Through the three-year tele-home project, Mercy - a network of hospitals and physician offices in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma - will target patients with the most chronic ailments, including diabetes, heart disease and respiratory disease. The grant monies will fund monitoring devices so patients can electronically transmit results from home via computer or telephone line directly to their physician.
St. Joseph's Mercy Health Center in Hot Springs, St. Edward Mercy Health Center in Fort Smith and Mercy Medical Center in Rogers are a part of Mercy.
Extensive research shows behaviors change when someone is paying attention to them. Just tracking hypertensive patients nationwide with remote blood pressure monitors could potentially save $100 billion a year in unnecessary health care costs.
"In addition to traditional care, Mercy is providing a new version of the house call for the digital age. Because of our integrated electronic health record, we can track patient care across four states 24/7 whether you are in a hospital, clinic, ER and now from your home with monitoring devices," said Tim Smith, MD, vice president of research for Mercy's Center for Innovative Care. "By regularly tracking glucose levels, blood pressure, oxygen levels and more, our patients reap the benefits."
Patient benefits include:
- Reduced travel time
- Greater access to medical personnel
- More accurate referrals
- Quicker consultation time
- Reduced costs
- Improved understanding of chronic illness
The Mercy facilities participating in the grant project include: Berryville, Ozark, Paris, Waldron, Cassville, Mo.; and Mountain View, Mo. Some of these communities are 100 miles from the nearest urban area, sometimes over mountainous rural roads. In addition, all six of the communities exceed national poverty rates.
Through the tele-home project, Mercy will test the waters for even greater patient connectivity by moving beyond an electronic health record to providing patients with personal health records (PHR). Eventually, the goal is for all Mercy patients, not just those in rural areas, to have the ability to input data such as glucose readings, blood pressure and other measurements with integrated home monitoring devices to better their health.
Already in place today in many communities, MyMercy, a free online service, gives Mercy patients the ability to track health history, schedule appointments, contact a doctor and renew prescriptions via a personal computer or smart phone. Up and running for just three months, already more than 85,000 people across Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma have signed up for MyMercy. It will be available in the Hot Springs and Fort Smith areas in the coming months.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Amanda Terrebonne
Quelle/Source: Today's THV, 14.02.2011
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