Telehealth
With a push of a button, 63 year old Dolores Brown, has a comprehensive check-up, right in the comfort of her own living room. “The advantages are saving money, being at home, not troubling too many people, and ah I feel confident with it in the house.”
Dolores suffers from diabetes, C.O.P.D. and lyme disease. Battling these conditions, her doctor visits would be endless if not for the revolutionary virtual house call. “You bring the technology in, you plug it into the telephone line, and the computer talks to you. It reminds the patient that they need to take their vital signs and it allows them to have a virtual visit with the practitioner through the video cam,” says Dr. Craig Lehmann of Stony Brook University.
The technology is called Telehealth. A computer takes the patient’s blood pressure, blood sugar, temperature, heart rate, weight and blood oxygen.
“It’s a direct communication with the patient every day and you begin to see changes and that’s the power of the tool. Telehealth gives us the opportunity to really step back and monitor patients, a lot of patients, every single day and we see those trends. Patients who are home now, which is like 90% of those with chronic disease, are there by themselves, so if they begin to gain weight or their medication isn’t working any longer, they don’t realize it and it becomes an emergency. So they end up in the emergency department and they‘re re-hospitalized which costs a fortune so by this we can pick it up way before those emergency situations occur,” says Dr. Lehmann.
Vitals are sent via satellite directly into the computer of the physician or nurse, who by simply logging on, can check the statistics as necessary each day. The machine also has a camera and telephone, making teleconferencing between patient and doctor or nurse possible. There’s even an alarm to remind patients when to take their daily medications.
Dolores says that up until just a year ago, before using Telehealth, she was regularly rushed to the hospital at least once a month by ambulance. Today, with Telehealth technology, she’s able to avoid the trauma of ER visits.
“This is God sent,” says Dolores.
In a recent study conducted at the Jewish Home for the Aged in New York City, the use of Telehealth resulted in a 43% reduction in office visits, a 33% reduction in ER visits and a 29% reduction in re-hospitalization for patients using Telehealth. It also showed that compliance rates went from 30% to 95% when Telehealth managed the patient.
For most patients, there is usually no cost at all because the machine is included in the overall healthcare costs allocated by Medicare. It’s saving time for doctors, patients can be continually monitored and trends in the patient’s condition can be flagged. And for insurance companies Telehealth is helping reduce costly reimbursement payments.