical care management and administration.

Sickbay Platform Turns Beds into Virtual ICU Bed in Minutes

Medical Informatics Corp.’s (MIC) Sickbay™ platform, powered by Intel technology, is a solution that can turn beds into virtual ICU beds in minutes, help protect critical care workers from risk of exposure with clinical distancing and expand their care capacity significantly. Weeks ago, Houston Methodist Hospital deployed Sickbay for its vICU and was able to leverage it within one day to support monitoring of its COVID-19 patients and enable their care providers to monitor patients virtually without risking exposure in ICU rooms.

In the U.K., Intel is working with Dyson and medical consultancy firm TTP to supply FPGAs for CoVent, a new ventilator specifically designed in response to the U.K. government’s request for help. The ventilator is pending regulatory approval and is designed to be bed-mounted.

Why It Matters

Intel technology underpins critical products and services that global communities, governments and healthcare organizations depend on every day. We hope that by harnessing our expertise, resources, technology and talents, we can help save and enrich lives by solving the world’s greatest challenges through the creation and development of new technology-based innovations and approaches.

Coronavirus Relief to Date

This technology response initiative builds on Intel’s prior announcements of $10 million in donations that are supporting local communities during this critical time. Those donations include 1 million gloves, masks and other equipment for healthcare workers, $6 million from the Intel Foundation toward relief efforts in local communities and $4 million from Intel and its subsidiaries around the globe.

As previously announced, Intel and Lenovo have teamed up with Beijing-based BGI Genomics to accelerate the analysis of genomic characteristics of COVID-19. Intel has also joined the global XPRIZE Pandemic Alliance along with other companies to fuel collaboration on solutions through shared innovation to effectively address the immediate needs of the crisis.

“The world faces an enormous challenge in fighting COVID-19. Intel is committed to accelerating access to technology that can combat the current pandemic and enable new technology and scientific discovery that better prepares society for future crises. We hope that by sharing our expertise, resources and technology, we can help to accelerate work that saves lives and expands access to critical services around the world during this challenging time.”

Bob Swan, Intel chief executive officer

XPRIZE has teamed up with IBM Watson to launch IBM Watson AI XPRIZE, a $5 million, four-year global competition challenging teams to develop and demonstrate how humans can collaborate with powerful artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to tackle the world’s greatest challenges.

The $5M prize will focus on creating scalable AI apps that benefit consumers and businesses across a multitude of disciplines including healthcare, education, energy & environment, global development and exploration.

Need for Artificial Intelligence

Driven by long term capabilities of AI impact, and to better understand the prospects of human and AI collaboration, the IBM Watson AI XPRIZE provides an interdisciplinary platform for domain experts, developers and innovators to, through collaboration, push the boundaries of AI to new heights. 

Competition Guidelines

Rather than set a single, universal goal for all teams, this competition will invite teams of technologists in AI to each create their own goal: an application of AI to a grand challenge.

Teams have until December 1, 2016 to register through the XPRIZE website for the four-year competition, and then will have until March 1, 2017 to submit a detailed development and testing plan for their proposed solution. There will be three subsequent rounds of selection each fall during which a panel of expert judges will choose the top 10 teams that will advance to compete at IBM Watson sponsored events where they can receive Milestone Prizes.

The competition culminates in three finalists participating in the Grand Prize competition on the TED2020 stage in front of in-person and online audiences. Teams will be judged based on the standards they set in their plans, as well as the performance and scalability of their AI application, with the heaviest weight placed on the potential for solutions to achieve an exponential impact.

A $3M Grand Prize, $1M Second Place Prize and $500K Third Place Prize will be awarded to the teams that receive the top scores from a panel of independent judges with the final winner determined based on the results of live in-person and online audience voting during TED2020.

A total of $500K will be awarded by the judges for special accomplishments and Milestone Prizes over the several rounds of competition.