Last week, ACT | The App Association hosted the Connected Health Demo, drawing nearly 200 senior Congressional and agency staff to the Rayburn House Office Building foyer. Leading connected health companies from around the globe flew in for the event. These included AirStrip, Avizia, Baxter Healthcare Corporation, Cisco, GE Care Innovations, Life 365, LifeWIRE, Locus Health, Medtronic, Microsoft, Philips, Podimetrics, ReSound, ResMed, Rimidi, Samsung, Sensible Medical, SyCom, TytoCare, University of Mississippi Center for Telehealth, and the University of Virginia Medical Center.
The event provided a unique opportunity for those crafting and enforcing health policies to try out some of the most cutting-edge technology available to hospitals, physicians, and patients today. Attendees experienced how sensors, apps, and connected devices are revolutionizing how patients and physicians share information.
While two-dimensional descriptors and fact sheets can be helpful in explaining the impact of these technologies, having the chance to touch, feel, and see how connected health tech works was well-received by health policymakers in attendance.
It is critical for this education and these partnerships to continue, and ACT | The App Association’s Connected Health Initiative (CHI) is leading that effort. Bringing together connected health companies of all sizes, the mission of CHI is to clarify outdated health regulations, incentivize the use of remote patient monitoring, and ensure the environment is one in which patients and consumers can see improvement in their health.
The Connected Health Demo was a powerful measure of the importance of connected health tech, and demonstrated some of the challenges faced by companies, providers, and patients in this space. This is the momentum needed to make meaningful changes in Washington, D.C. that will ultimately improve healthcare across the United States.
See photos from the Connected Health Demo here.