Health IT

Specialists On Call seeks to commoditize the telemedicine cart

This product promises to lower hospital telemedicine hardware costs by as much as 60 percent, according to Specialists On Call. More importantly, the cart is another step toward the commoditization of telemedicine hardware.

Specialists On Call cart - fullSpecialists On Call has introduced what the vendor said, surprisingly, is the first touchscreen telemedicine cart on the market. This product promises to lower hospital telemedicine hardware costs by as much as 60 percent, according to the Reston, Virginia-based company.

More importantly, according to Specialists On Call CEO Hammad Shah, the cart is another step toward the commoditization of telemedicine hardware.

“The cart is a commodity. You really should be focusing on [patient] outcomes,” Shah said. “How will the patient benefit clinically from the intervention?” he added.

“The whole discussion has been around things that aren’t value-adds to the clients,” Shah explained. “It should be a clinical discussion, not a hardware discussion.”

The new cart features a 22-inch, medical-grade touchscreen display with keyboard and top-mounted camera. Costwise, “it is up to 60 percent off what we’re seeing in the market,” Shah said. Specialists On Call is not publicly disclosing the price of its telemedicine cart, however.

This launch follows the May introduction of a managed services platform for hospital-based telemedicine. “That was the first step,” Shah said. “This [cart] is the second step” in the commoditization of the industry.

“We’re a technology company that’s not there to sell hardware, but to facilitate clinical care,” Shah said.

“At the end of the day, the hospital wants something reliable, wants something low-priced and wants something that facilitates the kind of discusson they want.”

Photo: Specialists On Call

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