Consortia Could Use Telehealth to Reduce Hospital Admissions

An Urgent Care Clinical Dashboard is to hold GPs accountable for patients’ A&E attendances, unplanned hospitalisations and 30-day readmissions.

The Department of Health wants 10 pilot consortia to monitor each other’s progress minimising the use of acute care – and Telehealth Solutions’ HomePod could help.

The iPad-like device lets patients measure vital signs, answer questions about their condition, and send the results to a nurse instantly– though they may be miles apart.

It means health problems can be detected before they demand in-patient care, being treated and addressed at home rather than the emergency room.

The ‘Pods made a 90% reduction in unplanned hospital admissions and length of in-patient stays, according to a study by the University of Aberdeen[1].

One US study found telehealth saved £180,000 in just 6 months of use, halving the cost of acute care among users[2].

Telehealth Solutions estimates each HomePod saves £4,300 each year, or £200,000 for a PCT in 1 year of deployment.

Jeremy Cummin, Executive Chairman of Telehealth Solutions explained, “This is an undeniably difficult situation, we need to improve patient care, while changing the way they receive it.”

“It’s about making a sustainable health service that can cope with changing demands, budgets, and politics”

“More than that, it’s about keeping patients safer, happier and out of hospital. Efficiency and cost saving are important, but telehealth is about saving lives.”

[1] Roberts, ‘Evaluation of Telehealth Use in Argyll & Bute’, 2010, http://www.abdn.ac.uk/crh/uploads/files/Telehealth_Evaluation_Report_Final.pdf

[2] Benatar et al, ‘Outcomes of heart failure’, 2003, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12578516

Posted on Monday, 10 January 2011 under Home Pod