The majority of US patients support the use of home medical devices to manage and improve their chronic conditions according to a survey conducted by GfK Roper for Practice Fusion, San Francisco. Practice Fusion is a free, Web-based electronic health record (EHR) company.

 “Home medical devices can save the healthcare system money and also enable patients to live more independently while managing their chronic conditions,” says Ryan Howard, CEO of Practice Fusion. “EHR systems are a key connection for linking these devices to patients and physicians.” Howard adds that Practice Fusion is focusing its application program interface (API) development on medical devices for the start of 2011.

According to CDC, almost half of all Americans currently live with at least one chronic condition such as diabetes, asthma, COPD, or heart disease. The survey found that patients without chronic conditions were equally interested in having a doctor monitor their health using remote medical devices.

Advances in technology have made home medical devices more affordable, but the connections to physician EHR systems have not been developed extensively and have limited their clinical use. Practice Fusion hopes to leverage its API to provide device connectivity to its community of 50,000 users and 5 million patients.

Key survey findings among those with one or more chronic condition:

• 62% say that communication with their doctor using home medical devices would improve their health.
• Up to 57% respondents between the ages of 25 and 49 were interested in home medical devices.
• Just 35% age 65+ were interested in home medical devices technology whereas 90% of Americans age 65 or older are living with heart some form of chronic illness according to CDC.
• Men with chronic conditions were more interested in home monitoring devices (52%) than women (41%).

The study was conducted via Omnibus survey from Nov 19 to 21, 2010. The GfK Omnibus survey is a weekly national phone survey of US households. Interviews were conducted from among a nationally representative sample of 1,008 adults age 18 or older. Raw results from the patient survey are available upon request.

Practice Fusion is currently inviting makers of home medical devices to connect through the company's EMR Integration and API. Device manufacturers should email partner@practicefusion.com for details about connecting to the company’s EHR community.