With its Health Buddy and T400 "Turtle" home-based monitoring platforms, Robert Bosch Healthcare Systems has focused on helping people with chronic conditions connect with their doctors while at home. Now the company is looking at a larger market.
Bosch Healthcare, based in Palo Alto, Calif., announced a partnership this week with Remedy Health Media, a New York-based developer of clinical resources and wellness solutions. The two companies plan to introduce later this year a suite of web-based products aimed at anyone who wants to manage their healthcare at home.
“Our health management programs support the care of patients with chronic conditions, both in the transitional period post-hospitalization and during longer-term chronic care coordination. With an increasing number of people using their computers, tablets and smartphones to access information about their health, we believe that a web-based telehealth solution is a ‘must have’ alternative to traditional proprietary devices for a growing number of payers, providers and patients," said Karen Gilberg, MD, Bosch Healthcare's chief medical officer, in a press release. "Web-based remote patient monitoring will allow us to deliver enhanced content and will support improved patient compliance with medical care. Our new web-based products will expand on the key elements in our health management programs that have consistently delivered positive clinical and economic outcomes.”
Launched in 1994, Remedy Health publishes health and wellness content through several publications, ranging from Health Central and Berkeley Wellness to its own Health Living and Diabetes Focus point-of-care publications, reaching roughly 175 million consumers. Recently the company selected Layered Tech, a Plano, Texas-based provider of managed hosting and cloud solutions, to ensure that its content meets HIPAA security standards.
Bosch has a strong background in home health monitoring, with more than 100 health management programs using its products – including the Department of Veterans Affairs, which began deploying the Health Buddy system to home-based veterans in 2000 and rolled out the service nationwide in 2003. Earlier this year, the company announced a partnership with San Diego-based GreatCall to target the fast-growing senior home healthcare business.
The deal with Remedy is expected to boost Bosch Healthcare's profile in the home health and wellness market.
“Bosch has traditionally delivered its health management programs for more than 30 medical conditions using its Health Buddy and T400 devices,” said Jasper zu Putlitz, MD, the company's president, in the press release. “Our partnership with Remedy will use web-based technology to expand the scope of our content in ways that will engage and activate a broader population of patients to actively participate in their care.”
“Remedy’s award-winning content and clinical resources are a perfect complement to Bosch Healthcare’s best-in-class telehealth solutions in meeting the Triple Aim," added Michael Cunnion, Remedy's CEO, in the press release "The more patients who engage and activate around their care, the higher their satisfaction with that care, the better the clinical outcomes, and the lower the overall costs to the delivery system.”
