Win-Win for Home Blood Pressure Monitoring

According to a new study published July 14^th in the online journal Hypertension, home blood pressure monitoring seems to be a win-win scenario for both patients and insurance companies, helping improve the health of consumers as well as saving money for insurance companies. While insurance companies would have to cover the initial costs of the home blood pressure monitors for patients, the anticipated long-term net returns of an estimated $415 to $1,364 per patient over a 10 year time period would be worth the initial expenses.

Statistics show that more than 76 million Americans have been diagnosed as having high blood pressure, which is also known as Hypertension. In addition, experts believe that many more Americans are living with the condition but just haven’t been diagnosed yet. High blood pressure can be a very serious and even life-threatening condition, and it doesn’t have any symptoms, which is just one of the reasons why periodic blood pressure testing is so important. Since there are no recognizable symptoms of high blood pressure that would cause patients to visit their healthcare providers, periodically self-testing their blood pressure levels can lead to an earlier diagnosis for many otherwise healthy American adults, whom tend to infrequently visit their healthcare providers (and earlier diagnoses often lead to more effective treatments with better outcomes).

According to the study’s lead author, Alejandro Arrieta, assistant professor in the department of health policy and management at Florida International University in Miami, "By improving the accuracy of their blood pressure assessment and by monitoring their blood pressures outside the clinic setting, patients help themselves, help their physicians and save money for insurance companies," which is why the American Heart Association is advocating for insurance companies to start covering and reimbursing patients for home blood pressure monitoring machines.

Mountainside Medical Equipment offers a comprehensive selection of home blood pressure monitors with varying features and costs. Browse through today and see which units might work best for you and your household.

Source:

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_147323.html