Military offers online mental health services for veterans
The Department of Defense is piloting a program that provides remote online counseling and behavioral healthcare services to military members and their families in 21 states. The TRICARE Assistance Program allows service personnel and their families to remotely consult “face-to-face” with a licensed counselor through computers, a Web cam, Internet claim forms and associated software, according to Rear Adm. Christine Hunger, TRICARE Management Activity’s deputy director. Aimed primarily at active and reserve military returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, the program represents the first time online care has been used to deliver mental health services, according to Ido Schoenberg, M.D., chief executive officer of American Well Inc. American Well will provide the program to Hawaii residents through its Online Care platform. TriWest Healthcare Alliance, which provides healthcare benefits to nearly one-third of military members and their families, will oversee the program. More information on TRICARE is available at http://www.tricare.mil/pressroom/news.aspx?fid=546

A&D releases Continua-certified products
Electronic patient monitoring equipment maker A&D Medical Inc. has released two of the first Bluetooth wireless technology chronic disease care products certified by the Continua Health Alliance. A&D’s new products, the UA-767PBT-C automatic blood pressure monitor and the UC-321PBT-C precision weight scale, are vital tools in the care of illnesses such as cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease and diabetes, according to A&D Medical Director of Engineering Jerry Wang. The devices use the Vena software platform from engineering consulting firm Cambridge Consultants. The Continua Health Alliance, which recently began its wireless certification program, is a nonprofit, open industry coalition of more than 200 healthcare industry member companies dedicated to improving personal healthcare through technology. Other Continua-certified products are Nonin’s 2500 PalmSAT and Onyx II 9560 Wireless Fingertip Pulse oxymeters, and the Roche Accu-Chek Smart Pix Device Reader. http://www.aandd.jp/whatnew/2009/...    http://www.cambridgewireless.co.uk/news/...

UC schools receive $200 million for telemedicine
California state officials have closed a $200 million bond deal with the University of California system to expand or begin telemedicine projects on UC campuses throughout the state, according to state treasurer Bill Lockyer’s office. Recipient campuses include UC Santa Cruz, which will receive $64 million to build a new Biomedical Sciences & Engineering Research facility, and UC Davis, which will receive $35 million for a new telemedicine facility. Bond proceeds will also go to UC schools at Irvine, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco and Santa Barbara. The university system was able to purchase the general obligation bonds – which are usually offered to individual or institutional investors – largely due to the state’s ongoing fiscal difficulties, according to State Treasurer spokesperson Tom Dresslar.   http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/... http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_12994665

Nation’s largest state health data exchange launched
Healthcare leaders in Maine have launched the nation’s largest statewide health data exchange for the sharing of clinical data. HealthInfoNet’s initial one-year demonstration project links 15 hospitals and more than 2,000 physicians – including nearly half of the state’s rural and urban hospitals – and allows easy exchange of health records on items such as allergies, patients’ physical conditions, lab test results, pharmacy benefits and prescription drug data. The program, which cost the state $8 million to launch, is expected to cost an additional $12 million to expand statewide to Maine’s 1.3 million residents, and another $6 million to operate annually thereafter, according to HealthInfoNet Executive Director Devore Culver. But the exchange is also expected to save the state $50 million annually by reducing or eliminating unnecessary procedures. http://www.hinfonet.org/news.html

NC Health offers $870,000 remote monitoring grant
Six rural North Carolina communities will share an $870,000 grant for development of a wireless remote health monitoring project using equipment supplied by Toronto-based mobile technology developer Ideal Life Inc. The grant from the North Carolina Health and Wellness Trust will use Ideal Life’s Body Manager digital weight scale and blood pressure device to monitor 400 Medicaid patients with heart failure or cardiovascular disease over the next three years, according to Bonnie Perry Britton, director of the Telehealth Clinical Network in Ahoskie, N.C. The program is designed to provide prompt intervention for individuals who have a sudden increase in body weight, which often results in hospitalization for heart failure, according to Ideal Life President Jason Goldberg. Grant funding came from North Carolina’s share of the national tobacco settlement to fund programs that promote preventative health. http://www.smartbrief.com/news/aaaa/industry...

Telemedicine to benefit from digital game demand
Digital games, which already show potential for improving healthcare, could also provide new channels for telemedicine services, according to a report in the online journal Health Affairs . Popular gaming tools such as the Nintendo Wii – with its “Wii Fit” game – could be combined with use of Skype, a Web-based video phone service, and allow physicians to provide remote therapy treatment, according to report author Carleen Hawn, chief executive officer of health technology site Healthspottr.com. The concept is already catching on with insurance companies, which are using digital health games to improve members’ health. The market – which makes up only about $7 billion of the $42 billion worldwide total for electronic games – has immense growth potential, Hawn notes. http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/hlthaff.28.5.w842/DC1

Yale selects technology provider for remote patient monitoring study
Pharos Innovations has been selected as the exclusive telemedicine provider for the Yale University School of Medicine’s Tele-HF (heart failure) study. Tele-HF, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, is designed to measure the impact of device-free remote patient monitoring (RPM) on improving chronic care management and reducing hospitalization of heart failure patients. Yale has enrolled more than 1,650 patients in the study, which is the largest of its kind, according to Pharos Innovations Chief Executive Officer Randall E. Williams, M.D. Participants will use Pharos’ Tel-Assurance RPM platform for daily telemonitoring of patients going home after hospitalization for heart failure. Trial results are expected to be released in 2010. http://www.pharosinnovations.com/pdfs/releases/...

Wall Street Journal hails importance of wireless health technology
Wireless technology to improve patient care and reduce operating costs has become the priority for dozens of companies, according to a report in the The Wall Street Journal . Products range from a miniature digestible chip by Proteus Biomedical Inc. that broadcasts whether patients are taking prescribed pills, to Triage Wireless Inc.’s wearable vital signs unit that continuously measures blood pressure. Others have a safety bent: Intel Corp. is working on a sensor-laden “magic carpet” that tracks how a patient moves to help prevent falls, a major contributor to injuries, deaths and health costs. The biggest hindrance to some of these devices are regulations; for example, the Proteus product won’t arrive in the U.S. until 2012 because of regulatory review, according to Chief Executive Officer Andrew Thompson. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124934548487503195.html

Scotland doubles funds for remote monitoring
The government of Scotland’s capital city is doubling funding for remote monitoring of patients over the next year in an effort to help people stay in their own homes while recovering from illness or injury. The Edinburgh City Council will spend $1.6 million [USD] in 2009-10 on telecare packages that include items such as sensors that turn off stoves, GPS trackers for people with Alzheimer’s, and alarms that allow the elderly to call for help if needed. The projects are part of a growing effort across Scotland during the past few years to provide telehealth services to residents, free up hospital space and save money, officials note. http://news.scotsman.com/health/Home-monitoring-of-patients-will.5523052.jp

Kansas telehealth pilot shows dramatic results
A two-year telemedicine project by the Kansas Department on Aging designed to help the elderly stay independent and cut healthcare costs has had dramatic results so far, according to state health officials. Under the program, vital signs for 75 Medicaid recipients are tracked by a remote monitoring device; the vitals are sent to nurses at Windsor Place in Coffeyville, KS, for review. Participants in the project have experienced 70 percent fewer falls in 2009 than they did in the previous year, and the $290,000 program reduced the state’s Medicaid costs by $1.5 million, according to Windsor Place Executive Director Monte Coffman. The program is scheduled to end in October, but Coffman is considering expanding it to include 1,000 Medicaid beneficiaries.  http://www.khi.org/s/index.cfm?aid=2337   http://www.khi.org/s/index.cfm?aid=2340

Report: Telehealth encourage medical tourism
The benefits of telehealth can effectively encourage “medical tourism,” according to a report by professors at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. “The Role of Telehealth in Medical Tourism” by Profs. Scott C. Simmons, M.S., and Anne E. Burdick, M.D., notes that telehealth can improve the process and quality of pre- and post-operative care through remote collection of baseline data, preoperative physical assessments and patient education. Telemedicine also allows physicians to improve the level of service provided to medical tourists, such as through videoconferenced meetings between a patient and family, the physician and out-of-area specialists. This level of connectedness, the report notes, could also improve continuity of care by keeping the patient’s care providers in his or her home country involved throughout the perioperative period. The report was published in the Aug. 4 edition of Medical Tourism magazine. http://medicaltourismmag.com/detail.php?Req=230&issue=11

U.S. on par with Europe in creating EHRs
The United States is on the same path toward health information technology expansion as its European counterparts, according to a report by Falls Church, VA-based consultancy firm CSC. The study “Accomplishing EHR/HIE: Lessons From Europe” notes that the U.S. is replicating success from projects in Denmark, the Netherlands and the UK by identifying specified expectations; measuring value according to “meaningful use” of electronic health records (EHRs); providing financial incentives for such meaningful use; setting high-level objectives; and soliciting stakeholder input. But the U.S. could face a tough time following Europe’s lead in other ways due to the American public’s mixed reaction to the EHR concept, and greater difficulty in achieving nationwide EHR implementation. http://assets1.csc.com/health_services/downloads/...