NZ’s first telehealth pilot

Media Statement
For immediate release
Monday 5h October

NZ’s first telehealth pilot likely to improve health outcomes

The future is looking brighter for people living with long-term health conditions.

This week, Healthcare of New Zealand, a leader and innovator in community health provision, in conjunction with Lake Taupo Primary Health organisation (PHO) will launch the first-ever New Zealand telehealth pilot for 10 clients in the Turangi/Taupo area.

Telehealth is a home-based service that assists health professionals to closely monitor a client’s medical condition, and detect changes before they become serious and require hospitalisation.

A funding partnership between the PHO and the Lakes District Health Board (DHB), the PHO’s family nursing team will use the telehealth technology with select clients who have congestive heart failure or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and who have frequent hospital admissions.

National integrated care manager for Healthcare of New Zealand, Anton Venter, said that high quality, home-based support would be vital to New Zealand’s ageing population in the future.

“Services like telehealth reduce people’s need for hospital admission by allowing support teams to pick up any health issues early, and address them before they become serious problems.”

“Long-term conditions such as heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and diabetes have been labeled the health care challenge of this century. This pilot provides a unique opportunity for us to be part of a potential solution.”

The telehealth monitor is placed in a person’s home and is linked to the internet using the phone line. Daily measurements such as temperature, blood pressure, weight, lung function and heart rate are taken. Medical staff access these measurements from their computer on a predetermined basis and decide if a course of action is required.

The one year pilot aims to test the benefits of the telehealth programme, which international trials have shown can reduce hospital admissions, convert emergency department attendances to planned admissions, and even reduce mortality compared to other forms of care.

The pilot’s outcomes will be assessed using an evaluation framework which was independently developed by LECG consultants. Healthcare of New Zealand will publish the pilot results in two phases - at six months and at the completion of the programme.

The growing need to provide innovative solutions to support chronic care management in the community is also recognised by Chief executive officer of Lake Taupo PHO, Jeremy Mihaka-Dyer.

“Being able to provide effective management of chronic conditions will greatly enhance the lives and health outcomes of the people in our community, particularly Maori who are most vulnerable to these conditions.”

Chief executive of Lakes DHB, Cathy Cooney says, “We are excited by the opportunity to partner with Healthcare of New Zealand and Lake Taupo PHO in this innovative development, for supporting people with chronic conditions in their own home.”

Local doctor Dr Meg Gustafson believes the programme is an exciting new development which has the potential to greatly enhance chronic care management.

“Long-term chronic disease is a growing burden and innovations such as Telehealth provide a great tool for GPs to effectively manage these conditions. What is particularly exciting is the programme enhances patient involvement, empowering them to monitor their condition in a very practical way.”

[ENDS]

NOTES TO THE EDITOR

Healthcare of New Zealand
Healthcare of New Zealand provides a broad range of home and community-based services where age, disability, illness or accidents make such support necessary. Our services are wide-ranging, from helping with domestic tasks and personal care in the home, to specialised nursing services for more complex health needs, through to residential facilities and other community support options for people with disabilities

Our organisation has grown rapidly from its inception in 1988 and today we employ over 5,000 part- and full-time staff across the country. We provide support to more than 17,000 people living in their own homes, specialist community homes or with family/whānau, making us the one of the largest providers of health and disability support services in New Zealand.

Lake Taupo Primary Health Organisation (PHO)
Lake Taupo PHO serves the populations of Mangakino (pop 1,260), Taupo (pop 22,300), and Turangi (pop 3,500). It also supports the one general practice in the township of Turangi.

LECG
LECG was employed by Healthcare of New Zealand to develop an evaluation framework which will provide an independent assessment of the telehealth pilot.

LECG are a global expert services firm with highly credentialed experts and professional staff with specialist knowledge in regulation, economics, financial and statistical theories and analysis.

The company’s experts provide independent testimony, original authoritative studies and strategic advice to both public and private sector clients including legislative, judicial, regulatory, policy and business decision makers.

Overview of the pilot progamme
The Turangi pilot, which has formal Ethics Committee approval, will be a randomised controlled trial (RCT) with an intervention arm and matching control group (10 clients in each group).

Selection criteria are: Lake Taupo PHO patients discharged from Taupo hospital in the previous 12 months with primary diagnosis of chronic heart failure (CHF) or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

The ten clients in the intervention group will receive telehealth monitoring combined with the PHO’s chronic care management programme, HealthRight; while the ten clients in the control group will only receive the HealthRight programme.

Clients in the intervention group, nurses and health practitioners have received intensive training on using the telehealth monitor. The monitors have been installed in the intervention client’s homes and tested by a professional. An 0800 number and support structure have been put in place to assist these clients should they have any problems once the machine is operating.

During the pilot, nurses will check the intervention client’s telemonitored data on a predetermined basis and follow up with clients if their results have not been received when expected.

Baseline data collection testing takes place at the beginning of the study which final data will be compared with.

Analysis of the pilot will be done in two phases and results made available after the first six months and at the end of the 12 month pilot, when full results will be available.

International research summary
Studies of international pilots and programmes reviewed by LECG found that telehealth monitoring, if implemented well, has shown to enable practices to support a higher caseload, while maintaining the health of the managed population at existing levels. It is very likely to replace emergency department admissions with planned admissions; and can reduce the total number of hospital bed-days, re-admissions; and deaths compared to management by a hospital based, or even a primary care, nursing service. The studies also show a high level of patient satisfaction with the technology.

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