Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Carol Miller (R-WV)
Washington, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Carol Miller (R-WV) participated in a Ways and Means Health subcommittee hearing discussing the benefits of wearable medical devices for rural patients and the challenges health care providers face adopting this technology. A video and transcript of the Congresswoman’s questions and provided responses can be found below.
Congresswoman Miller began by discussing the challenges rural patients face accessing medical care.
“The majority of my work in the health care space is focused on ensuring robust patient access to care, particularly for rural patients. In my district, many patients have to travel hours to see a physician or specialist. Additionally, 70 percent of people in West Virginia have at least one chronic disease. This leaves the vast majority of patients in my state with some tough decisions about how to manage their health care. Many patients often don’t seek care as much as they might need because of costs, lack of transportation, or an inability to take a day off of work to see a doctor.
Wearable devices seem to be a very good solution to some of these problems. If a patient can have a device tracking their vitals, glucose levels, or heart rate on their wrist or finger – they can have some peace of mind about their health. They also will have a better picture of when it might be time to get themselves to the doctor,” said Congresswoman Miller.
The Congresswoman then asked Dr. Holmes, Global Head of Human Performance at WHOOP, how wearable medical devices can help patients track their vitals and anticipate health conditions that would require medical intervention.
“Dr. Holmes, I’m sure you’ve worked with many patients to help them get the most out of your company’s technology. What are some of the benefits rural patients can see with wearable health devices and are the patients able to see and share that data from your device with their physician?” asked Congresswoman Carol Miller.
“Yes, we have mechanisms inside the app that allow for really easy sharing with your healthcare provider. I think one really good example is actually preterm pregnancy research we did with Dr. Sean Rowan at University of West Virginia Medical where we were able to actually identify a digital biomarker that can basically diagnose or alert to potential preterm birth. What’s happening physiologically is seven weeks prior to delivery, we were able to notice that there is a sharp increase in one of the metrics that we track, heart rate variability, and a sharp decrease in resting heart rate. Seven weeks prior to delivery, regardless of gestational age. So you can imagine a woman in rural West Virginia who sees this inflection point and can then at least call a doctor and say, ‘Hey, what’s going on here?’ So that was, I think, a really neat breakthrough on this. These data are published in Plus One and this, I think, was a really great example of how we can help, in this case, women specifically understand their bodies a bit better and use the data to get ahead of what could be a serious issue,” responded Dr. Holmes.
Congresswoman Miller then discussed privacy concerns associated with sharing personal medical information with a device company and what safeguards are in place to ensure confidentiality and data security.
“My constituents take their data privacy very seriously and I think patients being able to share their data with their physician is important, but many of them are reluctant to simply give their data to a device company. Mr. Zengilowski, what are some of the common misconceptions about data privacy with wearable technology and how do remote patient monitoring companies, which facilitate the exchange of information from the device to the providers, ensure patient data is protected?” asked Congresswoman Miller.
“Thank you for the question. I appreciate it and patient information security is paramount. So first, just to understand, there is a difference between a consumer wearable device and […] the medical grade, FDA cleared device used in a remote patient monitoring program. We, Coach Care, signed business associate agreements with all of the practices and hospitals that we work with, which make us a covered entity under HIPAA regulations, so we are required to follow HIPAA. I will share with you, CPT code 99454 reimburses for the technology for remote patient monitoring and the average Medicare reimbursement is approximately $45. We spend $10 per patient on security, on IT infrastructure security. So, just to give you a sense of what we’re investing to protect the patient data that we collect,” responded Mr. Zengilowski.
Congresswoman Miller concluded by discussing the possible benefits wearable medical devices could have in detecting fall risks for elderly patients.
“Another issue I take seriously is fall prevention and detection. In my state and the country, people are rapidly aging, and unintentional falls are a leading cause of injury and death among seniors. Many seniors don’t know that they’re at a fall risk and can suffer a fall. So, Dr. Holmes, do you think that wearable technology can help with this issue among seniors and what types of technologies exist to track balance or falls?” asked Congresswoman Miller.
“I think this whole conversation really needs to go back to prevention. We need to help seniors understand earlier what is going to prevent a fall. You know, we need to get […] I think the national conversation has to shift, right? A lot of the things that we’re talking about are absolutely preventable. We just need Americans to understand that they need to lift heavy weights. I, and it sounds so simple, but everything that we’re talking about here is democratically available and free. It doesn’t cost a dime, right? You can do body squats. Americans just need to understand that they have the power to take control of their own health. And so I think we need to get that information out there,” said Dr. Holmes.
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