Healthcare Via Home Computers - 11/10/2008

CLEVELAND (AP) - Patients can use their home computers to have their conditions monitored by Cleveland Clinic doctors, under a new pilot program with Microsoft.

The hospital and the software giant call the project the first in a U.S. clinical setting that allows physicians to follow patients with multiple diseases using at-home devices.

One participant is a patient in suburban Chagrin Falls with hypertension that's hard to treat. She sends twice-daily readings from her blood-pressure monitor to her doctor's office by way of her home PC.

The pilot program being announced today offers money- and time-saving for patients and doctors. They can stay in touch on matters like blood pressure, weight and heart rates without day-to-day personal contact.