telehealth, telemedicine, and remote patient monitoring notebook
This case study discusses how Montana is using Polycom Solutions to bridge the gap in healthcare delivery and communications that plagues the largely rural and sparsely populated State of Montana.
via Polycom Video Conferencing, Voice Conferencing and Wireless telephony.
Over the next two decades an increasing number of people will reach the age at which they need the type of support that can be provided using a telecare service. Most telecare vendors and providers market their products and services within a framework based on the ‘ageing in place’ concept. ‘Ageing in place’ assumes that if a person is given the required support they can remain in their own home rather than being cared for in sheltered accommodation or a nursing home. This concept appeals both to elderly people, as they can lead relatively independent lives in familiar surroundings, and also to healthcare providers because care costs less to provide at the edge of the healthcare network.
Each year will see more people who have used computers and the Internet during their working lives using their IT skills to improve the quality of their lives during old age. Already some people who have been exposed to Internet-based social networking have reached retirement age, and as more do so the market for telecare for the aged will become more complex for the vendors and service providers who have to address an increasing mix of user skills and requirements.
Some vendors are beginning to experiment with a new generation of telecare services that use Health 2.0-type technology as a platform. These vendors may soon be able to launch next generation telecare services in a section of the healthcare market where incumbent healthcare providers have little influence over the type of service the consumer has access to. If this trend continues, elderly telecare users will make up an important part of the market for services such as Google Health and Microsoft’s Health Vault, especially if access and privacy issues slow the adoption of the electronic patient record systems deployed by incumbent healthcare providers.
Research released by Healthsense and NewCourtland Elder Services concludes that seniors who rely on remote monitoring technology to help them remain secure and independent adapt well to living with the technology and do not see it as intrusive or impersonal.
Conducted by an independent research consulting firm at four locations within the NewCourtland Network, a non-profit provider of community services, housing and nursing homes for more than 2,200 seniors in Philadelphia, the study measured the effectiveness of Healthsense’s eNeighbor remote monitoring technology and captured the perceptions of residents, family members and staff employing it.
Participants in the survey reported an overwhelmingly positive attitude toward the eNeighbor System. Seniors, some of whom have lived with the technology in their residences for more than two years, unanimously agreed that the system makes them feel safer and more secure while enabling them to live independently for longer. Of those surveyed, only one elderly resident reported a concern about intrusiveness. Staff members interviewed for the study unanimously agreed that the eNeighbor System allows them to better assess the care needed by residents, helps them provide the appropriate level of care, and improves the quality of care overall that residents receive.
“We thought at first that adapting to the technology would be a major issue for our residents, but clearly it was not,” said Kim Brooks, NewCourtland’s Vice President, Housing and Community-based Services. “The results of the survey demonstrate that even seniors with little or no prior exposure to this technology can readily adapt to it once they realize the improved quality of life it offers.”
Brian Bischoff, President and CEO of Healthsense, said, “Preliminary research supports that it’s potentially more cost-effective for seniors to receive care at home or in their own community versus an institutional setting. This study demonstrates the efficiency of technology to safely and affordably meet the healthcare needs of our rapidly growing senior population while enabling them to live independently and enjoy a better quality of life that supports their desire to age in place.”
via Study Shows Seniors Adapt Well to Remote Monitoring Technology .
A literature review of 10 different telemonitoring systems for heart failure confirmed the value of such systems in reducing hospital costs. Direct savings to patients were modest but the perception of improved indirect costs supported a majority of patients in their willingness to pay for such a service.
Heart failure (HF) is associated with high direct and indirect costs to the patients and the healthcare system. This systematic review aims to analyze existing economic data to determine whether telemonitoring of patients with HF will result in decreased costs. The Scopus and PubMed databases were searched independently by two reviewers for journal articles that reported on an economic analysis (i.e., calculated monetary amounts or percentage change in costs) of a study using a HF telemonitoring system. Only articles describing telemonitoring systems with a component of home physiological measurements were included. Eleven articles met the inclusion criteria, describing 10 different HF telemonitoring systems. Nine of the 10 studies analyzed the direct costs to the healthcare system. All the studies found cost reductions from telemonitoring compared to usual care, which ranged between 1.6% and 68.3%. Cost reductions were mainly attributed to reduced hospitalization expenditures. Only one study discussed the impact of HF telemonitoring on direct patient costs. The study found a 3.5% lower travel cost for patients using telemonitoring compared to those in the usual care group. The single study that was found for indirect costs described the willingness to pay for telemedicine by patients with HF (55% of the patients with HF were willing to pay $20 to access telemedicine, and 19% were willing to pay $40). Available data from existing studies suggest that although HF telemonitoring will require an initial financial investment, it will substantially reduce costs in the long term, particularly by reducing rehospitalization and travel costs.
via Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. – Telemedicine and e-Health – 14(7):679.
The United States could cut $197 billion from its health care bill over the next 25 years by widespread use of remote monitoring to track the vital signs of patients with chronic diseases such as congestive heart failure and diabetes, according to a new study released today by economist Robert Litan. Litan said that savings would be maximized by public policy adjustments that encourage health care institutions and individual caregivers to accelerate the use of remote monitoring.
“Remote monitoring can spot health problems sooner, reduce hospitalization, improve life quality and save money,” Litan said at a health care forum sponsored by Better Health Care Together (www.betterhealthcaretogether.org).
But he warned that adoption of remote monitoring and other telemedicine opportunities will be slowed and benefits reduced unless the United States does a better job of reimbursing health care organizations for remote care and encouraging continued investment in broadband infrastructure that can be tailored to meet the privacy, security, and reliability requirements for telemedicine applications.
Failure to make the right policy adjustments will cut estimated health care savings by almost $44 billion over the 25-year period, Litan estimated.
Before stimulus bill broadband grants flow to local governments, the federal government is seeking input on grant requirements from “interested parties,” according to the Federal Register. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) will begin holding meetings on March 2 and continue until further notice. The NTIA is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, which is distributing $4.7 billion of the $7.2 billion President Barack Obama detailed in his stimulus package for municipal broadband.
Taking advantage of the meetings is critical for local governments, warned Craig Settles, a municipal broadband analyst.
“Incumbents and large providers know about these meetings, and they’ll try to dominate the process to get RFP requirements that favor them,” Settles commented. “Communities and smaller providers could lose out, and as a result their economies won’t benefit nearly as much as they would if communities are active participants in this process.”
To schedule a meeting, call Barbara Brown at the NTIA at (202) 482-4374 or e-mail her at bbrown@ntia.doc.gov. Brown hasn’t returned a voicemail from Government Technology yet asking whether “interested parties” may do the meetings via conference call.
The NTIA’s $4.7 billion share of the overall $7.2 billion will fund urban and rural broadband while the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) — part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture — will distribute the remaining $2.5 billion for rural broadband exclusively.
Given that vendors and nonprofits will compete for the dollars alongside governments, municipalities should at least demand requirements forcing vendors and nonprofits to collaborate with cities and counties on any deployments, Settles recommended. With no local government input, vendors and nonprofits could build networks that grow their own bottom lines, but don’t serve the goals of the local governments. For example, a municipality might want the network to support job creation, health care, telemedicine and digital inclusion. Different forms of broadband serve different goals better than others.
via Stimulus Broadband Feedback from Locals Solicited by Federal Government.
President Obama, in his address to Congress this week, emphasized that he wants electronic health records (EHR) to be established for all Americans over the next five years. His recently passed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act earmarked $19 billion for health information technology spending, $17 billion of which is designated for incentive payments for EHR use beginning in 2011. To date, only about 25% of the nation’s 5,000 hospitals have rolled out EHR systems, and only a small fraction of physician practices have done the same.
The EHR funds will be controlled by the U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS), which has discretionary use over $2 billion of the funds.
The legislation also allocates, among other things, $85 million for health technology investments to the Indian Health Service, $1.5 billion for Community Health Centers and $50 million to HHS to improve its technology security.
Computerworld spoke with three health technology experts from private corporations and the IT vendor side to get their take on the new bill and whether the billions being spent will succeed in establishing EHRs.
The three experts are:
Dr. Charles Kennedy
Dr. Charles Kennedy, senior vice president for health IT at Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc., the country’s largest health benefits provider. WellPoint provides health coverage to about 34 million members through its subsidiaries, primarily under the Blue Cross and Blue Shield name. Kennedy is a founding member of the certification commission for Healthcare Information Technology and a board member of the National eHealth Collaborative.
Frances Dare
Frances Dare, director of the health care consulting practice at the Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group. Dare recently testified on Capitol Hill and has advised the Obama administration regarding the stimulus package. She has spent more than 25 years in the health care industry as a hospital administrator for two facilities.
Phil Fasano
Phil Fasano, CIO at Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente, a $38 billion nonprofit health care system. Kaiser Permanente offers health care services through a network of nearly 14,000 physicians at Permanente Medical Groups; 32 medical centers and more than 400 medical offices that form the Kaiser Foundation Hospitals; and the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, which has 8.7 million members. Kaiser is finishing up a five-year EHR system implementation that cost $5 billion and created 5 petabytes of data on spinning disk serving 32 hospitals, more than 400 medical clinics and 14,000 physicians.
via Obama’s e-health plan: Three heavyweight health IT leaders weigh in.
The Obama administration today requested $76.8 billion for the Health and Human Services Department in the fiscal 2010 budget overview, with much of the funding request directed at expanding technology, research, and access to health care. HHS got $70.5 billion in fiscal 2008. The White House has said the president would release a more detailed budget proposal in April.
In general and without providing figures, the budget proposes to build on the $19 billion spending in health information technology in the economic stimulus law and to continue those efforts through HHS’ Medicare, Medicaid and other programs to further adopt and implement health IT to help modernize the health care system and reduce medical errors. For example, Medicare would offer physicians and hospitals temporary incentive payments under that law starting in 2011 for using a certified electronic health record system. In 2015, providers would pay penalties for failure to use such a system.
The budget request also sets out the president’s plan for health care reform. It would establish a reserve fund of more than $630 million over 10 years to finance reform of the way the nation delivers health care to reduce costs and expand coverage. The administration would pay for the reserve fund through new revenue and savings proposals that promote efficiency and accountability and target incentives toward improved quality, according to the budget overview.
“The budget calls for an effort beyond this down payment, to put the nation on a path to health insurance coverage for all Americans,” the request said.
The administration would broaden health care research using the volumes of data in the Medicare and Medicaid programs to track trends and conduct pilot programs to evaluate payment reforms, efforts to provide higher quality care at lower costs and improve beneficiary education. Under the proposal, the budget would also direct more resources to strengthen program integrity efforts to reduce fraud, waste and abuse in Medicare’s prescription drug program, the Medicare Advantage private insurance plan and Medicaid.
via IT, health care would get more under budget — Federal Computer Week.
For years, the idea of making health records electronic — for increased accessibility, reduced errors and portability — has exerted a near-gravitational pull on the government market.
So why hasn’t it happened already?
The Bush administration considered automating health records but concluded that the effort must be led by the private sector, said Dr. Michael Cowan, BearingPoint’s chief medical officer.
“Now it’s been five years, and there’s been little movement, so the next logical step is the one that President Obama is taking” with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Cowan said.
“It’s been hard to build a self-sustaining financial case for electronic health records,” he said, adding that for an individual practitioner, the cost to implement the technology is about $40,000.
With government support, the effort might achieve critical mass, but health care practitioners’ reluctance is about more than money.
“As a hematologist and oncologist, anything I can do to help you can also kill you if it’s not done right,” he said. “So I take a heuristic approach to patient care. My problem with EHR is it makes me change my rhythm. It’s like changing a dance step; it can throw you off.” It’s a complaint he said he’s heard from other doctors.
It’s also where health information technology companies can help, he said. “The new wave in technology is in Web 2.0, in applications that allow social interaction. Every other market is on the Web, and that’s what health care needs to do. We need to get functions onto Web 2.0 and away from software applications.”
Web-based networking is cheaper and more efficient, and it can help solve some of the knotty privacy and security problems associated with EHRs.
“Google and Microsoft have changed the game,” Cowan said. The two companies have partnered on a pilot project to store electronic health records for as many as 10,000 patients of the Cleveland Clinic.
via E-health records need Web 2.0 cure — Washington Technology.
Download the final clean version of the economic stimulus bill.
TITLE I—AGRICULTURE, RURAL DEVELOPMENT, FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, RURAL UTILITIES SERVICE
DISTANCE LEARNING, TELEMEDICINE, AND BROADBAND PROGRAM
For an additional amount for the cost of broadband loans and loan guarantees, as authorized by the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 (7 U.S.C. 901 et seq.) and for grants (including for technical assistance), $2,500,000,000: Provided, That the cost of direct and guaranteed loans shall be as defined in section 502 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974: Provided further, That, notwithstanding title VI of the Rural Electrification Act of 1936, this amount is available for grants, loans and loan guarantees for broadband infrastructure in any area of the United States: Provided further, That at least 75 percent of the area to be served by a project receiving funds from such grants, loans or loan guarantees shall be in a rural area without sufficient access to high speed broadband service to facilitate rural economic development, as determined by the Secretary of Agriculture: Provided further, That priority for awarding such funds shall be given to project applications for broadband systems that will deliver end users a choice of more than one service provider: Provided further, That priority for awarding funds made available under this paragraph shall be given to projects that provide service to the highest proportion of rural residents that do not have access to broadband service: Provided further, That priority shall be given for project applications from borrowers or former borrowers under title II of the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 and for project applications that include such borrowers or former borrowers: Provided further, That priority for awarding such funds shall be given to project applications that demonstrate that, if the application is approved, all project elements will be fully funded: Provided further, That priority for awarding such funds shall be given to project applications for activities that can be completed if the requested funds are provided: Provided further, That priority for awarding such funds shall be given to activities that can commence promptly following approval: Provided further, That no area of a project funded with amounts made available under this paragraph may receive funding to provide broadband service under the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program: Provided further, That the Secretary shall submit a report on planned spending and actual obligations describing the use of these funds not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, and quarterly thereafter until all funds are obligated, to the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate.
The Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 201 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:
‘‘TITLE XXX—HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND QUALITY
‘‘Subtitle A—Promotion of Health Information Technology
‘‘SEC. 3001. OFFICE OF THE NATIONAL COORDINATOR FOR HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY.
‘‘SEC. 3002. HIT POLICY COMMITTEE.
‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a HIT Policy Committee to make policy recommendations to the National Coordinator relating to the implementation of a nationwide health information technology infrastructure, including implementation of the strategic plan described in section 3001(c)(3).
‘‘(b) DUTIES.—
‘‘(1) RECOMMENDATIONS ON HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE.—The HIT Policy Committee shall recommend a policy framework for the development and adoption of a nationwide health information technology infrastructure that permits the electronic exchange and use of health information as is consistent with the strategic plan under section 3001(c)(3) and that includes the recommendations under paragraph (2). The Committee shall update such recommendations and make new recommendations as appropriate.
‘‘(2) SPECIFIC AREAS OF STANDARD DEVELOPMENT.—
‘‘(A) INGENERAL.—The HIT Policy Committee shall recommend the areas in which standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria are needed for the electronic exchange and use of health information for purposes of adoption under section 3004 and shall recommend an order of priority for the development, harmonization, and recognition of such standards, specifications, and certification criteria among the areas so recommended. Such standards and implementation specifications shall include named standards, architectures, and software schemes for the authentication and security of individually identifiable health information and other information as needed to ensure the reproducible development of common solutions across disparate entities.
‘‘(B) AREAS REQUIREDFORCONSIDERATION.—For purposes of subparagraph (A), the HIT Policy Committee shall make recommendations for at least the following areas:
‘‘(i) Technologies that protect the privacy of health information and promote security in a qualified electronic health record, including for the segmentation and protection from disclosure of specific and sensitive individually identifiable health information with the goal of minimizing the reluctance of patients to seek care (or disclose information about a condition) because of privacy concerns, in accordance with applicable law, and for the use and disclosure of limited data sets of such information.
‘‘(ii) A nationwide health information technology infrastructure that allows for the electronic use and accurate exchange of health information.
‘‘(iii) The utilization of a certified electronic health record for each person in the United States by 2014.
‘‘(iv) Technologies that as a part of a qualified electronic health record allow for an accounting of disclosures made by a covered entity (as defined for purposes of regulations promulgated under section 264(c) of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996) for purposes of treatment, payment, and health care operations (as such terms are defined for purposes of such regulations).
‘‘(v) The use of certified electronic health records to improve the quality of health care, such as by promoting the coordination of health care and improving continuity of health care among health care providers, by reducing medical errors, by improving population health, by reducing health disparities, by reducing chronic disease, and by advancing research and education.
‘‘(vi) Technologies that allow individually identifiable health information to be rendered unusable, unreadable, or indecipherable to unauthorized individuals when such information is transmitted in the nationwide health information network or physically transported outside of the secured, physical perimeter of a health care provider, health plan, or health care clearinghouse.
‘‘(vii) The use of electronic systems to ensure the comprehensive collection of patient demographic data, including, at a minimum, race, ethnicity, primary language, and gender information.
‘‘(viii) Technologies that address the needs of children and other vulnerable populations.
‘‘(C) OTHER AREAS FOR CONSIDERATION.—In making recommendations under subparagraph (A), the HIT Policy Committee may consider the following additional areas:
‘‘(i) The appropriate uses of a nationwide health information infrastructure, including for purposes of—
‘‘(I) the collection of quality data and public reporting;
‘‘(II) biosurveillance and public health;
‘‘(III) medical and clinical research; and
‘‘(IV) drug safety.
‘‘(ii) Self-service technologies that facilitate the use and exchange of patient information and reduce wait times.
‘‘(iii) Telemedicine technologies, in order to reduce travel requirements for patients in remote areas.
‘‘(iv) Technologies that facilitate home health care and the monitoring of patients recuperating at home.
‘‘(v) Technologies that help reduce medical errors.
‘‘(vi) Technologies that facilitate the continuity of care among health settings.
‘‘(vii) Technologies that meet the needs of diverse populations.
‘‘(viii) Methods to facilitate secure access by an individual to such individual’s protected health information.
‘‘(ix) Methods, guidelines, and safeguards to facilitate secure access to patient information by a family member, caregiver, or guardian acting on behalf of a patient due to age-related and other disability, cognitive impairment, or dementia.
‘‘(x) Any other technology that the HIT Policy Committee finds to be among the technologies with the greatest potential to improve the quality and efficiency of health care.
‘‘(3) FORUM.—The HIT Policy Committee shall serve as a forum for broad stakeholder input with specific expertise in policies relating to the matters described in paragraphs (1) and (2).
‘‘(4) CONSISTENCY WITH EVALUATION CONDUCTED UNDER MIPPA.—
‘‘(A) REQUIREMENTFORCONSISTENCY.—The HIT Policy Committee shall ensure that recommendations made under paragraph (2)(B)(vi) are consistent with the evaluation conducted under section 1809(a) of the Social Security Act.
‘‘(B) SCOPE.—Nothing in subparagraph (A) shall be construed to limit the recommendations under paragraph (2)(B)(vi) to the elements described in section 1809(a)(3) of the Social Security Act.
‘‘(C) TIMING.—The requirement under subparagraph
(A) shall be applicable to the extent that evaluations have been conducted under section 1809(a) of the Social Security Act, regardless of whether the report described in subsection (b) of such section has been submitted.
‘‘(c) MEMBERSHIP AND OPERATIONS.—
‘‘(1) INGENERAL.—The National Coordinator shall take a leading position in the establishment and operations of the HIT Policy Committee.
‘‘(2) MEMBERSHIP.—The HIT Policy Committee shall be composed of members to be appointed as follows:
‘‘(A) 3 members shall be appointed by the Secretary, 1 of whom shall be appointed to represent the Department of Health and Human Services and 1 of whom shall be a public health official.
‘‘(B) 1 member shall be appointed by the majority leader of the Senate.
‘‘(C) 1 member shall be appointed by the minority leader of the Senate.
‘‘(D) 1 member shall be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
‘‘(E) 1 member shall be appointed by the minority leader of the House of Representatives.
‘‘(F) Such other members as shall be appointed by the President as representatives of other relevant Federal agencies.
‘‘(G) 13 members shall be appointed by the Comptroller General of the United States of whom—
‘‘(i) 3 members shall advocates for patients or consumers;
‘‘(ii) 2 members shall represent health care providers, one of which shall be a physician;
‘‘(iii) 1 member shall be from a labor organization representing health care workers;
‘‘(iv) 1 member shall have expertise in health information privacy and security;
‘‘(v) 1 member shall have expertise in improving the health of vulnerable populations;
‘‘(vi) 1 member shall be from the research community;
‘‘(vii) 1 member shall represent health plans or other third-party payers;
‘‘(viii) 1 member shall represent information technology vendors;
‘‘(ix) 1 member shall represent purchasers or employers; and
‘‘(x) 1 member shall have expertise in health care quality measurement and reporting.
‘‘(3) PARTICIPATION.—The members of the HIT Policy Committee appointed under paragraph (2) shall represent a balance among various sectors of the health care system so that no single sector unduly influences the recommendations of the Policy Committee.
‘‘(4) TERMS.—
‘‘(A) INGENERAL.—The terms of the members of the HIT Policy Committee shall be for 3 years, except that the Comptroller General shall designate staggered terms for the members first appointed.
‘‘(B) VACANCIES.—Any member appointed to fill a vacancy in the membership of the HIT Policy Committee that occurs prior to the expiration of the term for which the member’s predecessor was appointed shall be appointed only for the remainder of that term. A member may serve after the expiration of that member’s term until a successor has been appointed. A vacancy in the HIT Policy Committee shall be filled in the manner in which the original appointment was made.
‘‘(5) OUTSIDE INVOLVEMENT.—The HIT Policy Committee shall ensure an opportunity for the participation in activities of the Committee of outside advisors, including individuals with expertise in the development of policies for the electronic exchange and use of health information, including in the areas of health information privacy and security.
‘‘(6) QUORUM.—A majority of the member of the HIT Policy Committee shall constitute a quorum for purposes of voting, but a lesser number of members may meet and hold hearings.
‘‘(7) FAILURE OF INITIAL APPOINTMENT.—If, on the date that is 45 days after the date of enactment of this title, an official authorized under paragraph (2) to appoint one or more members of the HIT Policy Committee has not appointed the full number of members that such paragraph authorizes such official to appoint, the Secretary is authorized to appoint such members.
‘‘(8) CONSIDERATION.—The National Coordinator shall ensure that the relevant and available recommendations and comments from the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics are considered in the development of policies.
‘‘(d) APPLICATION OF FACA.—The Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.), other than section 14 of such Act, shall apply to the HIT Policy Committee.
‘‘(e) PUBLICATION.—The Secretary shall provide for publication in the Federal Register and the posting on the Internet website of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology of all policy recommendations made by the HIT Policy Committee under this section.
Subtitle C—Grants and Loans Funding
SEC. 13301. GRANT, LOAN, AND DEMONSTRATION PROGRAMS.
Title XXX of the Public Health Service Act, as added by section 13101, is amended by adding at the end the following new subtitle:
SEC. 13301. GRANT, LOAN, AND DEMONSTRATION PROGRAMS.
Title XXX of the Public Health Service Act, as added by section 13101, is amended by adding at the end the following new subtitle:
‘‘Subtitle B—Incentives for the Use of Health Information Technology
‘‘SEC. 3011. IMMEDIATE FUNDING TO STRENGTHEN THE HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE.
‘‘(a) INGENERAL.—The Secretary shall, using amounts appropriated under section 3018, invest in the infrastructure necessary to allow for and promote the electronic exchange and use of health information for each individual in the United States consistent with the goals outlined in the strategic plan developed by the National Coordinator (and as available) under section 3001. The Secretary shall invest funds through the different agencies with expertise in such goals, such as the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Centers of Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Indian Health Service to support the following:
‘‘(1) Health information technology architecture that will support the nationwide electronic exchange and use of health information in a secure, private, and accurate manner, including connecting health information exchanges, and which may include updating and implementing the infrastructure necessary within different agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services to support the electronic use and exchange of health information.
‘‘(2) Development and adoption of appropriate certified electronic health records for categories of health care providers not eligible for support under title XVIII or XIX of the Social Security Act for the adoption of such records.
‘‘(3) Training on and dissemination of information on best practices to integrate health information technology, including electronic health records, into a provider’s delivery of care, consistent with best practices learned from the Health Information Technology Research Center developed under section 3012(b), including community health centers receiving assistance under section 330, covered entities under section 340B, and providers participating in one or more of the programs under titles XVIII, XIX, and XXI of the Social Security Act (relating to Medicare, Medicaid, and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program).
‘‘(4) Infrastructure and tools for the promotion of telemedicine, including coordination among Federal agencies in the promotion of telemedicine.
‘‘(5) Promotion of the interoperability of clinical data repositories or registries.
‘‘(6) Promotion of technologies and best practices that enhance the protection of health information by all holders of individually identifiable health information.
‘‘(7) Improvement and expansion of the use of health information technology by public health departments.
‘‘(b) COORDINATION.—The Secretary shall ensure funds under this section are used in a coordinated manner with other health information promotion activities.
‘‘(c) ADDITIONAL USEOF FUNDS.—In addition to using funds as provided in subsection (a), the Secretary may use amounts appropriated under section 3018 to carry out health information technology activities that are provided for under laws in effect on the date of the enactment of this title.
‘‘(d) STANDARDS FOR ACQUISITION OF HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY.—To the greatest extent practicable, the Secretary shall ensure that where funds are expended under this section for the acquisition of health information technology, such funds shall be used to acquire health information technology that meets applicable standards adopted under section 3004. Where it is not practicable to expend funds on health information technology that meets such applicable standards, the Secretary shall ensure that such health information technology meets applicable standards otherwise adopted by the Secretary.
WASHINGTON – The Military Health System will spend $14.1 million to enhance the collection of traumatic brain injury and associated behavioral health information for military service members throughout the entire continuum of care.
The program is managed from MHS’ Defense Health Information Management System program office in support of the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs overarching response to the President’s Commission on Care for America’s Returning Wounded Warriors.
The Military Health System tapped Vagent, Inc. to do the job. Vangent will develop a clinical information technology solution to improve the workflow of patients’ behavioral health information and integrate with the military’s electronic health record.
When deployed, the technology will make behavioral health patients’ information more quickly available for diagnosis, treatment and ultimately positive clinical outcomes, officials said.
Vangent’s subcontractors include Akimeka, LLC; Guident, Inc.; Enterprise Information Management, Inc.; Forgentum, Inc. and n-tieractive, Inc.
“The Traumatic Brain Injury and Behavioral Health Clinical Data Documentation solutions are imperative to providing clinicians a tool to improve the treatment of our Wounded Warriors,” said Mac Curtis, president and CEO of Vangent, Inc. “With Vangent’s broad experience in healthcare, we are leveraging our experience to rethink the technologies and solutions utilized by our front-line clinicians providing care to their patients.”
The award represents a major win for Vangent, which has grown its portfolio of military health business to more than $140 million over the past year providing mission critical services and support for health initiatives within the Department of Defense.
Other major contracts include the common user database for the Force Health Protection & Readiness Program, e-commerce operational system support for the TRICARE Management Activity and executive information and decision support for the Military Health System.
DUBLIN, Ireland–(Business Wire)–
Research and Markets
(http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c88230) has announced the addition of Executive Brief — Home Health Monitoring for Heart Failure Patients to their offering.
Heart failure represents a costly and debilitating burden on families and health system alike. This report analyzes an emerging solution that remotely monitors heart failure patients at home using the latest telecommunication infrastructure and medical device technologies. Besides highlighting the solutions, the report evaluates this market in comparison to existing approaches like heart failure disease management practices and the traditional clinical intervention model. Furthermore, the report examines the target market segments and compares different business models employed by technology vendors.
Finally, the report provides a five-year revenue forecast for heart failure home monitoring technologies and profiles major solution providers.
“The healthcare industry is slowly moving away from intervention-based care to preventive care, and home monitoring is arriving at the right junction,” said Harry Wang, Senior Analyst with Parks Associates. “To make home monitoring a sustainable business venture, however, solution vendors must clear away a few significant hurdles first, including addressing the high cost issue of the solution and expanding into new markets where successful business models are still elusive.”
Companies Mentioned:
A&D Medical
Alere Medical
CareMatix
CardioNet
LifeWatch
McKesson Provider Technology
Patient Care Technology
SHL Telemedicine
ViTelNet
WebVMC
For more information visit
http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c88230
via Home Health Monitoring Systems for Heart Failure Patients Emerge as the Healthcare… | Reuters .
Madison, Wis. – The nation’s ability to rein in future healthcare costs, which hospital executives fear could reach unsustainable levels within a decade, may depend in part on emerging technologies that are taking patient engagement to a higher level, especially in the home.
Home health monitoring and telemedicine for post-discharge care are nothing new, particularly with cardiovascular care, but it is taking on added dimension as new technology permits.
William Petasnick, CEO of Froedtert Hospital, Milwaukee, said the next generation of home health monitoring will take consumers beyond routine pacemaker monitoring and into total remote monitoring. The business value of this new direction goes beyond the desire to reduce hospitalization, and therefore cost, and extends to better resource utilization in an era of nursing and other workforce shortages, the need to better manage chronic diseases, and the desire for better patient service and outcomes.
The hospitals of today, Petasnick noted, are trying to become more highly intensive in terms of their care environments. “With less-acute patients, the more we can keep them out of an institutional setting, that’s better for care and it’s a more effective use of resources,” he said.
In this look at home health monitoring, WTN spoke to representatives of hospital, clinic, and medical device manufacturers to assess the clinical and business value attached to this evolving concept, and to identify some of the barriers to wider adoption.
via Technology drives advances in home health monitoring (WTN News).
As stakeholders in the U.S. health care system struggle to reduce costs and improve quality, there is widespread consensus that any transformative solution requires the inclusion of disruptive innovations that leverage technology. Using in-home monitoring devices in tandem with care management programs to enhance self-care for chronic disease management and post-acute discharge monitoring is one such disruptive innovation.
“Connected Care: Technology-Enabled Care at Home,” a new paper from the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, part of Deloitte LLP, explores how technology-enabled, home-based care management programs are one solution to stem the tide of rising health care costs and demand.
The effective application of in-home technologies leads to increased medication adherence, reduced avoidable post-acute complications and improved self-care management of chronic conditions. The net result is a potential annual savings of 20 percent or more – a $400 billion savings to the U.S. health care system.
Technology exists today in clinical settings that could also be used in the home to better monitor health status, improve clinical outcomes and coordinate care. However, the policies, programs, payments and protections necessary to integrate these technologies and devices appropriately in care management programs are woefully inadequate.
Ultimately, widespread implementation will depend in large part on the collaborative efforts of health plans, providers, employers, policy-makers and patients.
To read “Connected Care: Technology-Enabled Care at Home,” open the attached PDF below.
ATA’s Annual Meeting is the premiere forum for the healthcare industry to discuss clinical and business issues related to telemedicine. The meeting includes hundreds of presentations, posters, workshops and exhibits. If you are involved with telemedicine technology solutions for healthcare, the ATA Annual Meeting is the single-most important event of the year. More than 2400 attendees from all over the world are expected. Scores of new presenters will participate in ATA 2009, keeping your personal continuing education experience fresh and relevant. ATA 2009 will also include a variety of associated partner meetings, addressing specialized fields of telemedicine.
The Intel Health Guide, which received 510(k) market clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in July, is a comprehensive personal health system that combines an in-home patient device — the Intel® Health Guide PHS6000 — as well as an online interface — the Intel® Health Care Management Suite — allowing clinicians to monitor patients in their homes and manage care remotely. The Health Guide is designed to be used by healthcare professionals to manage their patients at home.
“Intel has spent years researching the needs of caregivers and their patients. We recently launched the Intel Health Guide as the first in a series of products intended to assist health providers to care for their patients and to empower patients to care for themselves,” said Mariah Scott, director of Sales and Marketing for the Intel Digital Health Group. “With their expertise in health monitoring solutions and nationwide call center support structure, we are excited to work with AMAC as our first market channel partner for the Health Guide System.”
Frederic Siegel, AMAC’s Executive Vice President commented, “We are pleased to be working with Intel as the first Market Channel Partner for the launch of the Intel® Health Guide. AMAC has been a leading provider of health and safety monitoring solutions for over two decades. We believe this new collaboration with Intel will greatly enhance our suite of digital health and wellness solutions to connect patients and providers and further our market position in the remote patient monitoring sector.”
The Health Guide promotes greater patient engagement and more efficient care management by enabling communication between patients and health care professionals and providing clinicians with access to the most current, actionable data. This solution offers interactive tools for personalized care management and includes vital sign collection, patient reminders, surveys, multimedia educational content, and feedback and communications tools, such as video conferencing and email messages. Clinicians have ongoing access to data so that they can better manage each patient’s conditions while patients benefit from customized care in the comfort of their own living room.
To learn more about Intel Health Guide please visit: http://www.intel.com/healthcare/ps/healthguide/index.htm.
About American Medical Alert Corp.
AMAC is a healthcare communications company dedicated to the provision of support services to the healthcare community. AMAC’s product and service portfolio includes Personal Emergency Response Systems (PERS) and emergency response monitoring, electronic medication reminder devices, disease management monitoring appliances and healthcare communication solutions services. AMAC operates nine communication centers under local trade names: H-LINK OnCall, Long Island City, NY and Clovis NM, North Shore TAS, Port Jefferson, NY, Live Message America, Audubon, NJ, ACT Teleservice, Newington, CT and Springfield, MA, MD OnCall, Cranston RI and Capitol Medical Bureau Rockville, MD, American MediConnect and Phone Screen Chicago, IL to support the delivery of high quality, healthcare communications.
You’re invited to redefine healthcare.
Think of the goods and services you can buy online right now—banking services, airline tickets, books, games, clothing you name it. You can locate, research and purchase almost anything over the Internet. The Internet has helped give consumers instant gratification and has made us an on-demand society.
Traditional healthcare remains the opposite of on-demand. You wait for an appointment. Wait in traffic to get to your appointment. Wait for the doctor. Wait for your prescription. And so on.
Thanks to telemedicine the waiting is over and more and more consumers are joining the revolution. With SwiftMD, the convenience and ease of access now applies to healthcare:
You can talk to a doctor via the Web or phone. You can videoconference with a physician via your computer webcam. Soon you’ll be able to send a photo of an injury or rash right from your phone. No longer must you drive across town or wait in a crowded ER to get the care you need.
Your care is tracked with a sophisticated electronic medical record that lets you view your physician’s notes, follow your treatment history and track your prescriptions. You can share this record with your family doctor or specialists. And it’s available anytime.
You can refill prescriptions, access extensive health information, and much more.
Most important, your information is strictly confidential. Electronic medical records reside on a separate, secure server accessible only to your SwiftMD doctors. Storage of your information complies fully with all HIPAA regulations and patient privacy laws.
THE health care system in America is on life support. It costs too much and saps economic vitality, achieves far too little return on investment and isn’t distributed equitably. As the Obama administration tries to diagnose and treat what ails the system, however, reformers shouldn’t be worried only about how to pay for it.
Instead, the country needs to innovate its way toward a new health care business model — one that reduces costs yet improves both quality and accessibility.
Two main causes of the system’s ills are century-old business models, for the general hospital and the physician’s practice, both of which are based on treating illness, not promoting wellness. Hospitals and doctors are paid by insurers and the government for the health care equivalent of piecework: hospitals profit from full beds and doctors profit from repeat visits. There is no financial incentive to keep patients healthy.
“The business models were all created decades ago, and acute disease drove those costs at the time,” says Steve Wunker, a senior partner at the consulting firm Innosight. “Most businesses in this industry are looking at their business model as entirely immutable. They’re looking for innovative offerings that fit this frozen model.”
Advances in technology and medical research are making it possible to envision an entirely new health care system that provides more individualized care without necessarily increasing costs, some health care experts say.
via Unboxed – Disruptive Innovation, Applied to Health Care – NYTimes.com.
Fifty million people could benefit from wireless home health care monitoring, according to a new study from research firm Berg Insight.
The holdup is the lack of commercial products that enable distance monitoring of, say, glucose level meters or blood pressure monitors. The problem comes down to a wide gap between health care and mobile provider approaches to technology, said Tobias Ryberg, a senior analyst for Berg Insight.
“The few telehealth solutions that do exist are not just one, but often several, generations behind in terms of technology,” said Tobias Ryberg, senior analyst at Berg Insight.
One way to close the gap is for the mobile industry to fulfill the health care sector’s safety, data security and reliability requirements, while delivering better performance, at a lower cost than legacy systems, Ryberg added.
“The health care industry is perfectly right to have a cautious attitude toward new innovations before they are thoroughly tested,” he said. “The first step toward a wireless revolution in home medical care needs to be to build confidence that the mobile network infrastructure is capable of even the most critical tasks.”
Ericsson has joined the United Nations Office for Partnerships’ mHealth project, which uses telecommunications to bring mobile health applications and telemedicine to rural Africa.
“This initiative reflects Ericsson’s ongoing commitment to harnessing our technical leadership to develop sustainable business models that bridge the digital and health divides,” said Carl-Henric Svanberg, Ericsson’s president and CEO.
“Telecommunications play a vital role in facilitating access to health services, which help end the cycle of poverty and empower communities to improve their own social and economic situations,” he added.
Though other telecommunications companies are already partners in the U.N. project, Ericsson said it will use its expertise to spearhead the project’s technology stream and explore the use of mobile communications to deliver telemedicine to rural communities.
via Ericsson United Nations telemedicine project – Network World.
Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) is joining forces with the United Nations Office for Partnerships to use telecommunications to bring mobile-health applications and services (m-health) and telemedicine to rural Africa. As a founding member of the UN’s Digital Health Initiative, Ericsson is taking another step in its ongoing commitment to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which aim to reduce global extreme poverty.
The Digital Health Initiative (DHI) is a public/private partnership that works to create innovative models for the development and delivery of global health to millions in developing countries. This will be critical to help achieve those Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that are related to health, which specifically address the need to tackle diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other infectious and communicable diseases, reduce child mortality, and improve maternal health. The MDG named “Develop a global partnership for development” also points out the vital role that the private sector can play, especially in terms of information and communication technology, in meeting the other goals.
Mobile communications have proved to make a positive difference to people in developing countries, enabling cost-effective access to basic services, such as health, particularly in rural areas where there is little or no infrastructure.
A key goal of the DHI is to confront the diseases of poverty more efficiently and effectively. Engaging the private sector is seen as critical to reaching this goal. Mobile communications in particular can empower individuals, communities, health workers and health institutions to streamline knowledge capture, collection and communication in the field of health.
As the leading telecom provider, Ericsson will use its expertise to spearhead the initiative’s technology stream, and will explore the use of mobile communications to deliver telemedicine to rural communities, to help to improve access to and delivery of emergency and general health services, assist with disease surveillance and control, enhance the collection of basic health data such as birth and death registration, and deliver mobile learning to health workers in remote areas. Ericsson’s experience in India and Bangladesh shows that even people with an average income of USD 1.25 per day can have access to medical care with the help of mobile connectivity.
Carl-Henric Svanberg, Ericsson President and Chief Executive Officer, says: “Telecommunications play a vital role in facilitating access to health services, which help end the cycle of poverty and empower communities to improve their own social and economic situations. This initiative reflects Ericsson’s ongoing commitment to harnessing our technical leadership to develop sustainable business models that bridge the digital, and health, divides.”
Amir Dossal, Executive Director of the UN Office for Partnerships, says: “We believe the DHI will form the basis of a strategic framework for new model partnerships across the ICT, pharmaceutical and health-technology sectors with a view to concrete deliverables in the accelerated delivery of the health-related MDGs. In this regard, the United Nations sees Ericsson as a core strategic partner in the emerging field of digital health for development.”
Joining the DHI builds on Ericsson’s global experience from the Gramjyoti project, which brought a range of services including telemedicine, m-learning and m-governance to rural communities in India, as well as the Alokito Bangladesh project, which brought high-speed, internet-enabled mobile learning and healthcare to the region of the capital, Dhaka.
In Africa, Ericsson is committed to bringing mobile connectivity to over half a million people in the Millennium Village sites in Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, Senegal, Mali, Nigeria, Malawi and Ethiopia. Health, in addition to agriculture, education and infrastructure, is one of the key areas of this initiative, and together with The Earth Institute at Columbia University, Ericsson is piloting the use of health-related applications and telemedicine in the villages. The Millennium Villages provide an excellent basis from which to understand the needs of the villagers, and in turn pilot new innovative technological solutions in cooperation with the national health ministries and project staff.
As the technology partner, Ericsson’s role is to develop and rollout the solutions. Through innovative partnerships like the Millennium Villages, and the DHI, Ericsson hopes to demonstrate the potential of mobile communications in the area of global health.
Other founding members of the Digital Health Initiative include: Commonwealth Business Council, Pfizer, the Global Business Council for AIDS, TB and Malaria, and the African Business Round Table.
via Ericsson joins new UN initiative to bring digital-health benefits to Africa – Press Release.
This iHealth Report describes how ten telehealth innovators are using electronic means to make high-quality health care available remotely. They use an array of communications instruments, from ordinary telephones and televisions to broadband connections and 3G-driven iPhones.
The ways that patients and providers can benefit are as varied as the ten pioneers approaches, including:
“Virtual house calls” and home-based monitoring;
More efficient office visits and medical research;
Cost-effective expert advice and second opinions;
Access in rural areas;
Medical education made available internationally; and
Round-the-clock radiology coverage.
The complete report is available under Document Downloads below.
This report complements another CHCF iHealth Report, titled Delivering Care Anytime, Anywhere: Telehealth Alters the Medical Ecosystem, which is available under Related CHCF Pages below.
via Right Here Right Now: Ten Telehealth Pioneers Make It Work – CHCF.org.
September 24, 2008 – Chalfont St. Giles, UK and New York, New York USA – GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), announced today that it has entered into a distribution and technology collaboration agreement with Living Independently Group, Inc. a leading provider of telecare and passive monitoring systems used to assist in the care of seniors. GE Healthcare will distribute and co-market Living Independently’s QuietCare® products globally. As part of the agreement, the companies will utilize GE’s Global Research Center and its advanced work in clinical parameters and monitoring algorithms to drive innovation in the field of remote patient monitoring and diagnostics. GE Healthcare will also take a minority ownership stake in Living Independently. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Living Independently’s QuietCare is a behavioral remote patient monitoring system that uses wireless sensors to non-intrusively track the daily patterns of seniors’ activities. QuietCare alerts caregivers to behavioral changes that may signal potential health issues or emergency situations. QuietCare is used in leading assisted living facilities, senior communities, and private homes. GE Healthcare’s Clinical Systems business is a world-class provider of advanced technologies for patient monitoring. The strategic fit between the two businesses combined with expanded capabilities in product development and marketing will offer substantial long-term customer benefits.
Omar Ishrak, President and CEO of GE Healthcare’s Clinical Systems business commented, “This is consistent with GE’s strategy to invest in high growth businesses with global potential. Demographic changes such as the growing aging population present enormous healthcare challenges in the care of seniors and the management of chronic disease. The technologies developed by Living Independently are ideally placed to help meet these challenges. They are also a great fit with our vision of helping people to live longer, healthier and higher quality lives. We see enormous potential in senior healthcare monitoring, and the combined talent of the two companies offers the potential to accelerate the development of the business.”
Commenting on the agreement, John L. Lakian, Chairman and CEO, Living Independently Group, Inc. said, “This is a very exciting development in the future of home healthcare. Leveraging the resources of GE Healthcare will allow us to significantly accelerate the evolution and capabilities of our QuietCare system and new applications for remote patient monitoring. The Living Independently management team looks forward to working with GE Healthcare to realize the potential of this great business.”
About Living Independently Group, Inc. and QuietCare
New York-based Living Independently Group, Inc. is the creator of QuietCare, a revolutionary passive monitoring system that uses wireless sensors to unobtrusively track the daily patterns of seniors’ home activities, 24/7. QuietCare alerts the caregiver to atypical activity patterns and behavioral changes that may signal potential health issues or emergency situations. QuietCare is used in leading assisted living centers, senior communities, and private homes nationwide and in the United Kingdom. Additional information is available at www.quietcaresystems.com.
About GE Healthcare
GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, performance improvement, drug discovery, and biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies is helping clinicians around the world re-imagine new ways to predict, diagnose, inform, treat and monitor disease, so patients can live their lives to the fullest.
GE Healthcare’s broad range of products and services enable healthcare providers to better diagnose and treat cancer, heart disease, neurological diseases and other conditions earlier. Our vision for the future is to enable a new “early health” model of care focused on earlier diagnosis, pre-symptomatic disease detection and disease prevention. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a $17 billion unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employs more than 46,000 people committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries. For more information about GE Healthcare, visit our website at www.gehealthcare.com.
via News and Events.
COLUMBIA, Mo. – Many older adults want to remain active and independent for as long as possible. Seniors want to age in their own homes and avoid moving to institutions or nursing homes. University of Missouri researchers are using sensors, computers and communication systems, along with supportive health care services to monitor the health of older adults who are living at home. According to the researchers, motion sensor networks installed in seniors’ homes can detect changes in behavior and physical activity, including walking and sleeping patterns. Early identification of these changes can prompt health care interventions that can delay or prevent serious health events.
As part of the “aging in place” research at MU, integrated sensor networks were installed in apartments of residents at TigerPlace, a retirement community that helps senior residents stay healthy and active to avoid hospitalization and relocation. MU researchers collected data from motion and bed sensors that continuously logged information for more than two years. The researchers identified patterns in the sensor data that can provide clues to predict adverse health events, including falls, emergency room visits and hospitalizations.
“The ‘aging in place’ concept allows older adults to remain in the environment of their choice and receive supportive health services as needed. With this type of care, most people wouldn’t need to relocate to a nursing home,” said Marilyn Rantz, professor in the MU Sinclair School of Nursing. “Monitoring sensor patterns is an effective and discreet way to ensure the health and privacy of older adults.”
In recent evaluations, the sensor networks detected changes in residents’ conditions that were not recognized by traditional health care assessments. MU researchers are perfecting the technology infrastructure at TigerPlace as a model, so these technologies and supportive health care services can be made available to seniors throughout the country.
“Our goal is to generate automatic alerts that notify caregivers of changes in residents’ conditions that would allow them to intervene and prevent adverse health events,” Rantz said. “Additional work is underway to establish these health alerts, improve the reliability and accuracy of the sensor network, implement a video sensor network, and refine a Web-based interface to make it even more user friendly and meaningful to health care providers.”
Tiger II, a 22-unit addition to TigerPlace, opened on Jan. 1. TigerPlace community residents receive health and wellness services through TigerCare, a service of the Sinclair School of Nursing. Residents receive care and services when they need them and where they want them – in the privacy of their apartments.
Through its university affiliation, residents can participate in a number of educational, cultural and research projects both on site and on campus that are conducted by the College of Engineering, School of Nursing, Health Professions, and Medicine at MU.
The study, “Using Technology to Enhance Aging in Place,” was presented at the 2008 International Conference on Smart homes and health Telematics. It was funded by a grant from the U.S. Administration on Aging and the National Science Foundation ITR grant.
via Health-Monitoring Technology Helps Seniors Live at Home Longer, MU Researchers Find | MU News Bureau.
t+ Medical offers innovative disease management and remote monitoring solutions that empower healthcare professionals and chronic disease patients, to efficiently and effectively improve the financial, social and clinical outcomes associated with the management of chronic disease.
As the leading supplier of mobile phone disease management solutions for sufferers of chronic diseases in the UK, t+ Medical solutions have been clinically validated to increase testing compliance and monitoring, leading to better patient short-term and long-term outcomes.
Docobo Ltd is a UK healthcare solutions provider, involved in the management and prevention of Long Term Conditions (LTC, formally known as chronic diseases).
Docobo Ltd, is a UK company accredited to EN13485. established in 2001 from a consortium of clinicians and technologists. Docobo has been in the forefront of development of systems for the management of patients with Long Term Conditions in their own homes. A range of products and services are provided including the doc@HOME®service for the management of chronic disease and the HealthHUB™ for collecting physiological, quality of life and life style data; data transfer and receipt of messages permit effective and efficient management of patients in their own homes
The company has developed a remote monitoring service for LTC’s, called doc@HOME®, and is developing a focused range of related services and products to expand its portfolio. This Telehealth service offers care providers with an integrated low cost solution for the collection, management and analysis of essential patient related data, and permits efficient interaction between clinicians and patients at home.
TeleHealth has the ability to reduce the burden to healthcare providers related to LTC management by the provision of at-home monitoring and increasingly intelligent automated management of the condition.
via Article Page .
SILVER SPRING, MD–(Marketwire – July 23, 2008) – The market for telemedicine devices and services will exceed $1.8 billion within the next five years, with mobile services companies taking a sizeable chunk of that revenue, market research firm Pike & Fischer projects in a new report.
In addition, Pike & Fischer predicts that telecommunications companies that possess both wireline and wireless solutions will be best positioned to achieve competitive dominance in the telemedicine market.
“Companies such as AT&T and Verizon are capable of providing multifaceted, converged solutions and can form partnerships necessary to fill gaps in their organic offerings,” says Tim Deal, Senior Analyst for Pike & Fischer’s Broadband Advisory Services and author of the report, “Mobile Medical Applications and U.S. Telemedicine: Opportunities, Analysis and Insight.”
New wired and wireless broadband networks are saving time and costs in the medical environment. They allow specialists to remotely triage, diagnose and monitor medical cases by viewing data and images conveyed wirelessly to their locations. They also enable specialists to access medical records and medical reference material that are germane to a specific patient’s case.
The need to control costs, along with the development and expansion of faster wireless broadband networks, smartphones and data compression solutions, will drive the market growth, Deal says. AT&T will have the largest presence in this industry, followed closely by Verizon and Sprint Nextel, Deal predicts. Smaller software and device manufacturers will quickly find themselves targeted for acquisition, he says.
via Telemedicine Revenues to Exceed $1.8 Billion by 2013, Report Projects.
Health 2.0 And Telecare For The Elderly.
Research into impact of Health 2.0 based services and the changing aspirations and expectations of the elderly on the telecare market.
Contents.
Profiles of Tunstall, AMDTelehealth, Docobo, Caregiver Technology and AT&T .
Also mentioned:- Yahoo, Google Health and Microsoft Health Vault.
The impact of a growing number of elderly people with IT skills.
Changing attitudes to ‘ageing in place.’
When the elderly, rather than their children, purchase telehealth services.
The elderly and blood glucose monitoring case study.
Using Health 2.0 as a platform for telecare for the elderly.
Health 2.0 filling the gap in the electronic patient record system market.
Vendors are adapting to changes in the telecare market.
Over the next two decades an increasing number of people will reach the age at which they need the type of support that can be provided using a telecare service. Most telecare vendors and providers market their products and services within a framework based on the ‘ageing in place’ concept. ‘Ageing in place’ assumes that if a person is given the required support they can remain in their own home rather than being cared for in sheltered accommodation or a nursing home. This concept appeals both to elderly people, as they can lead relatively independent lives in familiar surroundings, and also to healthcare providers because care costs less to provide at the edge of the healthcare network.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Stimulus Package) represents a significant opportunity for the continued expansion of Telemedicine throughout the United States.
In support of these efforts, AMD’s Program Design Group is prepared to lend our expertise in the following areas;
• Medical Device identification and selection by specialty
• Telemedicine Encounter Management Solutions and EMR Integration
• Connectivity Systems and Network Architecture
• Various Grant and Loan program navigation
• The Application process
For veterans who have a health problem like diabetes, chronic heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), depression or post-traumatic stress disorder, getting treatment can be complex and inconvenient.
For some, especially older veterans, conditions like these can make it difficult for them to remain living independently in their own home and make it necessary for them to go into a nursing home where their symptoms and vital signs (pulse, weight, temperature etc) can be checked frequently. Having this information means physicians and nurses can change medications or other treatments and prevent serious health problems from developing.
Now there are new technologies that make it possible to check on symptoms and measure vital signs in the home. Special devices (home telehealth) can do this and are easy to use. Home telehealth can connect a veteran to a VA hospital from home using regular telephone lines.
VA has found that not every patient is suitable for this kind of care. But, for those that are CCHT can help them to remain at home and live independently.