Massachusetts Personal Injury Library
New technology delivers home health care
Massachusetts attorney Thomas M. Kiley concentrates on legal issues affecting children’s health. A recent article in The New York Times announced that General Electric and Intel are collaborating to produce new technology that will utilize remote monitors to provide home health care.
This new technology will use a two-way connection to let doctors communicate with their patients outside of the hospital or doctor’s offices. According to the article, the companies will spend $250 million jointly for the next five years on research and development on this new technology. They call this new field telehealth, or home health monitoring. These new technologies let doctors remotely monitor, diagnose and consult with patients in their homes or in assisted living residences.
Intel has developed a new computer with two-way video capability that is linked over the internet to a doctor or health care provider. They call this new system Intel Health guide. As part of this new partnership, General Electric which produces medical imaging equipment and electronic health records, will distribute Intel’s computer system through its sales system. GE currently has a health care business producing $17 billion in sales.
These new technologies will help people and children with chronic diseases, which currently account for up to 80% of health care costs, according to the article. Chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and hypertension also account for seven out of 10 deaths in the U.S. Having access to health care 24 hours a day and seven days a week may help more people survive problems with these chronic conditions.
Chronic diseases also worsen as people get older. The number of Americans 65 years and older was 37 million in 2006, and is expected to grow to 71.5 million by 2030. These patients can be helped by these new technologies to constantly stay in contact with their health care providers and can allow them to live at home with more independence and comfort.
GE has been using a product called QuietCare that uses motion sensors to monitor older patients that indicate unusual patterns that might indicate a health problem or emergency. Usually, the health care system does not pay for preventive care or managing chronic conditions. Recently, some Medicare pilot projects are paying providers based on improved health outcomes for patients, especially those with chronic conditions. The Obama administration’s health care reform plans include promoting ways to measure the quality of care and health outcomes by promoting electronic health records and encouraging preventive and integrative medicine practices. Expert analysts and industry executives say that personal health care technology like these remote monitoring programs may help encourage a pay-for-performance system.
To see how such a system can work, you can watch a video at Home Health Monitors: Using Heart Rate Monitors, one minute 30 seconds, at http://www.youtube.com.
