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August 10, 2005

(SYRACUSE, NY) — DAILY IN-HOME ‘CHECKUPS’ TO HELP KEEP AREA RESIDENTS HEALTHIER —Visiting Nurse Association of Central New York, Inc. Joins HomMed Telemonitoring Network—

Through the use of new, in-home telemonitoring technology, patients in Onondaga county treated by Visiting Nurse Association of Central New York, Inc. (VNA), like 53-year-old Nancy Calkins who suffers from hypertension and has been blind since birth, are getting a check-up every day in the comfort of their homes.

Calkins was one of the very first VNA patients to have a Honeywell HomMed® Health Monitoring System in her home. Now, her vital signs are checked every day using this new telemonitoring technology. Within minutes, her readings are transmitted to the clinicians at VNA for review, and, if they notice even the slightest abnormalities, action can be taken to address the problem.

“We’ve used the monitor to keep tabs on Nancy’s health a number of ways. For example, she recently began taking a new blood pressure medication and we watched her readings closely to make sure her blood pressure didn’t go too low,” says Kathy Salvaterra, a VNA nurse who reviews Calkins vital signs daily.

By practicing early intervention when any health problem is detected, the VNA is helping to prevent emergency room visits and hospitalizations, which account for a significant portion of the overall healthcare expenditures in the United States.

Each morning at 9 a.m. the telemonitor verbally guides Calkins through the collection of her vital signs. After she’s done with the process, she calls the VNA to find out her readings since she can’t see the visual readings the monitor displays.

“I think it’s a good idea that I do it everyday and the nurses check things out. If my blood pressure is too high, the nurses and I try to figure out what I ate the day before that might have caused my blood pressure to go up,” says Calkins.

Telemonitoring Technology Important as Population Ages

As this population increases, so does the demand for medical services and health care providers, all while the number of registered nurses declines.

The Honeywell HomMed Health Monitoring System uses a small, alarm clock-sized telecommunications device placed in patients’ homes. Within three minutes, patients’ vital signs are gathered and the results are transmitted to VNA for review.

When patients’ vital signs are taken daily, irregularities can be caught before they become full-fledged problems. Daily monitoring helps eliminate the two or three-day gaps of information that typically occur between home visits.

“We’ve used the telemonitoring system with a number of our patients who previously had been hospitalized numerous times due to health complications. With daily monitoring, we’ve been able to closely watch their condition, control their symptoms, make medication changes when needed, prevent rehospitalizations and keep them living at home, which is something they truly appreciate,” explains Indi L. Shelby, President and CEO of Visiting Nurse Association of Central New York.

The Honeywell HomMed model of care has been proven highly effective by the largest independent study conducted on in-home telemonitoring in the nation. The study, conducted in 2002, 2003 and 2004 by Strategic Healthcare Programs (SHP), a healthcare data services company, concluded that Honeywell HomMed-monitored patients experience fewer hospitalizations and emergency room visits than unmonitored patients.

The SHP study reported that CHF patients monitored by Honeywell HomMed experienced a 56.5 percent reduction in hospitalizations. The study also revealed an 83.3 percent reduction in emergency room visits by diabetes patients who were using the Honeywell HomMed System. And, SHP determined that compared with similar non-monitored patients, Honeywell HomMed patients are more likely to improve or maintain their functional status.

How the Honeywell HomMed System Works

The system can also gather subjective health information, which further assists in evaluating the patient’s condition. The monitor can be programmed to ask up to 10 “yes” / “no” questions in 11 languages. Question sets can be tailored specifically for each patient based on his or her diagnosis. For example, a patient with high blood pressure might be asked, “Are you experiencing any dizziness today?”

The data are transmitted via a telephone line or digital wireless technology over a virtual private network for review by VNA clinicians. Each patient has a pre-programmed set of limits for their individual vital sign readings. If those limits are broken, an alert appears on the computer screen. This allows the clinician to quickly prioritize which patients require an immediate response. With this system, VNA can detect and address even the slightest abnormalities before they become serious.

For more information, call Visiting Nurse Association of Central New York at 315.476.3101

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VNA of Central New York Background

Editor’s Note: Based in Brookfield, Wis., Honeywell HomMed LLC is the leader in the rapidly growing home patient telemonitoring industry. The six-year-old company produces and distributes the Honeywell HomMed Health Monitoring System, which tracks the vital signs of individuals with chronic illnesses on a daily basis from their own homes. The Honeywell HomMed Health Monitoring System is distributed through the company’s growing network of more than 250 home health care agencies, health systems and teaching institutions. For more information, visit www.hommed.com.

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