2020/07/15
Keio University Hospital
Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc.
Medical Data Card, Inc.
On June 23, Keio University Hospital (Hospital Director: Yuko Kitagawa), Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc. (President & Director: Kingo Hayashi, hereinafter "Chubu Electric Power"), and Medical Data Card, Inc. (President & CEO: Kunihiro Nishimura, hereinafter "Medical Data Card") jointly began operating a system to support remote prenatal checkups at the Keio University Hospital obstetrics outpatient clinic.
In this initiative, with the consent of the pregnant women, the "MeDaCa" app from Medical Data Card is used for video consultations between doctors and patients, and for sending test results, copies of prescriptions, and other data to the app online. In addition, Chubu Electric Power's data platform is utilized, allowing doctors to check blood pressure and weight data measured by the pregnant women at home during consultations.
Childbirth and prenatal checkups cannot be postponed, even with the spread of the novel coronavirus. By receiving remote prenatal checkups, pregnant women can reduce the risk of infection from hospital visits as well as their physical and mental burden. Furthermore, by utilizing blood pressure and weight data from home, they can receive detailed medical care comparable to in-person consultations, all from the safety of their own homes.
Keio University Hospital has been commissioned by the Cabinet Office for the research and development project of the Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP), "AI (Artificial Intelligence) Hospital for Advanced Diagnosis and Treatment Systems." As part of this, the hospital has been conducting joint research with Chubu Electric Power on monitoring home-care patients, supporting remote medical care, and community healthcare support. This initiative is one of the outcomes of that research.
Keio University Hospital will gradually transition to this initiative. In the future, the hospital aims to conduct regular prenatal checkups remotely as much as possible using smartphones.
The three parties will continue to strive to develop services that enable people to enjoy healthier lives and better medical care, such as supporting doctors in making more accurate diagnoses and facilitating communication between doctors and patients, using AI, IoT, and other technologies.
For the full press release, please see below.