May 13, 2008

New Report: HOME TELEHEALTH AND REMOTE PATIENT MONITORING:
Competitive Intelligence and Analyses for a Growth Market
This comprehensive 100-page strategic business report on Home Telehealth and Remote Patient Monitoring provides the most recent information and strategic analyses: facts, figures, and strategic market intelligence to enable new and ongoing initiatives for companies and service providers, and administrators who will incorporate new telehealth initiatives in remote patient care. It includes an overview of the regulatory, legal and reimbursement environment and evaluates market size and growth, as well as market trends and opportunities for acquisitions and collaborations. This report is based on comprehensive research, surveys and interviews, coupled with the analyses and insight that makes possible new directives and opportunities for equipment companies that need to establish price points for new products in remote diagnosis, patient monitoring, and disease management. Service providers and members of the health care community who have and will assume new responsibilities for implementation and oversight of these initiatives will find this an invaluable foundation for the application of these technologies for patient care. The financial information is critical for business development executives, the investment community, and those with decision making responsibility in all areas of telemedicine related to domestic and global health care. Available June 2008.
For details: contact ebicovny@liebertpub.com

U.S. on track to meet nationwide EHR access goal by 2014
The government's goal of providing every U.S. resident with access to an electronic health record (EHR) by 2014 is on track and could possibly be exceeded, according to Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt. Leavitt said the effort will "begin to happen quickly" once "people begin to catch the vision." Four years ago, President Bush assigned Leavitt with the task of implementing nationwide EHR access. He's been on a non-stop PR tour over the past year, assuring the public that it will get done on time. The most progress has been in achieving interoperability standards for potential EHR vendors. "If interoperability was two feet long, we'd be at about the six- or eight-inch mark," Leavitt said. "We won't see full interoperability for some time, but we will see functional interoperability beginning to develop real soon."
For details, visit http://thehill.com/business...

HIEs should take the for-profit route to succeed
For-profit, business like Health Information Exchanges (HIEs) are a better alternative to building HIEs than current efforts by multi-stakeholder collaboratives or public-private partnerships, according to the president of Philadelphia-based Hx Technologies. Dr. Elliott Menschik recently told federal lawmakers that a free enterprise model HIE will deliver results "better, faster and cheaper" that the altruism-driven method attempted by nonprofits. Menschik's company is developing a for-profit HIE that will deliver radiology images to doctors in Philadelphia. By focusing on existing business relationships and using industry-standard technology, the company can save its customers time and money, Menschik said. Hx Technologies hopes to gain sponsorships from Independence Blue Cross and Aetna, two of the area's largest insurers, a move that could save 20 percent per year in radiology costs, according to Menschik.
For details, visit http://www.govhealthit.com/online/news/350345-1.html

PHR data should belong to patient, survey says
Ninety-two percent of physicians believe that data captured in a personal health record (PHR) should belong to the patient, according to a survey by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). In contrast, only four percent of the survey's 675 respondents said the provider should own the data, and 1 percent said the data should go to the company supplying the PHR. "While most respondents believe that this data would be most effective if integrated with an electronic medical record to have maximum value, the overwhelming majority of respondents believe that the patient should own the data in a PHR," the survey notes. Most respondents also believe the biggest barrier to adoption of a PHR is concern about privacy and security of the information within the records, according to the survey.
For details, visit http://www.himss.org/content/files/...

Northern Ireland goes large-scale with telehealth efforts
Northern Ireland's Department of Health and Social Services (NIDHS) is about to launch an initiative designed to provide 5,000 people with telehealth services by 2011. Over the next three years Northern Ireland will invest $89.9 million [USD] in telemedicine to support chronic disease management, according to NIDHS Secretary Dr. Andrew McCormick. "The aim is to do this at scale and find new ways of working," McCormick said. "This will be an example of what can be done with new technology, and an opportunity to respond to one of the challenges of aging populations that we all will face." Approximately 40 telehealth providers currently hope to take part in the program. Once implemented, the province will be one of Europe's leading telehealth service providers, according to McCormick.
For details, visit http://www.ehealtheurope.net/news/...

New microscopic X-ray technique sees super-subtle birth defects
A new microscopic X-ray technique allows scientists to visualize even the subtlest birth defects in prenatal and postnatal mammals, according to researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. The technique, X-ray computed tomography (microCT) may one day help scientists understand, prevent and treat human birth defects, lead researcher Charles Keller M.D. said. Scientists studied images of a mouse, a zebrafish, a chicken, a duck, a brown bat, the African clawed frog, an opossum and the mouse lemur. "We measured differences in skull and limb shape, and length, between very different types of animals that are commonly studied by geneticists," Keller said. "[Our] techniques serve as a set of standards for geneticists who wish to assess other important bones, such as the bone that is commonly malformed in cleft palate or other face and skull deformities."
For details, visit http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008...

Panasonic, Intelstat bring in-flight broadband service to India
Satellite services provider Intelstat and Panasonic Avionics have signed a multi-year agreement that will give passengers on India-based airlines in-flight broadband access. Panasonic will introduce an advanced satellite transmission platform known as Panasonic eXConnect that will work with Intelstat's existing GlobalConnexSM Network Broadband service to provide on-demand VPN, live television, shopping, streaming media, telemedicine and in-flight entertainment systems, according to Intelstat Vice President Jay Yass. "The system will deliver seamless broadband connectivity to passengers who seek Internet access wherever and whenever they need it," Yass said.
For details, visit http://medianet-news.blogspot.com/...

Computer printers could be future 'drugstore-in-a-box'
It won't be long before the ordinary household printer is used to make simple medications as part of a do-it-yourself-at-home regimen, according to a Microsoft executive. Instead of ink, people might one day put the ingredients of different medications into printer cartridges and print out a sheet of tablets that could be peeled off and dissolved in their mouths, according to Craig Mundie, Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer. This "drugstore-in-a-box" would be one of several devices that could increasingly use information technology for health diagnosis and treatment, Mundie said. Another possibility is a mobile phone that can analyze a person's breath for diseases, chemical imbalances and other problems. "It doesn't exist today," Mundie said. "But the potential is there."
For details, visit http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/...

Beta release of open source EHR system unveiled in Philippines
The Philippines' first beta release of an open source electronic health record (EHR) application could pave the way for low-cost EHRs for the healthcare industry, according to the manager of the International Open Source Network (IOSN) in Manila. "This is groundbreaking for several reasons: it is free, portable, and open source so that even doctors can contribute to its development," said Dr. Alvin Marcelo, IOSN manager. "This release will allow medical and nursing students, for instance, to start using it to understand EHRs." The public release also aims to generate more interest in lower-cost electronic health record systems, according to Marcelo. "At the outset, an awareness that EHRs can be low-cost can generate new jobs since there will be a demand for customization," he said. "For the healthcare industry, this means better documentation and opportunity for better research on health care."
For details, visit http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/...

Finland setting an e-health benchmark
The numbers speak for themselves: Finland has 21 hospital districts, all of which use the electronic medical record (EMR) system, 80 percent of which provide teleradiology services. E-referrals are also used at 80 percent of Finnish hospitals. This makes the Scandinavian country a perfect example of what can go right when an EMR plan is in place, according to Jarmo Reponen, president of EuroPACS. Now, Finland plans to establish an eArchive - a national digital repository for storage of all patient documentation. The eArchive infrastructure will also facilitate ePrescription, which is designed to connect healthcare providers with private pharmacies. And, eView will enable citizens to view their healthcare documentation and see who has accessed their records. The project is set to go live in 2011. The first pilots start this year.
For details, visit http://www.healthtechwire.com/Pressrelease...

IBM wins $5.2 million Georgia Transparency Web site contract
The Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH) has awarded a $5.2 million contract to IBM Corp. for development of the state's Transparency Web site (TWS). The TWS will make information on healthcare cost, quality of care and services available to consumers to help them make informed decisions about their healthcare, according to Dr. Rhonda Medows, DCH commissioner. IBM will build the infrastructure of the site, scheduled to be launched later this year. "Consumers and caregivers will be able to use this Web site as a tool when planning for elective procedures, scheduling diagnostic tests, seeking facilities with specialty services, or planning for long term therapies and medications," Medows said. use these at the cost of $1,000 to $5,000 per month, Kemp said.
For details, visit http://dch.georgia.gov/vgn/images/... and www.dch.georgia.gov/gahitt

SMEs to have 'enormous impact' on healthcare quality
European e-health is heading for an "historic turning poin" where public and private sector small and medium enterprises (SMEs) will emerge to promote home-based healthcare, according to a report by the European Health Telematics Association (EHTEL). This emerging industry, "positioned somewhere between traditional health professionals and the IT industry," will have an enormous positive impact on the quality of chronically ill patients and elderly people, alleviate pressure on national health systems and boost European economy by creating millions of new jobs, according to EHTEL President Martin Denz. Other recommendations outlined in the association's report, "Sustainable Telemedicine: paradigms for future-proof healthcare," includes use of patient-centered telemedicine to engage professionals and patients in e-health, and establishment of a European support framework to coordinate deployment of sustainable telemedicine.
For details, visit http://www.healthtechwire.com/...

Mobile data becoming key to bridging Africa's digital divide
Bridging the digital divide is the key to improving Africa's health - and the fastest way to do it is through mobile links, according to speakers at the IST-Africa conference in Namibia last week. A recent survey by three Namibia researchers found that 99 percent of respondents have access to a landline or a mobile phone, and 74 percent now have access to TV. Although the services available to Africans may seem primitive to Western nations, they are more than adequate to meet the nations' healthcare needs, according to the IST-Africa organizers. "In this case, telemedicine does not need to be complex to be effective," said Maria Zolfo, director of the Institute for Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium. "[For example], a simple discussion group on a Web site is an enormous improvement over simple e-mail."
For details, visit http://healthcare.zdnet.com/?p=952