24 June, 2025
Digital health technology is helping people heal in their own home and community.
There is a global recognition of the value of community-based health care, especially the need to extend specialized care to marginalized and disadvantaged communities. To enable equitable access to health resources, innovative health technologies such as in-situ digital assessment tools, connected care systems and virtual consultations are being implemented by organizations around the world.
The benefits from reducing the length of a hospital stay, or removing the need for it altogether, are clear. As well as being more convenient for the patient and family, community-based health care also means reduced stress and exposure to hospital infections, which can lead to faster recovery times.
Moving care to the community is more cost-effective for the health system and reduces the burden on limited hospital resources.
In Australia, the award winning iAgeHealth virtual clinical workforce service works alongside teams caring for older Australians in regional, rural and remote communities with limited healthcare facilities – connecting them to specialist clinical services they would otherwise not have been able to access.
iAgeHealth clinicians provide virtual direction to onsite staff to use a range of integrated devices and diagnostic tools that are connected to the internet and provide immediate feedback into the platform. The SilhouetteStar wound camera and assessment platform has been a key part of their success. The iAgeHealth clinicians can be in a virtual consultation speaking with onsite staff and clients while being able to review the concurrent high-quality images, as well as all the previous wound images taken across the continuum of care. Onsite staff can be helped with the assessment and guided on best practice wound management and techniques during the live virtual consultation.
There is a growing need in the US to meet the challenges many have of getting access to wound specialists. Mobile wound care service providers like Wound Care Plus, LLC, Wound Care Hawaii and Native Wound Therapy are examples of businesses embracing technology to enable them to grow their wound care service and reach underserved populations. Wound Care Plus has integrated Silhouette into their wound care management practice so they can capture high-quality images and accurate wound measurements to inform their wound care decisions. Key for them has been the significant efficiency gains in charting and documenting the wounds enabled by the technology. Wound Care Plus’s Advanced Wound Specialists are able to conduct thorough assessments with unparalleled precision, regardless of the patient’s location.
Capital Coast Te Whatu Ora Community Health Service has a long history of community care in the lower part of the North Island of New Zealand. They have found that with accurate wound information they are able to make better informed decisions, resulting in improved healing outcomes. The nurses use Silhouette to capture quality images and measurements, and the platform tracks progress of the patient whether they are in the ward or in community care. Specialists can access images and notes at any time to monitor healing, make timely diagnosis and adjust treatment plans to improve healing rates.
Wound products are a huge cost to the health system. Accurate measurement and tracking of wounds enable better informed decisions with more timely, targeted escalation and intervention when required.
Care teams welcome being able to easily access the patient measurements and records that are securely available via an online database – saving them time and enabling consistent care. Patients also welcome the technology that aids their recovery at home and gives them a better understanding of their wound. They are excited to be an active participant in their care and impressed to have immediate feedback on the size changes of their wound.
“If I know what’s going on, I can monitor my own progress. I tell the carers to report any change in my skin condition; most let me and the [specialist wound] nurse know straight away if there’s a change. I have trained the carers,” … “There are some things I can’t do for myself, but one thing I can do is try to help people trying to help me. Objective information helps me to understand what needs to be done and why.” 
John Moles
Pressure Injury Patient, New Zealand
Technology like Silhouette is supporting community care providers to extend high quality care to underserved communities. Accurate data is gathered and shared to connect everyone on the health pathway, from the patient to the specialist, enabling better informed decisions and better, more equitable outcomes.
