Minneapolis and Albuquerque -- American TeleCare, Inc. (ATI), the leader in the development and application of intelligent monitoring and video-based telehealth solutions, announced that Presbyterian Home Healthcare (Albuquerque, N.M.) will utilize ATI's LifeView™ Telehealth System to support its Hospital At Home program. Presbyterian has used ATI's system for its telemedicine and disease management programs since 2001. The new agreement will increase the number of ATI LifeView stations deployed by Presbyterian Home Healthcare to more than 100 units.
"American TeleCare's LifeView system supports video televisits as well as monitoring of patients at home, and we need the flexibility to do both in Hospital At Home," said Lesley Cryer, executive director, Presbyterian Home Healthcare. "The diagnostic devices available with ATI's system, especially ATI's integrated CareTone® Telephonic Stethoscopes, are also essential for us to provide high-level care to patients at home."
"As the baby boom generation ages into its chronic disease years, an estimated 157 million Americans will have at least one chronic condition by 2020. They could overwhelm our capacity to provide essential care unless we change how care is organized and delivered," said Randall Moore, M.D., M.B.A., chairman and chief executive officer, American TeleCare. "ATI is committed to innovative organizations that are advancing re-designed care processes, and Presbyterian is one of the leading health systems pioneering Hospital At Home, an alternative model that brings acute care expertise into patients' homes."
ATI's LifeView Telehealth System combines remote patient monitoring with interactive video for televisits. LifeView Patient Stations are placed in patients' homes. They are compact, easy-to-use monitors that gather information from questions that patients answer as well as objective clinical data from integrated medical peripherals (including blood pressure monitors and blood glucose meters). Care teams use LifeView Provider Stations to connect to Patient Stations, manage ongoing monitoring, conduct televisits, and carry out care plans.
Hospital At Home is an innovative model that aims to provide hospital-level care in patients' home as a full substitute for acute hospital care. It was developed and is being tested in a National Demonstration and Evaluation Study funded by the John A. Hartford Foundation.
"Hospital At Home is an alternative to hospitalization that can help make more inpatient beds available," said Cryer. "Our focus is on congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and community-acquired pneumonia. When patients with these conditions come into our emergency departments, we will identify those who do not require ICU or CCU care and would typically be admitted for a two- or three-day stay in a regular medical unit. These patients are candidates for Hospital At Home."
"Hospital At Home includes a LifeView Patient Station in each patient's homes for 24-7 monitoring and video televisits," said Cheryl Reese, director of informatics and telehealth, Presbyterian Home Healthcare.
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