Advertisement
STOMP Use your cell phone to kick the habit • STOMP (Stop Smoking Over Mobile Phones) helps smokers quit smoking by automatically sending a series of intervention text messages to their mobile phones. • Messages are tailored to target participants, ranging from quit tips to public polls. • Relatively inexpensive, personalized and age-appropriate. • Provides constant smoking cessation support. Includes a relapse program and option for daily blackout periods when participant will not receive text messages. To learn more: Healthphone Solutions Ltd. healthphone solutions.com

Advertisement

August 19, 2008

Telemedicine becomes key factor in war against diabetes
With the number of cases of diabetes skyrocketing, government and private groups are turning toward telemedicine to help the afflicted and their families treat the disorder. The American Diabetes Association has launched a customizable online tool, MyFoodAdvisor at www.diabetes.org/my-food-advisor.jsp, that allows consumers to view food nutritional information that typically is not on the label, such as potassium and phosphorous. Meanwhile, researchers at the University of Virginia Health Systems in Charlottesville, VA have developed a Web-based blood-sugar monitoring and awareness training program, BGAThome, that helps persons with type I diabetes make wiser choices about actions and eating in regards to their low blood sugar levels. And, clinics in California are participating in a telemedicine project designed to provide faster eye screenings for diabetic Medi-Cal patients and help prevent blindness. Nearly half of the state's diabetics do not undergo annual retinal exams as recommended. http://care.diabetesjournals.org/cgi/content/... and http://story.100.com/... and http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/117786.php

The check-up is in the e-mail
Doctors using telemedicine to treat patients in war-stricken and impoverished countries have become a more useful form of medical care than U.N. aid, according to the London-based charity Swinfen Charitable Trust. The charity's 380 volunteering physicians use a basic form of telemedicine to communicate with patients in care-stressed nations such as Iraq, usually responding within two days. Swinfen adds that in the last few years, 20 percent of its cases have come from that country, and some participating doctors say the technique also saves the lives of healthcare workers who are routinely kidnapped and sometimes killed. The process works both ways: Iraqi doctors say telemedicine also helps them keep up with developments in medicine. http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/...

CHCF to offer $300,000 in grants for adoption of California lab standard
The California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF) in Oakland, CA plans to award $300,000 in grants to help the state's healthcare providers adopt a new national standard for delivering lab results from clinics to physicians. CHCF will award 20 grants of $15,000 each over a one-year period in support of the EHR-Lab Interoperability and Connectivity Specification (ECLINCS), which was approved in June by the Ann Arbor, MI-based standard development organization HL7. California provider organizations eligible for a grant include hospitals, group practices, independent physician associations, community clinics, health plans and laboratories. The foundation's six-page request for proposals is available at chcf.org. Proposals are due Aug. 28. http://www.healthdatamanagement.com/... and http://www.chcf.org/grantinfo/rfps/...

Medicare P4P health IT project earns 10 group medical practices $16.7 million
A health information technology-based pay-for-performance demonstration project from Medicare has helped 10 large group medical practices earn an extra $16.7 million during the project's second year, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). CMS said all 10 groups in the Physician Group Practice Demonstration achieved benchmark or target performance on at least 25 of 27 quality markers for patients with diabetes, coronary artery disease and congestive heart failure. Participating groups included St. John's Health System in Springfield, MO, the University of Michigan Faculty Group Practice in Ann Arbor, MI, Middlesex Health System in Middletown, CT, and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Clinic in Bedford, NH. The performance year covered April 1, 2006 to March 31, 2007; the initial three-year demo has been extended for a fourth year through March 2009. http://www.cms.hhs.gov/apps/media/...

Ohio awards $11.3 million to complete regional high-speed telemedicine network
Residents and medical facilities in Eastern and Northeastern Ohio will enter the broadband age, following the state of Ohio's granting of an $11.3 million for completion of a new high-speed telemedicine network. Gov. Zack Space announced the award for the Northeast Ohio Regional Health Information Organization, which will connect 19 facilities in 22 countries. The award follows $25 million in funding given to hospitals in Eastern Ohio last November to create a small telemedicine network for those facilities. "This is a massive step to connecting our region to the rest of the world," Space said. "I have been fighting to bring broadband here because I am absolutely convinced that the lack of access is hurting our chances for economic development. This agreement will help make that goal a reality." http://www.congress.org/congressorg/webreturn/?url=http://space.house.gov

European cities seek to 'e-nable' residents' access to government databases
Three European city councils are developing a tool to improve citizen access to government via electronic devices and encourage more interaction between the public sector and the "man on the street." The ICiNG project would allow residents of Dublin, Ireland, Helsinki, Finland and Barcelona, Spain to use home computers, portable hand-held devices, mobile phones and environmental sensors to access citizen-based tools on government databases. All three cities were already working on similar projects to "e-nable" the populace, according to John Donovan, ICiNG's coordinator. Facets of those projects are being used with ICiNG, with Barcelona incorporating Bluetooth environmental sensors and citizen feedback to gather information for a new traffic flow plan, and Dublin citizens participating in a city audit to identify areas where access may be difficult for handicapped or disabled persons. http://cordis.europa.eu/ictresults/index.cfm/...

Georgia Tech, Texas A&M join forces in new health IT foundation
The Georgia Institute of Technology, America's top school of systems engineering, and Texas A&M, the nation's only school of rural public health, are establishing an organization to help implement information technology at health organizations. The Center for Health Organization Transformation (CHOT), based at both schools, will also focus on changes needed to achieve safety and quality management, and deal with chronic disease management and develop other evidence-based management approaches. "The ability to directly inject innovative concepts into health systems, and to validate and refine them for actual usage is very exciting work, and is critical to the transformation process," said CHOT co-director Eva Lee. "The chain of events in patient care, from diagnosis to treatment to delivery, as well as the entire finance and organizational infrastructure, offer much room for systems advances and innovation." http://www.gatech.edu/newsroom/release.html?id=2036

Medicare to launch PHR pilot program in Arizona and Utah in 2009
Medicare beneficiaries in Utah and Arizona will be part of a new pilot personal health record (PHR) program launched by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Under the pilot, which begins Jan. 2, 2009, beneficiaries in the two states may choose one of several PHR tools and Medicare will transfer up to two years of the beneficiaries' health data into electronic form. "This exciting pilot will be a major step forward for Medicare," Health & Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt said. "We believe that it will provide information and tools that will empower consumers to manage their health." CMS plans to select up to four commercial vendors to participate in the pilot program; vendors will not be paid for participating and they will not be under contract to CMS. http://www.cms.hhs.gov/apps/media/press/release.asp?...

Germany's Sagem Orga develops next generation of electronic health card
Paderborn, Germany-based Smart card expert Sagem Orga, in collaboration with Hamburg-based health insurer Techniker Krankenkasse, has become Europe's first company to develop the next-generation electronic health card. The Generation 1 card will enable Techniker Krankenkasse to test and prove the online capability required of the cards and connected systems at an early stage, according to Sagem and TK officials. "We want to give the market a card from the outset that can be updated online and so is future-proof," said Frank Seiner, TK's head of corporate development. This proof of the online capability of the components in the telematics infrastructure is essential for full-scale rollout of the electronic health card, he said. http://www.sagem-orga.com/index....

Nigerian official wants less emphasis on cybercrime, more on telemedicine
The Nigerian Computer Society (NCS) is asking the Nigerian government to track cyber-related crimes, which the society feels is running unchecked within the country and affecting the nation's ability to focus on more productive Internet uses, such as telemedicine. During a recent NCS national conference, NCS President and Prof. Charles Uwadia urged the government to "pay particular attention to the devastating impact of cyber criminality and terrorism in the e-commerce and electronic fund transfer landscape." The government should also further block legal and social loopholes militating against e-commerce implementation in Nigeria and concentrate on investing in information technology infrastructural development and maintenance. Uwadia said these would improve e-governance and the delivery of high-quality health care through an integrated national health information system and telemedicine network. http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=119630

U.S. now lags 100 years behind Japan in high-speed Internet access
Median data download speeds in the United States have increased by 0.4 megabits per second (Mbps) over the past year, meaning it will take more than 100 years for the U.S. to attain speeds currently found in Japan, according to a study by the Communication Workers of America (CWA). America's performance in CWA's annual Speed Matters Speed Test shows the U.S. is far behind the rest of the world when it comes to true high-speed Internet access, according to CWA President Larry Cohen. "This isn't about how fast someone can download a full-length movie. Speed matters to our economy and our ability to remain competitive in a global marketplace," Cohen said. "Rural development, telemedicine and distance learning all rely on truly high-speed, universal networks." Japan, with an average download speed of 63 Mbps, topped the speed test; the U.S. was fifth. http://www.cwa-union.org/news/national-study... and http://www.speedmatters.org/pages/state.html

Reach Call expands telehealth services to seven states
Augusta, GA-based telestroke/telehealth service provider Reach Call Inc. has expanded its coverage to seven states. Rural hospitals in Tennessee, Wyoming, California, Florida, Georgia, New York, and South Carolina now have access to the company's 100 percent Web-based solutions for treatment of medical conditions such as stroke, according to Reach President Sandeep Agate. More than 60 hospitals in the seven states use the company's services, and it continues to grow at a fast pace, adding 14 customers over the past three months, Agate said. http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/...

• UA Conference Explores 'Future of Health Care' Through Telehealth, Pharmacology and Rural Medicine Issues
  Sept. 4-5, 2008 - The University of Alabama
  TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Telehealth – the use of state-of-the-art telecommunications and computer technology to help health-care professionals – will be one of the key topics at a conference on the future of health care in the United States. The Ninth Annual Rural Health Conference, whose theme this year is "The Future of Health Care," will feature keynote speakers well-versed in contemporary health issues and with backgrounds in building telehealth systems in the Southeastern United States.
  
  
• The Forum 08, the 10th annual meeting of DMAA: The Care Continuum Alliance
  Sept. 7-8, 2008 - Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa Hollywood, FL
  Hear the outlook for population health in the medical home from American Academy of Family Physicians leader Bruce Bagley, MD, and Patient Centered Primary Care Collaborative Chair Paul Grundy, MD. Also, with just two months before the hotly anticipated 2008 general election, get the latest word on the battle for the White House and Congress from former U.S. Senator John Breaux and acclaimed political analyst Charlie Cook. Ken Thorpe, PhD, executive director of the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease, will provide similar insights on the health policy landscape and chronic disease.
  
  
• ATA 2008 Mid-Year Meeting
  September 15-16, 2008 - Marriott Waterside Hotel and Marina,Tampa FL
  The 2008 Home Telehealth & Remote Monitoring Meeting serves as a forum for sharing scientific research findings, significant advances in related technology and applications, and groundbreaking programs, projects, or case studies.
  The UC Davis 2008 Pediatric Telehealth Colloquium will be held in conjunction with the ATA Mid-Year Meeting. The Colloquium, already established as a premier event for the pediatric telehealth community, is dedicated to the presentation of original research related to pediatric telemedicine by investigators in clinical science.
  
  
• 2008 National Telehealth Conference
  September 25-27, 2008 - St. Paul International Airport Hilton Hotel, Bloomington, MN
  Children's Physician Network
  
  
• 2008 AHIMA Convention and Exhibit
  October 11-16, 2008 - Seattle, WA
  The 2008 AHIMA Convention and Exhibit presents incomparable opportunities to connect with colleagues and learn from key leaders who influence change in health information management. Take advantage of the exceptional educational sessions, explore the exhibit hall and network with fellow HIM professionals.
  
  
• Canadian Society of Telehealth conference
  October 4-7, 2008 - Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
  Joint meeting of Canadian Society of Telehealth and International Society for Telemedicine and eHealth
  
  
• 2008 5th Annual Connected Health Symposium
  October 27-28, 2008 - The Conference Center at Harvard Medical, Boston, MA
  Who Provides, Who Decides, Who Pays: Consumers, Clinicians and Business Models in the Connected Care Era

To showcase your event here, please email us at events@telemedicinealerts.com

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

An Experience of Health Technology Assessment in New Models of Care for Subjects with Parkinson's Disease by Means of a New Wearable Device
Daniele Giansanti, Giovanni Maccioni, Sandra Morelli
Telemedicine and e-Health. June 2008, 14(5): 467-472.
This report characterizes a system combining gastrocnemius expansion measurement unit (GEMU), a step-counting device, with a telemedicine application for patients with Parkinsonism. GEMU by telemedicine correlated strongly with motion decrement in a robust and reliable system, which enjoyed high user acceptance. 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.

For advertising
Contact us to maximize your print and/or online opportunities

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

This email was sent by: The Mary Ann Liebert Companies
140 Huguenot Street, 3rd Floor, New Rochelle, NY 10801-5215, USA
Phone: 914-740-2100 (Toll Free in USA/Canada) 1-800-M-LIEBERT    Fax: 914-740-2101    Email: info@liebertpub.com