Chronically Sick Patients Can Now Track Their Health With Lenovo’s Virtual Care

Lenovo has apparently entered the digital healthcare market with a service they call ‘Virtual Care.’ Virtual Care is a health-tracking system designed for chronically sick patients. Doctors will be able to sign up and provide patients with a kit that is sent to the patient’s home. The in-home kit will come with biometric devices like glucose and blood pressure and monitors. It will also include a Lenovo tablet and AI assistant named ‘Rosie.’ Virtual Care will then design a custom health plan for the patient and walk them through the plan step by step. This system is designed to improve a patient’s overall outcomes and to reduce the total number of doctor visits.

Lenovo Virtual Care is made for patients with conditions like lung disease, congestive heart failure, diabetes, and hypertension. Virtual Care will see that patients regularly take their vitals and send them directly to their care providers. Then, their doctors will be able to ‘respond quickly with timely interventions, adjust medications or modify self-care regimens.’

Lenovo wrote in a press release that the AI assistant will help each patient stick to their plan by using ‘patient education, behavior modification and family engagement.’ The goal of all of this is to help users develop better habits and to improve their overall health plan compliance and quality of life.

Most people don’t realize it but Lenovo has been in the US healthcare business for a while now. Lenovo has been operating a Remote Radiology Reading service. They also have hardware and cloud technology designed to improve security and efficiency for health providers. Lenovo rote in a PR (Public Relations) FAQ that this new offering will provide virtual patient monitoring services directly to doctors ‘for an average of $80 per patient per month.

Lenovo is not alone. Tech companies like Microsoft, Amazon, and Apple have also entered the $3.5 trillion US health business. For example, Amazon partnered with Berkshire Hathaway to provide a highly ambitious service they call ‘Haven’ who’s goal is to ‘transform health care.’

The medical system in the United States is the least efficient in developed world by a long shot, so the role these tech companies are playing will be vital to the US healthcare system. Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, virtual patient care has exploded in the UK and US recently and it’s looking like remote care will be the new normal. Experts are still skeptical that it can truly replace in-person visits.

Featured Image Credit: [Lenovo]