InTouch Health, the leader in acute care telemedicine, today announced it has received a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510(k) clearance for the RP-VITA Remote Presence Robot. The RP-VITA is the first telemedicine robot designed for remote doctor-to-patient consults that combines state-of-the-art telecommunications and autonomous navigation technology. The RP-VITA is FDA cleared for telemedicine consults inclusive of active patient monitoring in high-acuity environments where immediate clinical action may be required. The FDA clearance specifically allows RP-VITA to be used for active patient monitoring in pre-operative, peri-operative and post-surgical settings, including cardiovascular, neurological, prenatal, psychological and critical care assessments and examinations.

The RP-VITA is a multi-faceted medical device platform that features Auto Drive and an iPad user interface that gives it unprecedented ease of use and versatility for delivering high-acuity telemedicine. RP-VITA merges seamlessly with existing hospital processes to provide state-of-the-art audiovisual capabilities with a high-quality interactive experience. Furthermore, the RP-VITA platform was designed with a full range of clinical capabilities for delivering services like TeleStroke and TeleICU today that can be expanded to integrate patient data and enable other important clinical functions in the future. Enhancing efficiency through ease of use and care coordination, RP-VITA sets a new standard of performance for delivering acute care remotely.

“RP-VITA brings to market a true next-generation remote presence solution that will enable many new clinical applications and uses,” said Yulun Wang, Ph.D., Chairman and CEO of InTouch Health. “We are proud to have achieved this regulatory objective with the autonomous navigation capability for RP-VITA and are absolutely committed to the highest standards for safety and efficacy. We are pleased to provide customers the assurance of knowing that our telemedicine solutions have withstood rigorous clinical testing and are fully compliant with FDA regulations.”

“RP-VITA raises the bar for acute care telemedicine solutions for patient care delivery. The Robot allows me to effortlessly follow the entire clinical workflow process, and puts me at the point of care precisely when and where I need to be,” said Paul Vespa, M.D., Director of Neurocritical Care, UCLA Health System, and Associate Professor of Neurosurgery and Neurology at the UCLA School of Medicine. “As a thought-leader in today’s challenging health care environment, we at UCLA are very pleased to have participated in the clinical development and validation of this revolutionary health care delivery platform.”

The RP-VITA Robot will be featured during the Digital Health Summit at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) on January 9, 2013, 9:00 am at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The presentation, Digital Health Confidential, will be moderated by Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Chief Medical Correspondent for CNN News, and will include as panelists Dr. Yulun Wang, Chairman and CEO, InTouch Health, and Colin Angle, Chairman and CEO, iRobot.

About InTouch Health

InTouch Health is the leader in providing telemedicine solutions for high-acuity applications where doctors are required to take immediate clinical action. Its InTouch® Telemedicine System is the industry’s only fully integrated end-to-end solution encompassing clinical data management, medical imaging, 24/7 technical support, clinical consulting services and the SureConnect® cloud-based infrastructure. By removing time and distance barriers, the InTouch Telemedicine System effectively enables physicians to perform real-time consults with hospital patients through a host of purpose-built telemedicine devices. Deployed on six continents, over 10% of all U.S. hospitals – including 13 of the nation’s top neuroscience centers of excellence – use the InTouch Telemedicine System.