Press Release

Press Release

Keio University Hospital's Obstetrics Department Starts Remote Prenatal Checkups for Outpatients

July 15, 2020
Keio University Hospital
Chubu Electric Power Co.,Inc.
Medical Data Card, Inc.

On June 23, Keio University Hospital (Hospital General Director: Yuko Kitagawa), Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc. (President & Director: Kingo Hayashi; "Chubu Electric Power"), and Medical Data Card, Inc. (President & CEO: Kunihiro Nishimura; "Medical Data Card") jointly started a system to support and provide remote prenatal checkups for outpatients at the Keio University Hospital's Obstetrics Department.

With the consent of pregnant women, this initiative utilizes Medical Data Card's "MeDaCa" app to enable doctors to consult with them over video calls and send test results, prescription data, and other information to the app. Further, using Chubu Electric Power's data platform, doctors check in medical examinations the blood pressure and weight data that the expectant mothers measured at home.

COVID-19 is sweeping the world, but deliveries and prenatal checkups cannot be postponed. Remote checkups allow for expectant mothers to reduce their risk of infection and the physical and mental burden that hospital visits pose. Also, pregnant women can receive, without leaving home, the same detailed examination and treatment they would get in person by utilizing blood pressure and weight data measured at home.

Keio University Hospital is entrusted with a Cross-ministerial Strategic Innovation Promotion Program by the Japanese Cabinet Office, called the "Advanced Diagnosis and Treatment System by AI (Artificial Intelligence) Hospital" As part of this program, joint efforts have been underway with Chubu Electric Power on research as to home-care patient monitoring, remote medical consultation, and community health care support. The new remote prenatal checkup service is one of the achievements of this program.

Keio University Hospital will transition to this service in a phased manner, and, going further, hopes to leverage smartphones to provide regular prenatal checkups on a remote basis as much as possible.

Keio University Hospital, Chubu Electric Power, and Medical Data Card will continue to harness AI and IoT technology to support doctors in giving more accurate diagnoses and communicating with patients, and, in turn, develop services that enable people to enjoy robust and better medical services.

Notes

This checkup service was provided with backup from the "Advanced Diagnosis and Treatment System by AI (Artificial Intelligence) Hospital," a Cross-ministerial Strategic Innovation Promotion Program that the Keio University Hospital has been entrusted with from the Japanese Cabinet Office.

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