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EHealth consultant Sananet has been piloting the Health Buddy telemedicine technology in the Netherlands for several years, with encouraging outcomes in diabetes, COPD, and heart failure, as well as benefits for everyone involved in care: patients, doctors, nurses, health insurers and government agencies. Here is what telemedicine technology looks like in the Netherlands, recently posted on YouTube.

Sananet reports the following results from its telemedicine in chronic care pilots:

• 30% reduction in hospitalization for heart failure patients in a telemedicine study from the University of Maastricht.
• Reduction in length of hospital stay for COPD patients from 13 days to 9 days on average in a telemedicine study from the University of Utrecht.
• In diabetes patients with an HbA1c of 8% or higher, a reduction in HbA1c of 1.5% compared to 0.6% in the control group in a study in Almere.

Although many think of telemedicine and telehealth as the remote collection of data from blood pressure monitors, digital weight scales, blood glucose monitors, and respiratory monitoring devices, Sananet achieved all of these results using a telemedicine system focused on educating and supporting patients at home in a simple daily text-message health dialogue about symptoms, behavior and knowledge.

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Dutch Ministry of Health Recognizes Health Buddy for Best Practice in Telemedicine

Telebegeleiding met Health Buddy