Telemedicine brings more-effective, less-stressful care to Parkinson’s patients
Telemedicine can very effectively provide care for patients with Parkinson’s and also help prevent exhaustion in already motor-challenged individuals, according to a study by researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC). The pilot program, a joint initiative between URMC and the Presbyterian Home for Central New York (PHCNY), a 250-bed nursing home in New Harford, NY, involved use of Web cameras to allow neurologists to interact with and visually assess patients. Before the study, Parkinson’s patients at the home would typically make 10 trips a year to see movement disorder specialists in Syracuse, Albany or Rochester. The trips were exhausting to the home’s elderly patients, according to PHCNY Administrator Tony Joseph. The study found that the telemedicine patients had significant improvement in quality of life and motor function, and were generally more satisfied with their care, said URMC neurologist Ray Dorsey, M.D. The project was so successful that Joseph has decided to continue funding the effort for another year through a grant from New York State.   http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/pr/...

GE launches $100 million interest-free loan program to push EMR adoption
In an effort to accelerate adoption of electronic medical records (EMRs), General Electric is committing nearly $100 million toward offering zero-interest loans to healthcare providers who purchase the company’s new Stimulus Simplicity EMR program. According to Vishal Wanchoo, president and chief executive officer of GE Healthcare IT, the program will help provide qualified buyers with immediate access to EMR technology without the upfront capital costs. Cost of implementation, especially during the current economy, has been repeatedly cited as one of the biggest roadblocks to EMR adoption. The company said speeding up use of EMR and health information exchange programs by healthcare providers will help cut overall industry costs by $28 billion while improving access to better and more affordable care. Loans will be interest-free until facilities begin receiving federal payments for EMR adoption, which should be no sooner than 2012. Institutions may purchase the system as personal computer software or as a Web-based program from GE directly or through third-party vendors.http://www.genewscenter.com/content/...

To succeed, healthcare reform must include national telemedicine networks, white paper notes
Nationwide telemedicine networks are essential for successful healthcare reform, according to a white paper by leading healthcare providers, researchers, academicians and industry representatives now available at www.liebertpub.com/tmj. “National Telemedicine Initiatives: Essential to Healthcare Reform,” published online ahead of print in Telemedicine and e-Health, notes that well-designed telemedicine systems have proven value for improving access to quality healthcare, providing effective clinical decision support and medication prescribing, promoting patient-centered care through community- and home-based resources, enhancing chronic disease management, promoting adoption of healthy lifestyle choices and self-care, and containing cost inflation. The paper encourages the continuing effort to make electronic health records (EHRs) universally available, but cautions that an exclusive focus on EHRs would result in increased cost without addressing the necessary changes for effective and sustainable healthcare reform. “Telemedicine is the common element to make reform succeed,” said Telemedicine and e-Health Co-Editor-in-Chief Ronald Merrell, M.D., professor of surgery at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. “Telemedicine involves stunning new technologies that go well beyond just using [EHRs], which can ensure both quality care and cost savings if this technology is widely applied throughout health systems.” http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1089/tmj.2009.9960

Pediatricians enlist aid of telerobots in providing care to newborns
Medical robots – with computer screens in place of heads – are increasingly being used to help doctors decide when newborn babies need more specialized care, according to a report from the University of Louisville’s UniversityHospital. According to Dr. Tonya Robinson at University Hospital, it’s not uncommon for neonatologists in her 15-person department to discuss anything from x-ray results to an infant’s physical condition with pediatricians at other hospitals 70 to 100 miles away. The 5-foot, 6-inch RP-7 robots from InTouch Health help specialists clarify items that might be misconstrued through a basic phone conversation. “What you may perceive that doctor telling you and what the baby may be doing can be quite different,” Robinson said. “[For example,] the ability to see how the chest is moving…you can actually hear the baby work the breathing, maybe doing some grunting and how heavy a grunting that might be.” Care decisions, such as whether transport is needed to another facility, can also be quicker, she adds. Four hospitals are online with University Hospital thus far; doctors are also using the robots to aid in care for stroke patients, cardiology and dermatology. http://www.14wfie.com/Global/story.asp?S=10535075&nav=3w6r

Telehealth technology may cut risk of cardiac problems and boost patient prognosis
Use of telemedicine can reduce risk factors for coronary heart disease and further events after a heart attack, according to a study by researchers at the Department of Cardiology at Concord Repatriation General Hospital in Sydney, Australia. Telehealth can help patients who lack access to cardiac rehabilitation services increase coronary prevention activities and “narrow the gap between evidence and practice,” according to Prof. Ben Freedman, the study’s senior investigator. Although evidence has shown that formal cardiac rehab programs can reduce the risk of future heart problems, improve personal risk factor profiles and enhance quality of life, only one-third of eligible patients participate in such programs in the United States, Europe and Australia. But the electronic age “is indeed providing effective alternatives for the delivery of preventive health change,” according to study lead author Lis Neubeck. Those alternatives include better screening techniques for cholesterol levels, high blood pressure and products that help induce increased physical activity, Neubeck notes. http://www.escardio.org/about/press/...

NuPhysicia unveils workplace healthcare telemedicine option
Houston-based healthcare provider NuPhysicia LLC has launched a telemedicine-based program that enables employees to obtain medical care at their own workplaces, potentially reducing absenteeism and improving worker productivity. The program, Medicine at Work, offers full-time physician staffing, giving employees access to emergency and internal medicine services 40 hours per week, according to NuPhysicia Senior Vice President Dr. Michael Davis. A doctor providing services through Medicine at Work can conduct examinations in real-time through two-way video and the help of a trained, on-site paramedic and wellness counselor. “The unique thing is, because we utilize telemedicine technology, we don’t require a big construction buildout,” said Melody Reid, NuPhysicia’s director for employee health services. “We can see unused office space at a company’s work site.” The Medicine at Work plan can be applied to businesses with as few as 400 employees, with cost of the service based on company size, Reid said. http://tampabay.bizjournals.com/tampabay...

Language issues lead to exclusion of non-English speakers from UK telehealth trial
A language barrier is interfering with research at the United Kingdom’s Department of Health, which is excluding people who do not speak English or have telephones from participating in the department’s largest-ever program to evaluate how telehealth systems affect the quality of life for users and caregivers. According to Tim Ellis, project manager for the department’s Whole System Demonstrator program, pilots involving more than 6,000 users from “a variety of demographic and geographical contexts” at three sites in the UK are unintentionally excluding non-English speakers because many telehealth systems rely on videos and questionnaires, which are usually only in English. “We have to work with the systems that are in place so that we can provide for mainstream change,” Ellis said. “We can only work with the kit that manufacturers provide us.” He noted, however, that recruiting participants for the trial was “a real challenge” due to the language issue. If telehealth and telecare services become more mainstream, such exclusions will not apply, Ellis said.   http://www.ehealtheurope.net/news...

California doctors, insurers to get wired with state’s largest e-prescribing initiative
Ten medical insurers, physician groups and a state retirement provider have launched California’s largest electronic prescribing initiative to track use of e-prescriptions and reporting of adverse events. The pilot program, coordinated by Franklin Lakes, N.J.-based Medco Health Solutions Inc., will use input from participating physicians to determine the best ways to employ e-prescribing technology in their practices and facilitate use by all prescribers, according to Medco President of New Markets John P. Driscoll. In 2008, California ranked 22nd in the nation in use of e-prescribing, down from 14th in 2005; and only 1.4 percent of all prescriptions were transmitted electronically within the state in 2007.  Pilot participants include Medco, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of California, as well as physician groups Hill Physicians Medical Group, John Muir Physician Network, PrimeCare Medical Network, Inc./North American Medical Management of California, San Jose Medical Group and Sante Community Physicians. http://www.medcohealth.com/medco/...

Horizon Telcom earns $18 million contract for telemed network in southern Ohio
Communication services provider Horizon Telcom has received an $18 million contract to build a state-of-the-art fiberoptic network that will allow more than 120 healthcare facilities to use telemedicine services in 13 southern Ohio counties, according to the Southern Ohio Health Care Network (SOHCN). The contract, which represents phase 1 of a plan called “Connecting Appalachia,” will also enhance sustainability of rural medicine practices, increase collaboration among healthcare providers, and improve emergency communications, according to SOHCN. Phase 1 of the network, which will ultimately extend high-speed broadband services to all 34 rural counties in southern and eastern Ohio, is expected to be completed in 2010. http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/woub/...

Telemedicine program at University of Arizona receives accreditation from ATA
The Arizona Telemedicine Program (ATP) at the University of Arizona has received accreditation by the American Telemedicine Association (ATA), UA officials announced. The school is one of two in the nation to receive certification status from the program launched by ATA earlier this year. Monthly one- and two-day training courses are offered at UA’s Arizona Health Sciences Center in Tucson or at ATP’s Institute for Advanced Telemedicine and Telehealth at the UA College of Medicine-Phoenix, according to Dr. Ronald S. Weinstein, ATP founding director. The two campuses are linked by videoconferencing to allow simultaneous training sessions on both campuses. To date, 650 healthcare workers from more than 60 independent healthcare organizations have attended these training programs. The program is expected to grow dramatically over the next decade, Weinstein said. The University of California-Davis Telehealth Program is the only other one to receive accreditation from ATA thus far, the association notes. http://uanews.org/node/26073

New medical coalition seeks diagnostic imaging procedures for ‘e-Ordering’
A newly created lobbying group, The Imaging e-Ordering Coalition, is promoting health information technology-enabled decision support – also known as e-Ordering – as a way to guarantee that all patients receive the most medically appropriate diagnostic imaging test for their specific condition. The Coalition plans to educate policy makers and healthcare providers about the patient-centered efficiencies of e-Ordering, as well as recommend to lawmakers that efforts to build incentives for e-prescribing should be broadened to include diagnostic imaging e-Ordering solutions. “As the healthcare industry, federal government and various regulatory bodies evaluate strategies to contain the rising cost of healthcare, e-Ordering is increasingly recognized as a cost-effective and data-driven approach to assure clinical best practices are applied to all ordering decisions,” said coalition founding member Bibb Allen, M.D., of the American College of Radiology. “E-Ordering will do for diagnostic imaging what e-prescribing has done for the drug prescription process—simplify the way physicians’ decisions for patient care are verified as medically appropriate and safe without compromising the physician-patient relationship.” Other members of the Coalition include the Center for Diagnostic Imaging, GE Healthcare, Medicalis, Merge Healthcare and Nuance Communications Inc. http://www.euroinvestor.co.uk/News/...

HHS considers shortening deadline for health IT adoption to 2011
The Health and Human Services (HHS) Department’s Health Information Technology Policy Committee is considering moving up the deadline for health IT adoption from 2013 to 2011 to qualify providers for Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments. David Blumenthal, the committee’s chairperson and national health IT coordinator at HHS, said the shorter timeline seemed “perfectly reasonable” given the IT products that should be available by 2011, and the financial incentive involved. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 allows bonuses to be paid to medical providers that make “meaningful use” of health IT; moving the deadline up would provide groups with more time to demonstrate that use, according to the committee’s Meaningful Use Workgroup. The workgroup’s trajectory calls for three sets of criteria: data capture and sharing, ready by 2011; advanced clinical processes, required by 2013; and improved outcomes, to be demonstrated by 2015. http://govhealthit.com/articles/2009/...