Singapore telehealth pilot shows potential to cut heart patient readmissions by 60%

 22-Apr-15, Future Gov

A new tele-health pilot showed the potential to cut the readmission of trialled heart failure patients to Singaporean hospitals by about two thirds due to better monitoring, Steve Leonard, Executive Deputy Chairman, Infocomm Development Authority said today.

Image: Future Gov

The demand for hospital beds in Singapore is growing faster than the supply, so the government trialled a telehealth system with a small group of people. Patients took basic healthcare measurements, like blood pressure and heart rate, at home and remotely shared that with their doctors or caregivers.

“Even in the small controlled group that we’ve worked with we’ve already been able to identify 3500 bed days that we can save,” Leonard said at the Smart Nations Innovation event, part of the country’s week-long activities to promote the use of technology for public services.

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