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October 24, 2008

Aetna set to provide six million members with option to join HealthVault PHR
Aetna Inc. is becoming the nation's first health insurer to partner with Microsoft Corp. in joining the technology company's HealthVault personal health record (PHR) platform. In November, six million of Aetna's members that currently have PHRs will be able to transfer their medical information to HealthVault accounts that they can access even if they change jobs or health plans - creating a "truly portable record of their health," according to Aetna President Mark Bertolini. The program will not increase costs for participating members, but it will reduce costs for Aetna, Bertolini said. "These tools can help advance quality in the healthcare system, reduce waste and improve the overall health of our members," Bertolini said. Aetna plans to expand the program to all 17 million of its members in 2009. http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/...

Economy slams brakes on merger between WebMD and parent HLTH Corp.
HLTH Corp. and WebMD Health Corp. have called off their $2.3 billion merger because of the recent economic downturn. HLTH, which owns 84 percent of WebMD, determined that the resulting $650 million in long-term debt owed by WebMD would not be a good thing at this time, according to Martin Wygod, board chairperson at both companies. On the other hand, ending the merger, originally announced in February, will give the online health information provider approximately $340 million in cash and investments, and no long-term debt. "By terminating their merger, HLTH and WebMD will retain financial flexibility and be in an advantageous position to pursue potential acquisition opportunities expected to be available to companies with significant cash resources in this period of financial market uncertainty," Wygod said. http://investor.shareholder.com/hlth/...

Harvard Medical School geneticists plan Personal Genome Project
Harvard Medical School has launched the Personal Genome Project, a test-bed for new DNA sequencing technologies and a resource for researchers probing the genetic basis of diseases and traits. Initially, the project will include the genetic profiles of PGP leader and geneticist George Church and nine other renowned researchers. The researchers - referred to as the "PGP-10" - hope to eventually have 100,000 participants. "It's truly an open source model," Church said. "We're not forcing other labs to collaborate with us or coauthor papers with us to gain access to the data." It will also provide teachers, students, and researchers from all walks of life access to the information, according to Church. More information is posted at www.personalgenomes.org. http://web.med.harvard.edu/sites/... and http://www.personalgenomes.org/

UK medical charity launches health talk, youth talk Web sites
A United Kingdom-based medical charity has launched two new Web sites featuring a collection of real life health stories and personal experiences of illness and health. Healthtalkonline.org and Youthhealthtalk.org, which include the UK's largest collection of real life health stories, are geared toward individuals who "feel isolated as a result of particular conditions," according to Dr. Ann McPherson, medical director at DIPEx Charity. The e-health 2.0 style sites use Web 2.0 social media approaches to enable users to learn of other people's experiences of health and illness. All research found on the sites is based on academics from Oxford University. Topics covered include cancer, heart disease, chronic pain, bereavement, diabetes, epilepsy and women's health. http://www.e-health-insider.com/news/4249/... and http://www.healthtalkonline.org/NewsDetails/... and http://www.youthhealthtalk.org/NewsDetails/...

Harvard CIO asks next President to consider additional incentives for EHRs
The Chief Information Officer of Harvard Medical School has written and published a letter to the next U.S. President - whoever it may be - asking for new incentives to encourage widespread electronic health record (EHR) adoption. Harvard CIO John Halamka notes that healthcare information technology is being used at a much lower rate in the United States than at other industrialized nations. For example, the U.S. spends 43 cents per capita on healthcare IT, compared to $193 per capital in the United Kingdom. He recommends a three-point plan for the next administration: provide incentives through Medicare for adoption and use of EHRs; encourage insurers to provide incentives for hospitals to adopt computerized physician order entry (CPOE); and continue to provide federal funding for technology and policies that encourage interoperability between healthcare providers. http://www.technologyreview.com/...

'IT technology revolution' set to make major impact on healthcare industry
Healthcare has largely avoided the information technology revolution, but it won't for much longer, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. Hospitals and other care providers are quick to adopt breakthrough technology in medical devices but not as willing to focus on networking and communications products, largely due to security and privacy issues. But four major changes are heading healthcare's way: the outsourcing of diagnostic services, such as imaging, X-rays and mammograms; standardized formats for electronic patient records; worldwide monitoring of drug safety through an international drug database; and increased sharing of medical knowledge through Web sites. "The detailed nature of this kind of work, and competitive cost pressures, will mean that a mix of medical and IT professionals will have to be employed both in the U.S. and abroad," the report notes. "The eventual benefits, meanwhile -- from all of the advances predicted -- will be universal." http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122426733527345133.html

Philips, King's College London to collaborate on heart disease research
Royal Philips Electronics and King's College London have announced a five-year research collaboration to develop new medical imaging research projects with an emphasis on cardiology and cardiac electrophysiology. According to Reza Razavi, Professor of Paediatric Cardiovascular Science at King's College London, a key area of focus will be on combining different imaging technologies, such as X-ray, MRI, ultrasound and CT, to help doctors navigate their way through a patient's heart during minimal-invasive procedures. The new agreement also aims to establish new research projects into medical imaging for cardiovascular disease, cardiac arrhythmias and pediatric diseases. http://www.newscenter.philips.com/about/news/...

When it comes to federal funds, Health IT development faces uncertain future
Funding for information technology research and development - seemingly plentiful several years ago - faces an uncertain future due to the economy, a new President and a Congress that's still undecided about how and when to reform healthcare, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). According to Jon White, AHRQ's health IT portfolio manager, there's no clear picture of what's ahead - although funding is still being granted for health IT-related research. In September, AHRQ announced four new multi-year grant programs totaling more than $1.6 million in IT funding. And since 2000, Congress has allocated money for health IT research, although the amount is expected to drop gradually in coming years. http://www.ihealthbeat.org/Features/2008/...

DigiTV to develop remote healthcare project for monitoring of at-home seniors
British digital services provider DigiTV has won funding from the European Commission to develop remote health and social care capability within its interactive digital TV technology. The project is part of a European consortium tasked with building and enhancing its Telecare and Telehealth provision across Europe. The funding, provided as part of the EC's "ICT for Ageing Project," will back solutions to help the continent's increasing population of chronically ill and elderly people remain independent and living at home as long as possible, according to DigiTV senior responsible officer Steve Langrick. http://www.publictechnology.net/modules...

'Systems of Choice' IT plan makes the grade with only 25 percent of British GPs
Fewer than 1 in 4 of Britain's eligible general practitioners have signed onto the government's GP Systems of Choice clinical IT plan, nearly six months after they were due to be completed. According to data from the National Health Service's Connecting for Health (CfH) program, 1,614 practices out of 7,300 in England have signed the agreements, which have become the subject of controversy among GPs. Some practices are reluctant to sign them because they feel it will "place unworkable restrictions" on the kind of third party add-ons they can use in their practices. CfH claims the agreements will benefit practices because they provide greater clarity about the service levels practices can expect from primary care trusts. http://www.ehiprimarycare.com/news/4257/...

Implementation of patient health ID number system could simplify EMR use
Use of a unique patient identification number for every U.S. resident would reduce medical errors, simplify use of electronic medical records, increase overall efficiency and protect patient privacy, according to a RAND Corp. study. On the downside: such a project could cost up to $11 billion to implement. But the benefits to the nation's health system far outweigh the implementation cost, according to Richard Hillestad, the study's lead author. "Establishing such a system would help the nation to enjoy the full benefits of electronic medical records and improve the quality of medical care," Hillestad said. Federal legislation passed over a decade ago supported the creation of a unique patient identifier system, but privacy and security concerns have stalled efforts to put the proposal into use, Hillestad noted. http://www.rand.org/news/press/2008/10/20/

Unilabs acquires Belgian teleradiology firm EuradConsult BVBA
Swiss diagnostics firm Unilabs has acquired Belgian teleradiology services provider EuradConsult BVBA for an undisclosed sum. Unilabs, which is active in 12 European countries including Belgium, said the deal will allow it to develop teleradiology services on a pan-European basis and enhance its range of diagnostic services, currently provided through more than 60 laboratories and 30 radiology units across Europe. Unilabs' customers include public and private healthcare providers throughout Europe. EuradConsult carries out roughly 40,000 teleradiology MRI reports annually, according to Dr. Erik Ranschaert, one of the acquired company's co-founders. http://www.euradconsult.com/en/newsandevents/detail/17

• 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

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

Neurology Diagnostics Security and Terminal Adaptation for PocketNeuro Project
C. Chemak, M.-S. Bouhlel, J.-C. Lapayre
Telemedicine and e-Health. September 2008, 14(7): 671-678.
The PocketNeuro project supports transfer of image and text to a mobile phone for prompt response by a neurologist. The program was analyzed for security and image quality using a DICOM image library and transfer of 30 256 × 256 pixel medical images. The analysis showed the system to be robust, effective, and secure. Large-scale validation between French and Swiss hospitals with secure connections is recommended. 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.

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