“I began thinking about my tablet as my best friend.”
These are powerful words from Maria*, a patient who participated in the feasibility study by the UT Health School of Public Health of the University of Texas System with Project Diabetes Obesity Control (Project DOC).
Project DOC is a one of-a-kind public-private healthcare collaboration driven by the Institute for Health Transformation at the University of Texas System addressing the challenges of chronic disease care.
Project DOC uses the highly secure AT&T network to connect the Brownsville healthcare ecosystem and employs AT&T’s Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) to provide daily monitoring at home for patients like Maria.
AT&T’s RPM is a cloud-based communications platform that moves patient information across AT&T’s highly secure network. Patients can easily connect devices like blood glucose meters and blood pressure cuffs to their tablet or phone, letting doctors and nurses monitor the data in near real-time.
From there, doctors not only can access and share the aggregated data from and with multiple hospitals or teams, but also benefit from intuitive summaries of patients’ medical data through analytics, all conveniently enabled through Project DOC’s digital health infrastructure. Patients can also opt-in to receive automated coaching and reminders.
“I felt like the tablet and I were in it together. Loading my information and getting feedback and coaching really gave me incentive to keep going,” said Maria.
AT&T Drives Healthcare Innovation
Recently, we opened a 6th AT&T FoundryTM focused on connected health. Scientists there are working to invent technologies that help people live their lives flexibly. Whether a patient is in a remote area, confined to their home or away on vacation, they have quick and easy access to doctors and nurses.
Of course, we’re involved in several healthcare programs. We plan to continue looking for unique ways to work alongside others and improve healthcare delivery. Collaboration is the future to building a connected healthcare system that serves everyone.
*Name has been changed to protect the patient’s privacy.
Judi Manis, Regional Vice President, IoT Business Development