Telehealth: Get ready, communicators

Investing in telehealth is essential for a hospital's success in 2012.

Telehealth will lower cost and widen the reach of clinicians and will become a major differentiator for hospitals. Busy, tech-savvy patients want more access to health care and as providers, we have to go where our patients already are—at home.

According to American Hospitals Association 70 percent of the “most wired” hospitals in America already provide telehealth.

Leading this new strategy is England, where the National Health Service (NHS) has implemented a telehealth project, entitled “3 Million Lives,” by installing remote patient monitoring systems in homes of patients.

A previous pilot study conducted by the NHS reviewed more than 6,000 patients in three cities suffering from three primary conditions, diabetes, heart failure or COPD. The results were powerful:

• Remote monitoring reduced mortality rates by 45 percent
• Emergency visited were reduced by 15 percent
• Emergency admissions were reduced by 20 percent
• Bed days were reduced by 14 percent
• Total costs per patient was reduced by 8 percent

A version of this post, written by Nicola Ziady, originally appeared here.