Rise of Telehealth Investments in Pharmaceutical, Medical Device, and Digital Therapeutics Companies
UpScriptHealth is a telemedicine technology and services organization that caters to pharmaceutical, medical device, and digital therapeutics companies. The company has more than 100 deals in its pipeline, with many already live, including partnerships with Pfizer, Dexcom, Axena Health, Spark Biomedical, and Lucid Diagnostics.
Factors Driving Telehealth Investments
We spoke with Peter Ax, founder and CEO of UpScriptHealth, to discuss the factors driving more pharma and medical device companies to invest in telehealth. According to Ax, the surge in telehealth investment is primarily driven by the need to address fundamental access barriers in the healthcare system.
Patients often face weeks-long wait times and limited availability of providers, particularly in pharmacy deserts. Critical administrative challenges, such as prior authorization processes, also frequently create coverage issues in traditional healthcare settings that telehealth platforms can effectively streamline. Telehealth systems also make follow-up care more readily available, as it is often difficult to manage in brick-and-mortar practices due to time constraints.
Telehealth and Rare and Complex Disease Care
UpScriptHealth has seen telehealth capabilities evolve dramatically from prescribing relatively simple medications to now supporting treatments for complex and rare diseases. The company’s recent partnership with EsoGuard to offer esophageal cancer screening demonstrates this evolution by enabling clinicians to remotely assess risk factors, prescribe testing, and deliver results through their digital platform.
Additionally, UpScriptHealth’s collaboration with Vive Health showcases how telehealth can revolutionize treatment delivery, allowing patients to receive blood tests with immediate results and arrange for injections at alternative care sites. These innovations represent just the beginning of telehealth’s extraordinary potential in direct-to-patient care for rare and complex diseases.
Future of Compounding Pharmacies and Telehealth
The future of compounding pharmacies aided by telehealth holds significant promise. Telehealth can expand access to compounded medications, particularly for patients in remote areas. It also can facilitate more frequent and personalized patient-physician interactions, leading to improved medication management and adherence.
However, this integration requires careful consideration. Prioritizing patient safety is paramount, necessitating robust quality control measures within compounding pharmacies and ensuring telehealth platforms facilitate comprehensive patient assessments and ongoing communication.
Artificial Intelligence in Telehealth
UpScriptHealth is strategically implementing AI to enhance their telehealth services across multiple touchpoints of the patient journey. Currently, they are using AI in the background to optimize questionnaires provided to patients when they enter the platform.
These are traditionally prepared solely by clinicians, but UpScriptHealth now leverages AI to draft more user-friendly questions that then are reviewed by their medical professionals, ensuring both accessibility and clinical accuracy. They also use AI in their platform’s chatbots and digital interfaces, making patient interactions more intuitive and responsive while also streamlining their platform development processes.
Looking ahead, UpScriptHealth envisions expanding AI applications to analyze population health data and demographic patterns, enabling them to predict individual patient needs over extended timeframes. This predictive capability could help them anticipate and prepare for a patient’s healthcare requirements over the next decade of their life, ultimately delivering more personalized and proactive care through their telehealth platform.
Conclusion
The rise of telehealth investments in pharmaceutical, medical device, and digital therapeutics companies is driven by the need to address fundamental access barriers in the healthcare system. Telehealth has the potential to revolutionize treatment delivery, particularly for rare and complex diseases, and can expand access to compounded medications. The integration of AI in telehealth platforms can enhance patient interactions, streamline platform development, and predict individual patient needs over extended timeframes.
FAQs
Q: What are the factors driving more pharma and medical device companies to invest in telehealth?
A: The surge in telehealth investment is primarily driven by the need to address fundamental access barriers in the healthcare system, including patients’ wait times, limited provider availability, and administrative challenges.
Q: How is telehealth helping pharma improve access to rare and complex disease care?
A: Telehealth is enabling clinicians to remotely assess risk factors, prescribe testing, and deliver results through digital platforms, revolutionizing treatment delivery and expanding access to rare and complex disease care.
Q: What does the future look like for compounding pharmacies being aided by telehealth?
A: The future of compounding pharmacies aided by telehealth holds significant promise, with telehealth expanding access to compounded medications and facilitating more frequent and personalized patient-physician interactions.
Q: How is artificial intelligence boosting telehealth?
A: AI is enhancing patient interactions, streamlining platform development, and predicting individual patient needs over extended timeframes, ultimately delivering more personalized and proactive care through telehealth platforms.
