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Clinical Uses of Telemonitoring
in Managed Care
LifeLink Monitoring services are used in primary
care for the differential diagnosis of white
coat hypertension, management of poorly-controlled
blood pressure, and management of hypertension
and co-morbidities such as diabetes.
Telemonitoring is also used in cardiology and case-
and disease-management departments for congestive
heart failure and hypertensive
pregnancy/pre-eclampsia. Proven
outcomes in managed care include reduced drug
use for patients with white coat hypertension,
better blood pressure control in patients with
true hypertension, fewer office visits,
reduced hospital and ER utilization by patients
with congestive heart failure and fewer home
visits
and hospitalization for pre-eclampsia.
How LifeLink Monitoring
Services Work
We currently offer home telemonitoring of blood
pressure,
heart rate, weight,
blood
glucose and hemoglobin
A1c. We will soon be adding spirometry, PT/INR,
pulse oxygenation and lipid monitoring.
We handle all the details: delivering
monitoring kits to patients, training them to
install and use the system, managing the flow
of data around the clock, reminding patients when
they forget to monitor, distributing data and
reports to clinicians, helping patients if they
have trouble with non-clinical issues in monitoring,
getting the kit back at the end of the service
period, and cleaning, calibrating, repairing and
replacing the equipment. We take care of the hassles,
freeing clinicians to devote their time to what
they do best – provide patient care.
To start a patient on our service,
a nurse or doctor sends us a simple 1-page enrollment,
and we send the appropriate equipment to the patient’s
home. We ship a fully assembled monitoring kit
configured to the needs of each patient. The system
is easier to install than an answering machine,
and our customer service agents can help the patient
get the telemonitoring service up and running.
Patients monitor vital signs
and send their readings over the phone with a
single button press. They also answer questions
about symptoms and medication compliance. As soon
as we receive the readings and the answers to
the subjective questions, our system delivers
the data to the clinician.
From Data to Information
We turn raw data into useful information by formatting
it, comparing it to pre-determined norms that
clinicians set for each patient, and delivering
it at the right time and place. We can feed data
directly to your electronic medical record, or
we can deliver it via email or fax.
Financial Considerations
We do not sell or lease the telemonitoring equipment
to you. We own the equipment and provide it to
your patients as part of our service. That means
you have no front-end investment in monitors,
software or servers. It also means that you pay
only for the telemonitoring services that each
patient needs, and only for the months covered
by the episode of care.
By not requiring you to buy
or lease any hardware, we shield you from several
business risks, including the front-end impact
on your cash flow, equipment maintenance, calibration,
and refurbishing, technology obsolescence, and
any misalignment between forecasted and actual
demand. If you were to own or lease a fixed number
of telemonitoring systems, you would run the risk
of not having enough units to meet your needs,
or of having unused equipment sitting on your
shelf and incurring lease charges.
With LifeLink Monitoring, you
pay only two fees: a one-time per patient enrollment
fee and a monthly service fee for each patient
using the service.
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