What is HIPAA Compliance?. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) sets the standard for sensitive patient data protection., in a nutshell, is responsible for the proper processing of protected health information (PHI) to prevent an individual’s medical information from being abused.
How is HIPAA Compatible With VR?
Medical VR uses the principles of virtual reality to treat patients who may not otherwise have access to treatment. This is vital because VR provides a non-traditional method of data visualization, thereby removing the biases inherent in traditional data collection and analysis.
In a study conducted by JAMA Dermatology,
The use of a virtual reality application to treat patients diagnosed with psoriasis resulted in an 88% accuracy rate in identifying potential rashes and a 96% accuracy rate in determining the depth of their psoriasis lesions.
Such powerful findings demonstrate how vital VR is in bringing lifesaving technology to more people. It is clear that this kind of technology will be crucial in extending its reach in the medical field.
With the help of the AI technology recently being developed in China,
There will be a better opportunity to keep users comfortable during treatment.
What Could VR’s Effect Be on the Medical Field?
When the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that VR could be used to save the lives of 130,000 people in Africa per year, it began to make significant waves in the world.
This means that it is entirely possible that VR could become an integral part of medical treatment in the next decade.
A report from the USPTO determined that 5% of the market could be up for grabs by 2021. This alone could potentially prove to be useful for a wide range of ailments. Worth pointing out is the fact that while some VR platforms are meant to treat specific illnesses, the potential is there to use the technology in many different ways.
Thanks to the increased usage of social media, a lot more people are becoming more aware of their health conditions than ever before.
What What is more is that the medical field is also undergoing a massive change.
Hipaa regulations
With this comes a greater desire for more readily available healthcare, and a more widespread understanding of how VR can positively affect patients.
While there is still a long way to go before we see the potential of VR in the medical field in its full glory.
It is clear that the technological change that it has brought will be one of the most life-altering events to ever take place.
What Are Some Medical VR Technologies?
There are many different medical VR platforms available to download, but here are some of the most notable of them.
What is SickVR
SickVR is one of the earliest VR platforms to be released, and also one of the more well-known. It launched in early 2016 and is designed to improve the effectiveness of people with complex medical conditions.hipaa certified Some of the sicknesses treated on SickVR include cancer, kidney failure, rheumatoid arthritis, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, and Alzheimer’s disease.
ClinicalTrials.gov
In October of 2016, the US government listed its first virtual reality trial, which is being conducted by the NIH.
ClinicalTrials.gov is designed to help track a product’s progress and is currently searching for trials to be conducted on VR technology to treat depression.
3D Treatment Sessions
ClinicalTrials.gov also hosts Virtual Reality Treatment Sessions, (What is HIPAA Compliance?)
Which allow researchers to explore the potential of using VR to help patients recover from a number of medical conditions. This includes multiple sclerosis, autism, chronic pain, depression, and heart failure.
The $599 Alpha Dome Systems Surgery simulator
There are many different kinds of VR platforms, but when you start talking about those aimed at the medical field.
The ones with the most potential are the ones that allow users to experience an illness. The Alpha Dome Systems Surgery Simulator is one of those pieces of tech.
Developed by Dr. Keith Rollins of the University of Southern California, the simulator allows patients to experience the procedure, from start to finish. They can choose from seven different hospital scenarios, and then are able to see the operation from start to finish.
“It’s virtual reality. We are in the 3D space and you have two axes to your head and two eyes,” explained Dr. Rollins. “The whole world is getting smaller, so if you have two axes that you can perceive and two eyes that you can perceive it becomes very compelling.”
“I want the student to view it and to do all their assessments so they are more comfortable,” he continued. “And we want the patients to feel empowered because they don’t realize that(What is HIPAA Compliance?) if you can see something from the inside you can save a life.”
