The re:Vive platform, developed by Miami-based Heru and the University of Miami's Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, enables care providers to use an AR/VR headset to screen and diagnose - and eventually be reimbursed for - several diagnostic and health and wellness eye issues.
A digital health platform that allows care providers to use virtual and augmented reality to diagnose visual defects has been named a CES 2022 Innovation Awards Honoree.
The re:Vive platform, developed by Miami-based Heru in a partnership with the University of Miami’s Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, will be showcased at the Consumer Technology Association’s CES 2022 conference next January in Las Vegas. The tool uses VR/AR software inside a specialized headset to guide patients and their providers through several diagnostic vision and health and wellness exams.
The technology is designed not only to improve and expand upon the basic eye exam, but enable care providers to conduct exams in remote locations, or even through a telehealth platform, opening up access to underserved populations in the US and elsewhere. It also builds on the rapidly developing VR/AR market, which got its start in gaming and has spread to other areas, including healthcare.
“Globally, approximately 450 million people are affected by visual defects caused by strokes, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, and other disorders,” Maurice R. Ferré, MD, chairman of Heru’s Board of Directors and CEO for Insightec, said in a press release. “Yet the decades-old standard of care is immobile, bulky, expensive, and requires a skilled technician or clinician to operate, limiting patients’ access to care. Limited access means that millions of individuals suffering from visual defects remain undiagnosed, causing irreversible damage to their eyesight. Heru’s technology brings us into an era in healthcare where improved access is no longer a goal, it is the new reality.”
“Screening for visual defects is only the beginning,” added Frederic H. Moll, MD, Chief Development Officer for Johnson & Johnson Robotics and a Heru advisor and investor. “In clinical development are therapeutic applications which include augmented vision correction. This new, cutting-edge technology will be the first of its kind and will transform the lives of patients with compromised vision around the world.”
Heru’s collaboration with one of the nation’s leading eye hospitals helps to give the platform traction in the clinical space – and standing with the payer market. To that extent, the company recently expanded the platform to include three new testing modalities, which will enable providers to perform six new tests that are supported by five reimbursable CPT codes.
Re:Vive was selected from among more than 1,800 innovative consumer technology products for the Innovation Award, which is judged by a panel of experts and handed out in 27 product categories.
Eric Wicklund is the associate content manager and senior editor for Innovation, Technology, and Pharma for HealthLeaders.