STRATEGIC SOURCING & LOGISITICS


POC


Ease and excellence intersect at the Point of Care


by Kara Nadeau T


he COVID-19 pandemic has driven tremendous innovation in bring- ing diagnostics and treatment throughout the care continuum down to patients’ homes – and it is not stopping. It is only getting broader in scope and more advanced. “The evolving healthcare system includes new delivery models in which primary care physicians and nurses are assuming more signifi cant roles, with the patient more involved in decision- making and self-care,” states the National Institutes of Health (NIH) regarding its Point-of-Care Technologies Research Network (POCTRN). “These changes require the development of inexpensive and easy-to-use medical devices and infor- mation sharing tools that provide timely health status information at the point of care (POC).”1


While telehealth applications, home


tests for SARS-CoV-2 and remote monitor- ing of vital signs have become common- place, new technologies for POC imaging and testing are providing clinicians and patients real-time, in-depth knowledge of various conditions and disease states anytime, anywhere.


POC testing drivers and challenges A global study of 634 healthcare pro- fessionals on the evolution of the POC and rapid testing market published in February 2022 found the following top


reasons driving patients to self-administer rapid tests: 2 • 77% fast to get results • 67% easy to use • 65% easy to obtain   confi dentiality of test result • 54% saves travel time • 51% affordable • 47% less scary than hospital setting Among challenges cited in POC rapid testing: 3   specifi citysensitivity of tests • 33% cost of tests • 33% complexity of sampling • 32% lack of awareness in POC rapid test among healthcare professionals


• 29% lack of trust from healthcare profes- sionals in POC testing Another challenge is bringing supplies needed to the POC and storing them, as Midmark describes in its white paper, “Point of Care Inventory Control: A Place for Everything and Everything in its Place.”4 UMass Chan Medical School and UMass Lowell researchers surveyed healthcare professionals before and during COVID- 19 to explore whether the pandemic altered their perceptions about the use- fulness of point-of-care technologies (PCTs). Their fi ndings were published in the July 2022 Humanities & Social Sciences Communications, a Nature Portfolio jour- nal. ey fi ndings include • POCTs are not only useful for diag- nosing COVID-19, but healthcare


10 November 2022 • HEALTHCARE PURCHASING NEWS • hpnonline.com Photo 214366248 / Healthcare © Maren Winter Photo 9003084 / Healthcare © Monkey Business Dreamstime.com


professionals also perceive them as increasingly important for diagnosing other diseases, such as cardiovascu- lar, endocrine, respiratory and meta- bolic diseases.


• Healthcare professionals also viewed POCTs as “facilitating the humanization of epidemiology” through improved dis- ease management and monitoring, and stronger clinician-patient relationships.


• As the accuracy and integration of these technologies into mainstream health- care delivery improves, hurdles to their adoption dissipate, which encourages healthcare professionals to use them more frequently. The researchers state their belief that “technological advances made in POCTs during COVID-19, combined with shift- ing positive perceptions of their utility by healthcare professionals,” may better prepare healthcare for the next pandemic.5


Examples of where POCT is making a diff erence


A growing number of U.S. health systems are leveraging POCTs to expand diagnosis and treatment, and in some cases, lower- ing care costs simultaneously. They are also researching ways to apply POCTs to new patient populations and conditions. For example, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston performs over 600,000 POCTs annually through blood glucose kits, pregnancy kits, strep tests, and others.6


The MGH POCT program


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