Telemedicine growing in use in Germany
- 18 June 2007
Nearly 2000 patients with chronic heart problems and 200 with diabetes are now being monitored through a BKK Taunus telemedicine system at home, in the German state of Hessen.
The devices are personal healthcare telemedicine services (PHTS) and are offered to patients who meet a certain criteria and have relevant health insurance. PHTS has contracts with both public and private health companies in Germany, and aims to offer them to patients suffering from serious heart illnesses, and more recently diabetes.
The devices are worn by the patient and monitor movements. Warning signs such as irregular blood pressure or low sugar levels trigger a warning which is passed on via telephone to the personnel at the PHTS headquarters in Dusseldorf.
PHTS’s medical director, Professor Harald Korb, told E-Health Europe: “Patients have a contact person at the telemedicine centre around the clock, 365 days a year and can make sure at any time that their defibrillator works properly. For critically ill cardiac patients it is a great plus in terms of comfort if they can control the ICD from home. This conveys a feeling of safety which can contribute to stabilization and overall state of health.”
Physicians regularly check transmitted readings. If these are not satisfactory, the patient will receive a call within five minutes. If it is classified as an emergency, its family doctor receives a message, and an ambulance is called.
BKK say that the use of telemedicine in Hessen has halved hospital admissions from the vulnerable patients who are using telemedicine, and it is improving the patients life dramatically.
They add that with the help of the devices, the patient receives a better understanding of their illness – bringing improved care, control of medication and other services, around the clock.
The goal of the technology is to improve the quality of care and quality of life for chronically ill patients and at the same time achieve better cost-efficiency.
Eyal Lewin, managing director at SHL Telemedicine, owners of PHTS Telemedizin told EHE: “German healthcare insurers increasingly use telemedicine solutions to achieve better care for their insured together with improved cost effectiveness – a reduction of hospital admissions and hospitalisation days – when treating heart patients in our monitoring centre.”
Links
PHTS Telemedizin – (German language)
