Archive for July, 2005

Hospital-at-Home does not save money

Monday, July 25th, 2005

New review of studies finds that hospital-at-home programs common in Europe and Australia do not save money and may not affect health outcomes very much. “The tendency to extend care can wipe out the cost savings.” Click here to find out more.

7000 Alarm systems on Medicaid in New York

Monday, July 25th, 2005

A snippet that indicates systems being further embedded in mainstream care. American Medical Alert Corporation press release.

Ageing: Scientific Aspects – Lords report

Monday, July 25th, 2005

House of Lords Science and Technology Committee, 1st Report of Session 2005-06, Ageing: Scientific Aspects, Volume I: published 21 July 2005. Chapter 5 has lots to say about assistive technology. It’s not complimentary about the AT industry. The whole report is interesting so obtain it from the House of Lords site.

‘Building Telecare in England’ – Department of Health launch

Thursday, July 21st, 2005

The briefing paper (UPDATED 21st July) on our website explains what the forthcoming Preventative Technology Grant means for social services and partner organisations. We explain:
- why, in the era of the DH’s ‘hands off’ approach to policy implementation, it has made a big deal of this launch
- why services need to pay attention to the issues raised by the Telecare Policy Collaborative
- why attempts to add telecare into current systems without a full understanding of the issues will just add costs without realising the significant benefits that telecare can bring

The briefing paper also contains calculations of indicative grant amounts, by authority.

Click here to read the briefing paper

Teeside falls awareness

Wednesday, July 20th, 2005

Ok, not telecare, but highly relevant. Nice to see the local falls team is being proactive on publicity. Click here to see how.

$2.6 million into telehealth in Alberta

Wednesday, July 20th, 2005

Twenty-one telehealth initiatives across Alberta will benefit from over $2.6 million in funding over the next two years through the Telehealth Clinical Services Grant Fund. The scope of programs receiving grants will cover a broad spectrum of medical fields including adolescent psychiatry, smoking cessation, cardiology, rural health and chronic disease management. View article here.

Focus group results: A wake up call

Wednesday, July 13th, 2005

In focus groups with people age 50 to 65, the US Center for Aging Services Technologies (CAST) found that participants would be willing to pay $50 to $100 each month for electronic monitoring technologies.
“These findings should be a wake up call for technology corporations, who are missing a tremendous potential market for services,” the reseacher said. Read the article.

Malta Gov. Telecare Website

Wednesday, July 13th, 2005

Information on Malta’s telecare (alarm service) for which people become eligible at 80, or yonger with certain conditions. Click here to see their site.

Home Telehealth CareCompanion

Wednesday, July 6th, 2005

The CareCompanion, developed by Home Telehealth (HTL) of Cardiff is a modular monitoring and assessment system designed specifically for home use. It can be plugged into an ordinary telephone line and, when the healthcare or socialcare professional requests particular data, the latter can be delivered directly to a secure, web-based server. British Journal of Healthcare Computing article 6th July.

Nurses happier using telecare [=telemedicine]

Wednesday, July 6th, 2005

Many nurses who specialise in telecare are experiencing greater job satisfaction than those who do not, according to the results of a major international survey into the use of IT in nursing. Read more.