LifeWatch Services, Inc., a subsidiary of LifeWatch AG (SIX Swiss Exchange: LIFE), will unveil its advanced AF TeleClinic service offering this week at the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) Annual Meeting taking place in Denver, Colorado. The AF TeleClinic service, empowered with the latest communication, IT and medical technologies, ensures physicians are well equipped to deliver optimal diagnostic and treatment options to their patients. Featuring robust reporting options with key charting metrics, and a comprehensive suite of workflow and data management tools for monitoring Atrial Fibrillation patients, the AF TeleClinic aims to improve the standards of care and clinical outcomes. The timely and accurate reporting features of the AF TeleClinic can facilitate better treatment options that improve a patient's quality of life, and reduce unnecessary and costly hospital readmissions and emergency room visits. Physicians further benefit from built-in processes designed to streamline their practice workflows and provide staffing efficiencies.
“In evaluating the best solution for monitoring of our patients being treated for Atrial Fibrillation, we selected the LifeWatch AF patient care program which provides efficient patient scheduling and enhanced arrhythmia reporting options”
Atrial fibrillation, a disorder found in about 2.2 million Americans, is a major cause of strokes in the U.S. Approximately 15 percent of strokes occur in people with atrial fibrillation, and the likelihood of developing this condition increases with age. Three to five percent of people over 65 have atrial fibrillation. LifeWatch first addressed this condition with its unique AF Patient Care monitoring program in 2008.
"In evaluating the best solution for monitoring of our patients being treated for Atrial Fibrillation, we selected the LifeWatch AF patient care program which provides efficient patient scheduling and enhanced arrhythmia reporting options," stated Vivek Reddy, MD, FHRS, FACC Director, Cardiac Arrhythmia Service, The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust Professor of Medicine in Cardiac Electrophysiology.
Building on this highly successful program, LifeWatch designed the AF TeleClinic with more advanced features and benefits that conform to the new standards of practice and care for AF post procedure follow up monitoring as recommended by the HRS consensus statement, including:
- AF Ablation
- Drug Titration Therapy
- Cardioversion
The timesaving and cost-effective features of the AF TeleClinic include automatic scheduling of patient follow up monitoring, powerful reporting formats providing additional important data, metrics and trending charts. For instance, an advanced "Afib" report generates test-to-test serial comparative metrics for validation of procedures, treatment success and efficacy. The seamless data management and workflow algorithms increase staffing efficiencies and free up time for non-administrative patient care duties that are more critical.
The AF TeleClinic "first in the industry" bundled telemedicine service, will be followed by a series of disease-specific monitoring TeleClinics™ that LifeWatch is developing. Each LifeWatch TeleClinic™ will provide a safe and effective care model outside of the costly in hospital model. The integration of colliding technologies like remote patient monitoring services, wireless communication platforms, wearable technologies and Electronic Medical Records (EMR) serves to proactively reduce LOS (Length of Stay) for patients in the hospital and prevent unnecessary readmissions due to minor follow up situations like compliance and false alarms. The use of advanced and agnostic technologies will enable LifeWatch to collaborate with any provider in the development of successful service models that ensure the safety and well-being of patients in a timely manner.
"The launch of our first TeleClinic service offering is an exciting opportunity which directly supports the emerging health care reform initiatives in the U.S." declared Brent Cohen, CEO, LifeWatch AG. "As a pioneer in telemedicine, LifeWatch has a strong commitment to develop advanced and cutting edge technologies that improve patient outcomes, reduce the costs of care, and deliver valuable time management processes that physicians need."
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