Facing both a financial crisis and the healthcare demands of its large elderly population, officials in Spain’s Basque Country have turned to technology for solutions.
Facing both a financial crisis and the healthcare demands of its large elderly population, officials in Spain have turned to technology for solutions.
Overall, the goal is to reduce patient and doctor face-to-face meetings while keeping communication lines between the two open.
It seems they’ve found their answer in a system called TEKI that blends telephones, the Internet, and motions sensors like those in the Xbox Kinect.
Participating patients in the Basque region have access to a call center when advice is needed and can check their records via an app.
Meanwhile, their vitals are all being monitored and reported to medical professionals.
When it’s time to have their mobility assessed, patients stand in front of their motion-sensing device and the evaluation gets underway.
Should a prescription be needed, the system can handle that, too.
In just one year, the technology package has saved the country more than 55 million dollars, largely by eliminating trips to the hospital.
Accenture, a partner in the system’s creation, reported that nearly 80 percent of the country’s healthcare expense comes from chronic disease management, most of which are conducive to in-home health solutions.