Monday in FierceHealthIT, we reported that the Center for Technology and Aging awarded its first set of grants to support dissemination of information technology. Now we learn that the Oakland, Calif.-based organization, which has a mission of improving the quality of home- and community-based care for older adults, is soliciting applications for $500,000 in grants for remote patient monitoring--right up our alley here at FierceMobileHealthcare.
The center will make five awards of up to $100,000 each--mostly, but not exclusively within California--for organizations that want to expand usage of existing technologies that have shown the ability to reduce the need for high-acuity care for seniors with chronic conditions. "One of the most important means of maintaining older adults' independence and maximizing their functional capacity is the ability for caregivers, clinicians, and family members to monitor vital signs or a person's whereabouts from a distance. Thankfully, many effective tools and technologies already exist to greatly reduce these problems," said the center's director, David Lindeman, says in a written statement. "We want to see the use of these technologies expand more quickly across the U.S."
Grantees will have to have a strategy for integrating the technology "into the fabric of state and national healthcare delivery and reimbursement systems," the center says. Letters of intent to apply are due March 12, and grant projects will start around July 1.
For more information:
- take a look at this Center for Technology and Aging press release
- download application information (.pdf)