Philips introduces new offerings designed to increase access to telehealth
WHAT: Philips introduces two new solutions—a cellular accessory and steady scale—to complement its telehealth offering at the annual meeting of the American Telemedicine Association.
WHY: As the telehealth industry continues to expand, Philips Telehealth Solutions is innovating to meet the growing demand and achieve our goals to help increase access to quality care, reduce healthcare costs and improve clinical outcomes.
Cellular Accessory
A growing number of people in the U.S. are discontinuing use of landline phones, and relying only on cell phones in their homes. This means—to help reach the greatest number of patients—it’s critical to offer more connectivity options for services like telehealth that historically have relied on landline connections. Philips now offers a cellular accessory that allows transmission of patient data and survey responses from a patient’s home to Philips’ secure server via a cellular network when there is no phone line or DSL is available.
“With the new cellular accessory, we are able to monitor patients that we couldn't before,” said Patricia Upham, director, Home Care Services, FirstHealth of the Carolinas. “Telehealth is a key element to the care we provide our patients. In the past, we had numerous patients that couldn’t be monitored because they didn’t have landline phones. With the addition of the new cellular telehealth service, this obstacle is removed and we’re able to closely monitor the patient’s condition between home health visits. This supports our goal to offer the best quality care to all patients.”
Steady Scale
Responding to the needs of frail patients who require assistance standing on their own, Philips is introducing an innovative steady scale designed for home use. Similar to Philips’ standard scale, the steady scale allows wireless, automatic capture and transmission of weight measurements up to 440 pounds. The scale includes integrated handle bars for patients to steady themselves, enabling an accurate weight capture for patients who would otherwise be unable to stand unassisted. This is particularly important for significant portions of the elderly population who are frail. Also included in the steady scale are easy-to-use buttons and multilingual audio prompts to help ensure proper use.
WHERE: To learn more, please visit booth #1633 at the American Telemedicine Association Annual Meeting, May 1-3, 2011.
INTERVIEWS AND IMAGES:
Interviews are available with:
- Patricia Upham, director, Home Care Services, FirstHealth of the Carolinas
- John Ryan, senior business manager, Philips Telehealth Solutions
- Paul Bromberg, vice president and general manager, Philips Remote Patient Monitoring
Images of Philips Telehealth Solutions are available upon request.
CONTACT: