“The new offering, which pairs Alarm.com’s patented wireless and web-based monitoring technology with SafetyCare’s 24/7 emergency and medical response services, gives individuals who might otherwise need institutional care or on-site supervision the ability to live alone without compromising their well-being or incurring significant costs for institutional care. At the same time, family members and authorized professional caregivers can ensure the well being of those they care for with a set of monitoring features truly unique to the market…” Press release.
[I wonder if someone would like to justify that ‘unique’ statement? The list of features doesn’t look unique to me. Perhaps the writer got a little overenthusiastic?]
Follow-up: See comments for response re uniqueness. Thanks Dan.
“The project TeleWatch Patient Monitoring System was developed to do home monitoring and disease management for high risk outpatients suffering from congestive heart failure. The Home Link system provides for communication and recording of patient’s data.” Read about all the developments in the Federal Telemedicine News.
The Vena platform is “a low cost single chip communication solution for health devices, with the capability to deliver both wired (USB) and wireless (Bluetooth) connectivity to health devices.” Paul Williamson, Head of Wireless Medical at Cambridge Consultants, said “Vena provides the capability to rapidly develop [ ! ] ‘Continua Certified devices’ and we are now engaging with medical device companies from within Continua with the aim of making compatible personal health and fitness devices a reality.” Press release.
Surely coincidental, but after I commented adversely on XTend’s first press release to reference this story (XTend and Vocollect hit a low spot), XTend comes out with something more informative.
You can tell from the title that the first is going to be riddled with jargon:
TelaDoc Joins The Center for Health Value Innovation, Aligns with Industry Leaders in Value-Based Benefit Design
The second proves that Americans - well, some of them - are totally insensitive to the finer points of English grammar. It has not one, but two infinitives that are both split with two adverbs! Boldly going? I think not.
Life-saving telestroke / telehealth service now available to rural hospitals in Tennessee and Wyoming
OK, read them for the content, but don’t expect me not to complain!
Shortly after the previous posting (US phone check-in service started), news of another automated phone safety confirmation service pops up, this time in Leicester, Massachusetts.
Good question and a thoughtful answer by Thomas S Nesbitt MD in iHealthBeat.
Someone ‘gets’ it. Interesting that it is someone in the telecoms and not the telecare industry:
The ‘business case’ for Fibre-to-the-Home networks is no longer based solely on the commercial returns from Internet access and other communication services. Important services that depend on high quality broadband infrastructure include telehealth, tele-education, e-business, digital media, e-government, smart utility meter reading, etc. These are all key reasons why developed nations need Next Generation Networks.
Read full article by Paul Budde in his Australian BuddeBlog.
Angel Telecare has recently been founded by a couple in Florida. It is similar in principle to the UK’s Alertacall ’safety confirmation service’ in that non-interaction with the phone starts an alert sequence. However, Angel Telecare has automated dialling out to participants, like the volunteer-run, often community-based phone services that have been operating for years in the States. So the focus of responsibility is on the service to make contact whereas with Alertacall the focus of responsibility is with the individual to make the contact before the predetermined time each day.
It is interesting to speculate on whether the differences are rooted in the countries’ cultures, or in the pricing structure of the phone systems.
Story of Angel Telecare founders. Angel Telecare website. Alertacall website.
“The [Hallmark Health VNA and Hospice] agency recently completed a year-long study on the effectiveness of telemonitoring in reducing re-hospitalizations of patients. It found that patients using the home telemonitoring system had an 18 percent re-hospitalization rate as compared with the general population, which has a 36 percent hospitalization rate.”
A patient-focused local news report.
The ‘iShoe’ has been widely reported in the general media, but here is the source story.
Distressed family seeks answers as to why their mother was given a panic alarm system, apparently inappropriately. Website.
Consider in the light of the Verify & Locate story above.
The US-based Guardian Alert 911 takes the panic alarm principle and cuts out the call centre, connecting owners directly to the emergency services. Taking this approach there’s an immediate saving for users as there are no monthly fees.
View this 7 minute Guardian Alert 911 video on the company’s website.
LogicMark homepage.
US WiFiMed Holdings Company, Inc. whose holdings are providers of ‘physician workflow solutions’ has announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding to purchase UK-based Integrated Telecare Ltd (iTelecare). The acquisition is expected to be completed by the end of the year, with iTelecare becoming the fourth wholly owned subsidiary of WiFiMed Holdings. Press release for more detail.
Tim Craig, for iTelecare, told Telecare Aware “This is a good development that will lead to many improvements for our customers and their telecare users. It demonstrates an understanding of the great potential of broadband-based systems and the extra value of working with iTelecare.” iTelecare home page.
Dr Ted Eytan comments on four articles he has been reading on home health (remote patient) monitoring. His breath-of-fresh-air conclusions are cautiously positive. Now Reading: A Few Peer-Reviewed Articles About Patient Willingness to Self-Monitor.
