TeleHomeCare links patients, medical center

Vitals taken at home through computer linked to medical center

By RON LARSEN

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- What if you, as a patient, were able to sit down at a computer monitor, press a green start button, and start talking to and seeing a home care specialist at New Ulm Medical Center who would then take your "vitals" through the computer?

That would be "pretty cool," as they say, wouldn't it?

As futuristic as that may sound, the future is now at NUMC.

The medical center is the first of Allina Health Care System facilities to use this system, dubbed TeleHomeCare at NUMC.

The Aviva program, built around a Hewlett-Packard computer, was packaged by American TeleCare, a Eden Prairie-based health systems company which made the software that runs the system.

"All the equipment was purchased with grant money," Kathy Thompson, NUMC home care hospice manager who's in charge of the experimental program, explained. "Right now we have four units to put into patients' homes, but there is additional grant money for getting additional home units if there is a need."

The effectiveness of the program will be studied for a year, Thompson said, to determine if it should be used in more Allina facilities. During that year, it will be free to the patients that use it.

However, several health maintenance organizations, including Allina's, are looking at making it a part of their coverage, Thompson said.

The system in its current configuration puts a lot of technology into the patients' homes.

Through a moveable camera, not much bigger than a computer mouse, the technician and the patient communicate as if they were sitting in the same room.

A template for positioning the camera in relation to objects like pill bottles--or scars or bruises--allows the technician to "zoom" in to make sure the patient is taking the right medication and the right dosage.

"We feel that the images are good enough to identify edema in the ankles, simply by having the patient press on the skin," Thompson said.

"And it won't be long before we'll have the technology to measure blood thickness in monitoring patients on the blood thinner, Coumadin," she added.

With the camera, the technician can take pictures of the medication or of the bruise so a doctor can view it all in the patient's electronic file. There's an electronic scale for determining the patient's weight, an arm wrap for checking blood pressure, a plug-in monitor for determining percent of oxygen in the patient's blood and pulse rate, and a stethoscope for listening to the patient's lungs and heart.

All this can be done while the technician and patient are connected, or the patient can enter the data for the technician to download later.

"All the patient has to know is how to press the green button," Thompson explained. "With the camera, I can see the patient and direct them in putting the wrap on the arm or where to place the stethoscope."

Thompson said the system has been tested on phone lines in the rural areas around New Ulm, and the system is working well in every case. She said the first home unit will be installed within a week or two.

"Our focus right now is on heart failure patients who require nearly constant monitoring," she explained.

"Our screening criteria right now are that they must have a phone line, they must have a need and they must be able to use the equipment. In addition, it must be an environment that will guarantee the safety of our equipment because it's very expensive."

Finally, Thompson said, "if they require the touch of a nurse, then we can't do it."

Patients desiring to become a part of the TeleHomeCare project are encouraged to call NUMC at 507-354-2111 and ask for Kathy Thompson.

When considering how much additional technology can be added to this system, Thompson is circumspect.

"We'll see where this takes us."