"Telehealth is Coming of Age"
By Terry Wolters, Managing Member- Reflection Technologies, LLC (SDVOSB) and Kelly Besecker, VP Sales and Marketing AFrame Digital, Inc.
Despite the differences of opinion on which practices and regulatory requirements of our healthcare program demand the most overhaul, just about all agree that “better” healthcare for more Americans is critical.
And what precisely is “better” healthcare?
One answer to that question is to further leverage the near ubiquitous availability of network access with the continuous wave of wireless telehealth monitoring and interactive communication devices to bring health care support to patients living in communities without proper or complete medical coverage.
Whether the population segment is aging Veterans, retiring baby boomers, or those in need of special care many Americans live in rural areas, or because of transportation limitations do not have access to continued health care in particular with specialists that may be needed.
Today a patient’s vital health statistics such as: glucose level, pulse, skin temperature, weight and blood oxygen levels can be monitored on a real time basis and reported to a distant location electronically. Along with the patient’s physical location, daily activity level and “fall down” status medical professionals can track patient progress with regard to changes in medicines, review general and specific conditions that may be indicators of more serious health issues, or receive alert messages requesting immediate assistance.
Key to the increased market adoption of these services is the trend of reduced cost and better graphical representation of patient’s information so that it can be quickly and readily understood. And because of the adherence to networking and system operating standards this same information can be viewed through intelligent cell phones as well as desk top computers; allowing both doctor and loved ones to receive information on a patient’s health electronically as soon as it happens.
How does “Telehealth” become main stream?
A number of agencies including the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of Defense (DoD) and Veterans Affairs (VA) have cooperated over the past several years to develop and test standards the permit the electronic exchange of clinical health information for adoption across the federal government. Most recently these tests have expanded to include managed care consortiums.
“Watch Like” Personal Monitoring Devices Report Patient Status Real Time, 24 hours per day/7 days per week. Standardized information exchange, with privacy and security protections, makes it easier for health care providers to share relevant patient information and more accurate and transparent billing settlements between these groups as well. .
Balancing the business or cost aspect of health care improvement with technology is the work of the The Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT). Approved by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) specific steps are now in place to reimburse health care providers for using technology that meets these information exchange and storage standards for patient information- with the goal to establish a more “meaningful” interaction between doctor and patient.
Beyond the initial Electronic Health Record (HER) and Health Information Exchange (HIE) standards supported by the CCHIT let’s hope that a similar certification program and reimbursement process is implemented for wireless monitoring health products, and that more patients in more communities throughout America can enjoy enhanced medical coverage at effectively lower cost.
Reflection Technologies, LLC is a certified Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) and provides a number of Unified Communication Solutions for key mobile applications. Through open-source software and partnerships we have brought to commercial and government clients integrated software solutions that solve a variety of challenges. Terry Wolters, terry@reflectiontech.net, (703) 403-3133, and Kelly Besecker, (703) 203-1705 kelly@ aframedigital.com | 
