Healthcare IT News - January 2009 - (Page 28) 28 Healthcare IT News January 2009 ■ management solutions www.HealthcareITNews.com Telehealth, telemedicine redefine the ‘house call’ Healthcare providers use IT to expand their reach. By John Andrews, Contributing Editor t he hospital’s reach into the community is getting longer. As healthcare provider organizations get serious about implementing telehealth and telemedicine systems to expand sites of care and improve patient communications, they’re stretching the boundaries of conventional brick-andmortar facilities. Long considered a pie-in-the-sky concept, telehealth and telemedicine are proving much more significant as the technology advances – namely as a labor-saving and cost-cutting tool that can actually improve patient care. These benefits should help as the ratio of clinicians to patients grows wider, the overhead cost squeeze for hospitals gets tighter and the call for increased patient safety gets louder. Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft has been studying how “unified communications” can be applied for healthcare purposes, said Chris Sullivan, Microsoft’s national director of U.S. Healthcare Provider Solutions. “Telemedicine is a good one for us with regard to where the market is going – not just for what we offer in the area of unified communications but also for the overall trend of consumer-based healthcare,” he said. “There is more investment toward connecting consumers with healthcare professionals and we are providing the platform. We are focusing on traditional services that fit with telemedicine, such as specialist referrals, patient consultation and remote patient monitoring.” The platform is Microsoft HealthVault, launched last year as a conduit for providers and consumers, supporting personal health records, storing secure patient information and facilitating connection with other third parties such as payers, case managers and even medical device companies for health data exchange. The system, which also serves as a vehicle for correspondence and health education, gives consumers a new dimension for healthcare access, Sullivan said. “Consumers have come to expect this level of access with other businesses, such as banks,” he said. “This represents a cultural shift for healthcare and it will continue to evolve in the future.” A patient uses a digital stethoscope manufactured by American TeleCare to keep in touch with a doctor from the comfort of her own home. More and more healthcare providers are using telemedicine to communicate with patients outside the hospital setting. tele-PRaCtiCe By deploying interactive video and communi- cation support systems, providers are fostering a more intimate relationship with patients – especially those who are homebound with chronic disorders, said Jan Wuorenma, RN, vice president of partner development for Eden Prairie, Minn.-based American TeleCare, Inc. The ability to electronically monitor the delicate conditions of patients with congestive heart failure or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease gives providers the ability to perform faster interventions, thus heading off emergencies that may result in costly hospital readmissions. Automated interaction also allows clinicians to have contact with more patients using fewer people, Wuorenma said. “It lets clinicians do what they would during an office visit,” she said. “It is reaching a point where telehealth is becoming its own practice. In fact, there are practices that are now specializing in telehealth.” Involved in the telehealth marketplace since 1993, ATI uses video that runs over the phone line and broadband, and the company plans to add cellphone transmission this year. The system uses “intelligent” monitoring of vital signs and other measurements, such as pain and fatigue levels, medication response and shortness of breath. Patients communicate their conditions through a touch screen display featuring easy-to-read icons. Home program is designed to help patients transition from the hospital to home-based care, said executive director Lesley Cryer. “It’s less costly than the ‘hotel’ accommodations of inpatient care,” she said. “The criteria focuses on patients who come into the ED but aren’t sick enough to be admitted. Those patients are assessed by the ED physicians and hospitalist and if they qualify for the ‘virtual hospital,’ they go home with an ATI unit.” Presbyterian currently has three patients in the Hospital At Home program and has a fleet of 100 ATI units. As a network with its own health plan, the services are covered for its members. “We can’t build bricks and mortar fast enough, so we need to use alternatives like this,” she said. “Otherwise, healthcare won’t be able to keep pace.” Patient as PaRtneR To be sure, telehealth technology has eased the number of unnecessary in-home nurse visits, but in no way can it adequately substitute for personal contact, says Rae Szymanski, executive vice president and chief operating officer for the Visiting Nurse Association of Hudson Valley (N.Y.). “Technology is a management tool,” she said. “It does not replace a nurse visit, it only enhances the services being provided. In some cases, the technology has resulted in more visits.” By becoming more engaged in reporting their vital signs and other information, patients are becoming partners in their own healthcare, Szymanski said. ■ More at healthcareITnews.com e Connect: teleHealtH 0109 ViRtual HosPital Presbyterian Healthcare Services, a sevenhospital integrated delivery network based in Albuquerque, N.M., sees telehealth as its virtual “eighth hospital.” Launched last October and managed by Presbyterian Home Healthcare Services, the Hospital At ● modelIng Continued from page 24 redistributed them to take care of other issues,” said Estill, who noted the technology is now in use in more than 40 DCI clinics. Estill said the company is now targeting long-term care organizations and hospitals. A recent white paper conducted in conjunction with the Memorial Herman Healthcare System, reported an 8.4 percent reduction in payroll costs, 98 percent employee satisfaction for days and hours scheduled and a 50 percent reduction in time spent by authorities in developing staffing schedules. In expanding its scope in the healthcare sector, EmLogis is venturing into a busy field. Companies offering workforce management programs include Lawson, McKesson, e ● Connect: soNitor 0109 Broadlane, Kronos, Infor and Concerro, to name just a few. Estill and Bernard say EmLogis tailors its product to meet the needs of each organization, allowing them to factor in operational demands and employee preferences. By creating parameters, said Bernard, administrators are able to choose the staffing schedule that best fits their needs. “The hardest part of many staffing solutions is just getting the names in the boxes, and that leads many businesses to adapt their processes to meet what the product can do,” said Estill. “We’re not really selling an application,” said David Crawley, the company’s vice president. “We’re selling an enabling technology.” ■ More at healthcareITnews.com e Connect: ModeliNg 0109 ● http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareITnews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/telehealth-telemedicine-redefine-house-call http://www.sonitor.com http://www.sonitor.com http://www.healthcareITnews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/workforce-modeling-strikes-pose http://www.sonitor.com
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