Improved use of technology could help government, hospitals save $332 billion by 2019
Better use of technology and streamlined administrative processes could save more than $332 billion over the next 10 years, including almost $160 billion to physicians and hospitals, according to a report by UnitedHealth Group’s Center for Health Reform and Modernization. The report offers 12 proposals on how the healthcare system could be reformed, designed, and implemented through tighter mandatory data and transaction standards, elimination of unnecessary paperwork, and a single credentialing and quality measurement process. Resulting savings vary from $109 billion for elimination of paper checks and paper remittance advice, to $18 billion for broader use of automated swipe cards. “There is too much administrative waste in our health care system – this report shows how technology can help fix it,” said UnitedHealth Group Executive Vice President Simon Stevens.  “Patients, physicians, hospitals, and insurers will benefit from applying streamlined modern approaches to the day-to-day support of care delivery.  Now is the time to insist that these changes happen across the healthcare system.” http://www.unitedhealthgroup.com/newsroom/...

HealthFrontier, et medical bring remote health monitoring technology home
Branchburg, NJ-based HealthFrontier Inc. and its technology partner et medical devices SpA, Italy of Vignate, Italy, have introduced a Web-based electrocardiogram (ECG) that fits in the palm of the hand and can be operated by user’s thumbs while he or she is at home. The ecg@home™, powered by an information technology system known as the Remote Health Monitoring System (RHMS), can record a 10-second ECG rhythm strip without electrode cables. RHMS automatically receives, stores, and forwards incoming ECG scans to a patient’s electronic medical record, thus eliminating the need for paper printouts, according to Tony Uccello, HealthFrontier’s vice president of product development. “The combination of advanced hardware and Web-enabled telemedicine allows physicians and hospitals to review ECG reads soon after patients perform the test remotely in their own homes,” Uccello said. “This new focus on portability and connectivity has many companies considering how these innovative technologies can add value to their products and services.” http://www.healthfrontier.com/news/index.php

Congress to consider bill offering $10 billion in health IT loans for small practices
Pennsylvania Congresswoman Kathy Dahlkemper (D-PA) has introduced legislation that will provide $10 billion for loans to help individual and small group practices purchase and implement information technology at their businesses. The Small Business Health Information Technology Financing Act (HR 3014) would offer a maximum loan of $350,000 for single eligible professionals and up to $2 million for a single group of eligible professionals. “Eligible professionals” include physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, certified nurse specialists, physical and occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, and audiologists, among others. Loans could be used to buy and install software, hardware, and related technology that enhance continuity of care, enhance quality measurement reporting, improve evidence-based decision support, or enhance patient or consumer empowerment. “Ultimately, small and solo health practitioners are small businesses,” said Dahlkemper, who chairs the House Subcommittee on Regulations and Healthcare. “Similar to small businesses everywhere, one of their biggest challenges is accessing affordable capital. This legislation will help them find that capital.” http://www.healthdatamanagement.com/news/...

GE Healthcare, InterComponentWare to co-develop and enhance HIE system
GE Healthcare and global e-health specialist InterComponentWare Inc. have agreed to co-develop their health information exchange (HIE) platforms, the companies announced. According to GE Healthcare IT President and Chief Executive Officer Vishal Wanchoo, the companies will collaborate on enhancing GE Healthcare’s Centricity^® HIE service’s existing technology, patient connectivity, and communications tools, as well as the system’s security and interoperability capabilities. Centricity connects, stores and shares clinical data from hospitals, physician offices, pharmacies, labs, and other sources to help improve communication flow between care providers, patients, and clinicians. “Standards are essential to enable scaling of solutions to meet the demands of a global marketplace and to integrate third-party solutions to ensure the information exchanged is complete and timely,” said Peter Reuschel, CEO of ICW. “We are pleased to work with GE Healthcare on a vision to jointly evolve the connectivity solutions that we have each developed.” http://www.icw-global.com/us/en/news-events/...

‘Stable surge’ to help world nanomedicine market top $160 billion by 2015
Nanomedicine’s unique nature will help turn the field into a $160 billion world market by 2015, according to a new report by San Jose, CA-based research firm Global Industry Analysts Inc. According to “Nanomedicine: A Global Strategic Business Report,” the use of nanotechnology in areas such as drug delivery, nanobiomaterials, and nanopharmaceuticals has been “surging at a stable rate” since 2006. Research and development in this field is “expected to offer several novel products that can effectively improve the health of patients suffering from health disorders and illnesses,” the report notes. Most of these advancements are expected in drug delivery, while biomaterials is expected to be the fastest-growing segment over the next five years. Part of that growth is due to the fact that nanomedicine minimizes adversities associated with basic therapeutics, making it a safer and more effective form of treatment in many cases, the report’s authors note. http://healthcare.tmcnet.com/topics/healthcare...

California Telehealth Network could double in size courtesy of $22 million award
The California Telehealth Network (CTN) expects to nearly double the number of broadband-based healthcare sites that it links throughout the state as a result of $22 million in funding from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). According to CTN coordinator Thomas Nesbitt, planners may now be able to fund almost 600 sites statewide, far ahead of the group’s original goal of 319 sites. More than 860 locations are qualified to be made part of the network, for which construction will begin by September. A vendor has yet to be chosen. “The interest in being on this network was much bigger than we ever dreamed,” said Nesbitt, a professor at the University of California Davis School of Medicine. According to FCC, 67 projects nationwide have been declared eligible and have either developed or are preparing proposals for funding to set up broadband-based telehealth networks for underserved areas. The agency plans to award more than $417 million for the national networks over the next two years. http://govhealthit.com/newsitem.aspx?nid=71736

Patient quality of life is on the rise through hospitals’ use of telehealth
Telehealth is enhancing patient quality of life and offers a cost-effective model of care for management of long-term conditions, according to a panel of leading healthcare and local government professionals in the United Kingdom. Telehealth also allows healthcare trusts to do more with less, and to support a greater number of patients, which helps improve outcomes and ensure the best use of healthcare and resources, according to Dr. Richard Berkley, clinical lead on the telehealth project at the Orchard Medical Centre in Bristol, UK. “Telehealth keeps people where they want to be – at home with their family,” Berkley said. “Patient acceptance of telehealth is high; patients are reassured by the regular monitoring, which helps to keep them calm and reduces the risks of exacerbation and of hospital admission.” More than 17.5 million people in the UK live with a long-term condition such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), chronic heart failure, and diabetes, many of whom could have an improved lifestyle through telehealth, experts note. http://healthcareitnews.eu/content/view/1496/39/

FCC seeks comment on possible new rules for Medical Body Area Networks
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) seeks comment on allocating spectrum and establishing service and technical rules for the operation of Medical Body Area Networks (MBANs), wireless sensor networks designed to monitor physiological data on patients as they go about their day. Unlike traditional medical telemetry systems, which rely on separate uncoordinated links for each physiological function being monitored, MBAN systems could wirelessly monitor all desired data of a single patient. The data can then be aggregated and wirelessly transmitted to a remote location for evaluation. More information is available at www.fcc.gov    http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/...

Telemedicine could be major help to neurologists in stroke treatment, AHA says
The American Heart Association is calling for healthcare institutions to allow remote neurologists to examine stroke patients through telemedicine tools such as videoconferencing. Populations in underserved rural and urban areas often have limited access to neurologists with stroke expertise and often receive stroke treatment in primary care or emergency settings, where the misdiagnosis rate can be as high as 30 percent, according to AHA. The association is basing its policy statement on its “stroke systems of care,” which stresses the importance of linking care during stroke assessment, treatment, and rehabilitation. AHA and the American Stroke Association also suggest that healthcare providers could use telemedicine for acute stroke treatment, neurological assessment, stroke prevention and stroke rehabilitation. http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2009/...     http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/...

AirStrip Technologies, CliniComp begin patient monitoring package with hospitals
San Antonio-based AirStrip Technologies and San Diego-headquartered CliniComp International are pairing up their patient care product suites in an effort to improve patient safety and communication among healthcare providers, the companies announced. The deal calls for AirStrip’s OB™ and CRITICAL CARE™ mobile patient monitoring systems to be offered at hospitals in conjunction with CliniComp’s Essentris™ product suite. Through a cell phone connection on a mobile device, doctors will be able to access patient data such as fetal heart tracings, maternal contraction patterns, and patient monitoring data from the ICU, according to Alan Portela, chief operating officer at CliniComp. “Time-sensitive waveform and patient monitoring data is inherently visual information,” Portela said. “Physicians are at a distinct disadvantage when they cannot actually see the data – [this] can lead to delays in delivering proper care.” http://www.airstriptech.com/Portals/...

Eight in 10 doctors in Hong Kong lack health IT training but still want EHRs
Nearly 80 percent of private doctors in Hong Kong feel they lack knowledge and relevant training on information technology when it comes to electronic health records (EHRs), but the same percentage supports introduction of a territory-wide EHR platform, according to a survey by the national eHealth Consortium. In June, the consortium, a nonprofit organization that advocates development of e-health in China, surveyed 342 physicians in the Hong Kong Medical Association and the Hong Kong Doctors Union. Ninety percent of private doctors participating said they see computerization as a way to help raise quality of patient care, and 20 percent of participants plan to buy a computer system within the next year. Among private clinics that don’t plan to computerize soon, more than half of doctors said they will join electronic health training courses for themselves or their staff, focusing primarily on medical IT support and application of clinical administrative software. http://www.cw.com.hk/content/...

European patient monitoring alarm company FASS makes 100,000th deployment
The Fundacion Andaluza de Servicios Sociales of the Junta de Andalucia (FASS), Europe’s largest monitoring center for telecare alarms, just topped 100,000 telecare deployments, the Andalucia, Spain-based company announced. The monitoring company, with 99 operator stations in Seville and 55 in Malaga, has handled more than 3 million calls from service users over the past year, via state-of-the-art patient monitoring software, according to FASS Managing Director Pedro Rodrigues Delgado. The 100,000th deployment, made in conjunction with Tunstall Healthcare Group, shows that telecare technology meets the needs of community-based health, he said. “It keeps people where they want to be, in the familiarity of the home environment, while making the best use of available resources,” Rodrigues said. http://www.ehealtheurope.net/news/...