World’s first wireless pacemaker debuts
St. Jude Medical’s new wireless pacemaker has been successfully implanted into a 61-year-old New York woman, making her the world’s first recipient of the recently FDA-approved device. Patient Carol Kasyjanski, who has suffered with a severe heart condition for more than 20 years, will now have 90 percent of the work already done for her whenever she goes in for a routine check-up. Doctors may log into a computer and monitor her condition prior to her arrival or even during her everyday activities. Dr. Steven Greenberg, director of St. Francis’ Arrhythmia and Pacemaker Center, said the device – which downloads relevant information to a computer server on a daily basis – will likely become the gold standard in pacemakers and may eventually be used to monitor high blood pressure, glucose and heart failure. More than 3 million people worldwide use pacemakers, and another 600,000 are implanted each year. http://ghanabusinessnews.com/2009/...

More physicians, insurers offering online consults
More doctors are going digital as an increasing number of health insurers begin to cover online medical consultations made via Web chats, video conferencing, and interactive questionnaires, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. Insurers Aetna and Cigna use the service RelayHealth to offer digital consultations to their members, while OptumHealth and BlueCross BlueShield insurance programs in Hawaii and Minnesota offer digital physician visits through American Well. RelayHealth and American Well also give patients the option of sending the digital consultation reports to other physicians. The services provide easier access to physicians for patients, and they lower doctors’ operating costs due to federal reimbursements. Still, some insurers are reluctant to cover digital consultation services because of limited demand and concerns about health data security. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124977187174117097.html

Patient monitoring device makers join forces
Remote patient monitoring system maker Masimo and global capnography device manufacturer Oridion Systems Ltd. plan to link their two products through a jointly produced two-way interface, the companies announced. The project, expected to be completed toward the end of this year, will allow Masimo’s Patient SafetyNet system to retrieve, analyze, and display physiological data from Oridion’s Capnostream 20 respiration monitor. Once the interface hits the market, owners of existing Capnostream and Patient SafetyNet units will be able to install a software upgrade to connect the systems. Both systems help reduce the risk of “failure to rescue” – a death that occurs when an adverse clinical event is not recognized in time to save a patient with treatable complications – and the joint venture should allow hospitals to make the most of their patient safety efforts, according to Oridion Systems President Gerry Feldman. http://www.masimo.com/news/index.cfm#08112009

Telehealth stroke care system to connect Louisiana hospitals
Ochsner Health System, one of Louisiana’s largest healthcare providers, is implementing REACH Call Inc.’s REACH 3.0 turn-key telestroke and telehealth service to improve stroke care in urban and rural locations throughout the state. Ochsner’s main campus, Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans, will act as a hub and connect five outlying community hospitals, according to Dr. Kenneth Gaines, chairperson of Ochsner’s Neurology department. Like many parts of the U.S., most of Ochsner’s outlying hospitals are in urban areas but not all have neurologists on call, Gaines said. The REACH 3.0 system “will enable patients to receive immediate evaluation when every minute counts,” Gaines said. http://www.ochsner.org/news/story/...

Promising outlook for EMR sales in 2009
In 2008, electronic medical record (EMR) vendors sold the fewest number of new contracts in the United States and Canada of at least the previous seven years, but the federal stimulus package should give a significant push to sales in 2009, according to a report from research firm KLAS. “Physicians, Nurses, and EMR Adoption” notes that most of the new contracts tracked by KLAS in 2008 were made by large companies such as Epic Systems, which captured 40 percent of the new business, McKesson, and Siemens. The report, which tracked more than 1,600 hospitals of 200 beds or larger in the U.S. and Canada, also identified more than 400 that were not using an EMR – a sign that there is still much room for growth in the market. http://www.klasresearch.com/Klas/Site/...

UK considers private EHR service plans
The United Kingdom’s Tory Party continues to promote a plan that would allow patients to transfer electronic health records (EHRs) to online services provided by Google, Microsoft, or other private companies. Under the plan, patients could choose from several EHR systems, would need a username and password to access and update their health records, and would have to grant healthcare workers permission to access their personal medical data. The proposal continues to gain support as the government-sponsored National Health Service (NHS) National Programme for Information Technology suffers extended delays and cost overruns. Opponents claim that storing patient data on private Web sites would make it more vulnerable to hackers, and prevent doctors from accessing vital patient information during an emergency. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/...

New networking Web site targets medical home care
TransforMED LLC, a subsidiary of the American Academy of Family Physicians, has launched a networking Web site to encourage use of the patient-centered medical home model of care. Delta-Exchange at www.transformed.com/delta-exchange/media.cfm , offers case studies, guidance on navigating transitions, how-to articles, information on developing team-based care, and resource on office management. Users may also post documents, images and videos, and create and edit wiki-style information pages. Participants pay a $30 monthly fee for access. The site is the result of a two-year medical home national demonstration project that revealed a desire by primary care practices to communicate and collaborate with each other, according to TransforMED President Terry McGeeney, M.D.  http://www.transformed.com/news...

EHR adoption among physician practices' top challenges
For the second straight year, higher operating costs, declining reimbursements, and electronic health record (EHR) implementation are the key challenges faced by physician group practice administrators, according to a survey by Englewood, CO-based Medical Group Management Association. Almost three-fourths of respondents said their top challenge is dealing with operating costs that are rising quicker than expected. Nearly 7 in 10 cited maintaining physician compensation as reimbursement rates decline as a major concern. And EHR use continues to be viewed as a vital issue among physician groups, with more than 6 in 10 saying they expect installation of a new EHR system to be a major challenge. On the positive side, more than 8 in 10 respondents said there is no chance that their practices will close or file for bankruptcy protection because of the slow economy. http://www.mgma.com/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=29064

Online guide evaluates health IT projects
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has released an online workbook designed to help providers determine the actual cost and benefits of investing in information technology. The “Health Information Technology Evaluation Toolkit” is a systematic guide on the process of selecting IT project goals, and proposed measures to evaluate, such as those impacting workflow and financial management. AHRQ also gives general research strategy hints, such as implementation of statistical and open-ended research. The goal, according to AHRQ, is to “make predictions ahead of time, then analyze those predictions later, learning from what assumptions were correct and which were not.” http://healthit.ahrq.gov/portal/server.pt/...

Tele-education program links medical colleges in India
Government-run medical colleges throughout the state of Tamil Nadu, India are now linked through a tele-education program unveiled at Madras Medical College in Chennai. According to Health Minister MRK Panneerselvam, the project, which links 14 medical schools, will allow students exposure to special guest lectures, rare surgeries, and other discussions at the government’s general hospital. The health department also plans to link the central telemedicine facility to all headquarter hospitals, an action that would be a “shot in the arm” to medical care in the state, according to Dr. S.M. Chandramohan, the project’s nodal officer. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/City/...   http://www.mmc.tn.gov.in/

Seniors slow to enroll in online medical record program
A federal program that encourages Arizona senior citizens to store their medical histories on Google or other commercial Web sites has gotten off to a slow start, raising questions about whether the one-year effort will continue in 2010. Officials from Medicare and participating software vendors acknowledge that only a “small percentage” of the state’s 800,000 Medicare recipients have signed up for the $2.5 million health records program launched last January. The federal agency must decide before the end of the year if it will maintain the program for another year. In any event, those seniors who have signed up will retain access to their computerized health records, according to David Sayen, regional administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/...

Lt. Governors announce support of e-health
The National Lieutenant Governors Association has adopted a resolution supporting states’ efforts to advance adoption of interoperable health information technology. The resolution, “Ensuring the Adoption of Health Information Technology Systems,” by Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo (D-KY), asks states to adopt health IT systems that are certified by the Certification Commission for Health IT (CCHIT), and to ensure that electronic health records and electronic prescribing systems meet privacy and security standards. http://www.nlga.us/web-content/Policy/2009AnnualResolutions...