Sector report : go home and get well soon
Thanks to innovations in communications and biomedical technology, hundreds of
thousands of patients the world over will soon be able to recover from operations
and major illnesses in the comfort of their own home with no greater risk to their
health.
In recent years, great strides have been made in telemonitoring and telemedicine,
allowing post-operative patients, those with critical illnesses and elderly patients
with degenerative conditions to receive a high standard of care within their own
homes. A combination of technologies like ZigBee, RFiD and ADSL can relay vital
stats to a health suite, which can trigger an alarm if blood sugar or oxygen levels,
for instance, exceed normal parameters. This will improve patients’ lives while
also freeing up valuable bed spaces for under-resourced hospitals.
“No hospital will ever allow a patient home who isn’t sufficiently recovered
to do so. It’s the slim risk of post-operative complications that often leaves
patients lying in a hospital bed many weeks after their operation,” says Hans
van Eck-Casteels, Head of Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare Industries for Orange
Business Services in North America. “Doctors would allow them to go home as long
as their vital stats could be monitored at home as effectively and regularly as
they would on a ward. This new technology can let patients convalesce in a place
with less stress and a reduced risk of infection.”
Orange has recently joined forces with an innovative Canadian telemedicine specialist IgeaCare, who have developed a range of market-leading telemonitoring tools. Together, both companies will provide fully managed telemonitoring services to healthcare providers, firstly in North America, and then in the rest of the world.
Health monitoring can measure and transmit many vital signs such as blood pressure, pulse, blood oxygen and sugar levels, electro-cardiogram and peak flow. Technology solutions using RFiD attached to bottles and dispensers can check that patients are taking their medication and at what time.
“The technology is fairly simple. Monitoring tools, which can be automatic or initiated by the patient, are connected by Bluetooth to a device which relays them to our data centre via DSL, the PSTN, satellite or mobile. Using technology developed by France Telecom, we can then translate the content of the messagesand route them, based on their context rather than an IP address, to the relevant healthcare provider,” says van Eck-Casteels.
“It’s pretty easy to build a business case. It costs $2,500 per patient per day in a hospital but $50 per patient per day in a home monitoring plan,” adds van Eck-Casteels. “But it’s not simply a matter of economics. If the hospital beds are free you get a higher turnover of operations and so reduced waiting lists.”
Orange has recently joined forces with an innovative Canadian telemedicine specialist IgeaCare, who have developed a range of market-leading telemonitoring tools. Together, both companies will provide fully managed telemonitoring services to healthcare providers, firstly in North America, and then in the rest of the world.
Health monitoring can measure and transmit many vital signs such as blood pressure, pulse, blood oxygen and sugar levels, electro-cardiogram and peak flow. Technology solutions using RFiD attached to bottles and dispensers can check that patients are taking their medication and at what time.
“The technology is fairly simple. Monitoring tools, which can be automatic or initiated by the patient, are connected by Bluetooth to a device which relays them to our data centre via DSL, the PSTN, satellite or mobile. Using technology developed by France Telecom, we can then translate the content of the messagesand route them, based on their context rather than an IP address, to the relevant healthcare provider,” says van Eck-Casteels.
“It’s pretty easy to build a business case. It costs $2,500 per patient per day in a hospital but $50 per patient per day in a home monitoring plan,” adds van Eck-Casteels. “But it’s not simply a matter of economics. If the hospital beds are free you get a higher turnover of operations and so reduced waiting lists.”
caring for the elderly
As well as shortage of hospital beds, caring for aging populations is another problem facing healthcare providers and insurers. The US currently has around 35 million people above 65. This is expected to double by 2030. The patients’ families, healthcare providers and insurers share the burden of looking after this active, increasingly elderly population.
Simple capabilities, such as a mobile panic alarm, can have a major impact on healthcare costs, allowing patients to stay at home for longer. According to the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons almost 30% of all people above 65 fall every year and incur injuries, which may lead to death. Many of these are the result of injuries that would be minor if ambulances or doctors could reach them rapidly rather than their being discovered days later.
One of the many France Telecom telemedicine projects involves supporting elderly patients within nursing homes. FT has developed a ZigBee-based tracking system. Currently in trial in Orgeres en Beauce, elderly patients wear a tracking sensor that sets off an alarm if they stray from the nursing home. The system also incorporates a panic alarm if the patient becomes incapacitated, and allows the nursing home to monitor exits and windows.
Telemonitoring is helping people with mental impairment. Orange partner IgeaCare is involved with a small project in Ontario, Canada, that supports 22 patients with a number of conditions including mental impairment. Homes have been kitted out with home-monitoring software, vitals signs measuring devices, and an interactive touch screen monitor and video conferencing link. Nurses can use the video link to monitor these patients who need daily supervision. By reducing the number of personal visits they have to make, this can reduce operational costs considerably while also being available on demand over video.
field trials for drug firms
Hospitals and health insurers are not alone in their interest of remote patient monitoring. There is a growing interest in using the monitoring capabilities during third and fourth stage drug trials. This is when people at home test new medications over a period of months.
Normally, data gathering is slow as trials administrators must wait for patients to go to their doctor for testing before the data is relayed to the trials administrators who must compare data of those on the real medication to those in a control group.
“The old way of gathering results is very a time-consuming, elaborate way of doing it. Now you can do it real time which could cut time to market up to 60%,” says van Eck-Casteels. “If there are negative results, you can end the trial quickly. This could save lives and have a massive impact on reputation management.” It’s no wonder that many pharmaceutical giants are taking an interesting in telemonitoring to improve drug trials.
Beyond simple telemonitoring of whereabouts and vital signs, telemedicine is on the verge of even greater automation. Within a few years, wireless modules inside the human body, for instance within a pace-maker, will be able to relay status data to a unit outside of the body and onto the healthcare provider so that monitoring doesn’t even require any patient intervention. It’s a win-win situation: patient, provider and health insurer.
As well as shortage of hospital beds, caring for aging populations is another problem facing healthcare providers and insurers. The US currently has around 35 million people above 65. This is expected to double by 2030. The patients’ families, healthcare providers and insurers share the burden of looking after this active, increasingly elderly population.
Simple capabilities, such as a mobile panic alarm, can have a major impact on healthcare costs, allowing patients to stay at home for longer. According to the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons almost 30% of all people above 65 fall every year and incur injuries, which may lead to death. Many of these are the result of injuries that would be minor if ambulances or doctors could reach them rapidly rather than their being discovered days later.
One of the many France Telecom telemedicine projects involves supporting elderly patients within nursing homes. FT has developed a ZigBee-based tracking system. Currently in trial in Orgeres en Beauce, elderly patients wear a tracking sensor that sets off an alarm if they stray from the nursing home. The system also incorporates a panic alarm if the patient becomes incapacitated, and allows the nursing home to monitor exits and windows.
Telemonitoring is helping people with mental impairment. Orange partner IgeaCare is involved with a small project in Ontario, Canada, that supports 22 patients with a number of conditions including mental impairment. Homes have been kitted out with home-monitoring software, vitals signs measuring devices, and an interactive touch screen monitor and video conferencing link. Nurses can use the video link to monitor these patients who need daily supervision. By reducing the number of personal visits they have to make, this can reduce operational costs considerably while also being available on demand over video.
field trials for drug firms
Hospitals and health insurers are not alone in their interest of remote patient monitoring. There is a growing interest in using the monitoring capabilities during third and fourth stage drug trials. This is when people at home test new medications over a period of months.
Normally, data gathering is slow as trials administrators must wait for patients to go to their doctor for testing before the data is relayed to the trials administrators who must compare data of those on the real medication to those in a control group.
“The old way of gathering results is very a time-consuming, elaborate way of doing it. Now you can do it real time which could cut time to market up to 60%,” says van Eck-Casteels. “If there are negative results, you can end the trial quickly. This could save lives and have a massive impact on reputation management.” It’s no wonder that many pharmaceutical giants are taking an interesting in telemonitoring to improve drug trials.
Beyond simple telemonitoring of whereabouts and vital signs, telemedicine is on the verge of even greater automation. Within a few years, wireless modules inside the human body, for instance within a pace-maker, will be able to relay status data to a unit outside of the body and onto the healthcare provider so that monitoring doesn’t even require any patient intervention. It’s a win-win situation: patient, provider and health insurer.
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