As the nation’s healthcare industry continues to struggle with workforce shortages and access gaps, Philips is expanding beyond its traditional medtech roots. The company isn’t just selling monitoring devices — it’s using them directly to help health systems deliver diagnostic services in places where there aren’t many specialists.
Essentially, Philips operates as both a medtech manufacturer and a care provider, explained Nick Wilson, the company’s vice president of product, during an interview last week at Reuters’ MedTech USA conference in Boston.
He pointed out that this model helps address workforce shortages. For instance, many regions lack cardiologists, and Philips works with providers like Optum so primary care doctors can order cardiac monitoring. Philips handles all the technical diagnostics, and the cardiologists only step in when clinical interpretation is needed — a process Wilson said this process helps reduce diagnostic delays.
He noted that Philips’ monitoring solutions are designed to follow patients across the entire care journey — from home to hospital and back home again.
For example, when patients come to the emergency department with dizziness — a symptom often tied to arrhythmia — providers can now send them home with a connected monitoring device instead of keeping them under observation for two days.
If a patient is admitted, Philips technology allows continuous monitoring throughout their stay — even in specialized areas like the catheterization lab — without needing to switch equipment, Wilson said.
He added that Philips can also help hospitals discharge patients sooner by enabling safe at-home monitoring.
Wilson said that Philips is working with health systems and other provider organizations to decrease operational challenges and upfront capital costs. The company offers “monitoring as a service,” which allows health systems to use the same monitoring platform across departments.
This approach typically lessens equipment costs and staff workload, in addition to improving interoperability, Wilson explained. He said the model saved one customer “something like 13,000 staff hours” in a year.
“They could take that same device, that same licensing subscription, and move it across the entire continuum of care for a patient. We really believe the idea that policy, coverage and workflows all have to coalesce to really be able to unlock the potential of all this data we generate across the health system,” Wilson remarked.
As Philips continues to develop its connected care ecosystem, the company is focusing its product design on ease of use and the ability to monitor without interruption.
Devices should be built with simple self-application and continuous wear in mind, Wilson said.
He noted that about 30% of Philips’ diagnostic patients get their devices by mail, without a clinician’s help, so the kits include clear tools to help patients apply sensors properly. That way, the data is accurate and can be relied on, Wilson pointed out. Philips also proactively contacts patients to ensure activation and signal quality, he added.
And in the hospital setting, preventing breaks in data collection is vital. Wilson said one way Philips has addressed this is by designing waterproof telemetry units that don’t need to be removed, which reduces the risk of missed cardiac events.
“Today, for most telemetry units, when a patient is being monitored, they have to take it off to take a shower. And we know that’s typically when you’re going to have a sentient event because you create this black space in the longitudinal monitoring record,” he stated.
As it continues to build out its portfolio of monitoring products, Wilson said Philips is aiming to keep patients safer, help address care access gaps and ensure critical cardiac data is never missed.
Photo: Pijitra Phomkham, Getty Images
