Specialty
Cardiac treatments nowadays are inclining towards technological innovations. The myriad data elements such as cardiology images, ECG waveforms, lab results, patient histories and hemodynamic monitoring and procedure data are successfully integrated to deliver care monitoring of Medtronic heart device, helps improve patient care and reduce the healthcare costs. This advanced technology includes a patient monitor that enables patient to ‘connect’ the implanted device in heart to doctor’s clinic via a standard phone line. This allows the doctor to conduct a routine checkup or review a special situation no matter where the patient is. When directed by the doctor, the patient simply needs to
connect the monitor to a regular phone line, push the start button, and hold the antenna over the heart device. The monitor automatically transmits the data, turning itself off when the transmission is complete.” He adds, “This technology reduces healthcare utilization costs compared to standard in-office follow-up. Clinical trials have established that remote monitoring helps in quick and efficient
decision making, reduces hospitalization days and in the process helps in saving costs for the patients.”
Step ahead The voluminous data, which include images, ECG recordings, etc has now exploded and needs to be organised as cardiology today has reached to a tipping point. Still cardiology is in a dearth of IT and its application to offer new and improved models to build an efficient solution to cardiology informatics. Government needs to shed its suspicion towards the private sector and involve them proactively for various PPP initiatives through a well designed concession scheme, simultaneously the private sector needs to sacrifice a bit of the profits in expectation of huge volume through these initiatives. Remote monitoring and tele-cardiology is in penury of guidelines as it presently incurs multiple legal issues.
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