The U.S. military's plan to develop fleets of robotic battlefield-roaming "operating room pods" in which wounded soldiers are treated by surgeons at computer screens half a world away is just the latest sign of the dramatic changes being wrought across the field of medicine by "telehealth" or "telemedicine" concepts, said Bill Hanson, MD, at a Connected Health Symposium at the University of Pennsylvania. The Chief Medical Officer of the University's sprawling regional healthcare system, Hanson opened the day-long proceeding with a look at military concepts that he characterized as "a bit scary" but clear evidence of the transformative nature of fast-moving digital health care developments.