Telemedicine has the potential to improve the delivery of Health care services in almost every area of medicine. However, it is particularly well suited to improve the quality of care available in specific sectors of the health care field. And health care for seniors is one such area in which telemedicine clearly excels.

As people age, their need for Health Care Services tends to increase even as their mobility slowly but surely declines. Telemedicine offers a convenient and cost-effective way to deliver health care services to the elderly in the home setting, eliminating the need to travel to and from the doctor’s office or a medical clinic.

Allows Monitoring of Chronic Conditions

Over the course of a lifetime, older Americans have developed a variety of chronic conditions that require regular monitoring. As a result, many seniors visit the offices of their family physician or specialists much more often than the general population. The remote telemetric capabilities of telemedicine are made to order for at-home monitoring of a patient’s vitals as well as specific other health criteria.

At-home monitoring can replace many of an older patient’s visits to the doctor’s office, particularly those that have been scheduled solely for the purpose of running a handful of diagnostic tests that can be handled just as well remotely. If the remote monitoring should reveal a disturbing development in the patient’s condition, an in-person visit can be scheduled to address that problem. Otherwise, a video consultation with the doctor can brief the patient on any interim changes in treatment the doctors feels are appropriate.

Given the sophistication of telemetric diagnostic tools, telemedicine can significantly reduce the congestion in doctor’s offices and medical centers caused by the presence of those who are there only to be given their regular checkups. Among the chronic health conditions that can be well monitored from home are chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, diabetes, heart failure, and obesity.

Facilitates Aging in Place

A popular concept in elder care today is “aging in place,” which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines as “the ability to live in one’s own home and community safely, independently, and comfortably, regardless of age, income, or ability level.” Most doctors seem to agree that older patients are happier at home and thus seem to do better healthwise if they are allowed to age in place. Of course, a serious and sudden decline in health may eventually require that a senior patient be institutionalized.

Helping to facilitate the aging-in-place movement are the advanced technologies of telemedicine, which allow the patient to consult regularly with his or her doctor via video consults and to remain in the home setting unless a medical emergency arises. An article at AlternativesforSeniors.com also cites the importance of FDA-approved wearable devices that can detect falls and other household mishaps and immediately forward that information to a caregiver or medical aide.

Prolongs Patient Autonomy

Telemedicine’s technologies, including telemetric monitoring devices and video conferencing systems, bridge the gap between at-home care and institutional care, allowing older patients to retain autonomy over their care for as long as possible. In an article posted at AJMC.com, Julie Potyraj reports that a Pennsylvania nonprofit operator of senior living communities found that the use of such monitoring devices reduced the percentage of its seniors moving into nursing homes from 20 to 12 percent. Potyraj is the community manager for graduate programs in health administration and public health at George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health.

Improves Quality of Life

Studies find that patients who can continue to live at home with minimal need to travel to and from the doctor’s office or hospital tend to enjoy a higher quality of life than those who are institutionalized or those who find themselves continually shuttling back and forth to medical appointments. A decreased incidence of depression is reflected in more positive psychological outlooks that help patients deal with the inevitable problems associated with advancing age.

Reduces Hospital Readmissions

One of the factors driving the sharp rise in health care costs has been the upsurge in hospital readmissions for patients who’ve developed complications or have relapsed after earlier hospital visits. Telemedicine is ideally suited to reduce the level of these readmissions and has demonstrated its ability to do so in a number of situations. The Visiting Nurses Association of Rockford, Illinois, is the largest nonprofit home care agency in northern Illinois.

To better monitor home health patients and to keep hospital readmissions to a minimum, the Illinois home-care agency uses Honeywell Genesis-brand remote patient monitors in conjunction with Honeywell’s LifeStream Management Suite. In a recent experiment, the agency expanded the use of its home monitoring system to previously nonqualified, high-risk patients with chronic heart failure or CHF. The experiment paid off, cutting hospital readmission rates for patients in the program by 14 percent.

To ensure individualized care for the heart patients, VNA staffers worked closely with hospital cardiologists to develop specific protocols and standards for each patient who was being monitored at home. While some parameters or standards, such as weight, were essentially the same for all patients, others were tailored specifically to fit individual patients. Once these standards and protocols were in place, telehealth nurses were able to quickly advise a patient’s cardiology staff if out-of-normal-range vitals were detected. Alerted to any abnormal vitals, the patient’s cardiology team could then quickly make contact with the patient and modify treatment protocols to address the problem.

Cuts Costs Across the Board

In a recent report, Keystone Technologies points to American Telemedicine Association research showing that “telemedicine saves patients, providers, and payers money when compared with traditional approaches to providing care.” Keystone, based in suburban St. Louis, is dedicated to improving the lives of seniors through the development of “technology-based solutions for senior living communities.”

One part of the ATA study referenced by Keystone focused on a telemedicine program called the Health Buddy Program, designed to improve and coordinate care for the chronically ill. Among patients who participated in the Health Buddy Program, ATA found “significant savings.” Those savings were calculated between 7.7 percent and 13.3 percent ($312 and $542) per patient per quarter. This is just one example of the savings that are being realized through the implementation of telemedicine programs.

If you’d like to read additional articles about the promise and challenges of telemedicine, as well as other topics of interest to health consumers, check out our blog.