SAN FRANCISCO — A majority of American patients support the use of home medical equipment to manage and improve their chronic conditions, according to a survey conducted by GfK Roper for Practice Fusion.
"Home medical devices can save the health care system money and also enable patients to live more independently while managing their chronic conditions," said Ryan Howard, CEO of Practice Fusion, in a release. The company offers a free, web-based electronic health record (EHR) system to physicians and believes the use of products like blood pressure monitors, glucometers and scales can help connect patients with their doctors.
Glucometers, for example, can help diabetic patients record their glucose levels, the company said, and scales are recommended for use by patients with congestive heart failure to track weight fluctuations that signal dangerous condition changes. New technology has made such products affordable, but the connections to physician EHR systems have not been developed extensively and have limited their clinical use, according to the release.
"EHR systems are a key connection for linking these devices to patients and physicians," Howard said, adding that the company is focusing its development on medical devices for the start of 2011 and hopes to leverage home medical device connectivity to its community of 50,000 users and 5 million patients.
The survey found:
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Respondents with and without chronic conditions were equally interested in home medical devices.
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62 percent with one or more chronic conditions said communication with their doctor using home medical devices would improve their health.
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Up to 57 percent between the ages of 25 and 49 with chronic conditions were interested in home medical devices.
Phone interviews for the survey were conducted among a nationally representative sample of 1,008 adults age 18 or older.