Remote control

Welch Allyn calls new venture ‘mobile vital signs monitoring,’ or mVSM

Telemedicine moved one step closer to Repertoire readers following Welch Allyn’s acquisition in November of the assets of telehealth company HealthInterlink LLC from private investment firm Prairie Ventures. Though distribution’s role was not clearly defined at press time, the door to new selling opportunities appeared to be open.

“This is another area that we are actively exploring with great interest, including how our strong distributor partnerships can potentially add value in selling scenarios that are, in many cases, new for Welch Allyn and perhaps many of our partners,” said Welch Allyn Senior Vice President of New Healthcare Delivery Solutions Scott Gucciardi, responding to a question about the impact of telehealth on distributors’ selling opportunities. “The mVSM [mobile vital-signs-monitoring] solution will very much be a strategic sale, and we recognize that many of our channel partners are working hard on specialty strategic selling teams, so there may in fact be an opportunity to work together beyond just devices.”

Wireless patient monitoring
HealthInterlink’s telehealth offering integrates wireless patient monitoring devices with smartphones or tablets, so that patients’ vital signs data can be transmitted to a HIPAA-compliant web portal for management by healthcare professionals. The technology – which gained FDA 510(k) clearance in March 2014 – is also designed to support communication between patients and their caregivers to answer the patient’s care or health status questions.

The standard HealthInterlink offering – which has been called Beacon – comes with a Bluetooth wireless blood pressure monitoring unit, a weight scale and a pulse oximeter. The company says that Bluetooth wireless thermometers, blood glucose monitors and spirometers are also available.

“We intend to take the approach of integrating wireless medical devices into the solution that are the best overall fit with the needs of patients and providers, with consideration for performance, quality, accuracy, and, of course, value vs. cost,” says Gucciardi. “In some cases, it will make sense to include Welch Allyn devices in the remote patient monitoring kits, but not in all cases.

“On a related note, we intend to discontinue the use of the Beacon brand name in favor of Welch Allyn branding accompanied by new nomenclature for the solution – Mobile Vital Signs Monitoring, or mVSM for short.”

Helping physicians remotely monitor chronic hypertension patients will be an important focus for Welch Allyn, but not the only one, says Gucciardi. “The mVSM solution can be used to help manage all the major chronic disease states, and is especially useful for helping with complex chronic patients having multiple conditions. Those same patients tend to be the ‘frequent flyers,’ meaning they utilize a great amount of healthcare resources, including hospital ER visits, inpatient admissions, and physician/clinic visits.

“The move to care coordination across the continuum – from acute, to post-acute, ambulatory, long term care and ultimately, to care in the home – will drive new requirements for our mVSM solutions, and we plan to meet those needs.”

Impact on office visits
A big question for Repertoire readers and diagnostics manufacturers is this: What impact will telehealth have on office visits and sales to physician practices? The answer may be a little cloudy, but the industry appears committed to pushing ahead with mobile solutions.

“The spirit of where healthcare delivery is headed includes managing some patient conditions, at least in part, without having to bring them in to the office or clinic for every part of their care plan,” says Gucciardi. “If we are going to continue to be able to afford high quality healthcare in the United States, it will have to include utilization of at least some aspects of home telehealth and related approaches.

“The trends, dynamics, and new demands on the delivery system – from changing payer incentives and penalties, to the aging demographic and growing prevalence of chronic diseases, to the push toward managed care and population health – will make these new approaches a necessity.”

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‘Telemedicine’ defined

The American Medical Association offers these three categories of telemedicine technologies:

Store-and-forward telemedicine involves the transmittal of medical data (such as medical images and bio signals) to a physician or medical specialist for assessment. It does not require the presence of both parties at the same time and has thus become popular with specialties such as dermatology, radiology and pathology, which can be conducive to asynchronous telemedicine.
Remote monitoring, or self-monitoring or testing, enables medical professionals to monitor a patient remotely using various technological devices. This method is typically used to manage chronic diseases or specific conditions (e.g., heart disease, diabetes mellitus or asthma) with devices that can be used by patients at home to capture such health indicators as blood pressure, glucose levels, ECG and weight.
Interactive telemedicine services provide real-time, face-to-face interaction between patient and provider (e.g., online portal communications). Telemedicine, where the patient and provider are connected through real-time audio and video technology (generally a requirement for payment), has been used as an alternative to traditional in-person care delivery, and in certain circumstances can be used to deliver such care as the diagnosis, consultation, treatment, education, care management and self-management of patients.