Tech talk

Is it me, or is healthcare-related technology popping up more than usual lately?

Two items caught my eye yesterday: A new mobile app developed by the Johns Hopkins Center for Sleep to help doctors who are not specially trained better identify patients who might have a chronic sleep disorder, and another app being piloted by Mount Sinai that helps COPD patients monitor and manage their symptoms.

This morning, I was reading a couple of stories from Managing Editor Theresa Flaherty (filed from Medtrade Spring no less) about how providers need to get in front of CMS's plan to use bundled payments for CPAP devices, and how providers need to look beyond setups to make money in the sleep therapy market.

One key to overcoming both challenges: You guessed it, technology.

Technology allows providers to collect and analyze compliance data and improve their outreach efforts, which, in turn, allows them to improve compliance, which, in turn, helps them reduce costs for payers and increase their revenues.

More on that last point: Over a five-year period, a compliant patient generates $1,569 in revenues vs. $410 for a non-compliant patient, according to Philips Respironics (See Theresa's story in the HME Newswire on Monday for more details).

This is obvious, but I've never seen dollar amounts attributed to compliance like this.

It's no surprise that three of the four examples above involve sleep therapy. This is where technology is having the most impact on HME right now, I think.

There will be at least two tech-related sessions at the HME News Business Summit this year, Sept. 13-15 in Nashville. One of those sessions: a panel discussion with representatives from the three biggest manufacturers in the sleep therapy market about how a connected health delivery model—and the massive amounts of data it generates—is transforming how care is provided in the home.

Mark my words: It's time to get on the tech bandwagon before it's too late.