The Future is Here Now–Medically Speaking

Imagine a city full of elderly robots–well not exactly but maybe a whole population of elderly people that wouldn’t have to be hospitalized or see their doctors as often as they are now. Imagine that they are all connected to their medical professionals by wireless communication devices that report directly to their doctor as to their medical condition 24 hours a day. Imagine also that the medical bill for the population would plummet so that instead of being the third largest U.S.federal budget item (after defense and social security) it would now be perhaps the tenth. Billions of dollars would be saved because the elderly would stay home more often than be in the hospitals or nursing homes.
All this would be possible if the current trend continues that keeps baby boomers wired to their ipads and smart phones and wore skintight underclothes that contained sensors that monitored how the person was doing 24 hours a day. These and more inventions are not just science fiction but are already in experimental or actual use. Cell phones are already reminding people when to take their medicine.Switches carried around the neck or wrist that summon emergency help at the push of a button have been around for many years.
One of the largest U.S. based medical insurance companies, Humana, is already testing a thousand patients in 34 states with daily computer assisted monitors to detrmine if there is a sizeable reduction in medical costs.
In a year long British experiment it was found that emergency hospital admissions fell by 20 percent through the use of ”telehealth”. It further found that hospital stays were reduced by a quarter and readmissions fell by 14 percent. The results have caused the government to increase this project to 3 million homes over the next few years.
Some of this technology is also seen in ”telerehabilitation” where devices like the HANDTUTOR, ARMTUTOR, LEGTUTOR and 3DTUTOR are achieving major success in the field of physical rehabilitation for patients who suffered stroke, brain or spinal cord injury, upper/lower limb surgery and a host of other limb disabling diseases. The patient can do intensive exercise regimens right in his own home and the information and customization is transferred directly to the PT or OT. See WWW.MEDITOUCH.CO.IL for more information.