This Is Not An Ad For The Connected Health Conference, But Go Anyway, OK?

In October of this year, the very smart people at the Center for Connected Health in Boston will again hold their annual symposium.  And unless I get hit by a bus, I intend to be there and learn everything I can.

While you’ve seen me get flip here from time to time, I’m not joking now.  I think that it’s an event that should be taken dead seriously by essentially anyone who cares about the future of health IT, disease management and e-medicine.  Their mission, which I regard as central to the future of healthcare generally, is as follows:

We are engaging patients, providers and the connected health community to deliver quality care outside of traditional medical settings. Telehealth, remote care and disease management initiatives reflect the opportunities for technology-enabled care programs.

By the way, in case you suspect the same, I’m not endorsing the conference because the center is backed by Partners HealthCare, an IDS backed by hoity-toity names like Mass General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s.   Their Harvard connection isn’t the point.

No, I’m ranting about the Connected Health Symposium because I think it’s exactly where HIT visionaries ought to be spending their time.  Their programs are demonstrating, today, how the living, breathing HIT structure can bring care to where it’s needed in addition to documenting what happens in traditional settings.

There’s too much going on at the Center for me to provide a wealth of detail, but here’s some examples of what it does (summaries borrowed from media announcements):

*  Last summer, the CCH announced the results of a medication adherence study, using a wireless electronic pill bottle to remind patients with high blood pressure to take their medication. The ongoing study measured a 27% higher rate of medication adherence in
patients using Internet connected medication packaging and feedback services compared to controls.

* Another study found that remote online visits with dermatologists, or e-visits, achieved equivalent clinical outcomes for acne patients. Data further revealed that this model of care delivery was popular with participating doctors and patients, ranking e-visits as convenient and time-saving.

* Data from a late 2009 pilot  conducted by the Center suggested that its online diabetes management program, Diabetes Connected Health, may lead to improved patient knowledge, engagement and accountability, as well as improved patient provider communication.

Don’t get me wrong, the industry can’t avoid wrestling with EMR implementation and management efforts even if providers spend a lot more on remote patient monitoring and telemedicine.  Any reasonable long-term vision of a fully-connected U.S. digital health network includes all of these technologies, plus mobile health innovations we probably haven’t even heard of yet.

But in the mean time, c-health is where the rubber meets the road. (If you want to know what c-health is, read the blog written by the Center’s Dr. Joe Kvedar.)

Hoping to meet y’all in October!

About the author

Anne Zieger

Anne Zieger is a healthcare journalist who has written about the industry for 30 years. Her work has appeared in all of the leading healthcare industry publications, and she's served as editor in chief of several healthcare B2B sites.

   

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