China’s healthcare reform could be bonanza for medical device companies
A $120 billion (USD) healthcare reform plan in mainland China will translate into huge business opportunities for U.S. and European medical device makers, according to the head of an international technology investment firm. Much activity is already under way, notes Hong Kosalos, president of Tradeology USA, which represents U.S. firms that want to patent medical devices in China. The reform plan calls for a clinic in every village and a hospital in every county by 2011, and several software companies have developed telemedicine programs allowing urban doctors to examine rural patients remotely. Manufacturers are in the picture, too: Medtronic and GE recently announced joint ventures with Chinese firms to sell their products. Other Western companies, such as Philips and Varian Medical Systems, are planning to expand their presence in China. According to Hsiao-Li Pan, Varian’s China Country Manager of X-ray Products, it’s the logical thing to do. “With 1.3 billion people, the Chinese market for medtech is huge,” he said, adding that the sector is growing by 14 percent annually, compared to 10 percent for the economy overall. http://www.dotmed.com/news/story/9125/

Cash-stricken cities turn to telenursing to improve 911 service while cutting costs
Growing budget constraints among U.S. cities has many municipalities turning to telenursing as a way to improve service to their 911 emergency systems without increasing costs. Although the idea is not new – the United Kingdom and Canada have had successful systems in place for several years – the practice is becoming “a growing phenomenon” in the United States, according to American Telemedicine Association Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Linkous. Such a program “makes sense,” as telenurses have critical medical information that 911 dispatchers normally do not have, Linkous said. Thus far, Houston, Richmond, VA, and Seattle have operational programs, reducing ambulance runs by up to 18,000 per year, at a savings of $2.5 million annually. Philadelphia is currently considering the idea, as it would save the city $320,000 a year by diverting lower-priority  911 calls to a team of nurses, according to city controller Alan Butkovitz. http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news... and http://www.philadelphiacontroller.org/publications...

Bluetooth^® may be Continua’s wireless connectivity champion for medical products
Although several companies are attempting to develop wireless connectivity products for medical devices, Bluetooth^® may have already won that race, according to a white paper by the vice chairperson of the Mobile Data Association. Nick Hunn, who is also the chief executive officer of Middlesex, England-based wireless analysis and design firm WiFore Consulting Ltd., said Bluetooth’s dominance in the wireless medical services sector has all but secured its place as the top connectivity product for years to come. “Today there are just over 3 billion Bluetooth devices in existence,” Hunn writes. “In 2011, there will be more Bluetooth devices than people. From the start of 2010, mobile phones will incorporate chips which support standard Bluetooth as well as low-energy Bluetooth. No other wireless technology can begin to emulate this.” Groups such as the Continua Health Alliance are deciding which wireless technologies should be included in their interoperability guidelines – other candidates include Sensium, the ZigBee Alliance, ANT+, BodyLAN and Z-Wave – but “Bluetooth Low Energy is the technology to beat,” Hunn said. http://www.nickhunn.com/index.... and http://www.nickhunn.com/wp-content/uploads/...

Availability of electronic health records can vary by race, according to NCHS study
Uninsured African Americans and Latinos, and Latino Medicaid patients, are less likely to have a doctor who uses electronic health records (EHRs) than privately insured white patients, according to a study by researchers at the NationalCenter for Health Statistics (NCHS). EHR adoption among doctors who treat minorities is typically slower than among other doctors, according to the article “Are There Patient Disparities When Electronic Health Records are Adopted?” published in the May issue of Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved.   Study research was conducted in 2005 and 2006, in all 50 states, representing 150 million patients and 500 million visits to primary care physicians. “Many believe [EHRs] will reduce prescribing errors, help physicians determine the best standard of care for conditions, and better coordinate care of patients between doctors,” said NCHS researcher Esther Hing, MPH, one of the study’s co-authors. “But if the new record system is adopted unevenly, the benefits of this new technology may not be available to the underserved.” http://www.cfah.org/hbns/archives/... and http://www.cfah.org/hbns/archives/...

Dept. of VA awards $215 million for rural veterans service projects
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has awarded $215 million in funding to 74 programs nationwide to improve services for veterans in rural areas.The funding is part of a new VA service to improve access to healthcare – physical and mental – for veterans in distant locations who typically have difficulty getting to facilities for treatment, according to Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki. He said the funds will allow the VA to “establish new outpatient clinics, expand collaborations with federal and community partners, accelerate the use of telemedicine deployment, explore innovative uses of technology, and fund pilot programs.” Many of the programs selected were national in scope or supplied services to multiple states. Programs were evaluated for feasibility, methodology and intended impact on rural veterans. Many of the selected projects also embrace collaboration with public and private sector partners, a somewhat atypical strategy from government funding plans, Shinseki notes.  http://www1.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=1680

Consultations via telemedicine lead to 20 percent fewer referrals to dermatologists
Telemedicine-based consultations can help reduce referrals to dermatologists by more than 20 percent, according to a report by researchers at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. The study, “Teledermatologic Consultation and Reduction in Referrals to Dermatologists,” notes that telemedicine is ideal for dermatology cases because both are visual in nature. A randomized trial of teledermatologic consultations involving 85 general practitioners from 35 practices found that 1 in 5 cases could have been handled without an in-person referral to a dermatologist, mostly because the patient had recovered by the time the referral took place. In other cases, the skin problem was one that could be handled by the initial physician, and even then, could have been done out of the office through telemedicine, according the study’s authors. Further research must be conducted with more specific patient groups to determine patient satisfaction and appropriateness of treatments, the authors note. The study appeared in the May issue of Archives of Dermatology. http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.... and http://archderm.ama-assn.org/cgi/content...

HIMSS seeks oversight role for CCHIT in allocation of EHR stimulus funding
The Health Informatics and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) has asked the Obama administration to require that any electronic health record (EHR) equipment receiving stimulus funding be certified by the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT). According to a report in The Washington Post, HIMSS, which represents 350 technology vendors and 20,000 members, is urging officials at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to make CCHIT responsible for deciding what health records systems are eligible to receive part of $36.5 billion in EHR stimulus dollars. Healthcare industry critics argue that CCHIT is too close to IT and healthcare companies to be the best judge of equipment doctors and hospitals should buy. The group is funded through a contract with HHS but run by a former HIMSS executive, and one trustee is also the trade group’s president. Several board members work for technology vendors, the Post article adds. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/...

Danish physicians save 50 minutes a day using EHRs
As the Obama administration attempts to set up a national electronic health record (EHR) system, a glimpse of the future awaits overseas with the state of healthcare in Denmark. Scandinavia’s smallest country is a place where hospital staffs routinely carry wireless handheld computers to call up patient medical records instead of carrying clipboards. Ninety-eight percent of primary care physicians, and all hospital physicians and pharmacists, have access to the nation’s centralized computer database. The computerized record keeping helps doctors typically shave 50 minutes off each work day. Healthcare reform nonprofit The Commonwealth Fund has rated the country’s health information system as the most efficient in the world. And telemedicine is beginning to take hold, with researchers studying whether at-home treatments can help combat widespread health problems such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, responsible for 10 percent of all hospital admissions. It’s all natural evolution, according to Klaus Phanareth, director of the Department of Acute Medicine at Frederiksberg University Hospital in Copenhagen. “Sometimes,” Phanareth said, “a lack of resistance is all you need for change to happen.”  http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/...

$826,000 grant to establish Canadian e-health observatory awarded to University of Victoria researcher
A University of Victoria professor has been awarded a five-year, $826,000 (USD) research grant to establish an e-health observatory to monitor the effects of health information system deployment in Canada. The Applied Health Services and Policy Chair Award in e-Health granted to UV Professor and Director of Health Information Science Dr. Francis Lau is jointly funded by Canada Health Infoway (Infoway), and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s Institute of Health Services and Policy Research. It will “help build greater understanding of the benefits of electronic health record solution implementation as Canada moves forward with its vision of an electronic health record for all residents,” said Infoway President and Chief Executive Officer Richard Alvarez. Dr. Lau was the sole recipient of the Applied Chair in e-Health award. http://www.infoway-inforoute.ca/...

The Climate Group strikes deal with Polycom for telepresence system use
London-based nonprofit The Climate Group has signed an agreement to use a telepresence system from Pleasanton, CA-headquartered Polycom Inc. to improve meeting effectiveness, the organizations announced. The use of Polycom’s RealPresence telepresence technology allows The Climate Group’s members in the U.S., United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and China to meet without having to travel long distances, according to Jim Walker, founder and chief operating officer of The Climate Group. “Using the technology has greatly enhanced the effectiveness of our normal audio conference calls and what we are able to achieve in one meeting,” Walker said. “The ability to literally look our international colleagues in the eye as if we were all sitting around the same table has not only improved the productivity of our discussions, but has reduced the number of times a year we need to meet in person.” http://www.polycom.com/company...

Telemedicine program for hospitalized children earns Computerworld Laureate honors
A telemedicine program at Upstate Medical University that allows ill children to attend school from their hospital beds or from home has been named a Laureate Award finalist in the annual Computerworld Honors Program. The Syracuse, NY-based college’s “Staying Connected is Good Medicine” program enables children to see classmates and their teachers, get assignments and participate in lessons in real time from their hospital or treatment room, or while at a dining room or kitchen table, according to program instructor Mary Ellen Michalenko. Patients in Staying Connected also receive in-hospital and at-home tutoring. “The program offers children the opportunity to maintain social and emotional relationships with their classmates,” Michalenko said. “The students’ continued presence in the classroom through videoconferencing allows them to return to school more comfortably without the anxiety of being misunderstood, since staff and classmates are aware of the physical changes they’ve experienced.” UMU will be recognized during a ceremony in Washington D.C. on June 1.  http://www.upstate.edu/publicaffairs/... and http://www.cwhonors.org/