Memphis, Tenn., Apr. 15, 2003 - Baptist Trinity Home Care and Hospice recently began using HomMed telemonitors to help care for many of its home care patients suffering from chronic cardiac or respiratory conditions such as congestive heart failure, hypertension and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder.

Through the use of new, in-home telemonitoring technology, many patients served by Baptist Trinity Home Care are getting a check-up every day in the comfort of their own homes. The agency has signed an exclusive agreement with HomMed® LLC to implement a system that collects patients’ vital signs daily, making Baptist Trinity the first in the Mid-South to offer the service.

“We realize that telemonitoring is the future of home care and are excited to deliver the most up-to-date, technologically advanced medical care to our patients,” says Nancy Averwater, administrator and CEO of Baptist Trinity Home Care & Hospice. “The HomMed Health Monitoring System enables us to deliver high-quality care to our clients by providing us with daily, real-time clinical information regarding trends in their health status.”

In-home telemonitoring uses telecommunications devices placed in patients’ homes to take their vital signs every day. The technology brings benefits to both patients and health care professionals. When patients’ vital signs are taken on a daily basis, irregularities can be caught before they become full-fledged problems. Nurses can be sent to patients’ homes at unscheduled times in addition to regular nursing visits, and based on the daily data, work directly with the patient’s doctor to adjust medication and diet regimens.

Telemonitoring lets health care professionals work more efficiently since the system allows one nurse to observe the clinical health of numerous patients at a time and effectively direct medical attention to those who need it. The data is transmitted via digital wireless technology over a virtual private network for review by Baptist Trinity Home Care clinicians. There, health care professionals can detect and address even the slightest abnormalities before they become serious, preventing emergency room visits and hospitalizations.

The HomMed Health Monitoring System is individually programmed for patients according to parameters established by their personal physicians. In just three minutes, the system collects a variety of vital signs such as heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen saturation, body weight and temperature every day. Peripherals such as a glucose meter, spirometer to measure lung function, PT/INR system to record blood clotting time, digital camera for wound care and ECG device to monitor heart rhythms can be attached for specialized patient needs.

HomMed LLC is a leader in the rapidly growing home patient telemonitoring industry. The in-home, HomMed Sentry III is an FDA Class II medical device. Since 1998, over 140 health care organizations have partnered with HomMed to form a national provider network, allowing HomMed’s technology to touch the lives of 20,000 patients in 2002. For more information, visit www.hommed.com.

Baptist Trinity Home Care & Hospice, a part of Baptist Memorial Health Care, is a non-profit home care, private duty, supplemental staffing and hospice company. Additional home care services include high-tech respiratory and medical equipment for in-home use provided by Baptist Home Medical Equipment and a comprehensive menu of home infusion pharmacy services provided by Medical Alternatives. For more information on Baptist Trinity, call (901) 767-6767 or visit www.baptistonline.org.

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