Virtual Reality Systems and Methods for Improving Clinical Outcomes

The invention provides a virtual reality (VR) experience, including VR goggles and haptic feedback devices, for patients to explain the benefits of a medical treatment or the consequences of non-compliance. The immersive experience seeks to have a greater impact on a patient’s behavior versus a discussion with a healthcare provider alone.

Background:

The integrations of VR features into healthcare products and rising utilization of digital data in patient care contributes to the establishment of a relatively stable market for VR applications in the U.S. healthcare industry.

Applications:

• Hospitals
• Separate “VR treatment centers” could be formed to allow many doctors and patients to make use of the system without investing in one directly (similar to a lab or testing center)
• Sophisticated haptic feedback systems combined with VR could be used for VR training systems, such as surgical training

Advantages:

• Improves compliance with a care plan and confidence in the given treatment
• Reduces or eliminates the time required for doctors to discuss benefits/consequences of treatment while improving patient understanding
• Simulates symptoms that are difficult or impossible to understand with language alone
• Creates an accurate representation of disease/treatment information via patient data and knowledge-bases
• Estimates cost difference between successful treatment and non-compliance via patient data and knowledge-bases

Status: issued U.S. patent #10,551,910