At a time when President Obama and Congress are debating comprehensive health care reform, today’s event at the National Institutes of Health is timely and constructively helpful in showing how broadband is already making a difference with patients, doctors and nurses across the country. And, the discussion made it obvious that many very smart people agree that broadband-enabled technologies are an important part of the discussion that focuses on a path toward better care and a system worthy of America’s ingenuity.
If there is one word the audience heard time and time again today – it’s the network – or to be a bit more elaborate, the need for robust broadband networks that connect more and more patients throughout the U.S. with their caregivers.
Dr. Joseph Kvedar, a NextGenWeb contributor and Executive Director at the Center for Connected Health in Boston noted that thanks to broadband technology, nurses have gone from performing 5 in-house patient visits a day to monitoring 250 patients at a time via remote monitoring and HD video technology. This translates into less secondary visits which means reduced costs and burden for the patient as well as more targeted care.
The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that nearly 50% of patients with chronic disease do not take their medication as prescribed. But, broadband networks and the technologies being developed around them are also resulting in a dramatic up-tick of patients who are practicing better medication adherence. Just think of what that can do to not only bring down costs, but more importantly, increase the patient’s quality of life.
Dr. Kvedar and other leading visionaries are already making a difference by making the connection between technology and health care. And, everyone interested in real solutions for our health care crisis should listen.
To see more of Dr. Kvedar’s remarks and other discussions on broadband and health care visit www.nih.org and look for the sessions under “The Symposium on the Future of Telehealth: Essential Technologies for Clinical Research and Care.”
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June 27th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
[...] Reform where White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel spoke. Many of these events, including the recent talk at NIH on broadband technologies and health care reform, will most likely be added to Pulse + Signal’s calendar. The innovative new site reinforces [...]