The PREVENT Pandemics Act is a fine start but it ignores one of our greatest resources – technology.

Technology has advanced substantially in the last few decades but while it has significantly affected our personal lives (social media, smartphones, wearables, etc.), it has only marginally changed the practice of medicine.

This is both surprising and frustrating as we witness many other sectors of our economy making great strides by embracing technology.

In the wake of the worst respiratory pandemic in history we must take time to assess what went wrong with our response to the COVID19 pandemic and how we can do better in the future, especially considering the availability of novel technology such as medical imaging, wearable technology, and artificial intelligence.

In 2022, it is extraordinary that patients still rely on individual doctor visits and “tests of the day” to determine a treatment plan where many feel that this is not entirely meeting their needs.

The lack of technological implementation can be attributed to the existence of strong silos, lack of incentives amongst healthcare professionals to change and reimbursement systems conducive to maintaining the status quo. The pandemic, caused by a completely novel disease, provides an opportunity to reassess this.

As the CEO of Fluidda, a company that has developed technology to improve the diagnosis and monitoring of respiratory diseases, settling for the status quote is frankly dangerous.

This is why the Discussion Draft of the PREVENT Pandemics Act authored by Sen. Patty Murray, Chairwoman, Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions and Sen. Richard Burr, Ranking Member of the same committee is such an important document.

While the act takes laudable steps to prepare our country for the next pandemic, it does not go far enough. I wrote to senators Murray and Burr urging them to consider the following proposals to improve the federal government’s response to future pandemics and provide hope to American’s struggling today with the long-term effects of COVID19:

1. Establish an initiative to assess the current state of healthcare related technologies available in and outside the hospitals with a particular focus on preventing lockdowns in case of future respiratory pandemics by connecting silos that exist today. This includes advanced pulmonary and cardiac imaging using AI, respiratory and cardiac monitoring at home for at-risk patients and the availability of invasive and non-invasive ventilators. This committee should ideally consist of a healthcare professional, technology companies, regulators, and payors.
2. Increase support for the development or repurposing of drugs and devices to prevent or treat severe lung failure, where possible, employing novel technology. Since the lung has a remarkable ability to compensate for disease that might already be present, novel approaches are recommended to prevent a patient from developing severe symptoms or functional decline by detecting and intervening early. Many patients with COVID19 were initially sent home from the hospital where in several cases their condition significantly deteriorated within days. An increasing number of published studies have indicated that these patients could have been identified if only the right technology was available.
3. As part of the proposed “research and activities related to long-term health effects of SARS–CoV–2 infection” reassess the current levels of reimbursement for pulmonary rehabilitation. Despite strong clinical evidence of the benefit of pulmonary rehabilitation, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services substantially reduced the reimbursement in recent years leading to a severe under-utilization of this treatment option. There is a very large and growing number of long-COVID19 patients nationwide. In the absence of long-COVID19 specific drugs, pulmonary rehabilitation is often the only viable option for these patients and therefore should be reconsidered as part of the PREVENT Pandemics Act.

It is time for elected officials and the healthcare community to open their eyes to technological solutions that will not only enhance patient treatment and reduce healthcare costs but create are a more nimble and durable system that will withstand the next pandemic.