Royal Philips Electronics has announced a partnership with Project HOPE, the international health education and humanitarian assistance organization, to implement telemonitoring devices in select homes in rural areas of New Mexico.

The technology will enable the close monitoring of patients who have chronic illnesses but who nonetheless find it difficult to regularly get to the the doctor.
 
"Some residents of New Mexico face a significant challenge in access to care due to a lack of healthcare professionals to meet the needs of the population," said John P. Howe III, M.D., president and CEO of Project HOPE, who revealed the program during his keynote address at this week's American Telemedicine Association Conference in San Antonio. "This partnership brings together the global technical expertise of Philips and the worldwide healthcare knowledge of Project HOPE in chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and respiratory ailments to help meet the healthcare needs of community members."
 
Philips telemonitoring technology supports patient education and allows healthcare providers to remotely monitor patients with chronic illnesses in their homes. Clinicians can keep track of vital signs and symptoms, which helps them make more timely care decisions and helps prevent unnecessary hospitalizations.
 
The Philips-HOPE partnership will also provide training to local health workers who will assist in the installation of monitoring devices and teach patients how to use the technology. The training will be provided through a traveling health unit operated by Project HOPE. When the HOPE mobile unit is in the patient’s community, the telemonitoring data will be used to help clinicians assess the patient’s condition and manage their care.
 
"Philips Healthcare is honored to support Project HOPE’s efforts to improve rural Americans’ access to healthcare," said Steve Rusckowski, CEO of Philips Healthcare. "We can leverage our leadership in home healthcare solutions to help improve care for people with chronic illnesses in this area of the U.S."
 
A recent survey of healthcare and IT professionals, sponsored by Intel, found that telehealth will come to play a central role in the delivery of care to an aging population where chronic illness is on the rise. Telehealth technologies are currently being used by roughly two-thirds of healthcare professionals, with an 87 percent satisfaction rate, the study indicated. These professionals believe improved patient outcomes are the biggest perceived advantage to telehealth adoption, followed by additional benefits such as more complete clinician access to patient data and early identification of health issues.

Of the respondents not currently making use of telehealth, 50 percent planned on implementing it within the next year. The market for telehealth and home health monitoring is expected to grow from $3 billion in 2009 to an estimated $7.7 billion by 2012.

With a globally aging population and increasing numbers of chronically ill patients, a hospital-based and transaction-driven healthcare system is no longer sustainable, the Intel study showed. Additionally, the recent Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act provides an impetus to start using new models of care when dealing with such patients. Respondents to the survey expressed their confidence that the new law will only accelerate the adoption of telehealth.