Telehealth Monitor

TeleAtrics™, is a unique telemedicine system — conceived and designed by a team of health care professionals — that connects doctors, nurses, and other members of the healthcare team with their patients wherever they may be – at childcare centers, schools, workplaces, camps, teen recreational facilities, prisons, shopping centers and more.

Using an Internet-based system that supports high quality videoconferencing, digital medical cameras, digital stethoscopes, and other diagnostic equipment; medical evaluations for a broad range of problems can be completed and the implications discussed face-to-face, while health care providers and patients remain many miles apart.

TeleAtrics Connect ™ – Healthcare’s next step in comprehensive telemedicine systems and support services.

via TeleAtrics – Connecting patients with their healthcare team.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Provides Billions of Dollars For Health Care Initiatives

February 18, 2009

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the “Act” or “ARRA”) was passed by Congress on Feb. 13, 2009.  Yesterday, Feb. 17, 2009, President Obama signed the Act into law.  The ARRA includes a number of health care provisions, several of which are summarized in the link below.

Please join us for our first in a series of complimentary webinars regarding the economic stimulus bill on Thursday, Feb. 19, 2009, from 4-5 p.m. EST.  Our national team of lawyers, policy professionals and strategists will highlight key components of the stimulus, anticipated business impacts, and the next steps for implementation. 

via Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP – The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Provides Billions of Dollars For Health Care Initiatives.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Feb. 17 /PRNewswire/ — Based on its recent analysis of the remote patient monitoring market, Frost & Sullivan recognizes Strategic Healthcare Programs (SHP), L.L.C. with the 2009 North American Frost & Sullivan Growth Enabling Technology Award for continuing to provide superior technology toward finely identified market needs. There is a desperate demand in healthcare, especially in emerging spaces such as home healthcare, for real-time data that helps assess efficiency and cost savings. SHP was early to recognize key needs in the remote patient monitoring market and pioneered a web-based, real-time performance data service aimed at improving profit margins and patient outcomes for home healthcare agencies and hospices.

“Despite the billion dollar market potential of remote monitoring segments such as home healthcare, the market remains stifled,” says Frost & Sullivan Industry Analyst Zachary Bujnoch. “One major issue is that these services utilized by home healthcare agencies and hospice facilities continue to be in a desperate need of validation.”

While these systems have an inherent potential for cost savings, implementation is the hinging point of success or failure. A careful monitoring of efficiency, true cost savings, and overall effective integration of these systems into a healthcare provider’s setup is essential for the success of these highly customizable and diverse remote monitoring services. Over the past ten years through a constant drive for improvement and consistent attention to its clients’ needs, SHP has developed a product unique to this industry, capable of fulfilling the essential need for system validation and cost savings analysis. The data show comparisons between telemonitored and non-telemonitored patients.

SHP’s technology integrates with over 30 different types of software vendors including healthcare majors such as Philips, Honeywell HomMed, McKesson, and Viterion. Two components that really make this technology unique and elegant are its real-time capability and ease of customization. The real-time capability and the customized data queries and benchmarks keep information relevant.

via Frost & Sullivan :: Frost & Sullivan Recognizes Strategic Healthcare Programs for Best Practices in Focused Innovation.

BodyMedia’s products are based on a comprehensive technology platform that’s designed to help people manage a healthy lifestyle – from wearable monitors to online management tools.

We offer solutions for consumers, clinicians, health clubs and researchers, and for those interested in losing weight, studying populations over time, training for a marathon, or tracking sleep patterns. If you want to Know Your Body, we can help you Change Your Life.

via “Weight Loss & Fitness Software for Obesity, Diabetes, and Heart Disease”.

(pressebox) Hannover, 16.02.2009, Das Krankenhaus Barometer 2008 der Deutschen Krankenhaus Gesellschaft redet Klartext: Jede dritte deutsche Klinik schreibt rote Zahlen. Die Aussichten für 2009 sind nicht besser. Prozessoptimierung ist deswegen eines der ganz großen Themen für die Krankenhäuser. Ein wichtiger Stellhebel für die Verbesserung der Wettbewerbsfähigkeit von Kliniken sind moderne IT-Lösungen. Sie können helfen, Prozesse effizienter zu gestalten und die Behandlungs- und Versorgungsqualität von Patienten nachhaltig zu verbessern. Die im Rahmen der CeBIT 2009 ausgerichtete Kongressmesse TeleHealth widmet sich dem Thema ITK in der Medizin. Vom 3. bis 8. März erfahren Fachbesucher auf der TeleHealth zum Beispiel, warum Software bei der Entlassung von Patienten hilft und weshalb mobile Visiten mehr sind als nur technische Spielerei.

IT-gestütztes Entlassmanagement nutzt Patienten und Kliniken

90 Prozent der deutschen Kliniken mit mehr als 50 Betten sehen etwa beim so genannten Entlassmanagement großen Handlungsbedarf. Eine pünktliche Entlassung der Patienten nach erfolgreicher Behandlung bedeutet für Krankenhäuser in Zeiten der Finanzierung durch Fallpauschalen bares Geld. Was die IT dazu beitragen kann, zeigt auf der TeleHealth 2009 beispielsweise InterComponentWare (ICW). Das Unternehmen stellt seine an Kliniken gerichtete Lösung eDischarge vor. Dabei stattet eine Klinik ihre Patienten zur Entlassung mit einer internetbasierten Gesundheitsakte aus. Zum Einsatz kommt das Produkt LifeSensor. “Je nach Erkrankung erhalten die Patienten außerdem Messgeräte, mit denen sie für die Genesung relevante Daten direkt in ihre Gesundheitsakte übertragen können”, betont ICW-Sprecher Dirk Schuhmann. In der Akte können die Klinikärzte die Daten kontrollieren und haben so in den Tagen nach der Entlassung die Gewähr, dass der Patient gut überwacht ist. Der Übergang zwischen stationärem Aufenthalt und ambulanter Betreuung wird fließender und sicherer. Auch medizinische Befunde und Arztbriefe können auf diesem Weg von der Klinik zum nachbehandelnden Arzt übertragen werden.

via Pressemitteilung: TeleHealth 2009: Informationstechnik wird zum Wettbewerbsfaktor.

Innovative New Android-based Application Makes Personal Health Data

Accessible for Google Health Users Any Time, Anywhere

PALM SPRINGS, Calif., Feb. 3 /PRNewswire/ — Anvita(TM) Health, formerly known as SafeMed, an integrated partner of Google Health(TM) announced the release of a new mobile viewer for Google Health that is built on the Android platform. The new Anvita Mobile Viewer will be demonstrated publicly for the first time today during a presentation at the Towards the Electronic Patient Record (TEPR+) conference.

“The new Mobile Viewer from Anvita is a great example of how companies can innovate using Google’s open platforms,” said Sameer Samat, Director of Product Management, Google Health. “We are pleased to see one of our trusted partners use Android to help make personal health data more available to consumers. We think giving users options for how they access their health data is paramount to consumer-directed care. Anvita has created the first of many mobile health applications using Google Health.”

The Anvita Mobile Viewer enables users of Google Health to view their Google Health profile data from Android-powered devices, which today only include the T-Mobile G1. This allows for on-demand and real-time view of their medical records anytime and anywhere and provides for more flexibility when visiting physicians, pharmacists, and other care providers. The Anvita Mobile Viewer is a free, downloadable application built for the Android platform.

“We see Google Health as a vital tool in allowing consumers to take a more active role in their own health care and the care of their families,” said Ahmed Ghouri, M.D., co-founder and chief medical officer of Anvita Health. “The Anvita Mobile Viewer builds a bridge between the home and the doctor’s office, and allows Google Health users to realize the full worth of their PHR data by taking it to where critical medical decisions are made.”

Anvita Health is a pioneer in health care analytics. Its analytics engine powers the real-time personalized health feedback within Google Health, alerting users to important data such as potentially harmful drug interactions.

Ghouri offered the example of a person caring for his or her aging parent. “The creation and maintenance of a Google Health PHR for elderly parents, whose care regimens can be complex and rapidly changing, helps improve the quality of care by having easy and instant access to vital information at the point of care,” said Ghouri.

Users can download the Anvita Mobile Viewer for Google Health through Android Market. The Anvita Mobile Viewer for Google Health will be available on other hand sets in the future, including the iPhone.

The application can be also be downloaded by visiting the download page on Anvita Health’s website at www.anvitahealth.com. After opening the Anvita Mobile Viewer application and logging in to their secure Google Health account, users can then access their most up-to-date Google Health profile information, including height, weight and age, current prescriptions, any existing health conditions, previous procedures, known allergies and more.

About Anvita Health: Founded by physicians in 2000, Anvita Health provides innovative health care analytics to its customers who, in aggregate, manage more than 50 million lives. Anvita Health’s analysis engine and custom analytics solutions are used by point-of-care information technology systems, health plans, pharmacy benefit managers, disease management companies, personal health record providers, and ambulatory care providers. Anvita Health is headquartered in San Diego, California.

Anvita is a trademark of Anvita Inc. Google Health is a trademark of Google Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the companies with which they are associated.

SOURCE Anvita Health

IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Google (NSDQ: GOOG), in partnership with Continua Health Alliance, have collaborated on a system designed to allow patients to stream data from medical devices directly to Google Health or to other online personal health record services.

IBM said the system will help to ensure that patient’s health records are up to date at all times.

“By harnessing the rapidly growing use of remote patient monitoring across every part of the health care services industry, our new IBM solution greatly increases the real-time value of [personal health records] for consumers everywhere,” said Dan Pelino, general manager for IBM’s Healthcare & Life Sciences unit, in a statement Wednesday.

Google Health, launched last year, allows users to store, manage, and share their health records in a secure, online environment. Continua helps define guidelines and standards for e-health records.

IBM envisions multiple uses for the service, which is based partly on open source software. For instance, a busy professional could use the technology to keep tabs on the health of an aging parent who lives alone. The system could also allow physicians to remotely monitor, in almost real-time, the blood sugar levels of diabetic patients.

via IBM, Google Team Up On Health Records — InformationWeek.

United States Patent Application 20090043199

Kind Code A1

PELISSIER; Laurent ;   et al. February 12, 2009

WIRELESS NETWORK HAVING PORTABLE ULTRASOUND DEVICES

Abstract

A patient monitoring system has one or more ultrasound devices that monitor patients. The ultrasound devices can communicate to a central station by way of a wireless data communication network. Ultrasound images acquired by the ultrasound devices may be displayed at the central station. Alarms may be generated based upon conditions detected by the ultrasound devices. An ultrasound device may have a strap that permits it to be held in place with a transducer against the skin of a subject to permit ultrasound observation of the subject either continuously or intermittently over an extended period.

via United States Patent Application: 0090043199.

United States Patent Application 20090043354

Kind Code A1

Ricke; Anthony David February 12, 2009

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PACEMAKER PULSE DETECTION

Abstract

A cardiac monitoring system is disclosed herein. The cardiac monitoring system includes a sensor adapted to collect an ECG signal that comprises a pacemaker signal and a cardiac signal. The cardiac monitoring system also includes a data acquisition module adapted to receive the ECG signal from the sensor. The data acquisition module includes a signal path adapted to isolate the pacemaker signal from the remainder of the ECG signal, and a processor adapted to identify a pace pulse on the isolated pacemaker signal.

via United States Patent Application: 0090043354.

Increasingly, many older people who live alone are not truly alone. They are being watched by a flurry of new technologies designed to enable them to live independently and avoid expensive trips to the emergency room or nursing homes.

Bertha Branch, 78, discovered the power of a system called eNeighbor when she fell to the floor of her Philadelphia apartment late one night without her emergency alert pendant and could not phone for help.

A wireless sensor under Ms. Branch’s bed detected that she had gotten up. Motion detectors in her bedroom and bathroom registered that she had not left the area in her usual pattern and relayed that information to a central monitoring system, prompting a call to her telephone to ask if she was all right. When she did not answer, that incited more calls — to a neighbor, to the building manager and finally to 911, which dispatched firefighters to break through her door. She had been on the floor less than an hour when they arrived.

Technologies like eNeighbor come with great promise of improved care at lower cost and the backing of large companies like Intel and General Electric.

But the devices, which can be expensive, remain largely unproven and are not usually covered by the government or private insurance plans. Doctors are not trained to treat patients using remote data and have no mechanism to be paid for doing so. And like all technologies, the devices — including motion sensors, pill compliance detectors and wireless devices that transmit data on blood pressure, weight, oxygen and glucose levels — may have unintended consequences, substituting electronic measurements for face-to-face contact with doctors, nurses and family members.

via Sensors Help Keep the Elderly Safe, and at Home – NYTimes.com.

Remote monitoring can improve the condition of mobile heart failure patients and may reduce hospital readmissions, according to a pilot study that included 150 patients admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

The patients, average age 70, were randomly selected to receive usual care for heart failure (68 patients) or remote monitoring (42 patients). Forty of the patients declined to participate. The study was conducted by the Center for Connected Health, a division of Partners HealthCare.

via Home Monitoring Program Improves Outcomes for Heart Patients – washingtonpost.com.

Updated research on RPM technologies, emphasizing the cost effectiveness of RPM use compared to standard care and disease management practices, as well as remaining barriers to its adoption.

via Remote Physiological Monitoring: Research Update – Publications – NEHI.

Of late, research has increasingly shown that remote monitoring devices that feed clinical data to providers can have significant benefits. For example, one recent study concluded that when clinicians monitor congestive heart failure patients remotely, they can cut re-hospitalization rates for such patients by 60 percent.

Results like these have driven providers to test a wide range of remote monitoring devices, including devices tracking patients weight, blood pressure, oxygen and glucose levels, as well as others tracking medication compliance. This has taken place despite the fact that most health plans dont pay for such devices as of yet–and theyre not cheap, either.

That being said, experts have already begun to warn that such devices, while beneficial, could generate more data than physicians can manage. While nurses can screen incoming data, physicians are ultimately responsible for patient management, and the volume of data remote monitoring generates can be formidable. This is likely to become a big issue as remote monitoring gets cheaper and more effective.

via Home monitoring devices poised to create flood of data – FierceHealthIT.

Remote monitoring slashes hospital stays: Another area ripe for innovation is chronic disease. “We know that chronic illnesses require close monitoring because patients have a tendency to get worse in a relatively short amount of time if they fail to comply with treatment,” Waxman explains. “We think technology i.e., remote monitoring, personalized messages can be used to improve compliance. He points to Health Hero Network, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based firm acquired by The Bosch Group in 2007. Psilos was once the principal shareholder in the firm. The company developed a user-friendly monitoring device to serve as an interface between patients at home and care providers. Through increased communication with caregivers, behavior modification and prevention, Health Hero says it can dramatically reduce hospitalizations. CMS last month extended and expanded a three-year project with the firm designed to illustrate how telehealth technology can improve care and reduce hospitalizations associated with conditions such as heart and lung disease and diabetes. The project, launched in 2006 with medical groups in Wenatchee, Wash., and Bend, Ore., was extended to January 31, 2012, and could be expanded to include an additional location.

via Innovations That Are Needed to Reform Health System Could Disappear Due to Limited Venture Capital.

On Friday, Feburary 13, 2009, the House of Representatives and Senate approved the conference report for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

The U.S. Government Printing Office has now published the final text of the legislation. Read it by clicking on the links below. You can also download the final stimulus bill public print here.

via ARRA: Public Review.

(more…)

Proponents of home monitoring devices long have believed that widespread use of those systems can help solve some of the problems plaguing health care today. Now, some technology companies, medical centers, insurers and patients will be testing that theory.

Intel and the Cleveland Clinic announced in recent weeks that they are focusing less on the technology itself than on the ease of its use by the elderly, its role in the continuum of care, and the potential cost savings.

Technology developer Intel announced four separate pilot programs, in partnership with Aetna, SCAN Health Plans in Arizona, Erickson Retirement Communities and Advanced Warning Systems. The Cleveland Clinic is conducting a pilot with Microsoft HealthVault.

Home monitoring provides a way for patients to use electronic devices to collect their own health data, such as vitals or glucose levels. The devices can then be linked with a computer, allowing data to be transmitted to the health care team or to an accessible data repository.

via AMNews: Dec. 22, 2008. Usefulness of home monitoring devices studied … American Medical News.

New concepts on the horizon can assist in delivering wellness to healthy adults and children, the elderly and others infirmed. One of these concepts is the new care delivery system called Patient-Centered Medical Home, which is being considered as a ”better value care model” in our community. It provides a personal primary care physician for all patients with a team that includes health educators, nurse coaches, social workers and others to optimize prevention and wellness, and to better manage or reduce chronic illness. Primary care physicians are at the team’s core. Electronic health records, disease registries and electronic prescribing are integral parts that link all team members.

via Future of health care depends on innovation, new ideas — themorningcall.com.

PORTLAND, OR – VivoMetrics, a remote patient monitoring systems provider based in Ventura, Calif., is partnering with the Continua Health Alliance, a non-profit, open industry coalition of healthcare and technology companies, to promote the use of telehealth.

As a member of the coalition, VivoMetrics will focus on developing a next-generation remote patient monitoring system (RPM) through the use of its proprietary LifeShirt system. LifeShirt enables healthcare professionals and researchers to collect laboratory-quality physiological data from patients.

VivoMetrics will be using its RPM system to address the needs of a population that is growing older and experiencing a greater rate of chronic disease, said officials.

via Industry News | Healthcare IT News.

WASHINGTON – Congress is expected to approve $19 billion toward health information technology, with $17 billion allotted to incentives and $2 billion to jump-start healthcare IT adoption, according to a Wednesday night draft of the stimulus package.

The original House version of the bill designated $20 billion for healthcare IT, with the Senate setting aside $22 billion.

The $789 billion conference agreement between the House and Senate versions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (H.R. 1) still faces potential amendments before a final vote, and some healthcare provisions of the bill were not scored as of Wednesday night.

via Industry News | Healthcare IT News.

Telemedicine has caught on over the past several years as an effective way to bring patients and specialists together via the magic of video conferencing. Unfortunately, most telemedicine setups require the patient to be in a room equipped with a computer, camera, microphone and monitor, so that specialists can remotely assess his or her condition. Could robots be the answer, providing both patient care and a view for specialists checking in from afar?

via Who Needs a Doctor When There’s a Robot in the House, er, Hospital? [Slide Show]: Scientific American.

Daily phone calls help U.S. Army veteran Leroy Miles stay out of the emergency room.

Usually, the calls are between a machine in his home and a computer server in Houston operated by Viterion TeleHealthcare, which provides his twice-daily blood pressure and sugar readings to a registered nurse at the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Pittsburgh Healthcare System.

Occasionally, that prompts another phone call from the nurse to Miles, 74, of Wilkinsburg.

via VA doctors monitor veterans over the phone – Pittsburgh Tribune-Review .

Technology provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs used to remotely monitor the health of patients with chronic conditions is successful at reducing hospitals stays, according to a VA-sponsored study.

The study examined the VA’s teleheath technology that lets health providers collect data about patients from their homes. Telehealth tools help montior things like blood pressure and blood glucose levels.

Members of the VA national telehealth staff conducted the study. The study is available in the current issue of the journal Telemedicine and e-Health, a peer-reviewed publication. VA officials announced the findings today. The study looked at health outcomes from 17,025 VA home telehealth patients.

via VA: Technology helps monitor patients’ health remotely — Federal Computer Week.

Congress has targeted more than $6 billion to wire rural America with Internet service as part of the nearly $790 billion stimulus plan. But the bill would place much of those funds in an Agriculture Department program that has been criticized for its past management of grants, raising concerns among some public interest groups.

Under a deal House and Senate leaders negotiated yesterday, about $1.5 billion would fall under the oversight of the USDAs Rural Utilities Service, a program launched in 2002 to connect farming towns to high-speed, or broadband Internet, according to a Senate Commerce Committee aide.

Some public advocacy groups are critical, citing a September 2005 report on an investigation by the USDAs inspector general that found that $236 million, or more than one-quarter, of the programs loans under review “was either not used as intended, not used at all, or did not provide the expected return of service.”

via Broadband Program Oversight Questioned – washingtonpost.com.

The centerpiece of President Obama’s domestic agenda is an $819 billion economic stimulus plan. The Senate will consider the measure this week, with an eye toward the amount of tax cuts and spending. Republicans and Democrats spar over what to consider a tax cut. An analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office tallies the tax-cut portion to be significantly less than the one-third Democrats claim it to be.

via Taking Apart the $819 billion Stimulus Package – washingtonpost.com.

Download the Senate Version of the Economic Stimulus Bill Here.

Download the House VErsion of the Economic Stimulus Bill Here.

So it looks as if the nation’s taxpayers are going to spend about $20 billion to accelerate the use of computerized medical records. In his press conference Monday night, President Obama went out of his way to explain why that money belonged in the economic stimulus package. It is, he said, a job-creating investment in both the present and the future that will improve the quality of care and save lives.

But in a letter delivered Tuesday to the White House and Congressional offices, 50 of the nation’s leading experts in electronic health records — most of them physicians themselves — warned that “an historic opportunity to achieve quality and efficiency gains through health information technology will be lost,” unless the government channels the spending carefully.

Just throwing money at doctors, they say, is not going to work. “The challenge is going to be all about implementation,” said Dr. Blackford Middleton, chairman of the Center for Information Technology Leadership, a research arm of Partners Healthcare, a big nonprofit medical group in Boston that includes Massachusetts General Hospital. “Where is the money going to flow and what is the mechanism of implementation?”

Dr. Middleton and others who signed the document say the answer lies in replicating a few standout community projects that have had success in offering installation help, technical support, buying power and training to small physician practices. The small group practices will be where the Obama administration’s push succeeds or fails because 75 percent of the nation’s physicians work in offices of 10 doctors or fewer.

via Electronic Health Records: How to Spend the Money Wisely – Bits Blog – NYTimes.com.

Former New York lieutenant governor Betsy McCaughey has caused a stir with a Bloomberg op-ed that raises questions about parts of the economic stimulus package concerning health care and the Department of Health and Human Services.

McCaughey writes that “One new bureaucracy, the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, will monitor treatments to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective. The goal is to reduce costs and ‘guide’ your doctor’s decisions.”

“Keeping doctors informed of the newest medical findings is important, but enforcing uniformity goes too far,” she writes, maintaining that the plan will limit growth and innovation in the health care industry.

via Stimulus Debate Shines Light on Health IT Job – Federal Eye – .

PtCT, MEDITECH’s Home Care solution, is the leading provider of home care, hospice, and telehealth software. We are united in our mission to provide physicians, nurses, and other home care clinicians with the tools they need to orchestrate and deliver patient care in a safe, effective, secure, and efficient manner across the health care continuum. Our process-driven, automated software is unlike any other in the home care landscape, and is fully integrated to optimize the financial and business potential of home health and hospice care enterprises. Together, PtCT and MEDITECH are bringing home care into a new era through our innovative technologies.

via Patient Care Technologies: Comprehensive Integrated Home Care, Hospice and Telehealth Software.

Short-circuiting a gradual move toward e-health records

Many physicians are moving toward electronic health records for reasons of their own, including market pressure, convenience, and efficiency. This happens as old systems are being replaced or upgraded, questions about security find better answers, and doctors and their staff become more familiar with the technology.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found, in response to a mail survey last year that 38.4 percent of physicians reported using full or partial e-records system, not counting billing. This is up from 25 percent in 2005.

In the absence of the so-called stimulus bill, doctors and companies have been gradually moving in that direction, individually weighing the costs against the benefits and choosing the technology that best suits their needs.

This is the gradual process that the Democrats who wrote the legislation, and sent it the floor without the benefit of a single hearing, hope to short-circuit. The bill punishes physicians who are not “meaningful users” of a government-certified e-record database, and specifies certain procedures and information exchanges that will “satisfy” the requirement.

Starting in 2015, government reimbursements to physicians who are not participating in the federal e-record effort will begin to decline.

via U.S. stimulus bill pushes e-health records for all | Politics and Law – CNET News.