GE Healthcare Supports Canadian Heart Patients at Home

Albertans living with heart failure will have their conditions monitore from home as part of a new home health care pilot project in Alberta, Canada,  a collaboration between the Government of Alberta, Alberta Health Services, GE Healthcare and GE Canada.

Canadian provinces are exploring new models of care to address issues around capacity for aging patients, coordination of care and support for families, as well as overall management of data and resources to inform better system planning.

The province of Alberta has been at the forefront in looking for differentiated solutions to address these challenges and this innovative home health care pilot project, called MyHome Health will aim to redefine the way future primary care is delivered by integrating Intel-GE Care Innovations™ technology with GE Healthcare’s IT capabilities that will be enabled by our process improvements portfolio to offer a new, end to end solution that addresses Alberta’s ageing population and rise of chronic illness management.

The pilot project will target patients living in Edmonton, AB, Canada, who have been diagnosed with heart failure, are over the age of 50, and currently living at home. Patients will use the Intel-GE Care Innovations™ Guide – a clinically-driven remote care platform with in-home touch-screen device for patient use to monitor their condition and connect with their healthcare team from home, while learning how to independently manage their health condition.

The Primary Care Network will initially recruit eligible patients, with the potential to expand to other primary care networks. Up to 250 patients will be enrolled in the pilot, which is expected to last 12 to 18 months and begin late May 2013. To ensure a relevant and unbiased assessment of the MyHome Health program, the study will be validated by independent research organisations.

The pilot project is expected to demonstrate measurable clinical and economic value by enabling eligible patients to remain independent longer and identifying cost savings and resource efficiencies for Alberta’s healthcare system.

“GE Healthcare strives to be at the forefront of the patient experience. Home health technology paired with our leading IT and consulting solutions will provide a unique one GE Healthcare solution to help address cost, quality and access, which are some of Alberta’s toughest healthcare challenges,” said GE Healthcare Canada Vice-President and General Manager Peter Robertson.

Caption:

Premier of Alberta, Canada Alison Redford and Christine Schelstraete, Virtual Care Nurse, MyHome Health Program in a demonstration of the GE in-home technology that will be used to support heart patients.