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[NawlinsGirl]

When the phone rings late one snowy afternoon in John Lescovich's home, he flips on a contraption and a cheery nurse pops up on the screen.

“I had two small slices of pizza today,” he admits immediately. Even from 40 miles away, the 59-year-old Grafton resident knows he can't lie; she'll be checking his vital signs in a few minutes and may even ask him to dangle the camera over a scale to check his weight.

Facing a national nursing shortage and skyrocketing costs, a growing number of health care providers are using video monitoring to check in on patients.

Operated through a phone line, “home telecare” devices are hooked up to stethoscopes and blood pressure and oxygen readers that transmit results to a remote station monitored by a nurse or doctor. The technology saves providers time and gets patients timely attention without ever having to leave their homes, advocates say.

Though there is little hard data tracking its growth, there is mounting evidence that home telecare is spreading quickly.

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http://www.auburnpub.com/articles/2006/01/...news/news04.txt