LifeBridge Health Turns to Digital Health to Track Monkeypox Cases

The Baltimore-based health system is applying lessons learned during the pandemic and working with digital health company Get Well on a platform to track those infected with monkeypox and manage their care.

With monkeypox now a public health emergency in the US, LifeBridge Health has launched a digital health platform designed to help patients and their care teams track infections and develop a care management plan.

The Baltimore-based health system is applying lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and working with digital health company Get Well on the platform, which creates a 21-day care plan around those infected with the virus. The platform offers information on symptoms and transmission, allows patients and care providers to track symptoms (including fever, rash, pain and swollen lymph nodes), offers guidance on isolation protocols, and allows care providers to monitor the progress of the virus.

Many healthcare organizations are keeping a wary eye on monkeypox and looking at how they deployed telehealth and digital health tools and strategies during the pandemic to fashion a response to this latest health concern.

"We worked with Get Well to implement digital care plans quickly for COVID-19 in 2020, and we are now seeing heightened interest around monkeypox, given the increasing number of cases," Adam Beck, the health system's director of digital health," said in a press release. "We are hopeful that having ready access to information and monitoring can provide reassurance and reduce anxiety around monkeypox."

“Early messaging around monkeypox and how has it spreads raised some unfortunate stigmas, as the illness initially affected gay men at a higher rate," added Pothik Chatterjee, assistant vice president of innovation for LifeBridge Health. "However, everyone is susceptible and there are many ways it can spread, so we were pleased to work with Get Well on a proactive approach to share accurate and timely information.”