Commonwealth Fund Spotlights 3 Telemed Model Citizens

While the nation’s healthcare costs continue to drain the economy, several forward thinking provider organizations are finding ways to turn the situation around with carefully thought out telemed programs. A recent report from the Commonwealth Fund highlights the cost effective approaches used by three “model citizens.”

The report looked at remote patient monitoring programs spearheaded by the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Partners Healthcare in Boston and Centura Health at Home in Colorado. The programs used monitoring devices such as the Health Buddy system to capture and transmit biometric data, including blood pressure, heart rate, blood glucose and body weight to their clinicians, who then evaluated the data and coordinated care to reduce patients’ risk of deteriorating. The Health Buddy is a four-button device that connects patients to their provider through a web-based application that reads the biometric data submitted by the end users.

At VHA, the organization’s Care Coordination/Home Telehealth (CCHT) program was able to reduce bed days of care by 40 percent, when compared to bed days before patients were enrolled in the program. [...]