FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 20, 2006
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ADVAMED PROMOTES REMOTE HEALTH MONITORING AT CAPITOL HILL EVENT
TECHNOLOGIES ADDRESS CHRONIC ILLNESSES AND SAVE LIVES, BUT PATIENT ACCESS DISADVANTAGED UNDER MEDICARE
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Washington, D.C.-- Gwen Johnson lives in a rural community in Northern California and suffers from life-threatening congestive heart failure. Elderly and alone, she finds it difficult to visit her doctor and used to forget to take her medication. But thanks to a medical remote monitoring technology, she now gets a mini-check up and a medication reminder every day in her home.
In a Capitol Hill briefing today, policy makers learned how remote monitoring technologies improve the quality of patient care and reduce health care costs by allowing physicians to closely monitor patient information in real-time. This eliminates the need for patients with chronic conditions to make frequent trips to the doctor’s office. Patients in urban and rural communities suffering from chronic health conditions such as diabetes, heart failure, and arrhythmias, stand to benefit.
“The promise of this technology is that we can monitor their condition more precisely to see impending heart failure and change medical therapy as a way to prevent hospitalization,” said Dr. Faddis, an electro physiologist in St. Louis who uses the technology to monitor heart rhythm problems.
Despite its success in improving the quality and cost of care, outdated Medicare rules only provide payment for face-to-face meetings between patients and their doctors. This discourages physicians from adopting innovative remote monitoring technologies. The “Remote Monitoring Access Act” (S. 2022 / H.R. 6063) were introduced to provide Medicare with the flexibility needed to reimburse them and other healthcare providers for the time needed to check monitors and follow up with patients.
“Remote monitoring technologies have proven results in improving the quality of care and staving off costly hospital admissions,” said Stephen J. Ubl, AdvaMed President and CEO. We are looking forward to working with Congress and the Administration to bring remote monitoring to Medicare beneficiaries.”
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AdvaMed member companies produce the medical devices, diagnostic products and health information systems that are transforming health care through earlier disease detection, less invasive procedures and more effective treatments. Our members produce nearly 90 percent of the health care technology purchased annually in the United States and more than 50 percent purchased annually around the world. AdvaMed members range from the largest to the smallest medical technology innovators and companies.