Earlier this week the Mayo Clinic announced that they are working with GE Healthcare and Intel Corporation to investigate a new model of health care delivery for patients at increased risk of rehospitalization; it is designed to meet patients’ needs where they are, including in their homes. They will be trying home monitoring of patients with chronic diseases, using Intel’s remote patient monitoring technology, will reduce hospitalizations and emergency department (ED) visits.

They will be working for one year with 200 patients who are all over 60 years of age. The Mayo Clinic will be monitoring the patients daily using in-home monitoring technology to measure their vital signs such as blood pressure, pulse and weight, and respond to questions specific to their diseases on a daily basis, with all data reviewed by the clinical care team working with their primary care provider.

The Mayo Clinic hopes this will reduce costs and improve healthcare…

With the numbers of seniors expected to rise dramatically and increasing numbers of patients experiencing chronic disease, the current focus on face-to-face clinic interaction with the provider is not a sustainable delivery model. Technology could enable new care models to help rein in costs and improve patient outcomes through personalized care and ongoing disease management at home and in the community.

And the timing couldn’t be better! Just as the Mayo Clinic is making its announcement, MinnPost found a study touting telemedicine as “a possible cure for rural out-migration.” MinnPost looks at a study (the Baltic Rural eHealth project was conducted in Norway, Sweden and Denmark) that focused on the impact of eHealth, or telemedicine, on outmigration.

The results of the study confirmed or at least corroborated with the vision of the Mayo Clinic…

The Baltic Rural eHealth study found both quantitative and qualitative benefits from the use of telemedicine. Quantitative benefits found include cost saving from reduced patient travel and reduced hospital admissions. Qualitative benefits found included access to greater personnel resources, greater patient access to specialist care, quality of treatment, and more readily available information.

The impact of telemedicine on out-migration didn’t seem as strong but the study did find that it was probable that eHealth can, to an extent, counteract out-migration and that the general benefits of increased telemedicine might prevent out-migration of health-care professionals as rural health-care jobs will be able to offer more professional support and a higher degree of prestige