Telemedicine and e-Health News

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August 8, 2008

Video consults top telephones in consultations for best stroke treatment
Using video consultation helps doctors make better decisions about how to treat strokes than those who use telephone consultations, according to a first-ever study by researchers at the University of California at San Diego. The results of 222 patient cases showed telemedicine consultations with a stroke expert resulted in correct treatment decisions 98 percent of the time, compared to 82 percent by telephone, according to study author Dr. Brett Meyer, associate professor of neurosciences at the UCSD School of Medicine. "We assumed that telemedicine was a good idea, but it hadn't been scientifically tested until now," Meyer said. "This study provides the first evidence that video is superior to telephone." However, video conferencing still needs to be proven equivalent or superior for patient outcomes in comparison with immediate transfer to a stroke unit for therapy by a trained stroke physician, researchers noted. http://health.ucsd.edu/news/2008/8-4-telemedicine.htm

Department of Defense launches mental health portal for veterans
The Department of Defense's Military Health System has launched a behavioral health Web site that allows service members to anonymously seek mental health treatments for illnesses such as combat stress and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Officials say the site at www.afterdeployment.org has been developed to counteract the main reasons mentally afflicted vets refuse to seek treatment: shame and fear. For example, despite the Defense Department's best efforts to remove the stigma of PTSD, the disorder still "has an influence when it comes to the promotion board," according to Dr. Joseph Pursch, a former Navy psychiatrist. "Any kind of help for combat stress that is offered anonymously, even on the Web, is a good first step in developing a treatment program that does not jeopardize a career," Pursch said. http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/... and http://www.afterdeployment.org/

Telemedicine-driven robot performs ultrasound aboard cruise ship
French robotics firm Robosoft and partners in the European Mobile and Robotised Telechography (MARTE) project have successfully conducted a robot-controlled tele-ultrasound via satellite. The experiment, a world first, linked ultrasound specialist doctors based in medical centers in Cyprus, to a project team on board a cruise ship sailing in the Mediterranean Sea. Robosoft used a remotely controlled Estele-model robot with a wireless handset and a robuBox software development kit - a universal robotics engine - to perform an ultrasound from different locations, observed by a satellite TV screen. MARTE officials say the project points the way toward a future of European and global medical robotic applications. http://www.robosoft.com/img/data/CP_Chypre_E_ebook.pdf

Health data experts seek national data registries for lesser-known illnesses
More national health data registries are needed to help address emerging threats to public health, according to state and national public health officials. Some diseases are better-covered: For example, every state has its own cancer registry, which includes information on age, race, gender, residence, disease treatment and outcome that are viewed as key resources in the fight to cure cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. Fifteen states have birth defect registries, and five states are establishing registries for muscular dystrophy. But lesser-known diseases aren't as lucky. "Cancer is important," said Thomas Burke, an epidemiologist and professor at Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health. "But we're just scratching the surface on so many other chronic diseases and conditions that we really don't know about." http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/...

Informed consent process given automated boost by tech-savvy physicians
Physicians are turning to technology in an effort to improve the informed patient consent process. Doctors have discovered that using more interactive, automated processes helps patients retain more information and also encourages them to ask questions when they come up, instead of trying to think of them during an often pressure-filled office visit. Some automated systems can create a patient- and procedure-specific consent form, while others, used in conjunction with the traditional forms, use tools such as video and automatically generated educational materials. A patient can watch and review those materials outside of the office. The process "significantly improves the efficiency and certainly the quality of the consent process which is so vital to the practice of medicine," said Neil Baum, MD, a New Orleans urologist. http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/...

'Brain drain' makes Africa a prime candidate for telemedicine
A brain drain from Africa to Europe and the United States, coupled with the sheer size of the continent, have left many African communities critically short on medical expertise - and good candidates for telemedicine, according to the Swiss confederation RAFT (Réseau en Afrique Francophone pour la Télémédecine). As a result, RAFT has established 14 multi-site operations in north, west, and central African countries and Madagascar, and is expanding to other areas such as Guinea, Chad and the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to RAFT Director Dr. Antoine Geissbuhler. RAFT partners include the World Health Organization, the Paris-based World Francophone Digital University and the Global Digital Solidarity Fund (DSF), a Geneva, Switzerland-based group that finances projects to help close the "digital divide" between rich and poor communities. http://www.ehealtheurope.net/news/4023/...

Use of telemedicine to treat inmates is on rise in California prisons
The number of California prison inmates receiving medical treatment through telemedicine is booming, with three times as many treatments offered thus far in 2008 versus the prior 10-year annual average. State corrections officials note that 50,000 inmates were seen via telemedicine from 1997 to 2006, while more than 16,000 were seen in fiscal year 2008, which ended in June. Physicians say it is more cost-efficient for prisons and establishes a patient base for medical institutions. Prisoners like being able to see the same doctor on a regular basis, and they receive care faster than under traditional face-to-face visits. And the procedure should grow more popular in future years: All 33 state prisons have the capability to offer telemedicine, but some institutions don't use the equipment, according to Dr. Dwight Winslow, medical director of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/1128846.html

Carestream Health unveils pay-as-you-go HIM system in France
Rochester, NY-based Carestream Health Inc. has introduced a pay-as-you-go hosted information management system (HIM) at 37 medical facilities throughout France to help encourage healthcare information technology adoption among French healthcare providers. The system offers cost-effective remote archiving, sharing and distribution of data, helping providers overcome a high initial cost of implementing a health IT system at their facilities, according to Pierre Yves Nectoux, Carestream Health's European business manager of eHealth Managed Services. The company's contracts with French customers will result in approximately 1 million imaging studies, Nectoux said. Customers range from individual imaging centers such as Centre Duroc in Paris, to GCN St. Vincent, with eight imaging centers in the Ouest region of France. http://www.carestreamhealth.com/publicNewsRelease...

High-speed broadband network planned for Rwanda
Rwanda is attempting to implement a national high-speed broadband network to bring more-efficient healthcare coverage throughout the country, according to Rwandan President Paul Kagame. Kagame said connecting rural areas will solve many of the health challenges faced by the majority of Rwanda's residents. The government is partnering with an unnamed U.S. firm to connect up to 178 sites caring for 55,000 patients currently on antiretroviral drugs. "Given that the overwhelming majority of our population lives in rural areas, this will allow many more patients to easily secure specialist opinion at significantly reduced cost," Kagame said. The network is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2009, the president added. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008...

Massachusetts puts indefinite delay on hospital fee comparison Web site
The launch of a Massachusetts Web site that reveals what insurers pay specific hospitals for 40 common medical procedures has been delayed indefinitely. The delay is due in part to the complexity of the system insurers use to pay hospitals, according to Katherine London, executive director of the Massachusetts Health Care Quality and Cost Council, the site's coordinator. "It's more difficult to complete than we've expected," London said. "We need to make this system so it can work easily and not require (a high) level of analysis to just do a simple thing." The site is envisioned as a way to give consumers, hospitals and even legislators first-time-ever access to what providers are paid for each procedure, and allow them to compare the various rates. http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/stories...

New doctor rating Web site gets poor grade from British doctors
British doctors are complaining about a new Web site that allows patients to post comments about individual general practitioners, saying the site violates the country's Data Protection Act. Physicians argue that they should be allowed to remove their names from www.iwantgreatcare.org if a comment from a patient contains inaccurate information. Patients are allowed to make anonymous comments, an action that invites potential defamation, according to Magnus Boyd, a partner with libel legal firm Carter-Ruck, which is representing 37 doctors in a letter sent to iwantgreatcare.org's developers. "My clients are not against fair comment," Boyd said. "But accuracy matters." A spokesperson for the site said they were pleased to see it had generated such high public awareness since its debut in July. http://www.e-health-insider.com/news/... and http://www.iwantgreatcare.org/

InterComponentWare's PHR system passes 10,000-user test
Walldorf, Germany-based healthcare medical record system developer InterComponentWare (ICW) has developed a 10 million-member personal health record database that can handle access by 10,000 concurrent virtual users, and 20,000 doctors and pharmacists. ICW's LifeSensor system also handles up to 700 simultaneous record accesses. "Personal health record platforms need to be scalable, highly accessible, stable, and above all secure, so that users and health care providers can use the records anytime, world-wide," ICW Chief Executive Officer Peter Reuschel said. "The test results [prove] that LifeSensor is ready for widespread use." Performance tests were conducted during a 10-day period at the Hewlett Packard European Performance and Benchmark Center in Boblingen, Germany. http://www.icw-global.com/nc/us/en/media-news/media...

In the Current Issue of the peer reviewed publication Telemedicine and e-Health

The Value of Provider-to-Provider Telehealth
Eric Pan, Caitlin Cusack, Julie Hook, Adam Vincent, David C. Kaelber, David W. Bates, Blackford Middleton
Telemedicine and e-Health. June 2008, 14(5): 446-453.
The Center for Information Technology examined the value of providers with the patient and a distance site using three models of telehealth: store-and-forward, real-time video, and hybrid systems. A detailed literature review was conducted to elucidate where value had been reported. The data was evaluated by a computer simulation, which calculated the national value of provider-to-provider telehealth. Overall, the potential benefits of telehealth far outweigh the implementation costs, especially in emergency departments. Full Article

Published 10 times a year in print and online, Telemedicine and e-health covers all aspects of clinical telemedicine practice, technical advances, enabling technologies, education, health policy and regulation and biomedical and health services research dealing with clinical effectiveness, efficacy and safety of telemedicine and its effects on quality, cost and accessibility of care, medical records and transmission of same.

Telemedicine and e-Health is the Official journal of the American Telemedicine Association.
To learn more, click here.

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