36: Dr. Howard Umansky: Pioneering Telemedicine and mHealth To Drive Improved Outcomes

Dr. Howard Umansky, a 1980 graduate of the New York College of Podiatric Medicine, is the founder of Mobile Health, a company that provides podiatry and wound care services to homebound patients throughout the state of Florida. He also developed the Diabetic Rural Outreach Project (DROP International), which utilizes telemedicine to remotely monitor patients with wounds in China, Barbados and the U.S. Dr. Umansky's current research involves innovations in prosthetics for amputees and computerized skin sensors to monitor peripheral blood flow. He practices in South Florida and specializes in non-healing diabetic wounds. In this interview, Dr. Umansky discusses the need of diabetic patients, who have a rate of 2-5% of amputations due to the disease, and how he has created a program to address wound care and help patients avoid unnecessary side effects by utilizing telemedicine. He also discusses inappropriate readmissions and outcomes based practice.