Intel, Mayo Clinic and GE launch new initiative to study care and benefits of home-based telemedicine

Mar 11 2010

Emerging Healthcare Solutions, Inc. (Pink Sheets: EHSI) was pleased on learning the news that Intel, The Mayo Clinic and GE Healthcare have launched a new initiative to study the care and cost benefits of home-based telemedicine for elderly patients with chronic illnesses. Emerging Healthcare Solutions has licensed a cutting-edge mobile telemedicine platform from Telemedicus, Inc., which the Company is currently developing for marketing. The Telemedicus system was jointly developed by the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and Texas A&M University before it was purchased by Telemedicus, Inc.

The new year-long telemedicine study will explore how videoconferencing and electronic health monitoring can help sick, elderly patients remain in their homes and avoid costly hospitalizations. Two hundred high-risk patients over the age of 60 who suffer chronic conditions such as heart failure, diabetes, and lung disease will daily use at-home medical devices to take their vital signs, such as blood pressure, peak air flow, weight, or blood sugar readings.

In the Intel system, the medical devices transmit the information to an Intel Health Guide remote patient monitoring system located in the patient's home. Depending on the particular medical device, data is transmitted to the Intel Health Guide system either via wired or wireless connection, such as Bluetooth. Then, the Intel system electronically transmits to Mayo the patient's vital sign data, as well as the patient's answers to several disease-specific questions asked via text or audio by the Intel system.