FEBRUARY 1998 PRESS RELEASE
Home Health Care Market Expands Through Proactive Monitoring and Telemedicine Activities
Jacksonville, Oregon (February 10th, 1998): Sales of home monitoring and telemedicine systems grew in 1997, as health care providers made the commitment to deliver expanded proactive care services. Use of nurse advice lines and telephone triage is being supplemented with telemonitoring to demonstrate significant health care benefits, including reduced unnecessary visits to the doctor’s office or emergency room by chronically ill patients.
From a market perspective, home care telemedicine remains largely in pilot program stages, despite industry expectations for more rapid deployment. The dominant competitor, American TeleCare (Eden Prairie, MN), introduced new products in late 1997 (the Aviva line), while HealthTech Services Corporation (Northbrook, IL) continued to evaluate the best applications for the HANC network. As the manufacturer of the "engine" found in many currently-marketed home care telemedicine systems, 8x8 Inc. (Santa Clara, CA) also realized higher volume direct sales of the ViaTV Phone to health care provider organizations. At some point in 1998, TelAssist (Ridgefield, NJ) is expected to commercialize the TLC 2000 (pending FDA approval). Manufacturers of videophone and television set-top boxes sold in the retail market are also likely to see sales attributable to consumers who hope to promote enhanced communication among family members, nursing home residents, and care providers who are located at great distances from one another.
More aggressive home monitoring using telemetry devices is another direction being taken by competitors such as HealthDesk Corporation (Berkeley, CA) and HiLife (South San Francisco, CA). Cost savings are being documented in studies involving patients with diseases such as congestive heart failure and diabetes. Early intervention based on daily data collection and analysis could result in 60% - 80% reductions in the amounts previously spent on emergency or hospital care services for such patients.
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