No company has done more to wrap its arms around the whole area of patient monitoring--both in and out of the hospital--than Philips Medical Systems. Since early 2006, Philips has made at least seven acquisitions that have helped it create the infrastructure for a telehealth approach to disease management, including monitoring equipment, IT, and emergency response services. To close out 2007, Philips announced an additional acquisition: a $5.1 billion all-cash offer for respiratory therapy provider Respironics, to buy the leading company in a universe of only three independent companies focused on obstructive sleep apnea, the fastest growing market in home health monitoring.
Families, clinicians, payors, and policy-makers continue to
grapple with the very complex problem of caring for people with
chronic diseases. These patient populations defy the status
quo in health care, which is based on discrete and billable
episodes of care that, for the most part, take place within the
walls of physicians’ offices and other health care
facilities. Patients with chronic illnesses, however, need
frequent, if not continuous care where they live and work.
To a great degree, the elderly are responsible for a large proportion of health care dollars spent on the care...
