April 25, 2008

PR-hammered EHRs fall into consumers' hands
The field of electronic health records (EHRs) suffers from a public relations crisis, according to "Electronic Health Records: Are Consumers Riding or Driving the Car? ", an article in the latest issue of Telemedicine and e-Health. The article notes that EHR proponents are unable to convey a consistent, positive message about its virtues, while naysayers find plenty of ammunition, often referring to the systems as "expensive, commercialized products focused more on financial gains for vendors and less on being patient-centered or helpful to healthcare providers." Into the fray jump major corporations such as Google, Microsoft and America Online, which have developed their own consumer-based platforms for collection, storage and sharing of health information. The article goes on to review ways the industry can overcome the EHR image problem and other issues.
For details, visit http://www.liebertonline.com/...

Portable ultrasound takes telemedicine to its peak
Telemedicine has reached its peak - literally. A Detroit trauma surgeon has used his new portable ultrasound machine to check the health of a group of Canadian mountain climbers as they made their way up Mount Everest. Climbers two-thirds of the way up the 29,000-foot mountain used the device, about the size of a laptop computer, to scan parts of their body and send the images to Dr. Scott Dulchavsky's own laptop back at Henry Ford Hospital. "You get great images with zero training," Dulchavsky said. "We're pushing the boundaries on what we can do with ultrasound." Dulchavsky has also used his product with NASA astronauts, Olympic athletes and Detroit sports teams.
For details, visit http://detnews.com/apps...

White paper calls for phone medical consultation standards
In a new white paper, former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, retired Navy Surgeon General and Vice Admiral Donald Arthur, and health policy analyst Richard Boxer, M.D. say a set of medical standards for phone medical consultations can help communication between patients and physicians. The trio's white paper, "A Model for Telephonic Medical Consults: Guidelines for Decision-Makers," also stresses the importance of electronic health records, physician licenses, patient age limits and prescriptions toward provision of effective telehealth programs. "There is growing recognition of the delivery of healthcare via telehealth as a safe, practical and necessary practice, with widespread acknowledgement of its usefulness to impact routine care for non-emergency medical problems," Thompson said.
For details, visit http://www.telehealthreports.com/...

Wales extends use of emergency care record
The National Health Services (NHS) Information Technology agency in Wales, Informing Healthcare, plans to extend its emergency care record program to the country's hospital medical admissions units. The Individual Health Record (IHR) system is expected to cover one-third of Wales by year's end, according to Informing Healthcare Director Dr. Martin Murphy. The new IHR system works on three requirements controlling points of access and who can access it. The record extracts all coded data from general practice systems, except sensitive data such as sex changes or STI's, and works on an explicit consent basis, according to Murphy. Each time the system is used, patients must give consent; in emergencies, a doctor can click a button to signal the patient could not be asked.
For details, visit http://www.ehiprimarycare.com/news/...

Lawmakers reassured about EHR privacy
Fears of a lack of privacy of electronic health records are being dispelled as myths by health IT stakeholders and vendors. During a recent congressional briefing, health IT industry representatives insisted to lawmakers that health IT companies use the highest possible levels of security and encryption with their patients' data. "People are scaring lawmakers about data flying around the Internet," said Justin Barnes, vice president of marketing at Greenway Medical Technologies in Carrollton, GA. "The health IT industry has spent hundreds of millions of dollars creating secure and encrypted solutions for use today."
For details, visit http://www.ihealthbeat.org/...

Start up for England's SCR slower than expected
Implementation of England's Summary Care Record (SCR), the European version of the electronic health record system, is slower than originally planned. Thus far, only two Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) have placed their records on the national network known as The Spine. As a result, the SCR's evaluation committee, Connecting for Health (CfH), has extended review of the system by two years. The evaluation is expected to cost about $1.4 million [USD]. "We believe that an independent analysis of activities will significantly help roll-out for the future," a CfH spokesperson said. "Continuing to evaluate progress will provide valuable learning for other adopters of the SCR, it will not have an impact on the timeframe for national rollout."
For details, visit http://www.ehiprimarycare.com/news/...

Internet is driving force behind 'Health 2.0'
The Internet is playing a central role in the finding of health information and the emergence of "Health 2.0," according to a new report from the California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF). "The Wisdom of Patients: Health Care Meets Online Social Media " stresses how innovative online collaborations among groups of patients, medical professionals and other health care players are challenging the notion that healthcare happens only between a single patient and doctor in an exam room. "More consumers now go online for health information and support than consult their physicians," CHCF Senior Officer Veenu Aulakh said. "The Web is also becoming a platform for convening people with shared concerns and creating health information that is more relevant to consumers."
For details, visit http://www.chcf.org/press/...

German insurer offers cell phone-based fitness monitoring
Barmer Ersatzkasse, Germany's biggest health insurance company, has begun to offer its 7 million customers mobile phone-based fitness monitoring. Developed in conjunction with the IT service provider T-Systems, a division of Deutsche Telekom, it features a chest strap that measures heart rate and caloric expenditure. The data collected is then transmitted first via a Bluetooth connection to the mobile phone, and then via GPS or UMTS to a Web-based personal health record (PHR). Customers have to pay for the chest strap, at about $142 [USD], with a further monthly charge of $8 [USD] for using the PHR. Customers who run 5 kilometers or cycle 20 kilometers are eligible for an insurance premium reduction of up to $48 [USD] a year, according to Barmer spokesperson Thorsten Jakob.
For details, visit http://www.ehealtheurope.net/news/...

ACS receives $69 million contract for benefits services
Dallas-based Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. has won a seven-year, $69 million contract to provide electronic benefit transfer services to the California Health and Human Services Agency. Electronic benefit transfer (EBT) allows recipients to receive their benefits electronically through the use of a debit card. California clients use the Golden State Advantage card to receive benefits from food stamp and cash benefit programs. ACS will provide comprehensive EBT services including transaction processing, data center services, training of state staff, reconciliation and settlement, and reporting. ACS will also support California families who receive food stamps and/or cash aid by providing an automated call center response unit, as well as live customer service support. EBT services assist about 900,000 California households; ACS serves more than 2 million benefit recipients nationwide.
For details, visit http://phx.corporate-ir.net/...

Queensland government seeks $100 million from TrakHealth
The government of Queensland, Australia is seeking almost $100 million [USD] in compensation for a failed e-health contract from developer TrakHealth. In 2005, Queensland Health, Australia's government-sponsored health program, dropped a $30 million hospital software contract with TrakHealth and sued for $18 million in losses. Queensland argued that TrakHealth misrepresented itself and its product, TrakHealth. Queensland has since amended the claim and is asking for $98.2 million, saying it will cost far more to deliver a new e-health program in the current market. TrakHealth offered no comment. TrakHealth, which has contracts in Asia, New Zealand and Britain, is a subsidiary of Cambridge, MA-based InterSystems.
For details, visit http://www.australianit.news.com.au/...

AMD explores telemedicine's role during disasters
Telemedicine can play a crucial role in the triage process at natural and man-made disaster scenes, according to prominent emergency medicine physician Richard Aghababian, M.D. Dr. Aghababian, a past president of the American College of Emergency Physicians and an associate dean for continuing medical education at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, offers his insight in a new series of podcasts available on AMD Telemedicine's Web site at www.amdtelemedicine.com. "Unlike day-to-day emergent operations in which a whole team works together to save one life, in disaster medicine, there can be many more victims than one's immediate resources can handle. So that takes a different mindset," Aghababian said. "One has to switch from everything for one to best outcomes for the group. One must determine how to best allocate resources to do the greatest good for the greatest number."
For details, visit http://www.amdtelemedicine.com/DrA.html

Telemedicus, NuPhysicia enter teaming agreement for DREAMS®
Houston-based Telemedicus Inc., makers of the nationally recognized DREAMS® ambulance telemedicine technology, has entered into a teaming agreement with Galveston, TX-headquartered NuPhysicia LLC, a private company that offers the clinical telemedicine programs of the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, widely acknowledged as one of the largest and most successful programs in the world. The two companies will be exploring business lines that combine their technologies and business methods for new medical service offerings. The base technologies of their systems, secure IP data transmissions, are complimentary, according to Telemedicus Chief of Operations Steven Price. The companies also expect to operate joint trials of an integrated system over the next quarter. Afterward, service products utilizing the combined system will be introduced, according to Price.
For details, visit http://www.sys-con.com/read/548605.htm