Interfacing Online Vital Sign Monitoring Devices to an Electronic Medical Record

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Telehealth success relies on the ability of information and communication technologies (ICT) to maximize the quality of care provided remotely, i.e., providing diagnostics and treatments of the same quality compared to face-to-face or conventional means, and to maximize the benefits for the patients, the clinicians and the system of care. Home telehealth, or telehomecare, uses ICT to provide health care services into a patient's home. Remote vital signs monitoring is a common example and one promising market, with the use of personal health devices (e.g, pulse oximeters, blood pressure, scales) to monitor the vital signs of patients, to follow up on their recovery or identify potential complications. To avoid having the patients enter data manually into a telehealth system implemented on tablets, smartphones or computers, one objective is to provide a direct interface between online vital sign monitoring devices with an Electronic Medical Record (EMR). In particular, the EMR offered by Omnimed Inc. is a shared medical record that facilitates and encourages networking between healthcare providers. Using one record per patient, its generic connectivity framework centralizes data to facilitate treatment approaches during healthcare episodes, and provides an optimal continuum of care for patients. Omnimed EMR is capable of providing data to the different health information systems (e.g., Dossier clinique informatisé continuum Ariane Estrie, Dossier medical électronique, Dossier santé Québec). To broaden its reach, Omnimed aims to develop its EMR to move beyond basic EMR databases, toward integrated and sophisticated technology that enables interconnectivity at all levels. One element of their strategy is to use their EMR in preventive care by enabling the reception of alerts and notifications from systems which monitor data coming from vital sign monitoring devices (FitBit activity monitor and scale for the project) used by patients in their homes. In this project, the expertise acquired in the design of advanced telehealth system at the Univ. Sherbrooke will be used to interface vital sign monitoring devices with Omnimed's EMR, and to send the appropriate information to caregivers and help determine how and when they must intervene.