Lakewood Health System update

Our telemonitoring equipment project is going well!  Last week, we invited American Telecare Inc for a product demonstration.  American Telecare is a Minnesota company specializing in video-based home telemonitoring equipment.  Currently, Medical Assistance will reimburse for a skilled nurse visit completed by video.  The video equipment is similar to a webcam but the picture quality is amazingly clear even with regular POTS (regular telephone service).  In the future, with the expansion of broadband technology service areas, it will make the ability to communicate and assess the needs of our clients by video almost as easy as in person.  American Telecare has remote monitoring equipment (like BP cuff, scale, oximeter for assessing daily vital signs) and even a stethescope for the nurse to listen to the patient’s heart and lung sounds. 

This month, I will be scheduling the last two telemonitoring manufacturers we are interested in.  With this information, we will be able to make our purchase decision soon.

Lakewood Health System update

Telemedicine update: Our agency has had two equipment distributors visit in January to showcase their products.  We have found the research from other providers who have already incorporated telemonitoring into their health care system to be very encouraging.  The rates of re-hospitalizations for clients who had daily telemonitoring decreased by more than 50% for one Home Care agency.  The research indicates that patients have improved disease management with daily monitoring of vital signs.  Many of the vendors have designed disease specific questions a client can answer daily to assist the nurse in evaluating symptoms.  Any abnormal or problematic symptoms can be reported promptly to the client’s physician to see if there are any changes in care that would need to be made.  We have found that the vendors are incorporating video capabilities, interfacing their system with common Home Care documentation software as well as creating health monitoring equipment powered by Blue Tooth technology.   We have two more vendors scheduled to complete a site visit in February and hope to make a purchase decision by March.   

Telemedicine Grant Start Up

Hi.  I would like to introduce myself as the new Assistant Director of Home Care and Hospice for Lakewood Health System, Staples, MN.  I am excited to be a part of the Light Speed grant.   My first priority will be to implement the telemedicine home visiting program within our agency. We feel that this will be an excellent service addition to assist our clients in living safer, healthier lives in their own homes.I am in the process of contacting telemedicine equipment providers for equipment specifics and obtaining purchasing bids.  It is amazing how the telemedicine industry is expanding and is taking a major role in our health care.  I have found a broad range of services offered among the providers allowing not just the monitoring of vital signs, but the ability to monitor the overall health and well-being of the client.We look forward to continuing our partnership with the Blandin Foundation and thank them for their support!

Intro to LightSpeed

Blandin Foundation recently announced grants to four Minnesota organizations through the new LightSpeed program. The program’s purpose is to stimulate the deployment of bandwidth intensive applications that connect local institutions to area resident’s home. I will be keeping a close eye on the grantees and helping to report their progress on the Blandin blog. In addition, you will be hearing from our grantees about their efforts to better serve their communities with big bandwidth tools.

We have two education and two health care applications in the LightSpeed program and four very different applications. Today, I will give you a brief description of each project.

LightSpeed Q & A with Bill Coleman

Thanks a million to Bill Coleman for answering a few questions about Blandin Foudnation’s Light Speed program for the blog.

What’s the thinking behind the creation of the LightSpeed program?
In community broadband, it is a mistake to focus only the connectivity provided by a network. Some advocates romanticize instantaneous adoption of advanced technologies throughout the community. In fact, once connectivity is in place, other deployment challenges rise to the top, like specialized equipment, software, and end-user training.

The LightSpeed program provides funding to overcome these challenges and encourages the adoption of new broadband intensive applications, especially in the education and health care areas.

A second reason for the LightSpeed Program is to provide evidence of the value of big bandwidth networks, most notably FTTP networks. Skeptics always ask, “What are you going to do with all of that bandwidth?” LightSpeed grantees will serve as demonstration projects and provide real world answers to those questions.

The Blandin Broadband Strategy Board’s Vision Statement emphasizes both the deployment and the use of ultra high-speed next generation broadband. The LightSpeed Program promotes achievement of the vision by stimulating end-user thinking about what is now possible in their own communities with the local deployment of high-speed networks, especially in partnership with their local telecommunications providers.