United States costs for healthcare continue to outpace inflation. Changes in demographics and population growth are the key drivers of the increasing costs, while advances in technology are a critical factor in accelerating expenditures. The largest generation in our history, the Baby Boomers, born between 1946 and 1964 age and continue to extend their lives. As this generation of Americans ages, so do the risks of chronic disease and the need for medical assistance. The currently encountered problem in obtaining competent medical assistance is compounded by extensive scarcity of physicians, nurses and other qualified personnel in key clinical professions and medical specialties, however, advances in the technological medical field now offer a cost effective solution to this critical shortage.
The integration of Telemedicine into new healthcare modalities, infrastructure and systems, offers the best hope for improving the efficiency and delivery of service generated by our expanding requirements. A patient now simply needs to have access to a telephone in order to have contact with qualified professionals that not only monitors an existing condition, but also evaluate and suggest solutions to arising predicaments. Tele-monitoring thus avoids costly crisis situations or emergency room visits.
These factors contribute to creating opportunities for new entrants to the healthcare sector and it places on incumbents a new form of resolving the currently existing dilemma of scarcity of medical assistance, while creating a cost cutting measure for hospitals, health insurance companies and health care providers.
The Tele Health Care Solution Company (THCS) was initially created to meet and satisfy the increasing needs of healthcare consumers as well as hospitals, health insurance companies, physicians and others in South Florida, along with the forward vision of expansion to other innovations. In order to test the validity of the hypothesis that tele-monitoring serves as a cost saving tool, THCS initiated a pilot study with Borinquen Healthcare Center in Miami.
The pilot study consisted of providing cardiac event monitors to 50 subjects presenting symptoms of chest pain. The subjects were randomly selected over a 4 month period. Each subject was provided with a monitoring device and trained in its use. The subjects were all from a population representing the medically underserved. All personal information was deleted from the study data by the clinicians supervising the patient care. Thus, the data review and analysis was conducted on scrubbed information to protect all rights of the subjects. The subjects were excellent at following all monitoring guidelines related to the usage and care of the devices.
The results were impressive. Of the 50 subjects reporting some form of chest pain only one subject had a positive indication of a cardiac event requiring hospital care. The other 49 subjects had discomfort unrelated to cardiac issues. Extrapolating this data it is easy to identify the cost saving and reduction in unnecessary emergency room visits or hospitalizations. If the average emergency room visit costs between $6,000-$7,000, the potential savings was in the range of $300,000 not billed to federal or state health programs.
This simple study supports the premise tele-monitoring has the potential to be a driving force in reducing unnecessary hospitalizations, emergency room visits and costly diagnostic testing. Keeping patients at home, while receiving the appropriate clinical attention is a win for all parties.