Commentary by Dr. Kevin Doughty When the first results of the English Whole System Demonstrators for telehealth were announced in December 2011, it was assumed that they would quickly lead to the adoption of the technology within health services across the developed world. The headlines were so positive – “if used correctly telehealth can deliver”: […]
Analysis by Audrey Kinsella Headlines like these are becoming increasingly, alarmingly, common: “Report: Telemedicine Increases Death Rate” [in the UK’s Online Pharma Times, 6/5/13] “Unintended Consequences: How Telehealth Can Fail to Manage Chronic Diseases” [University of Texas blog post by a nursing school professor] Both pieces imply that telehealthcare can actually worsen a patient’s condition. […]
A simple self-monitoring test could reduce the risk of stroke by half in thousands of people who currently take Warfarin to prevent blood clots. Better access to technologies for self-monitoring of international normalized ratio (INR) levels, which measures how long it takes blood to form a clot, could also lower mortality rates by nearly […]
By Audrey Kinsella In addition to the hands-off, low-touch medical devices we saw in October at the recent Connected Health conference (see HCTR, 11/28/12, “New Tools Help Patients Self-Manage Health, Chronic Conditions”), other vendors demonstrated devices that were somewhat more, shall we say, in your face. Avatars and Robots There is a new breed of […]
by Audrey Kinsella The upcoming Connected Health Symposium, sponsored by Boston’s Partners HealthCare, may inadvertently go unnoticed because it is scheduled concurrently with the NAHC Annual Meeting, but that would be unfortunate. Titled “Innovations to Build Value, Accountable Care, and Patient Engagement,” the October 25/26 confab will present dozens of high-level talks and presentations on […]
