Sprint
has formed a partnership with remote-health-management provider BL Healthcare to power 3G connectivity
for its telemedicine platform.
The collaboration with Sprint announced on Feb. 16 will bring a new
standard for health care management with improved quality and lower
costs, according to Michael Mathur, president and CEO of BL Healthcare.
"We believe Sprint's unique combination of network assets and open architecture provide key components in the development of the
next generation of remote health care-related services," Mathur said in a statement.
Using BL Healthcare telemedicine services, which are FDA approved
and HIPAA compliant, patients can send vital medical data remotely to
doctors
while at work, at home, in a hospital or assisted living facility—and
even in pharmacies
or retail stores.
Over Sprint's network, patients can send readings on blood pressure,
heart rate and breathing, Tim Donahue, Sprint's vice president of
industry solutions, told eWEEK. Doctors can monitor readings for signs
of chronic conditions such as heart disease, stroke, cancer and
diabetes.
The populations using remote monitoring platforms such as BL
Healthcare's are often low income and lack a primary phone line, noted
Gary
Rurup, strategic opportunity manager for Sprint's Emerging Solutions
group.
"Having that wireless component does open doors to populations with a growing need," Rurup told eWEEK.
A remote-monitoring setup can also help patients avoid rehospitalization, Rurup explained.
"On rehospitalization many insurance plans don't pay," Donahue said.
"In many cases they don't need to go in. If they
can do it remotely and send those vital status [updates], there's no
need to inconvenience the patient and incur those costs of the
hospital."
Checking blood pressure three times a day remotely rather than less
frequently in person can prevent more serious complications, Donahue
noted.
Rurup mentioned the possibility of a "white coat syndrome," in which
a patient's blood pressure could even be higher from
the anxiety of being in a doctor's office. He suggested that patients
could produce more accurate readings through a remote monitoring device
from the
comfort of their home.
Data can be collected from medical devices immediately or over a period of time, like a week, Rurup said.
Use of BL Healthcare's telemedicine device is simple, Rurup
explained. It involves pushing one button on the touch screen, and test
results
are then sent over Sprint's 3G network to a physician.
"If medicine needs to be dispensed, a message can be sent back to the patient on that same video screen," Rurup said.
Sprint, BL Healthcare and Lancaster General Health, a health care system in Lancaster, Pa.,
will showcase a 4G remote-monitoring kiosk at the HIMSS11 health care IT conference in Orlando, Fla., from Feb. 20-24.
"Wireless technologies, 3G and 4G in particular, have really established telemedicine systems as the future of health care,"
William Dunstan, vice president of home health services with Lancaster General Health, said in a statement.
BL Healthcare is a partner in Sprint's M2M (Machine to Machine) Collaboration
Center. Launched in October, the Collaboration Center allows Sprint to test mobile phones and
wireless service with other company's electronic devices, according to Sprint.
The remote-monitoring company has also collaborated with other major
wireless carriers. At the January 2011 Consumer Electronics Show,
Verizon Wireless and BL Healthcare demonstrated a 4G
LTE Telemedicine Terminal, expanding on a partnership that began in April 2010. The terminal allows caregivers and patients to hold multipoint HD
videoconferencing.
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