After 30 years, Fred and Ellen Caruso are handing over the reins of the company they founded, Caruso Group International, to a new CEO. Fred Caruso will retire, Ellen will become a fulltime lobbyist, and Sarah Myers will move from Oregon to Denver to join the company as president and CEO.
Patients who received telephone-delivered collaborative care for treatment of depression after coronary artery bypass graft surgery reported greater improvement in measures of quality of life, physical functioning and mood than patients who received usual care, according to a study in the November 18 issue of JAMA. The journal also announced a new series on “Caring for the Aging Patient” that might be interesting for home care and hospice staff. Plus, new proof that coffee and tea seem to prevent type II diabetes.
The United States is faced with a choice to spend more on healthcare — money that does not exist — or cut costs over time, according to a report underwritten by AT&T and conducted by Kauffman Foundation and Brookings Institution economist Robert E. Litan. $197 in savings would result from implementing telehealth systems. Failure to make policy adjustments that encourage healthcare providers to take advantage of remote monitoring technologies will cut estimated savings by nearly $44 billion.
New evidence has arrived from outside home health care that remote electronic monitoring more than pays for itself, though the savings accrue to healthcare payers rather than to care providers that have invested in monitoring equipment. In this case, the University of Rochester (NY) found that telemedicine in schools reduces unnecessary emergency department use by more than 22%.
