[EQ] Chronic disease management and the use of remote patient monitoring

Chronic disease management and the use of remote patient monitoring

LSE Health, London School of Economics and Political Science

Eurohealth Volume 15 Number 1, 2009

 

Available online at: http://www.euro.who.int/document/OBS/Eurohealth15_1.pdf

“…..Chronic diseases, such as heart disease and diabetes, have substantial health and economic impacts. Routine consultations to monitor these conditions place a considerable strain on health service resources. Consequently, there has been an increased interest in utilising information technology to help manage patients.

 

– the use of remote monitoring – allows for the collection of routine information on the health status of individuals outside the doctor’s office and is the focus of

much of this issue of Eurohealth.

 

“……Chronic disease management (CDM) encompasses the ongoing management of chronic conditions over a period of time using evidence-based care. In an article on CDM in the US, Kenneth Thorpe highlights the huge burden of chronic disease in terms of mortality and health care spending. He calls for prevention efforts directed at patient education, improved coordination among practitioners and better patient-doctor collaboration. In their article on CDM in Europe, David Scheller-Kreinsen and colleagues, present key strategies used to manage chronic diseases, summarising existing evidence on their effectiveness and describing common obstacles to effective CDM.

 

Four articles specifically address remote monitoring. In their article on the clinical perspective, Jillian Riley and Martin Cowie contrast traditional models of CDM with the inclusion of remote monitoring in a heart failure population, presenting both the clinical benefits and patient perspective. Paul Trueman tackles the economic perspective, describing the potential benefits of remote monitoring and commenting on the growing body of evidence on the clinical and cost effectiveness of such interventions. Michael Palmer and colleagues look at the European Commission’s adoption of a Communication to support the deployment of telemedicine for the benefit of patients, health care systems and society. Finally, James Barlow and Jane Hendy use the case of the UK to present the challenges of adopting integrated mainstream telecare services. A common thread running through these contributions are the challenges in providing appropriate incentives for health care professionals to implement changes to improve chronic care, including the use of telemedicine.

 

Other features in this issue include two perspectives from the European Commission. One discusses the EU Directive on patients’ rights in cross-border health care and its implications for the National Health Service in the UK. The second focuses on the EU Green Paper on the health care workforce, which is intended to support Member States as they confront an ageing but increasingly mobile population…..”

Sherry Merkur Deputy Editor

David McDaid Editor

Philipa Mladovsky Deputy Editor

 

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