Telehealth has been topical in the U.S. for several years now, but the COVID-19 pandemic lent new urgency to the question of Medicare coverage. However, there are a number of related enforcement issues that could dampen adoption and increase the legal risk for both health care professionals and developers of telehealth-related products.
Regulatory snapshots, including global submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Visionquest, Zetroz Systems.
Heru Inc., a medical technology company using artificial intelligence (AI) to advance vision diagnostics and augmentation, has completed class I device registration with the U.S. FDA for its cloud-based diagnostic application for visual field exams. Heru’s software works with commercially available augmented reality or virtual reality (AR/VR) headsets to provide a subjective visual field exam, with results immediately available to clinicians through a web portal.
The U.S. FDA has exercised a considerable degree of enforcement discretion during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly when it comes to digital health. However, Christine Bump, principal at Penn Avenue Law & Policy, said that this very discretion has an uncertain shelf life and advised industry to remain compliant with the regulations as much as possible to avoid unnecessary enforcement actions by federal agencies.
The latest global regulatory news, changes and updates affecting medical devices and technologies, including: CMS unveils push toward digital collection of quality measures; NIH awards for ‘outside-the-box’ projects under RADx; ISO posts IP management standard.
The digital therapeutics market has surged during the pandemic and looks likely to markedly change health care long after the current crisis abates. The need for distance, limited in-person appointments, increased stress and mental health issues, and a more relaxed U.S. FDA approach have created the ideal environment for the rollout of therapies patients can use from home on their own time. Increasingly, clinical trials demonstrate the effectiveness of the new options and users praise the convenience.
PARIS – Tilak Healthcare SAS is signing an ophthalmology partnership agreement with Novartis AG from Basel, Switzerland, to expand international distribution of its vision monitoring technology, Odysight.
Regulatory snapshots, including global submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Abbott, Cerenion, Ecolab, Integrum, Occlutech.