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Intel Health Guide Blood Pressure Monitoring

After over three years of research, development, and market study, Intel announced the launch of the Intel Health Guide, an Intel-branded device for remotely monitoring and managing patients with chronic illness at home. From Intel’s demo one can see that the device is a laptop computer no keyboard and a reversed touch-screen. Patients can connect and upload blood pressure monitors and other medical devices to communicate results with remote health care providers. In addition to vital sign data collection, the health monitoring software also provides patient reminders, surveys, educational content, and other communication tools.

Although Intel appears to be targeting at the same chronic disease management market, the Health Guide from Intel adds features and functions far beyond its predecessor Health Buddy from Health Hero Network, now a division of Robert Bosch. It will be interesting to see whether or the enhanced functionality such as video conferencing and multimedia content will be the key to market adoption.

Intel Health Guide Home Health Monitor

The real barriers to adoption of remote monitoring and other chronic care strategies may be less about functionality than about institutional incentives and business models ingrained in our health care system. The health care market with Medicare in the lead still rewards health care providers far more for treating the complications of chronic illness than it does for proactive management and monitoring aimed at preventing them.

The incentive systems that determine the viability of new models of health care enabled by devices like the Intel Health Guide and the Health Hero Health Network Health Buddy could be about to change, however. With favorable results from the Medicare chronic care improvement demonstration project currently underway from Health Hero Network in Washington and Oregon, Medicare coverage for health care providers to offer home health monitoring services may be around the corner.

Press Release: Intel Announces its First Home Medical Device to Better Connect Clinicians with Patients

Intel® Health Guide is First Product in Series Designed to Enable More Personalized Care Management for Chronic and Age-related Conditions

Intel Health Guide Telehealth Appliance

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Nov. 10, 2008 – Intel Corporation today announced its Intel® Health Guide, a care management tool designed for health care professionals who manage patients with chronic conditions. The Health Guide represents Intel’s entry into a new category of personal health systems that go beyond the simple remote patient monitoring systems available today.

The Intel® Health Guide, which received 510(k) market clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in July, is a comprehensive personal health system that combines an in-home patient device — the Intel® Health Guide PHS6000 — as well as an online interface — the Intel® Health Care Management Suite — allowing clinicians to monitor patients in their homes and manage care remotely.

“The Health Guide is a step forward in offering more personalized and effective management of chronic health conditions in the home,” said Louis Burns, vice president and general manager of the Intel Digital Health Group. “Intel has spent years researching the needs of both caregivers and patients, and we are now moving to launch a series of products that will help extend care from the hospital to the home. Our products will help address the challenges of an aging population and rising rates of chronic disease.”

Intel is collaborating with health care industry leaders around the world to validate the clinical benefits of the Health Guide for a wide range of chronic disease conditions and health and wellness applications. Pilot studies in the United States are currently planned with health care organizations such as Aetna, Erickson Retirement Communities, Providence Medical Group in Oregon and SCAN Health Plan. The goals and objectives are to assess how the Health Guide integrates with different care management models in the home. These first studies focus on the ability to demonstrate improved health outcomes for conditions such as heart failure, diabetes, hypertension and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Customers such as Advanced Warning Systems, Inc., (AWS), a provider of health care discovery products and web-based services, monitor people for acute cardiovascular symptoms that can cause sudden death. AWS will use the Intel Heath Guide to connect with a targeted class of users, including retired athletes and post-war veterans suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), with the highest incidence of cardiovascular related illnesses.

The Health Guide promotes greater patient engagement and more efficient care management by enabling communication between patients and health care professionals and providing clinicians with access to the most current, actionable data. This solution offers interactive tools for personalized care management and includes vital sign collection, patient reminders, surveys, multimedia educational content, and feedback and communications tools, such as video conferencing and alerts. Clinicians have ongoing access to data so that they can better manage each patient’s conditions while patients benefit from customized care in the comfort of their own living room.

Intel is working with leading health care organizations that have an understanding of health care delivery to develop unique patient care plans as well as multimedia educational content for chronic conditions. Specifically, Intel is working with the Mayo Clinic to have licensed educational content from MayoClinic.com made available to customers using the Health Guide. In addition, Intel is working with the American Heart Association to create care plans based on the organization’s treatment guidelines for a pilot project for the ongoing management of patients with heart failure. The intent is to help health care professionals monitor patients and remotely manage their care in accordance with science guidelines and also to provide patients with ready access to credible and targeted education material.

Intel has also hired a team of clinical experts to provide a range of professional services to enable health care organizations to successfully integrate the personal health system into their current disease management programs and models of care.

Additionally, Intel plans to use the core technology components of the solution to build products targeted for new areas such as independent living and programs for health and wellness management and to support new devices such as mobile phones and handhelds.

American Medical Alert Corporation, a national provider of remote patient monitoring devices and 24/7 health care communication services, will be the first U.S. market channel partner for the Intel Health Guide. By adding the Intel Health Guide to its portfolio of offerings, AMAC will be further equipped to provide its customers with the best in care management technologies. The Health Guide is designed to be used by health care professionals to manage their patients at home and is not currently available for general consumer purchase.

For information on how to purchase this product, visit www.intel.com/healthcare/ps/healthguide/wtb.htm. For more information on the Intel Health Guide, visit www.intel.com/healthcare/telehealth. To learn more about Intel in health care, go to www.intel.com/healthcare.

About Intel

Intel [NASDAQ: INTC], the world leader in silicon innovation, develops technologies, products and initiatives to continually advance how people work and live. Additional information about Intel is available at www.intel.com/pressroom and blogs.intel.com.