IBM launches $21 million HIE project in Manitoba province
IBM Corp. has been selected to lead a vendor team that will design and implement a health information exchange throughout the Canadian province of Manitoba. The $21 million [USD] project will enable cross-discipline integration of information and allow clinicians access to real-time, integrated clinical information from a variety of sources, removing existing barriers, according to Giovanni Vatieri, a partner in IBM Global Business Services – Health. Those barriers include concerns over medication errors, duplication of treatments, and unnecessary medical testing, issues that are very expensive to the province each year, Vatieri said. Deployment is expected later this year. Project funding comes from the Province of Manitoba and Canada Health Infoway. http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/29009.wss

Scientists invent nanosensor-based cancer biomarker device
Researchers from universities at Yale, Harvard, and Cornell have successfully used nanosensors to measure cancer biomarkers in whole blood for the first time, a breakthrough that could simplify the way physicians test for biomarkers of cancer and other diseases. According to Tarek Fahmy, an associate professor of biomedical and chemical engineering at Yale, detection methods have only been able to determine biomarkers for illnesses such as prostate cancer or breast cancer with high concentrations of blood, and then only over several days. The new device, in which blood is filtered and transferred to nanosensors on a chip, makes the readings within a few minutes. It also can test for several different cancer biomarkers at once. Such a product can help doctors get nearly instant readings whether they are in their offices or in the field, Fahmy said. The researchers’ findings were published online ahead of print in Nature Nanotechnology on December 13. http://opa.yale.edu/news/article.aspx?id=7160

MHI doctors perform first slow heartbeat pacemaker implantation
Physicians at the Montreal Heart Institute have performed the first implantation of a new type of cardiac pacemaker in Canada. University of Montreal professors Bernard Thibault and Peter Guerra implanted the wireless Accent RF pacemaker into patient Maurice Forest to help treat his bradycardia, an abnormally slow heart rate. Developed by St. Jude Medical, the device is the first to offer automatic test results and complete diagnostics that can be accessed via wireless communication from the physician’s office or the patient’s home, according to Thibault. Successful implantations in four other patients have since taken place. http://www.nouvelles.umontreal.ca/udem-news/...

Aerotel Medical expands mobile health, home health offerings
Holon, Israel-based Aerotel Medical Systems has unveiled two telecare products, Mobile-CliniQ and Connect-Cell – designed to expand its presence in the mobile health and home healthcare markets. Mobile-CliniQ is a cell phone application that enables remote monitoring of a patient’s vitals, including blood pressure, blood glucose level, and weight. Data is transmitted wirelessly to a medical center for review by doctors. Connect-Cell is a cellular-based homecare data hub that allows users to easily transmit vitals to a monitoring hospital or clinic. The products “provide enhanced level of care and cost reduction,” Aerotel Medical Systems President and Chief Executive Officer David Rubin said. Aerotel has clients in 45 countries worldwide. http://mtbeurope.info/news/2009/912030.htm

Emerging Healthcare Solutions enters telemedicine market
Houston-based healthcare services firm Emerging Healthcare Solutions Inc. (EHS) has entered the telemedicine field through a licensing agreement with cross-town medical communications technology provider Telemedicus Inc. The agreement gives EHS access to Telemedicus’ extensive line of computer-based communications, medical monitoring, and global positioning equipment used in ambulances and life-flight helicopters. The system provides resources that “could be of importance under the new $1 trillion healthcare bill making its way through Congress,” Telemedicus announced. EHS said its primary goal in adding the product line is to help deliver profits for America’s healthcare solutions, and “provide a roadmap on how to realize cost profits from changes occurring in the healthcare industry.” http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/...

Telefonica develops wide-ranging home monitoring system
Spanish healthcare monitoring products firm Telefonica has developed a home monitoring system that collects up to five different vital signs, detects falls and transmits data to a medical center or clinic. The Caalyx product, part of a $4.3 million [USD] assisted living project overseen by the European Union’s 6th Research Framework Programme, includes a way to use the television as a communication interface for video-conferences with relatives, nurses, and doctors, and an adapted version of Nintendo’s Wii controller to operate the home system. Caalyx also uses a smart mobile phone, allowing doctors to customize health thresholds for alerts. Telefonica spokesperson Manuel Escriche said the company is now working on integrating the device into a t-shirt-like product that users can wear. http://www.ehealtheurope.net/news/5471/...

Senate to consider amendment to proposed medical device tax
An amendment by U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Evan Bayh (D-IN) would cut a proposed tax on medical device companies by 50 percent. The amendment, drafted in response to the bill’s original $40 billion tax, would instead tax medical device makers $20 billion, exempt companies with annual revenue below $100 million and make the levy deductible. The tax would also be delayed until 2013, instead of the 2010 date originally proposed. The amendment still calls for the taxes to be levied over a 10-year period. Stephen Ubl, president of med-tech industry group AdvaMed in Washington, D.C., said the revisions would help protect small companies, which are often “the drivers of both innovation and employment.” http://www.startribune.com/business/...

ONC seeks ‘beacons’ as recipients of health IT grants
Communities that wish to qualify for one of the $235 million in grants offered by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT will need to establish themselves as “beacons demonstrating the meaningful use of health IT,” according to Dr. Farzad Mostashari, ONC’s senior adviser. Earlier this month, ONC announced plans to award 15 grants of up to $20 million each to communities that serve as business models in electronic health record usage and adoption. Mostashari said the grant program will target communities with a proven history of using health IT to improve cost efficiency, healthcare quality, or population health, and will also consider those locales that already use health IT to facilitate care coordination, are geographically smaller than states, and have a minimum health IT adoption rate of 20 percent. Deadline for application is Feb. 1; more information may be found at http://healthit.hhs.gov.    http://www.govhealthit.com/newsitem.aspx?nid=72723

NeHC seeks board members for upcoming terms
The National eHealth Collaborative (NeHC) is accepting nominations from members of the healthcare field who want to serve on NeHC’s Board of Directors. There are four vacancies. Elected Board members will be expected to serve out the remainder of their predecessor’s term, if any. Seats are open with one-year, two-year, and three-year terms. Stakeholders may self-nominate or recommend a colleague. Nominations for NeHC’s Board of Directors will be accepted through Dec. 25. Elections by the membership will be held in late January. For additional information, visit www.nationalehealth.org, or contact NeHC Acting Communications and Membership Director Meryt McGindley at mmcgindley@nationalehealth.org or (202) 624-3267. http://www.nationalehealth.org/ShowContent.aspx?id=327

Nigeria’s largest IP provider begins telemedicine service
Suburban West Africa (SWA), Nigeria’s largest provider of IP services, has officially implemented a telemedicine project in the nation. According to Chief Technical Officer Anil Verma, the project links the National Hospital of Abuja and the National Sickle Cell Foundation in Lagos. This new global data connection will allow SWA to expand its services and improve the quality of West African connectivity to the rest of the world, Verma said. Suburban West Africa carries 70 percent of the nation’s Internet traffic and now connects to 220 global cities, Verma added. http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art200912150203084

VA goes online with results of hospital report cards
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has begun posting data from its annual hospital report card on the White House’s Data.gov Web site. According to VA Secretary Eric Shinseki, the agency is posting its 2008 and 2009 report cards on the site to demonstrate “VA’s determination to be open and accountable.” The report cards include data on care provided in outpatient and hospital settings, quality of care within given patient populations, and patient satisfaction and outcomes. The latest report gives the healthcare system high marks, with VA facilities outscoring their private-sector peers. But some work remains to be done: minorities, for example, are less satisfied with their quality of care than other veterans. http://www1.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=1830   http://www.data.gov/

For large firms, EHRs do not always mean better healthcare
Large electronic health record (EHR) projects are not as effective as local systems in improving healthcare efficiency, according to a report by the University College London’s Department of Open Learning. According to Professor Trisha Greenhalgh, larger-scale EHR projects promise much but sometimes deliver little. Researchers and policymakers, she said, “need to do much more work on how to get (EHRs) to work in the real world.” Clinicians and managers throughout the world are struggling to implement the networks. The larger the project, “the more likely it is to fail,” she said. The study appears in the latest Milbank Quarterly.  http://www.milbank.org/quarterly/8704feat.html