May 27, 2008

Home telehealth-patient monitoring market slated for 70 percent growth
The $5.6 billion home telehealth and remote patient monitoring market will grow by nearly 70 percent for at least the next three to five years, according to an upcoming strategic report published by Insight and Intelligence. Through interviews with industry leaders, surveys, use of government and other agency databases, and reviews of published literature, "Home Telehealth and Remote Patient Monitoring" reveals that the healthcare provider market segment - companies that offer telemedicine services to healthcare providers - consists of a number of small- to medium-sized companies with average annual revenue of approximately $6.6 million and combined average revenue growth of 72 percent. Consumer companies - which provide services directly to the consumer, such as wireless providers - tend to be larger, with combined average annual revenue of approximately $121.3 million and an even more explosive combined annual revenue growth of 118.5 percent to 193.5 percent. "Home Telehealth and Remote Patient Monitoring" will be available June 21.
For further information and pricing, contact dmitchell@liebertpub.com

Government launches EMR-based drug and medical device 'Sentinel'
Hoping for faster identification of safety problems from drugs and medical devices, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services have launched a program that uses medical record data to ensure medical products are safe for consumers. The "Sentinel Initiative" is expected to be faster than the current system, which relies on voluntary reporting by individual doctors, according to Health & Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt. The Sentinel system will be created through public-private partnerships and will use existing large electronic claims and medical records data sources maintained by private and government entities that agree to participate in the nationwide effort, Leavitt said. The program is detailed in the government's new white paper, "The Sentinel Initiative - A National Strategy for Monitoring Medical Product Safety," available at http://www.fda.gov/oc/initiatives/advance/reports/report0508.html.
For details, visit http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2008pres/05/20080522a.html

Lawmakers unveil healthcare IT privacy loophole bill
House of Representatives members have unveiled a discussion draft of a bill designed to strengthen federal privacy regulations in regards to healthcare information technology and require government agencies to adopt an all-electronic platform. The bill, from Rep. John Dingell (D-MI), also amends the Public Health Service Act to close several loopholes, such as making companies and groups that store electronic health data more accountable for security breaches, and requiring removal of personal identifying information when patients' health records are shared.
For details, visit http://energycommerce.house.gov/HealthIT_2008/hitec_003_xml.pdf

European Commission fights digital divide with new e-Inclusion Awards
The European Commission has launched the first European e-Inclusion Awards to celebrate "the best and most imaginative uses of information and communications technology" to reduce the digital divide in Europe. The commission estimates that 1 in 3 Europeans fail to benefit from new technologies and that overcoming this shortcoming could be worth up to $134 billion [USD] to European companies and governments over the next five years. Entries in the European e-Inclusion Awards will be accepted through Sept. 12 in seven categories: Ageing Well; Marginalised Young People; Geographic Inclusion; Cultural Diversity; Digital Literacy; e-Accessibility; and Inclusive Public Services. Five finalists from each category will be invited to exhibit at the Ministerial Conference on E-Inclusion in Vienna in December 2008. Overall winners will be announced at the conference awards dinner and ceremony.
For details, visit http://www.e-inclusionawards.eu/

Doctors sought for online consultations with war zones
A Chicago-area medical services group hopes to link health professionals in war-torn areas of the world with specialized physicians who can provide telemedicine-based consultations. The Center for International Rehabilitation (CIR) wants to sign up to 300 volunteer doctors to perform 1,000 consultations in the first year. The "iCons in Medicine" alliance will include volunteers from CIR, the Chicago Medical Society, the National Arab American Medical Association and the Iraqi Medical Sciences Association, according to CIR President Dr. William Kennedy Smith. The group initially plans to target violence- and poverty-stricken Middle Eastern countries such as Iraq. "Our goal is to get medical knowledge where medicine is practiced," Smith said. "The Internet has just exploded in its penetration, and we are really taking advantage of that."
For details, visit https://www.iconsinmed.org/content.cfm?id=5E5972

New CIGNA site offers health quality and cost measures to consumers
Bloomfield, CT-based health insurance provider CIGNA has gone online with a new interactive Web site designed to make it easier for its 10 million members to select the best doctors, medications and hospitals near their homes. The "Care Connections" site at www.mycigna.com will help members recognize potential care needs, identify and learn about treatment options, and understand available benefits, according to CIGNA Vice President Paul Thompson. The site transforms CIGNA's online provider directory into a more comprehensive care-decision support capability that integrates health information, quality information, cost of care, and questions to ask a doctor using simple, symptom-based searches, Thompson said. CIGNA has also teamed with San Francisco-based Med-Vantage Inc. to deliver estimates of hospital, physician, lab and pharmacy costs for treatment of medical conditions such as asthma or diabetes, Thompson added.
For details, visit http://newsroom.cigna.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=908

Custom e-mail software cheaper in long run for telemedicine use
Although more expensive in the short term, purpose-written, or custom-made, e-mail software can be significantly less expensive than commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) versions when used for telemedicine purposes, according to a new study by BMC Health Services Research. The paper notes that while e-mail-based telemedicine is an efficient way of delivering online health services to remote patients, the method is only truly low-cost if the proper e-mail system is used based on degree of use. The cost of providing an e-mail service with a COTS application for 1,000 consultations per year was $19,930, compared to $31,925 annually for a custom-made e-mail program, according to the study. In contrast, the COTS program actually costs more than the purpose-written version - $293,341 vs. $272,749 annually - when the use volume rises to 10,000 consults per year.
For details, visit http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6963/8/107/abstract

Australia's GP network wants lead in e-health system development
As various medical groups begin to position themselves as coordinators of an integrated e-health network connecting primary care with hospitals, private specialists and funding bodies throughout Australia, the Australian General Practice Network (AGPN) maintains that it is in the best position to meet the nation's needs. AGPN says that its divisions are well placed to drive changes in e-health because primary care is already the most computerized health sector, and its divisions have the local infrastructure to deliver e-health programs. The group has several e-health pilot projects underway, such as shared electronic health records, secure messaging programs, e-prescribing and connectivity with nursing homes. The government's main e-health body, the National E-Health Transaction Authority, has committed to "serious implementation" of electronic health projects that will "revolutionize the operations of Australian hospitals and clinics."
For details, visit http://www.6minutes.com.au/articles/z1/view.asp?id=172966

Online prescription drug purchases continue to climb
Consumers are increasingly using the Internet to buy prescription drugs, according to a survey by Cambridge, MA-based Forrester Research. In 2007, 17 percent of consumers reported using the Web to buy prescription medication for their own use in the past year, up from 13 percent in 2006 and 10 percent in 2005. The survey results follow that reported by Franklin Lakes, N.J.-based pharmacy benefit manager Medco Health Solutions, which saw 24 million prescription refills ordered online in 2007, up from 17 million in 2004 and 7 million in 2001.
For details, visit http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2008/5/22/...

Sarnoff, Viocare develop mobile phone-based food tracking system
A new mobile phone capable of measuring a meal's nutritional content has been developed by metabolic researcher Viocare Technologies and semiconductor inventor Sarnoff Corp., both in Princeton, N.J. The Mobile Food Intake Visualization and Voice Recognizer (FIVR) uses photographs and speech recognition to identify the food, then estimate the calories an individual will consume. Over time, FIVR will also categorize a user's eating habits through a series of questions, according to Sarnoff President and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Don Newsome. "In the past nutritional studies have relied on onerous questionnaires, food diaries, or a large staff of dedicated surveyors," Newsome said. "By leveraging Sarnoff and Viocare's extensive experience developing advanced medical technologies, FIVR eases that burden, allowing studies to receive more accurate, timely, and cost-effective data."
For details, visit http://www.sarnoff.com/press-room/news/2008/05/13/...

CBO doubts projected cost savings from health IT systems
Health information technology is not likely to produce the cost savings predicted by economic analysts, according to a report released by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The report, "Evidence on the Costs and Benefits of Health Information Technology," doubts that the estimated $77 billion in annual savings from a widely cited RAND Corp. analysis could result from the adoption of technology such as digital health records could occur by itself. Though some savings will take place, RAND's findings are overstated, according to CBO Director Peter Orszag. RAND defends the report, saying its estimates could actually be on the conservative side, according to author Richard Hillestad. The analysis has been instrumental in encouraging companies such as Microsoft and Google to get into the business of offering personal health records.
For details, visit http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/91xx/doc9168/05-20-HealthIT.pdf*
*This is a large PDF and may take a moment to load.

India's Lilivati Hospital wins Trusted Brand Award from Reader's Digest
Lilavati Hospital and Research Center, a 300-bed facility in Bandra, India specializing in telemedicine, recently won "The Trusted Brand" gold award by Reader's Digest and India Today. It is the only hospital winner in the poll, which is given to businesses in 43 product categories throughout eight markets in Asia and India. In the 10-year-old survey, carried out for Reader's Digest by the Nielsen Company, questionnaires are distributed in Reader's Digest and through telephone interviews of randomly selected consumers in Hong Kong, India, Mainland China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand. Survey respondents are asked to name and rate their most trusted brand in each product category based on six qualitative criteria: Trustworthiness, Credible Image, Quality, Value, Understanding of Customer Needs, and Innovation.
For details, visit http://www.moneycontrol.com/india/news/pressnews/...