American TeleCare teams up with Partners Home Care and Partners Telemedicine

Eden Prairie 10 September 2003American TeleCare Inc. (ATI) has signed a partnership to launch a home telemonitoring nine-month clinical trial with Partners Home Care and Partners Telemedicine. The purpose of this study is to see if Partners Home Care patients with Class 3 or 4 Congestive Heart Failure will improve with daily telemonitoring and nursing assessments, compared to patients receiving standard homecare services. Improvement is defined as fewer emergency room visits, fewer hospitalizations and improved quality of life.

The telemedicine home health system connects directly to a patient's telephone and features live audio components combined with other medical "peripherals" such as a blood pressure meter, a scale, a pulse oximeter, allowing the health clinician to conduct a complete "virtual visit" to patients at home.

"American TeleCare is pleased to add Partners Home Care and Partners Telemedicine to our list of partners", stated Randy Moore, CEO of American TeleCare. "This technology will support their ability to reduce health care costs through a reduction in emergency room, inpatient admissions and length of stays."

"Partners Home Care is pleased to join ATI and Partners Telemedicine in this innovative project. ATI's commitment to high quality patient care and research endeavours are compatible with our goals. Their commitment to patient investment mirrors ours. Partners Telemedicine has also played a key role in making this happen and we couldn't be doing this without their support", stated Marcia Reissig, RN, MS, CHCE, President of Partners Home Care.

"Partners HealthCare System is an acknowledged expert in the telemedicine industry and is proud off its innovative programmes. ATI is an industry leader in the telemonitoring market. Their service, quality and experience made it clear that they were the right partners for our digital home health care initiative", stated Joseph C. Kvedar, MD, Corporate Director of Partners Telemedicine.

A pioneer in the concept of home telemedicine, ATI guides its business partners in the development of telehomecare programmes. The company currently markets the AVIVA System, an FDA-cleared telemedicine monitoring system that incorporates live audio and video with integrated electronic medical peripherals to allow a doctor or nurse to conduct remote assessments of patients in their homes. The products are very easy to use, and operate through a standard telephone line.

Leslie Versweyveld

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