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Springfield Hospital Gets Boost in Bid to Reach Out to Heart Patients

Springfield's HSHS St. John's Hospital gets a boost in its bid to use virtual medicine to reach out to heart patients at their homes. Thanks to a $205,000 grant from pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, they now can add 120 new patients with congestive heart failure to their Tele-Heart Pathway Program at St. John's based Prairie Heart Institute. Dr. Mark Stampehl is the medical director for the Tele-Heart Pathway Program. He says it not only is a more efficient use of doctors critical time but also cuts health care costs....

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Stampehl says the program offers improved quality of life and the program helps the hospital monitor patient weight and other symptoms from afar..

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In fact, specialty trained nurses use high-tech scales to automatically transmit weight information. Patient answers to symptom questions are also recorded. Doctors are continuing to plead with federal officials to bring reimbursement into play for programs like Tele-Heart. Tele-Heart costs patients a mere $15 a month.

AstraZeneca also awarded a grant to Urbana based Presence Covenant Medical Center for the Cardiovascular Awareness and Risk Reduction Program. It aims to engage the community and Presence Covenant Medical Center's community health partners to improve the quality of cardiovascular care in the greater Champaign County area through screening, education, treatment and support of healthy lifestyles, targeting uninsured and underinsured individuals.

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