Home Health & Hospice Week

One-quarter of agencies now have telehealth systems,study says. If you want to improve your patients' care,you may want to take a page from these providers' technology playbooks. Saddleback Memorial Medical Center in Laguna Hills, Calif. reduced readmissions of congestive heart failure patients by 50 percent under a new program using home care telehealth devices combined with patient education and other components, it says. "The results from the CHF program are truly impressive when you consider that a significant percentage of our patients are elderly, have a range of comorbidities and are often uncomfortable with technology," says Saddleback's heart failure outreach care coordinator Laurie Carson. The hospital is extending its telehealth program to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients next, it says. Saddleback's program, which uses IDEAL LIFE remote monitoring devices, "helps me focus on the patients who need home visits, versus those who are more stable and can be managed telephonically," [...]