The Palo Alto Health Care System - a US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health system in California - is set to become the world's first 5G-enabled hospital, according to statements made by VA Secretary Robert Wilkie cited by Healthcare Dive.
Next-generation 5G networks are more than 10 times faster than their 4G counterparts and could help improve virtual care services, streamline communication within health systems, and lower costs over time, per Healthcare Dive.
VA Secretary Wilkie noted that the Palo Alto facility will be the world's first to cross the finish line to 5G - but it's worth nothing that this claim really depends on the definition of "5G-enabled": For example, Chicago-based Rush University Medical Center previously landed a partnership with AT&T to become the first US health system to use standards-based 5G, and China already has a network of 5G-enabled hospitals.
The VA is an innovator when it comes to telehealth - and moving early on 5G can set it up to improve and expand the scope of its telehealth services. The volume of veterans using the VA's virtual care services is ticking up: A total of 900,000 US veterans utilized telemedicine services through the VA in the federal government's fiscal 2019 (ending September 30, 2019) - up 17% from the prior year. And the VA is an early mover in telehealth innovations: For instance, in early January, the agency launched a first-of-its-kind telehealth clinic that enabled oncologists at a VA-operated medical center in Pittsburgh, PA to provide chemotherapy to patients at a VA clinic over 100 miles away in central Pennsylvania.
And we think the VA's early move on 5G could prime it for wider deployments: With Palo Alto Health Care System's 5G system set to be operational this week, the facility could serve as a testing ground of sorts - once any kinks have been worked out, the VA can get other facilities 5G ready with the aim of improving the quality, speed, and access of virtual care services.
The VA's implementation represents one of the first hospital 5G integrations in the US - but we think wide scale 5G implementation across health systems will take some time. Many hospitals remain mum on their commitments to 5G as they assess the ROI of the technology, according to Healthcare Dive, so we expect to see incremental growth in certain pockets of the 5G healthcare space - and a prime area of healthcare that could immediately benefit from faster networks is telehealth.
5G should amplify telemedicine efforts by better connecting physicians and hard-to-reach patients, such as those in rural areas with limited access to healthcare resources, as we've seen hospitals in rural regions close at alarming rates. Another high potential area of healthcare that could immediately benefit from 5G is robosurgery: For instance, 5G's ability to allow almost instantaneous communication could enable surgeons to perform remote procedures that are currently impossible due to geographic limitations.
While we could see full-scale 5G implementation across health systems in time, we think hospitals will continue to dip their toes in the proverbial 5G water until uncertainties over the costs and benefits of 5G implementation are made clear by early movers like the VA.
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