In a pioneering progamme developed by the Boston-based Center for Connected Health (a division of Partners HealthCare), patient data collected at home – such as blood pressure, weight and blood glucose – can now be transmitted electronically and viewed through the Partners HealthCare medical records system.

It means that this important data is now accessible within the established clinical workflow.

Vital signs and other patient data collected at home are securely transmitted to the Center’s remote monitoring database – via computer, smartphone or tablet – which currently stores over 1.2 million patient vital signs.

For the first time this data is now displayed in the patient’s medical record, enabling providers throughout the Partners’ network to quickly and easily access this patient data and streamline clinical workflow.

Patients can also monitor their own health data via the Partners’ secure patient portal, which is called Patient Gateway.

“By linking the Center’s remote monitoring database to the Partners medical record system, we are taking an important step towards continuous chronic disease management,” said James Noga, vice president at Partners HealthCare. “This is a significant part of how we are working to change care delivery, putting the patient at the center of their care while maintaining a close watch on their condition when they are not in the hospital or doctor’s office.”

Christopher Wasden, a global healthcare specialist at PricewaterhouseCoopers, was fulsome in his praise for the programme.

“What makes this programme unique is that Partners is, I believe, the first to seamlessly integrate patient-collected data into their medical record system using their own proprietary technology platform, making it far easier and faster for their clinicians to access this important data,” he said. “This is the next generation of patient management.”

The Center for Connected Health says it creates and validates technology-enabled solutions that “empower patients and providers to transform health care, developing innovations that facilitate collaborative care, self-management and improved quality”.