The COVID-19 public health emergency has accelerated the evolution of clinical care in recent years. Health care has traditionally focused on health care systems and their components such as hospitals, clinics, providers, and payers. Despite this, many challenges persist, including shortages of primary care physicians and specialists, significant increases in health care costs, higher rates of chronic disease prevalence, and the inability to provide health care to millions of people who lack access to health care systems. These challenges affect individuals from various racial and ethnic minority populations, as well as those living in rural communities and lower-income neighborhoods, worsening health disparities across the country.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has introduced a new initiative called Home as a Health Care Hub, aimed at reimagining the home environment as an integral part of the health care system. The initiative seeks to advance health equity for all people in the U.S. by using the home as a virtual clinical site for care options. However, very few care options have considered the structural and critical components of the home that are necessary for the transference of care. Additionally, medical devices intended for home use are typically designed to operate in isolation rather than as part of a combined, holistic environment. As a result, patients may have to use multiple medical devices, some of which are not meant for home use, instead of medical-grade, consumer-designed, customizable technologies that integrate into their lifestyle.
