According to a recent report from the Swedish research firm, Berg Insight, about 2.2 million patients worldwide were using remote medical monitoring services at the end of 2011 with an expected growth of 18% by 2016.
Much of this growth is in the area of home-based systems since home monitoring solutions can communicate over a cellular or landline network, as well as the Internet.
A recent study in Health Affairs found the combined use of telemonitoring equipment and care management reduced the costs of caring for Medicare patients with diabetes, congestive heart failure, or obstructive pulmonary disease.
Some healthcare organizations are using telehealth to send educational materials to patients with chronic illnesses, who in turn, send back clinical data.
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