Cybernetic Care

Blurring the Line Between Telehealth and In-Person Care

Due to COVID-19, telehealth evolved from a luxury to the preferred method for routine care in the United States.  This revealed opportunities to use our digital tools in more efficient ways.

Cybernetics, the driving concept behind artificial intelligence, integrated with healthcare delivery will entirely overhaul the system: eliminating waiting rooms, moving care into the home: triage, diagnosis, and treatment at the patient’s location.

Cybernetics was defined in 1948 by Norbert Wiener as the science of communications and automatic control systems in both machines and living things.  It refers to a continuous response and feedback loop for decision-making within an organism’s biology or within a machine’s moving parts.  This concept is the cornerstone of electronics and artificial intelligence that we use today and is therefore an ideal description for the current integration of telehealth.  Telehealth is a unique marriage of communication that occurs within technology, within medical practice, and ultimately, communication between the two.  Decisions that impact health are made by either patient or provider, consequences follow, and analysis of those consequences using machines or human physicians informs the next decision.  Data-mining devices capture an overall look at health and provide critical patient vitals to physicians without using a caregiver’s time, facility, or risk of infection.

This white paper describes a healthcare system that engages this cybernetic process incorporating both technology and medical expertise to advance care quality, and to enhance patient and provider experience.

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