From Healthcare IT News: MassMEDIC and Cambridge Consultants just released a survey indicating, among respondents who understood the concept of “connected health,” that 75% believed it could cut costs by up to 40%. Unfortunately another 40% in the survey were not aware of connected health solutions, or could not give examples. Again we see the long time frame believed for adoption–here 4 to 15 years. Vaishali Kamat, who organized the project for Cambridge Consultants, makes excellent points on the lack of coordination, piecemeal solutions, and limited interoperability as barriers in adoption.
A lot of awareness building is needed here for the end-to-end solutions (that includes–but is not limited to–telecare and telehealth) that the Center for Connected Health advocates. Surely these will all be major topics at their symposium October 21-22 in Boston.