There is no additional cost to patients for the Health Buddy service!
Telemonitoring with the Health Buddy®
The Health Buddy® telemonitoring system is an easy-to-use device that helps patients record important information about their condition on a daily basis. Patients use the device to record their vital signs and health information. The information is sent to our telemonitoring nurse via the telephone or internet. The nurse will review patient results from a remote location to make sure the patient is staying well. It allows the patient's care team to watch progress every day so that they can intervene quickly if negative symptoms or changes occur.
The Health Buddy walks patients through a step-by-step process to help them record and manage:
Blood pressure
Heart rate
Weight
Oxygen saturation
Medications
Symptoms like breathing, swelling or fatigue
Diet
Why use the Health Buddy?
The Health Buddy gives patients tips to help them take better care of their own health. Using the Health Buddy is proven to reduce the chance that a patient will have to return to the hospital because of complications or bad symptoms.
Heart failure patients who used telemonitoring had a 17 percent lower readmission rate to the hospital than patients not being monitored
Coronary artery bypass graph (CABG) patients who used telemonitoring had a 300 percent lower readmission rate to the hospital than those not being monitored
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients who used telemonitoring had a 108 percent lower readmission rate to the hospital than people not being monitored
What patients think about the Health Buddy
Patients feel safer and more comfortable at home, knowing that they are being monitored daily by a MedStar Visiting Nurse Association nurse.
