Tele-Homecare
from the not-so-fast dept
An interesting article looking at some of the new technologies that can be used for "tele-homecare". Things like pacemakers or shirts that monitor health conditions and send updates wirelessly to physicians. The article also talks about remote surgeries and other procedures. However, the really interesting section is the last part of the article that says these aren't advancing that quickly because insurance companies don't see how to make money off of them, and thus won't support them. Sure, they may save lives, but they don't save money, and when health care is a business, apparently money is more important than lives. They also point out that many doctors are against these technologies as well, as they're afraid it will cut into their incomes due to fewer patient visits. I think we have an incentive problem here. It would appear that the incentive for doctors is to keep their patients just sick enough to have to keep visiting.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
