The Covid-19 pandemic has placed unprecedented demands on health care providers, among them the need to monitor patients remotely. Among the most vulnerable populations are cancer patients, who are at high risk of developing potentially lethal complications of Covid-19.
Our team at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) needed to urgently develop a way to care for our patients with Covid-19 at home to detect escalating symptoms that would require immediate care. In March, the Hospital Incident Command System, which focuses on emergency planning and response, commissioned a team to fast-track a solution. Six days later we launched the Covid-19 Cohort Monitoring Program, a team and set of technologies for safely managing cancer patients with Covid-19 at home.
