The Spanish insurance company Igualatorio Médico Quirúrgico (IMQ) and the Mondragon Health group have devised a system for telemonitoring that makes it easier to check up on chronic patients in their own homes.
90% of public healthcare expenditure is spent on chronic patients, and it’s expected that by 2030 this group of sick people will consume two thirds of healthcare budgets. In order to reduce these figures, the insurance company Igualatorio Médico Quirúrgico (IMQ) and the Mondragon Health group are working on a system of telemonitoring that enables checking up on chronic pathologies in the home. This technology includes devices that can transfer biometric data from the sick to another device which, through a Bluetooth connection, sends the information in real time to a healthcare center’s webpage.
The system processes data about the sick person linked to his or her weight, blood pressure and heart rate. Through a Bluetooth connection this information is passed from a PDA device, which processes the health data, to a webpage, where at the same time it is seen by doctors at IMQ.
The project consists of several core strategic themes linked to three areas. The first is oriented towards the development of hospital logistics, while the second revolves around the implementation of automated systems for dispensing medicines in hospital pharmacies.
The third core theme of this pioneering healthcare service is based on the implementation of telemonitoring systems for chronic patients. To this end one of the companies from the Mondragon cooperative, Saludnova, has joined the effort; this company is specialized in the development of technology products for the healthcare sector.
The system consists of a kit that is given to the chronically ill, consisting of a mobile PDA device, a system to measure blood pressure, an electrocardiogram and a cutting edge pulse measuring device. This system enables healthcare professionals to make decisions from a distance. One of its main advantages stems from being able to know when dangerous situations arise, which could represent a threat to the health of the patient.