Remote patient monitoring in home healthcare: Lessons learned from advanced users

Abstract

Abstract Most healthcare organisations will face the challenge of having to reengineer their legacy care delivery systems to accept health information technologies (HIT) that will improve their efficiency and effectiveness. Current facility-based healthcare provision that was designed to cope with acute exacerbations of disease and to undertake clinical procedures will need to adapt and restructure to cope with the logistic and economic burden of caring for aging populations with a preponderance of chronic healthcare needs related to conditions such as diabetes, heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and high blood pressure. HIT is revolutionising the way in which healthcare is being provided and promises to make the home into the preferred place of care. The advantages of this new paradigm are high levels of patient satisfaction, early intervention for disease progression, support for care-givers, and economic benefits associated with reduced hospitalisation rates. This paper reviews the underlying drivers to adopt home telehealth, an advanced HIT application, and the related clinical, technological and business challenges this presents. It explains why this is an essential strategy that forward-thinking healthcare providers must adopt. Given the associated social and cultural changes the adoption of home telehealth will bring, a vision is outlined of how the routine monitoring of health indices will promote health and not simply stave off disease.