Remote Patient Monitoring Helps Improve Care Coordination and Lower Healthcare Costs

DALLAS, Feb. 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Hospital readmissions continue to be a challenge nationwide. It has been estimated that chronic diseases such as asthma, congestive heart failure (CHF) and diabetes account for over 80 percent of hospital inpatient stays. CHF alone is the leading cause of hospital admissions for Americans over the age of 65.(1)

Remote patient monitoring solutions are able to help patients spend more time at home than in the hospital, as well as improve care coordination and lower costs. 

AT&T* and Intuitive Health are working together to pilot a home-based remote patient monitoring solution that helps engage patients and family members in their own care, while seamlessly involving healthcare providers through integration with their clinical information systems. The goal is to help reduce hospital readmissions and healthcare costs, and increase quality of care and patient satisfaction.

AT&T provides wireless connectivity to send data from unobtrusive personal health devices including tablets, weight scales and pulse oximeters to a cloud-based, device-agnostic, software platform from Intuitive Health that engages patients in their homes and enables the data gathered to be shared with caregivers in a highly-secure manner.  

To measure the effectiveness of the solution, AT&T and Intuitive Health have been collaborating with Texas Health Resources, one of the largest faith-based, nonprofit health systems in the United States. Texas Health's research arm, Texas Health Research & Education Institute, is leading an Institutional Review Board-approved study to measure reductions in heart failure readmissions. The study went live in April 2011 and is scheduled to conclude in December 2012. Preliminary results of the study indicate positive patient feedback and reduced readmissions.

The Texas Health Research & Education study monitors CHF patients for 90 days from their hospital discharge, provides the patients with tools to participate in their own care and helps identify potential issues early that could result in complications and re-admission. The overarching goal is to keep the patient in their home environment and functioning at the highest level possible while reducing the cost of re-hospitalization.

"Allowing providers and patients to interact remotely helps improve access to care and makes the likelihood of timely interventions much more possible," said Randall Porter, Assistant Vice President, AT&T ForHealth, AT&T Business Solutions.

"Innovation is desperately needed outside the four walls of the hospital," said Eric Rock, CEO and Founder of Intuitive Health. "In order to increase our nation's quality of care and gain control of our healthcare spending, patients of all ages and technical ability must be given intuitive tools to improve their own health, while remaining engaged and monitored by their caregivers remotely."

Healthcare providers can see a demonstration of the remote patient monitoring solution at booth #3829 at HIMSS12 at in Las Vegas from Feb. 20 - Feb. 24, 2012.

(1) Kalorama Information: Patient Monitoring Systems Markets Remote and Wireless May 2010

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.

About Intuitive Health

Intuitive Health was founded by leading Healthcare IT innovators on the premise that healthcare delivery can be transformed from the hospital to the home, both intuitively and affordably. Current eHealth solutions require computers or complex proprietary devices in the home, limiting the ability for most patients to effectively use them. Intuitive Health's cloud services deliver rich interactive user interfaces to consumer electronics, such as internet-connected televisions and touchscreen mobile devices, while remaining highly scalable, quickly deployed and easily updated.  The secure platform is also highly integrated with the health ecosystem, including EMR, PHR and HIE interfaces. For more information about Intuitive Health, visit www.intuitivehealth.com or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/intuitiveDNA.

About AT&T

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) is a premier communications holding company and one of the most honored companies in the world. Its subsidiaries and affiliates – AT&T operating companies – are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and around the world. With a powerful array of network resources that includes the nation's fastest mobile broadband network, AT&T is a leading provider of wireless, Wi-Fi, high speed Internet, voice and cloud-based services. A leader in mobile broadband and emerging 4G capabilities, AT&T also offers the best wireless coverage worldwide of any U.S. carrier, offering the most wireless phones that work in the most countries. It also offers advanced TV services under the AT&T U-verse® and AT&T | DIRECTV brands. The company's suite of IP-based business communications services is one of the most advanced in the world. In domestic markets, AT&T Advertising Solutions and AT&T Interactive are known for their leadership in local search and advertising. 

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SOURCE AT&T Inc.