Telemonitoring technology keeps patients at home, out of hospital

Honeywell HomMed Genesis DM remote patient care monitor COURTESY PHOTO Imagine having a device in your home that gathers your vital signs, asks questions and immediately sends all of the information to your health care provider.

This talking device is not science fiction — it’s the latest in home health telemonitoring and will be available to Lee Memorial Home Health patients in mid-January.

“Home telemonitoring is not a new invention, but it is gaining attention because it decreases re-hospitalization,” says Honey Lane, director of clinical operations for Lee Memorial Home Health. “Studies have shown that by monitoring disease signs and symptoms, such as daily weights, we can prevent unnecessary hospitalizations and provide better care.”

Thanks to funding from the Lee Memorial Health System Auxiliaries, Lee Memorial Home Health was able to purchase state-of-the-art Honeywell HomMed medical monitoring equipment. The equipment collects key vital signs, such as heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen saturation, temperature and weight. It also uses voice prompts to guide patients through a series of yes or no questions that allow the medical professionals monitoring them to receive a thorough health assessment.

“Right now we are focusing on providing this to our patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or congestive heart failure,” says Ms. Lane. “We have a full team of cardiac nurses who take care of these patients.”

Ms. Lane explains that a home health nurse will go to the patient’s home to set up the equipment, which is connected to the patient’s telephone. The nurse works with the patient to determine a convenient time when the monitoring will take place every day. The monitoring takes place seven days a week, 365 days a year.

A friendly voice notifies the patient 15 minutes before it’s time to start so the patient has time to prepare and doesn’t have to drop what he or she is doing. The system guides the patient through the simple process. It takes vital signs and asks the patient to stand on the scale. A friendly voice asks the yes or no questions, including whether or not the patient took his or her medications. The entire process takes less than three minutes.

Once recorded, the information is securely transmitted to a nurse, who assesses the information for any alerts. If something looks out of line — based on pre-determined patient standards — the nurse is able to quickly intervene with medication adjustment or other treatment.

“Say the patient is scheduled for a home health nurse to visit on Friday, but he or she has alerts on Tuesday. Instead of waiting until Friday, the nurse will visit the patient on Tuesday or notify the patient’s physician,” says Ms. Lane.”

The telemonitoring equipment also serves as an educational tool. “The daily monitoring is helpful because patients who may not otherwise step on a scale every day can see how that large meal last night or skipping medication affected their weight or blood pressure,” says Ms. Lane. “It really makes them more aware.”

Another benefit of telemonitoring is that all of the information being collected daily can be sent directly to the patient’s doctor. This way the patient does not have to remember to bring that information and the doctor sees a bigger picture.

A patient must have a doctor’s order for the equipment. Currently home health telemonitoring is not a covered expense by most insurance companies, but Lee Memorial Home Health will not be charging patients an additional fee for the service.

“We’ve been working on this for almost two years, and we’re really excited about it. It’s going to be a great thing for the patients,” says Ms. Lane. 