Monitors keep track of patients from a distance

Nice move on the part of the VA hospital here...too bad the devices are not covered by Medicare...the folks who may just need this the most. Telemedicine will continue to grow...BD

Every day, Robert McDonald, 89, who lives in a Homestead assisted living community, hooks up to a monitor and checks his blood pressure, reports on the ease of his breathing and, twice a day, pricks his finger for a blood sugar count.
These measurements are sent through phone lines to computers at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Miami, where nurses can tell if something is amiss.
Manufactured by several companies, the systems have such names as QuietCare, LifeTechniques, AttentiveCare, MedSignals and HomMed. Most are designed to be monitored by case managers, but some systems can be overseen by family members.
In addition to motion sensing and vital-sign systems, there are bed sensors that can monitor weight gain, restlessness and the number of times at night a person gets up to use the bathroom, which might signal a urinary tract infection. Dorado intervened when one patient's pulse soared between 150 and 190 beats per minute on repeated tests. He called 911. ''She was having a stroke,'' Ellsworth said. ``If intervention had not happened, it might have been too late.''
The telemedicine/telehealth devices are not covered by Medicare.