Remote monitoring and self-reporting help patients and providers extend chronic disease care to inside the home. The statistics around heart disease are heart-stopping, and theres little doubt that the care community would like to do more to help manage it. Often, however, it can be difficult to help patients manage heart disease appropriately, as much of the treatment and necessary lifestyle changes happens outside of the hospital walls.Moreover, when an emergency does arise, theres always the question of getting a patient to a care facility in time.But telemedicine technologies have been shown to improve treatment for people suffering from chronic diseases, including those who have heart disease. Telemedicine can help patients better monitor their vital signs and activity remotely on a daily basis, enabling them to better work with providers to manage conditions and, hopefully, improve care.At the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Magee-Womens Hospital, for example, providers have deployed a remote patient monitoring program targeted at, among other things, helping women with pregnancy-associated hypertension prevent heart-related issues in the future.Women who develop pregnancy-associated hypertension are more likely later in life to develop either hypertension or other cardiovascular issues, UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital Chief Medical Officer Dr. Richard H. Beigi tells HealthTech. The hospital equips the women with blood pressure cuffs and asks them to enter their readings into an app. The readings are then remotely checked and recorded by a qualified medical professional, who can alert them if follow-up care is necessary.

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