Organizations like Partners Healthcare's Center for Connected Health have been researching, and implementing, mobile health programs that are keeping patients invested in their own health maintenance.
Sometimes called "mHealth," "connected health," and "tele-health," these programs essentially have developed ways to increase the quantity and quality of communication between patients and their caregivers by using consumer IT devices.
Better Care
Increasing the quality and frequency of communication between the patient and caregiver keeps the medical team properly informed of the patient's real-time progress on a therapeutic regimen. Partners Healthcare's studies, for example, have qualitative studies indicating patients are
more compliant to therapy due to their responsibility in uploading their home-recorded results. The patient can measure, record, and upload from home their diet and exercise activity, blood pressure, pulse and pulse oximetry, and weight. The convenience factor cannot be ignored. All of this benefit can come without the need for the more expensive office visit each time measurements need to be taken and checked, or medical advice or encouragement needs to be given to the patient.
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