AAMI’s Horizons Explores Challenges, Promises
Of Home Healthcare

As the population ages and healthcare facilities look to cut costs, medical technology is moving out of the hospital and into the home. In fact, data from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that 7 million people in the United States receive home healthcare each year.

The spring issue of AAMI’s award-winning Horizons magazine, titled Home Healthcare: Tackling the Challenge of Medical Technology in Nonclinical Settings, examines a number of topics related to this growing trend, including human factors and usability, design considerations, and labeling and training. The issue includes a roundtable discussion, moderated by AAMI President Mary Logan, that looks deeper into how the home environment is different from a clinical one in terms of technology use, as well as interoperability challenges.

In addition, the issue gives patient and caregiver outlooks on how home healthcare is used, as well as a fresh perspective on medical device security.

“With possible pitfalls in mind, we can move toward a world in which medical devices and care are seamlessly integrated into our lives and homes, ideally one in which we can receive state-of-the-art medical treatment while retaining our independence and dignity—whatever our age,” Horizons Managing Editor Erika Hatva writes in the magazine’s introduction.

The movement of healthcare technology out of hospitals and into nonclinical settings such as homes is a trend AAMI will examine in more detail with a summit, co-hosted with the FDA, Oct. 9-10 in Herndon, VA, near Washington, D.C.’s Dulles International Airport. For more information, please go to www.aami.org/summit2013/index.html.

Horizons reaches more than 10,000 medical technology professionals, including all AAMI members, as well as attendees at biomedical association meetings and industry events.

The following organizations signed on to support this issue of Horizons: the American Sleep Apnea Association, ECRI Institute, the Baltimore Medical Engineers and Technicians Society, the Biomedical Associations of Wisconsin, the Biomedical Engineering Society of Texas, the California Medical Instrumentation Association, the Clinical Engineering Association of Illinois, the Colorado Association of Biomedical Equipment Technicians, the Georgia Biomedical Instrumentation Association, the Indiana Biomedical Society, the North Carolina Biomedical Association, the Philadelphia Area Medical Instrumentation Association, the South Florida Association for Medical Instrumentation, the Washington State Biomedical Association, the Intermountain Clinical Instrumentation Society, the Mid-America Clinical Engineering Society, the Biomedical Engineering Technology Club, the Kansas City Biomedical Society, and the Heartland Biomedical Association.

The publication is available for purchase in the AAMI Marketplace at http://my.aami.org/store. The order code is HOR13-1.

For more information about Horizons, visit www.aami.org/publications/horizons.

AAMI, the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation, is a nonprofit organization founded in 1967. It is a diverse community of nearly 7,000 healthcare technology professionals united by one important mission—supporting the healthcare community in the development, management, and use of safe and effective medical technology.