remote monitoring

Greetings denicu,

Telehealth can be defined as: The use of electronic information and telecommunications technologies to support clinical health care, patient and professional health-related education, public health, and health administration. "Remote monitoring" on the other hand............can mean different things depending on the context that it is used in.
Have you tried searching using the terms e-ICU? that might help you.
Also try "remote monitoring and home health" or "remote monitoring and wound care"

See link below about an e-icu here in my home state of IL. Good Luck with your searching.
http://www.provena.org/body.cfm?id=89&fr=true
I also know telehealth is used here (in the USA) to provide consultations and to deliver counceling and mental health theraputic services.

From iHealthbeat

Monday, December 15, 2008

Nursing Homes Hesitant To Invest in Telehealth Despite Medicare Rule
Under a new federal rule scheduled to take effect next month, Medicare will begin providing reimbursement for nursing home patients treated by telemedicine, Minnesota Public Radio reports.

Under the new Medicare reimbursement rule, nursing homes can charge a $20 facility fee for each patient who is treated via telemedicine.

However, most nursing homes do not have the technology necessary for telemedicine and would have to spend several thousand dollars to purchase cameras, monitors and secure broadband Internet connections.

The use of telemedicine can provide significant savings by reducing the number of expensive trips to the hospital, according to Stuart Speedie, a University of Minnesota professor. However, most of those savings are accrued by Medicare or private insurers, not nursing homes.

The new Medicare rule also expands telemedicine coverage to community mental health centers and renal dialysis facilities (Gunderson, Minnesota Public Radio, 12/12).

From Healthcare IT News

The California Center for Connected Health aims to lead and coordinate telehealth services throughout the state and establish a strategy for a sustainable telehealth model in California. The California HealthCare Foundation is providing $5.5 million in initial financing to support the center's operations and the launch of a specialty access project. *

From California Healthcare Foundation


Reports & Initiatives

Delivering Care Anytime, Anywhere: Telehealth Alters the Medical Ecosystem

Carlton A. Doty, Forrester Consulting

November 2008

Health plans, providers, and IT vendors are all using telehealth applications to increase quality of care, reduce costs, and increase access for the underserved. Sometimes referred to as e-health or telemedicine, telehealth encompasses a variety of formats, including:

Live videoconferencing;
Store-and-forward systems for transmitting digital images and other data;
Remote patient monitoring through the use of home-based devices; and
E-visits or "virtual house calls."
Several technologies and services are used to enable or complement telehealth applications: satellite networks; phone services (such as 24/7 call centers); high-speed Internet (such as physician-patient portals); streaming media (such as health education videos); and wireless communications (such as mobile devices and radio frequency identification [RFID]).

This iHealth Report -- a commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of the California HealthCare Foundation -- examines emerging uses of telehealth and describes the market drivers and challenges that will impact its future growth.
The complete study is attached.

This report complements another CHCF iHealth Report, titled Right Here Right Now: Ten Telehealth Pioneers Make It Work, attached

Try looking up in www.scholar.google.com for the following key words

eICU
VISICU
eCareManager

This is a remote monitoring system in the US for ICUs. Also their website has some research articles in www.visicu.com