Technology Enables the Monitoring of Complex Patients at Home

I have blogged frequently about the decreasing number of inpatient hospital admissions (see, for example:Talking to Patients Helps Reduce Hospital Readmissions; Inpatient Admissions Decreasing; Implications for Hospital-Based Labs). One of the factors contributing to this decline are new healthcare models such as"hospital at home" for the care of sicker patients in their homes (see:Are Hospitals Becoming Obsolete; Consequences for Pathology and the Labs;Reducing the Cost of Care; Provide Home Care for Sicker Patients with Remote Monitoring). The majority of the patients suitable for this care approach are CCC patients as described in a recent article (seeCOMPLEX, CHRONIC, CO-MORBID: THE CCC PATIENT). Below is an excerpt from it:...31.5 percent of all Americans suffer from multiple, difficult to manage diseases — a patient population we define as complex, chronic, co-morbid, or CCC patients.Patients with complex, chronic, co-morbid conditions command disproportionate healthcare industry spending. In fact, the nearly one-third of the U.S. population that have multiple chronic conditions drive a staggering 71 percent of U.S. healthcare spending....Managing this population ’s care and identifying which patients are at growing health risk, and when, is especially challenging....We define CCC patients as:Complex: Their health is influenced by socioeconomic, cultural, environmental, and behavioral factors, along with health-related factors.Chronic: They require o...
Source: Lab Soft News - Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Tags: Healthcare Delivery Healthcare Information Technology Healthcare Innovations Point-of-Care Testing Public Health Telemedicine Source Type: blogs