Physicians Can Monitor Your Blood Pressure — and You Don't Even Have to Leave Your Living Room

Doctors in Louisiana are a case study for the deployment of technology to connect people in need of medical attention with their healthcare providers, reports the Washington Post . Louisiana's Ochsner Health System is a nonprofit healthcare delivery system with 30 hospitals. When Ochsner launched a digital hypertension program in 2015, the health system covered the cost of blood pressure cuffs, the care team, and the digital infrastructure. Within three months, more than 66 percent of those receiving the digital intervention had their blood pressure under control, versus 31 percent in a group that received traditional care. Ochsner has enrolled 2,500 persons in its digital hypertension program and has expanded its platform to other areas, including pregnancy and diabetes. Ochsner obstetrician and gynecologist Rajiv Gala participates in a program that gives pregnant women a wireless scale, a blood pressure cuff, and urine tests, with results to be reported through an app. The program enables women to skip up to three appointments. Although the ability to collect data is not a new development, technology can allow the healthcare system to surmount bottlenecks in routine care, most apparently on the medical side, as well as coax enrollees to alter behaviors.