“We’re seeing just a wonderful explosion, a huge number of innovations and devices that can treat conditions or take vitals in new ways,” says Todd Haedrich, CEO of Optimize Health, a Seattle-based company that bills itself as being devoted to simplifying remote care. “A lot of those devices that required a stand in a hospital and had to be plugged in a certain way are all moving into the home.”
Telehealth
The shift toward allowing doctors and patients to meet via teleconference rather than in person is well underway as a result of the pandemic. The number of U.S. telehealth visits in 2020 was 63 times higher than in 2019, according to a study by the Department of Health and Human Services. Medical technology placed in the home can allow patients and caregivers to run tests, such as blood pressure and glucose-level readings, and even perform kidney dialysis and take X-rays.
Health care delivery further shifted in late 2020, when the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) indicated more than 60 different acute conditions, such as asthma, congestive heart failure, pneumonia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), can be treated appropriately and safely in home settings with proper monitoring and treatment protocols. Now more than 200 hospitals in 34 states offer CMS-approved Acute Hospital Care at Home programs that allow patients to go from the ER to home for recovery.
One booming area is remote patient monitoring (RPM), in which devices connected to health professionals and electronic health records make care more cost-efficient and easier to manage. Globally, RPM products can track blood pressure, oxygen, glucose, weight, dehydration, abnormal heart rhythm, shortness of breath and more already making their way into patients’ homes. All these high-tech innovations help not only the patient but also family caregivers.
To see how more intensive medical care can happen at home, a great place to start is kidney dialysis. Nieltje Gedney, executive director of Home Dialyzors United, says the move from clinic to home care is all “back to the future.” In 1930, 40 percent of health care was delivered in the home. Over time, it moved to hospitals, clinics, physicians’ offices and emergency departments.
In 2005, a consumer home dialysis machine, made by NxStage, was cleared for the market by the FDA. But, Gedney says, “it was slow to take off.” Gedney says she is tracking “eight new devices” in the pipeline that will provide even better home dialysis, but adds that one problem is a lack of trained personnel, transportation and willing patients.
While special devices, remote monitoring and telehealth are becoming a routine part of care, many patients still don’t think talking to a screen (or a voice assistant) is a satisfying experience. According to one October 2021 study by NPR, the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 64 percent of households using telehealth said they would have preferred an in-person visit.
With all these efforts, a key goal is to keep people out of the hospital. “With our aging baby boomers, we’re going to run out of space, so this has to happen. And people want it to happen,” says Michael Maniaci, M.D., physician leader for Mayo Clinic’s Advanced Care at Home program. “If we can do it safely, and with high quality to provide the best experience, it’s how the medical community and the future of health care survive in this country.” Article courtesy of AARP.