Global communications - Wyle Laboratories, Life Sciences Systems and Services Division personnel, under contract to NASA, Johnson Space Center, reported in September that their field tests of Spacelabs monitoring equipment were a success. A Spacelabs monitor was linked simultaneously by satellite communication to five remote observation sites worldwide. The Spacelabs system was unique in being able to meet all the operation's requirements including simultaneous remote consultation with both primary and secondary sites. Among other specifications the exercise was designed to test the monitoring system's compatibility with satellite communications. In September the Company announced that the feasibility of using telemedicine to monitor the health of patients from their homes was being evaluated under a Department of Army grant to Mercy Home Health Services, the home healthcare subsidiary of Mercy Health System.
Mercy operates in the Philadelphia region.
We're looking at the role of telemedicine in helping us to provide care for these patients and others with chronic conditions. Home healthcare is one way to do that and adding telemedicine to home healthcare is being examined to determine the nature and extent of benefits. Under the Social Security Act, HCFA is responsible for administering the Medicare reimbursement program including making national coverage determinations. Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring has been in existence for more than 30 years. In the last 10 years, it has become accepted widely as a clinical tool for the evaluation of hypertension and related conditions in certain populations.