Telehealth and WebRTC

Arin Sime, WebRTC.venturesDr. Marty Brewster, Wellbeing Consult

Agenda

@ArinSime, arin@webrtc.ventures, +1.434.996.5226

Arin SimeFounder/CEO

WebRTC.ventures

Dr. Marty BrewsterFounder/CEO

Wellbeing Consult

A recording of this will be posted to WebRTC.ventures

The case for Telehealth• Aging Populations means more care

necessary• Preventative care can reduce long

term medical system costs• Remote or underserved populations

don’t have equal access to quality or specialized care

• Increased patient access to mobile devices and internet makes it viable to serve wide populations

WebRTC is an HTML5 “standard” for video communications in the browser

Look Mom! No plugins!

I know honey, it’s

like Skype for your

browser!

Walgreens adds virtual consultations

“The platform enables users to consult virtually with MDLIVE board-certified physicians … these physicians can e-prescribe medications .... Visits are only $49.”

Currently available in Colorado, Washington, Illinois – 25 more states by end of the year

Source: Walgreens Press Release

Improved pregnancy care in Georgia• Underserved populations have higher

rates of pre-term babies, and associated health problems

• 18.2% had pre-term births in Atlanta area of case study

• Remote group consultations were held with mothers who had due dates in the same month

• Mothers did not need to get child care or buy transportation to get to the appointments

• Rate of pre-term births dropped to 8.1%

Source: American Telemedicine Organization

Core WebRTC Architecture

Applications of WebRTC• Video conferencing• Contact Centers• Telemedicine• Insurance claims• In-context communications• Dating/Social Media• Gaming• P2P Data Transfer

Wellbeing Consult

• Search for therapist

• Schedule consultation

• 1-1 Video Chat• Invoice

patients

Developed by WebRTC.ventures using TokBox’s WebRTC platform

Maven App• A network of medical

care for women• Specialization is a solid

strategy to consider• Add value beyond just

video chat

WebRTC and Telehealth• All Traffic is encrypted –

required for HIPAA compliance• Peer to Peer means there is no

intermediary server to hack• No plugins required* - allows

for quick, in-context communications

* Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and soon Microsoft Edge do not require plugins for video. Plugins always required for screen sharing in WebRTC apps.

Security in WebRTC• Video/Audio/Data encrypted in-

transit• Permissions required for

Video/Audio• Under SSL, those permissions

are only required once• The DataChannel alone does not

require permissions (currently)• Screen sharing requires a

browser plugin

Other technical HIPAA considerations

• Data Encryption at rest• Encryption of data in

transit (WebRTC + SSL)• Access controls• Automatic log-offs• Auditing measures• PII protected

Negatives of WebRTC

• IE/Safari Not supported • Mobile browser support

is poor, need native apps

• Doesn’t scale to large conversations

• TokBox provides:– Mobile API’s– Global infrastructure– Automatic quality controls– Encrypted media &

signaling– Firewall Traversal– Video archiving

• HIPAA compliance is possible on top of TokBox, but requires good practices

• TokBox has released best practices (we will link to those after the call)

The Data Channel

Data Channel Use Cases• Text Chat• File Transfer• Real-time data

communications for Sensors, Data Dashboards, etc

• Gaming• Content Delivery Networks

Sensors in Telehealth• Telehealth is about more

than video consultations• Remote sensors can add

data to a consultation, or provide remote monitoring

• WebRTC’s Data Channel one option to transport this data securely

Heart Rate Monitoring/Notification• App we built at TADHack• If heart attack is

detected, sends SMS and calls your loved ones automatically

• Could be used to trigger video or send data as well

Questions?

@ArinSime, arin@webrtc.ventures, +1.434.996.5226

Arin SimeFounder/CEO

WebRTC.ventures

Marty BrewsterFounder/CEO

Wellbeing Consult

A recording of this will be posted to WebRTC.ventures