In a move that recognizes the growing importance of home-based telehealth systems, the Bosch Group has announced that it will merge its Telehealth and Care Solutions businesses with Robert Bosch Healthcare.
The company’s Care Solutions business unit, which has been part of Bosch Security Systems, offers a range of personal alarm (PERS) and NurseCall systems, designed to allow people who live at home or in assisted living facilities to have immediate access to emergency medical assistance. The Bosch Telehealth System, used by more than 50,000 patients, mostly in the United States, gives clinicians access to a home-based patient’s vital signs and other information, including medication adherence and behaviors. It will be combined with Bosch Healthcare’s existing telehealth solutions for patients suffering from chronic conditions.
“Our aim is to become the leading provider of telehealth and personal alarm systems (PERS) in the home,” said Jasper zu Putlitz, chairman of the board for Palo Alto, Calif.-based Robert Bosch Healthcare.
"The aging population, in conjunction with rising cost pressures in the healthcare sector make it increasingly important to offer innovative approaches to an affordable and sustainably high standard of care for elderly and chronically ill people," he said in a press release announcing the merger, which will take place at the beginning of 2012. “Intervening early in a patient's care, before their symptoms worsen, helps reduce the need for hospitalization, which, in turn, brings significant efficiency gains for the healthcare sector as a whole.”
Bosch Healthcare has been working with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for more than a decade on telehealth products, most notably the Health Buddy System and the ViTelCare T400, know as the “turtle,” a home-based mobile medical device capable of capturing patient vital signs and relaying them to caregivers and healthcare providers. The “turtle” has been garnering positive reviews in deployments with the Alaska Federal Healthcare Partnership, which is rolling out an additional 300 devices through the end of this year.
Company officials say the merger of Bosch’s telehealth and home-care business lines (the company is one of the leading telehealth providers in Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands) will enable Bosch Healthcare to concentrate its solutions and services in a rapidly growing market.
"Incorporating the telecare product range will allow Bosch Healthcare to offer a broad portfolio of products and systems to support patients with chronic diseases and older persons in the home," said Marcus Kind, head of sales and marketing for Care Solutions.
They’re not the only company to recognize the value of the market. At the mHealth Summit last week, San Diego-based telecommunications giant Qualcomm announced the creation of Qualcomm Life, a subsidiary designed to focus on the telehealth and home-based healthcare markets.
