.

An updated 2009 report from the New

England Healthcare Institute shows several

results of interest for telecare advocates. 

The study evaluated the use of telehealth

for heart failure patients.  The hospital readmission rate for telehealth patients

was about 60 percent lower than the rate for patients under standard treatment.

The annual per patient costs for the remote telehealth patients was $5,632 and

In another study done at Pennsylvania State University, the results showed that

using telehealth technology can allow a nurse to make video contact with up to

15 to 25 patients a day compared to about five per day for traditional in-home

visits.  Such telehealth intervention reduces both direct and indirect costs

Patient satisfaction showed that 91 percent of patients in the program reported

overall satisfaction and would recommend telehealth services to family and

friends. The best news of all was that the patients experienced significant

reductions in the number of hospital readmissions.  (Caring July 2009)

Helping Elderly Leave Nursing Homes for a Home

PHILADELPHIA - Walter Brown never wanted to live in a nursing home, but

when he had a stroke two years ago, he saw little choice.  Mr. Brown, 72

could not walk, use his left arm transfer himserlf to a wheel chair.

     ....read more www.nytimes/2009/09/19

VA Study FInds Home Healthcare Reduces

Amount and Duration of Hospitalizations

Veterans with chronic condidtions can manage their health and avoid hospitalization by using home telecare

technology provided by the VA in their homes, according to a recent study.  The study found a 25% reduction in

the average number of days hospitalized and a 19 percent reduction in the number of hospitalizations for patients

using home telehealth.  The data also shows that for some patients, the cost of telehealth services in their

homes averaged $1600 per year lower than nursing home or assisted living costs.

Last Christmas morning, a young boy lay unconscious in the

emergency room of a tiny hospital in Colusa, Calif.  His pulse was

slow and weak, his glood starved of oxygen.  “He was literally blue,

says Dr. James Marcin, a pediatrician critical-care doctor.  “He was

dying.” The usual treatments weren’t working - the boy’s lungs were

filled with fluid.  Dr. Marcin advised the nurses to crank up the

ventilator to three times it’s typical pressure--a dangerous, possibly

deadly level in a less critically ill patient.

The decision saved the boy’s life.  And Dr. Marcin, a specialist based at athe University of California, Davis,

made the call from more than 75 miles away, sitting in front of his television in his Sacramento living room,

which was connected to the four-bed Colusa emeregency room by a teleconferencing system.   

      ...read more at www.parade.com.

by Sean Flynn  -  November 22, 2009

According to a studycompiled by York University and United Kingdom-based telecare provider

Tunstall Healthcare Ltd, Telecare saves five times as much money as it costs to install a health