A next generation medical robot named RITA could help expedite treatments, reduce infections, and assist in facing biomedical terrorism. The robot, (whose name is an acronym for Robotic Intelligent Telehealth Assistant) has been developed by a group of scientists in California, and is manufactured by a company called Pertexa.

The robot can connect a patient to a medical specialist in any location in a secure, HIPAA compliant, manner. It is built with open architecture, which means it can integrate with a number of medical and diagnostic specialists, such as cardiologists and neurologists.

DOTmed News spoke to Kishor Joshi, CEO of Pertexa, Inc., about what RITA could bring to the telehealth table. "RITA has a unique, pre-loaded browser-based application that can connect the next available specialist physician and patient in seconds," said Joshi. The system draws from a databank of physicians who register their location and availability, so no scheduling is necessary.

The robot features a productivity tool called Radekal which Joshi says can help physicians increase their workflow by upwards of 30 percent. "Radekal will automatically generate a unique progress note for a patient in seconds and it will code and bill at recovery audit contractor (RAC) auditable levels," which Joshi says will drastically reduce a physicians paperwork, billing errors, and costs associated with redundant services.

"The impact of that could help save billions in the industry," said Joshi.

RITA is not yet FDA approved but Joshi said it is designed to adhere to FDA class two specifications.