Telemonitoring: the next big thing in smart health

May 06, 2019

You have heard of teleconsultation. It will help to address in part the major problems of medical demography that we face and the expectations of flexibility and simplification of the health care of the general public.But have you heard of telemonitoring ?

And yet it is undoubtedly the next Big Bang that will make a real qualitative leap to our health system while benefiting very directly to patients for their quality of life and their medical follow-up.

Let’s start with the beginning. You could not escape the activity bracelet connected a few years ago to follow your steps, calculate your distance of jogging and now your watch is doing the job. We talk about Quantified Self, automesure for the general public on issues of well-being (activity, sports, sleep …) that have a positive effect in terms of primary prevention and automesure health for people with risk factors or patients following their illness. In this case, these are connected medical devices (blood pressure monitor, oximeter, glucometer, etc.) certified by the highest authorities, meeting the strict standards required for secondary and tertiary prevention.

Telemonitoring ,remote surveillance: what are we talking about exactly?

Remote monitoring allows a health professional to remotely interpret data collected on the patient’s place of life. The vital constants are captured by connected medical devices and reassemble securely to the doctor who receives them on a monitoring platform shared with the entire care team. Remote monitoring devices can be more or less sophisticated (sorting system thanks to artificial intelligence, alerting and dynamic visualization of results, customized programs per patient, interoperability with other databases on the patient …). For even greater efficiency, teleconsultation can be linked to remote control consultations that avoid unnecessary travel to the hospital.

Home care at the heart of the subject

Many use cases are possible:

Return home after hospitalization to follow the patient. It also helps to promote the outpatient shift. It allows the quick return of the patient home giving his comfort of life.

Follow-up of chronic patients (ALD) to detect early predictors and incidents that are an indication of the worsening of the disease, better manage quickly risky situations and avoid re-hospitalization but also to adjust treatments over time. time…

Home monitoring of seniors often polypathological. Remote monitoring promotes home care as long as possible, allowing them to continue living in their environment with personalized support.

Experiments with scientific evidence

In recent years, the many experiments have built a field of solid scientific evidence demonstrating the added value of telemonitoring.

Impressive savings at the key

Let’s look at the cost side. Remote monitoring can massively reduce health costs. It is the most promising form of telemedicine.

For its part, the company IQVIA published last December the results of an unprecedented study for the association of Japanese Laboratories present in France (LaJaPF) with the support of LEEM (professional organization of pharmaceutical companies). At the heart of the subject: telemedicine management of three chronic conditions: high blood pressure (hypertension), prostate cancer and type 2 diabetes that would achieve a savings of not less than 356 M € year.

21st century medicine will be predictive, preventive, participatory and personalized. You have read it many times. Remote monitoring will contribute greatly!

This form of remote medicine does not replace the doctor. On the contrary, she brings the patient closer to the doctor. It provides the healthcare professional with rich and reliable data that helps them make decisions and improves patient care and follow-up. If it does not replace the prescriptive consultations, it reduces the number to focus on those that are essential by avoiding long trips and expensive but also privileging the comfort of life of patients while making substantial savings.

We talk about the health and life of each and medical expertise. But when we measure the progress made and the economic stakes, we can not avoid the question of agility and the need to work better with industry, health professionals and medical authorities by moving the frames of reference to accelerate on these issues. topics.