Telehealth can reduce deaths by 45%

Using remote monitoring research to keep tabs on patients' blood sugar and cardiopulmonary disease can reduce the risk of patient mortality by up to 45%, according to a U.K. Department of Health study.

In the U.S., the federal government is aggressively pushing for electronic health records. Telehealth research, which allows doctors to monitor their patients' health wirelessly in real time, could be combined with online health records for a highly accessible, interactive patient history.

Last year, a report from Accenture showed that the rise of inexpensive Internet connectivity and smaller, cheaper and "smarter" health electronics should deliver better, more efficient health care.

The study looked at how the adoption of telehealth monitoring technologies could reduce the mounting financial burden of healthcare for the chronically ill. The study focused on patients with three conditions: diabetes, coronary heart disease and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. It as well showed how innovation supports people who live independently, and how they can be more in control of their own health and care.

The program

Three TeleHealth innovation providers were selected for the program, offering remote patient management systems for study:

Lucas Mearian covers storage, disaster recovery and business continuity, financial services infrastructure and health care IT for Computerworld. Follow Lucas on Twitter at @lucasmearian or subscribe to Lucas's RSS feed . His e-mail address is lmearian@computerworld.com .