Strong Interest in home medical devices

60 percent interested in home medical devices
Wednesday - December 1st, 2010 - by Brian Dolan

According to a recent survey, 60 percent of Americans with chronic disease said a home medical device would improve their health. The interest was about the same among Americans who do not have chronic disease, the suvery conducted by GfK Roper and commissioned by EHR provider Practice Fusion found.

Some 62 percent of survey participants said communication with their physicians via home medical devices would improve their health. Upwards of 57 percent of respondents aged 25 to 49 were interested in home medical devices, while 35 percent of people aged 65 and older said they were interested in using the devices. As a group men were more interested in using home medical devices than those women surveyed: 52 percent vs. 41 percent.

Why is an EHR developer like Practice Fusion interested in home medical devices? It has an open invitation to home medical device makers to connect their wares through its free EHR offering. The company is leveraging its EHR’s API to encourage device makers to create connectivity to its SaaS EHR offering.

“Home medical devices can save the healthcare system money and also enable patients to live more independently while managing their chronic conditions,” Ryan Howard, CEO of Practice Fusion stated in a press release. “EHR systems are a key connection for linking these devices to patients and physicians.”

Practice Fusion said it now has 50,000 providers and 5 million patients using its EHR.

The survey took place between November 19 and 21, 2010. Participants included a nationally representative sample of 1,008 adults age 18 or older. Margin of error is plus or minus three percentage points, according to the companies.

http://mobihealthnews.com/9650/60-percent-interested-in-home-medical-devices/