The New England Journal of Medicine just came out with an article that did not show a benefit for high risk heart patients using a telehealth system.
Does this spell the end for the use of telehealth? Not by a long shot. What the study did find is not new. It found that older adults either don’t want to or are unable to add one more thing to their schedules. When that thing is calling a computer every day and pressing buttons to indicate responses I can’t blame them. Who can stay motivated to do that? I can’t even bear to take a survey over the phone.
Technology if it is going to be effective must integrate seamlessly into our lives. We should be able to set it up and forget it. The Simply Home system doesn’t require the person being cared for do anything but go about their usual routine. If they vary from the routine too much their caregivers are alerted and appropriate actions can be taken. The action could be something as simple as a phone call to remind someone to take their medications or it could be summoning an ambulance because an emergency has been detected.
Telehealth has shown benefit in the VA studies and in other smaller studies. This latest NEJM study shows us that one of the most important parts of using technology is actual participation. Medications don’t work if you don’t take them and technology doesn’t work if you don’t use it.
A toast to technology that makes life easier not more complicated!