Oxford’s telehealth technology catches international attention

A home health agency in the Ozarks already is capitalizing on this trend – using a 130-year-old technology in an innovative way.

Oxford HealthCare uses telephone communications to monitor homebound patients.

Called telehealth, the technology is considered the most important innovation put to use at Oxford, according to President Karen Thomas.

Most prominent is the Honeywell HomMed Health Monitoring System for which Oxford is an exclusive provider. Thomas describes the machines as smaller than Bose radios and equipped with temperature gauges, blood pressure cups and other attachments based on patients’ needs.

At a cost of $1.4 million, CoxHealth-owned Oxford has outfitted 350 patient homes with the units during the past four years. More than 5,000 patients in Oxford’s 26-county area have received HomMed services.

“We didn’t invent it, but we quickly realized the benefit to both the patient and staff,” Thomas said, citing more efficient use of nurses and improved understanding of a patient’s own health.

Nurses stay in touch with patients through the HomMed device, which walks patients through a series of questions and procedures, transmitting vital information to the nurse via telephone lines. Nurses have the option of responding immediately, if necessary, or affirming the patient that the data checks out OK.

“This is a great machine, but the real key is how you use it,” Thomas said of the Food & Drug Administration-approved device. “It enables us to educate people about their chronic diseases at the time it’s going on.”

Doctors have described the system as the “eyes and ears” of the patient’s physician once they leave the hospital.

Other telehealth innovations implemented at Oxford include digital photography to communicate wound healing; CoaguChecks, which produces instant results in monitoring blood clots; and VitalStim Therapy, which provides electrical stimulation to stroke patients’ muscles.

From a financial standpoint, telehealth cuts health care costs by reducing patient hospitalizations and nurse visits. Oxford even used the HomMed system to partner with the state on reducing Medicaid costs. Since that project launched April 1, 2005, Medicaid patients monitored by HomMed have had 63 percent fewer hospital days and 52 percent fewer emergency room visits.

Industry experts have taken notice. Magazine Publisher Lisa Remington says in The Remington Report that Oxford’s “innovative use of telehealth technology positions them as a leader and pioneer in the home care industry.”

The impact has reached across the world. Representatives of English health care company Bupa, formerly The British United Provident Association, visited Oxford’s Springfield office to learn how they could implement telehealth programs overseas.

Thomas co-wrote a telehealth book, “Home Telehealth: Connecting Care Within The Community,” and she speaks on the subject at national conferences about four times a year.

“It’s really a very exciting time for health care,” Thomas said.

Oxford HealthCare

Address: 3660 S. National Ave., Springfield, MO 65807

Phone: (417) 883-7500

Web site: www.oxfordhealthcare.net

2005 payroll: $22.5 million[[In-content Ad]]