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July 1, 2008

Healthcare companies, insurers develop national PHR privacy framework
Nearly three dozen technology firms, insurers and healthcare companies, including Google, Microsoft, Blue Cross Blue Shield and the Department of Veterans Affairs, have approved the nation's first-ever privacy framework for personal health records (PHRs). The framework defines a set of practices that can help protect personal information and enhance consumer participation in online PHRs. Guidelines address authentication of consumers, audit trails, restrictions on identifying information, portability of patient data, security and systems requirements, provisions for consumer consent and policies for notifying patients when their information has been breached. "Consumer demand for electronic PHRs and online health services will take off when consumers trust that personal information will be protected," said Zoë Baird, president of the Markle Foundation, the framework organizer. "We have broken the typical logjam in healthcare and reached consensus among health sectors and technology innovators, so Internet health information products can flourish."
http://www.connectingforhealth.org/news/...

Telemedicine has growing role in medical aid at disaster areas
The recent earthquake in China and cyclone in Myanmar are examples of telemedicine's growing importance at disaster sites, according to a report by the past president of the American College of Emergency Physicians. Dr. Richard Aghababian, who is also associate dean for continuing medical education at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, MA, notes that telemedicine applications can be of great help in afflicted areas when it comes to identifying and understanding patterns of injury and in gaining experience on treatment. According to the United Nations, more than 100,000 people were killed by last month's cyclone in Myanmar, and 69,000 died during June's earthquake in China. Thousands more were injured in both areas. Telemedicine devices, according to Aghababian, "can make disaster recovery into a truly global effort and can help equalize quality and availability of medical care around the world."
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/6/... and http://www.amdtelemedicine.com/DrA.html

Retired IU professor turns vision into 'cyber-sight'
A retired Indiana University opthamologist has developed an Internet-based telemedicine system that offers expertise to more than 600 eye-care providers and their patients in 30 developing countries. The Cyber-Sight program grew from an e-mail exchange of photos between creator Eugene Helveston and a Cuban eye ailment-treatment hospital in 1998, to a 140-member "medical mentor" association at present day. Thus far, more than 4,200 consultations have occurred. "Our goal is to serve those people and be their friends, colleagues, supporters and teachers, and do whatever we can to be supportive," said Helveston, who retired in 2000. The program consists of three services: E-Resources, which provides educational materials; E-Learning, which helps doctors earn continuing medical education credit, and E-Consultation, which links partner doctors with expert mentors.
http://www.indystar.com/apps/... and http://www.cybersight.org/bins/home.asp

Update on Medicare Reimbursement Bill for Telemedicine from American Telemedicine Association
Final passage of legislation to expand Medicare reimbursement for telemedicine was delayed when H.R. 6331 received only 59 of the 60 votes necessary in the Senate to overcome a filibuster. Negotiations will resume when Congress returns from the Independence Day recess. Both the Democratic and Republican versions of the Medicare legislation in the Senate, as well as the bill that overwhelmingly passed the House, contain provisions expanding telehealth originating sites. All three versions extend telehealth to skilled nursing facilities and hospital-based dialysis centers. The House bill and Democratic version in the Senate also includes community mental health centers as an originating site. ATA and other allied groups will continue to work hard to ensure that the telemedicine provisions are in the final legislation.

Germany prepares for distribution of e-health cards
The German state of Nordrhein-Westfalen is slated to be the first in the nation to distribute electronic health cards, following an agreement between the state government and federations representing health insurance funds, doctors, dentists and hospitals. The e-health card contains basic patient data such as name, age, next of kin and insurance details, as well as electronic prescriptions. Officials expect the roll-out within the North Rhine region to begin by early 2009, after distribution of card-reading terminals is completed by the last quarter of this year. Although the state's health minister believes the move will help introduce telematics applications into health services, getting the public and physicians to accept the new product is another matter. A "Stop the eCard" campaign continues to pick up steam, with critics citing concern about data privacy and security. Germany has been piloting the card in various locations since 2006. http://www.epractice.eu/document/4846

Despite tech spending, Europe still faces innovation gap with rest of world
Although Europe has considerably improved its high-tech research, it still has a long way to go before it bridges the innovation gap with other parts of the world, according to a report by former Finnish Prime Minister Esko Aho. Between 2003 and 2006 the European Union has spent more than $6.3 billion [USD] in information technology research, to go along with another $157.4 billion [USD] invested by member states and private companies. Yet Europe "does not get the most out of it in terms of growth, jobs and innovation," according to Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding. Europe as a whole will remain behind the rest of the world in research ability unless it consolidates many of its short-term public or private efforts into permanent joint ventures, according to the report. http://www.ehealthnews.eu/content/view/1207/27/ and http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/information_society/...

Wisconsin awards $1 million in telemedicine grants to nonprofits
Twenty-five non-profit health organizations will share $1 million in grants from the Wisconsin Universal Service Fund (USF) Telemedicine program, according to Gov. Jim Doyle. USF awards grants annually to non-profit medical clinics and public health agencies to help them purchase telecommunications equipment to promote advanced medical services and enhance access to medical care in underserved areas. Grant amounts ranged from $136,520 to $3,769 and will be used for anything from new cell phone systems to telemedicine monitors and videoconferencing equipment. "These organizations deliver vital services to their communities - meeting real medical needs and making real impacts," Doyle said. "I am pleased that we are able to award these grants that advance and improve health care in our state." http://www.wisgov.state.wi.us/journal_media_detail.asp...

Australian scientists take 'mobile' approach to heart attack rehab
Scientists at Queensland University of Technology's Institute of Biomedical Innovation have combined a mobile phone with a miniature heart monitor and a GPS device in response to a low participation rate of heart patients in cardiac rehabilitation. The "Cardiomobile" monitoring system "allows people who have been in hospital for a heart attack or heart surgery to undergo a six-week walking exercise rehabilitation program wherever it's convenient, while having their heart signal, location and speed monitored in real time," QUT Dr. Charles Worringham said. Eighty percent of cardiac patient fail to complete recommended rehab programs despite the fact they cut recurrent heart attack rates by 17 percent, according to Worringham. http://www.news.qut.edu.au/...

NHC launches nation's first nighttime hospital coverage
With hospitals nationwide facing a shortage of full-time physicians, a Rolla, MO-telephonic care firm has begun offering nighttime hospital coverage by telephone. Full-time hospital physicians, also known as hospitalists, are in such short supply that many daytime doctors are being overworked, according to Dr. Yomi Olusanya, founder of Night Hospitalist Co. LLC. The nighttime version, a nocturnist, is even more rare and expensive to hire. NHC's program, the "first of its kind," provides telephonic care from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. for a "fraction of the cost," with each physician being Board-certified or Board-eligible internal medicine M.D.s or D.O.s with extensive hospital experience, Olusanya said. The company is currently evaluating telemedicine vendors, with an eye to remotely examining and evaluating patients via video telemetry. http://www.ereleases.com/pr/20080624003.html

Controlled drug release project nets MIT researcher Millennium Technology prize
Dr. Robert Langer, institute professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Department of Chemical Engineering in Cambridge, MA, has been awarded the 2008 Millennium Technology Prize by the Technology Academy of Finland for his efforts in developing innovative biomaterials for controlled drug release. The professor's current project is right out of "Star Trek": being able to zap drugs through the skin without harming it. The award, given every two years for outstanding breakthroughs in technology that significantly improves quality of human life and promotes sustainable development, includes a $1.25 million [USD] cash prize. Langer, who heads up the world's largest biomedical engineering lab, is a founding father of controlled drug release systems and tissue engineering. His research is now being used in production of artificial skin, cartilage, liver and other cells. http://www.millenniumprize.fi/index.php?page=561

MIT researchers use new weapon against TB: free cell phone minutes
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA believe they have a new way to encourage tuberculosis-afflicted patients to take their medicine: offer free cell phone minutes. A student group at the school has set up a trial where finnicky TB patients - who often do not want to stick to their six-month regimen of multiple drugs - earn the extra minutes through their healthcare provider if they pass their daily medication detection tests. Patients test their urine using a strip that reveals a numeric code if it detects TB medicine. They then text the message code to their healthcare provider and get credit for free minutes, according to Jose Gomez-Marquez, one of the project's leaders. "We're piggybacking on one of the bigger rollouts of infrastucture out there, which is wireless technology and telecom technology," Gomez-Marquez said. http://www.physorg.com/news132590274.html

Mobile robot-maker GeckoSystems to begin electronic trading
Conyers, GA-based GeckoSystems Intl. Corp., a developer of mobile service robots, has achieved eligibility for electronic, online public trading of their stock under the Pinksheets symbol GCKO. According to R. Martin Spencer, president and chief executive officer of GeckoSystems, the listing should enable the company to "more effectively communicate salient facts regarding this emerging industry to the mainstream public." The company's line of robots automatically self-navigate a home or workplace using advanced sense and avoid technologies for reliable, unattended collision avoidance while patrolling, following and/or seeking preset destinations. They are considered appropriate for the consumer, professional healthcare, public safety and defense markets, according to Spencer. http://www.techlinks.net/CommunityAnnouncements/...

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

Clinical Management and Patient Outcomes Among Children and Adolescents Receiving Telemedicine Consultations for Obesity
Ulfat Shaikh, Stacey L. Cole, James P. Marcin, Thomas S. Nesbitt
Telemedicine and e-Health. June 2008, 14(5): 434-440.
A retrospective review of patient medical records was conducted of children and adolescents who received pediatric weight management consultations using telemedicine. Ninety-nine patient files were reviewed. Analysis indicated that weight management using telemedicine can result in modification in patient care plans and outcomes. 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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