Connected home health supports the Continua Health Alliance standards for providers to exploit data from medical devices and sensors. IBM's sensor event platform software enables data capture and transfer, event detection, visualization and patient compliance from enabled devices.
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Connected Home Health: Solutions for Providing Care at Home
1. IBM SALES AND DISTRIBUTION Sensor solutions for smarter healthcare
Solution Brief
Connected home health
Growth in the population of chronic conditioned, elderly and obese
individuals around the world necessitates new models for care and col-
Highlights laboration between patients and healthcare providers. To support these
efforts, IBM is an early, contributing member of Continua Health
● Connect patients to their complete
care team through a more cost- Alliance, a nonprofit alliance of healthcare and IT companies dedicated
efficient and convenient exchange of to providing standards for providers to exploit new sources of data
personal health and fitness information from medical devices and sensors.
● Enable people with chronic conditions
to manage their health at home The connected home health solution from IBM combines data
through sensor-equipped medical
devices that share vital data directly
from sensors and medical devices located within a patient’s home and
with their care team IBM’s business process management, event processing and business
● Empower the elderly to age independ-
optimization capabilities to deliver new insights to care teams. This
ently, with dignity and security through solution is designed to help improve healthcare management across
basic life monitoring in their homes three key domains: chronic disease management, elderly monitoring,
● Motivate individuals to achieve weight and health and wellness.
loss and fitness goals by connecting
them more directly to their health and
wellness team Chronic disease management
Over 600 million people worldwide have chronic diseases, and the
spending on chronic diseases is expected to increase. For example, in
the U.S. alone, spending is expected to increase from US$500 billion a
year to US$685 billion by 2020. Connected home health can help
people with chronic conditions, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease (COPD), diabetes, congestive heart failure and hypertension
manage their conditions more effectively and live healthier lives.
Patients can take their blood pressure, weight, glucose level, tempera-
ture and other vital signs at home using special devices that automati-
cally transmit the results to a personal health system in their home and
on to a monitoring service where they can keep track of their condi-
tion. For instance, if a patient’s weight drops, their blood pressure gets
too high or other issues are reported, their care team is notified and
can take action immediately.
This can help improve the patient’s health, and also reduce healthcare
costs through early detection of health issues. In addition, by allowing
patients to manage their own care at home, connected home health can
empower them to take ownership of their own health. And it enables
better coordinated care across disciplines by providing an integrated
view of a patient’s health information.