The US Army is testing a telemedicine-based platform designed to send critical data from the field to the hospital and enabling providers to prepare for incoming patients. The connected care service is used by health systems and EMS providers for better care coordination during emergencies.

Currently, army officials are looking for units to test the Medical Hands-free Unified Broadcast or MEDHUB. The digital health hub collects data from varied mHealth devices and automatically sends that de-identified information to the hospital. This was developed by the Army Medical Materiel Agency (AMMA) at Fort Detrick, Md., and Army Medical Materiel Development Activity.

Jay Wang, the Product Manager of Army Transport Telemedicine said, "MEDHUB is really about life-saving situational awareness; The system is designed to give receiving medical teams more information so they can better prepare for incoming patients by gathering the necessary staff and supplies." 

Wang further added, "Imagine you are a medic on the battlefield and you just pick up six of your wounded battle buddies for a casualty evacuation; You are busy trying to save their lives and get them to the next level of care, which is a nearby field hospital that has no idea how many patients you are bringing or their conditions. The goal is to keep the medic focused on performing life-saving tasks for multiple patients and remain unencumbered from documentation and reporting."

The Army is planning to include more digital health tools in the platform. During the early testing phase last year, they tested wireless weight scales with built-in sensors and other mHeallth devices which could easily capture vital signs. This platform will be tested with volunteer units and should be installed by next year.