Partners HealthCare pairs with Philips for telemonitoring services

Partners HealthCare announced this week that it will pair with Royal Philips to support its growing telemonitoring services, providing clinical oversight for newly discharged patients and those with chronic conditions, such as congestive heart failure. Nursing staff at Partners will monitor a patient's health by tracking vital signs and intervening earlier with medical attention, reducing the rate of hospital readmissions.

"Remote patient monitoring does more than improve care coordination," Sue Beausoliel, vice president of operations at Partners HealthCare at Home (PHH), said in the announcement. "It provides a tool for patients to actively engage in their own health management. As the healthcare industry focuses more on improving patient experience and outcomes while reducing costs, technologies such as home monitoring contribute toward improved quality of life.

"Instead of having to wait for the next appointment, this real-time data daily monitoring helps us connect with patients, track their health status, alert us to a problem and intervene earlier before it becomes full blown."

The announcement also points out that PHH has served 1,200 heart failure patients, finding a 50 percent reduction in readmission rates for enrolled patients, with an estimated savings of $10 million in healthcare costs. Announcement