New Evidence Points to Outcomes and Cost Benefits of Telemedicine in Managing Chronic Diseases

NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. - Sept. 10, 2014 - PRLog -- Contact: Kathryn Ryan, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., (914) 740-2100, kryan@liebertpub.com

New Evidence Points to Outcomes and Cost Benefits of Telemedicine in Managing Chronic Diseases

New Rochelle, NY, September 10, 2014—Congestive heart failure, stroke, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are three of the leading causes of death in the U.S. The use of telemedicine to help manage chronic diseases such as these can yield clear benefits including fewer and shorter hospital stays, fewer emergency room visits, less severe illness, and even fewer deaths, as reported in a study published in Telemedicine and e-Health, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers (http://www.liebertpub.com). The article is available free on the Telemedicine and e-Health website (http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/tmj.2014.9981) until October 10, 2014.

Rashid Bashshur, PhD, Gary Shannon, PhD, and Brian Smith, MS, led a team of clinicians and researchers from the U.S. and Canada that included Telemedicine and e-Health Co-Editors-in-Chief Charles R. Doarn, MBA, and Ronald C. Merrell, MD, in the study entitled “The Empirical Foundations of Telemedicine Interventions for Chronic Disease Management” (http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/tmj.2014.9981). The advantages enabled by telemedicine derive from its ability to help patients become more involved in their own care, facilitate continuous monitoring and early detection of new and recurring symptoms, and allow for prompt responses to worsening illness.

“The integration of telemedicine into healthcare adds great value in managing chronic disease both for patient and provider,” says Co-Editor-in-Chief Charles R. Doarn, MBA, Research Professor of Family and Community Medicine, University of Cincinnati, Ohio. “Dr. Bashshur has presented this work to both the U.S. Congress and the Congressional Budget Office, and with concomitant efforts by the American Telemedicine Association and others, the Congress may finally move telemedicine forward as an important element in healthcare for all Americans.”

About the Journal
Telemedicine and e-Health is an official journal of the American Telemedicine Association, the Canadian Telehealth Forum of COACH, and the International Society for Telemedicine and eHealth. Edited by Ronald C. Merrell, MD, Professor of Surgery, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, and Charles R. Doarn, MBA, Telemedicine and e-Health is the leading international, peer-reviewed journal combining medicine, telecommunications, and information technology. Published monthly in print and online, the Journal covers telemedicine applications that are playing an increasingly important role in health care and provides tools that are indispensable for home health care, remote patient monitoring, and disease management. It encompasses not only rural health and battlefield care, but nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and maritime and aviation applications. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the Telemedicine and e-Health website (http://www.liebertpub.com/tmj).

About the Publisher
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Population Health Management, Games for Health Journal, and Journal of Laparoendoscopic & Advanced Surgical Techniques. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry’s most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm’s 80 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website (http://www.liebertpub.com).