School-based telehealth could become national goal
A school-based telehealth network proposal unveiled in California could set the tone for a national version of a program designed to help lower-income and medically underserved children receive healthcare. Developed by the Children’s Partnership, a Santa Monica, CA-based child advocacy organization, “School-Based Telehealth: An Innovative Approach to Meet the Health Care Needs of California's Children” could provide a blueprint for getting care to children who otherwise would not receive it, according to CP Director of Strategic Health Initiatives Jenny Kattlove. The report notes that telehealth can play an important role in treatment of chronic childhood health problems, such as asthma, obesity, mental illness, and developmental disorders. Given the current unprecedented interest in health information technology on all fronts, there is a great opportunity for telehealth’s benefits to be brought to children nationwide, Kattlove said. http://www.childrenspartnership.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section...

Second group seeks approval to certify EHRs for incentive payments  
Austin, TX-based interoperability test lab Drummond Group Inc. is joining the effort to certify that electronic health record (EHR) systems meet the requirements for “meaningful use” as defined by the federal economic stimulus act. The Certification Commission for Health IT is currently the only group approved to certify EHRs. According to Drummond Group Chief Executive Officer Rik Drummond, the organization has been approached by numerous EHR software and services companies that need to be certified, clearly indicating a growing demand for the action. Under the stimulus act, physicians and hospitals that demonstrate meaningful use of EHRs qualify for incentive payments from Medicare and Medicaid. The exact definition of meaningful use has yet to be released; the Department of Health and Human Services plans to issue guidelines in late December. http://www.drummondgroup.com/html-v2/pr_11_02_09.html 

Philips to invest heavily in home health monitoring market
Medical equipment maker Philips Electronics and Achmea, the Netherlands’ largest health insurance company, plan to invest several million dollars towards home monitoring healthcare in the Dutch market over the next five years. According to Walter van Kuijen, general manager at Philips Healthcare Home Monitoring, the goal is to help doctors keep tabs on patients while they are home, keep an aging population healthier, and battle rising medical costs. The deal with Achmea, which controls 30 percent of the Dutch health insurance market, will result in a pilot project that could eventually be rolled out across Europe, van Kuijen said. Home monitoring, the crown jewel of Philips’ home healthcare unit, generated more than $1.5 billion [USD] in 2008 and is expected to grow by double-digit percentages over the next few years. http://www.newscenter.philips.com/main/standard/...

Mobile phones, interactive games help elderly diabetics manage health
Smartphone technology may help elderly diabetics manage their health and learn more about their condition, according to researchers at Saint Louis University and Old Dominion University. According to Cindy LeRouge, Ph.D., associate professor of decision sciences at SLU, initial studies of an interactive diabetes self-management system – the Chinese Aged Diabetic Assistant – show that mobile technologies empower elderly people to better understand diabetes, track health indicators, and follow a healthier lifestyle. Interactive games are the key, LeRouge said, as elderly diabetics appear to be easily engaged and motivated. At the same time, smartphones make the technology convenient, as they are small, inexpensive, and easy to use, according to Mark Gaynor, associate professor at SLU’s School of Public Health.   http://www.slu.edu/x32687.xml

Virtual world under development to aid military amputees
Virtual worlds can provide military amputees with enhanced quality of life and speed their reintegration into society, according to a report by ADL Company Inc. and nonprofit Virtual Ability Inc. The two groups are developing the Amputee Virtual Environment Support Space project, designed to determine the best way to adopt the technology to the unique needs of the military amputee community, according to Alice Krueger, president of Virtual Ability Inc. Recent U.S. military casualty figures for Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom indicate that between September 2001 and mid-January 2009, more than 1,000 amputation injuries occurred, with 1 in 5 wounded soldiers losing more than one limb. The amputations are often accompanied by depression, fear, phantom limb pain, and post traumatic stress disorder. The virtual environment allows individuals to connect with others with similar disabilities, Krueger said. http://virtualability.org/press_releases.aspx

GE launches real-time decision support for doctors and hospitals
GE Healthcare and Intermountain Healthcare are launching a pilot of a new solution that enables medical institutions to quickly evaluate their approach to patient care against evolving clinical practice standards. According to Vishal Wanchoo, president and chief executive officer of GE Healthcare IT, the computerized decision support solution “helps doctors focus on making exceptional treatment decisions based on best practices – thereby helping to improve patient outcomes and efficiency in the clinic, ultimately helping to reduce costs.” The current flow of “bench to bedside” medical information, performed through traditional medical journal publication, continuing education classes and symposia, can take more than 17 years, Wanchoo noted. GE will unveil the full solution at the March 2010 meeting of the Healthcare Information Management and Systems Society (HIMSS). http://www.genewscenter.com/content/...

Canada making acceptable progress with EHR project
Canada’s national electronic health record (EHR) project has made reasonable progress over the past eight years, according to a report by the nation’s auditor general. AG Shiela Fraser concludes that Canada Health Infoway, the nonprofit agency overseeing implementation of EHRs throughout Canada, is “making the best use of its funds for EHR projects,” as well as establishing appropriate governance mechanisms and management controls, and a risk management strategy. Fraser’s report includes eight recommendations for improvement of Infoway, including strengthening controls for public reporting, contracting goods and services, better documentation of project deliverables, and a technical recommendation related to ensuring conformance to standards. Infoway President and Chief Executive Officer Richard Alvarez said he agrees with the report and is implementing changes to address the issues by March 31, 2010. http://www.infoway-inforoute.ca/about-infoway...    http://www.infoway-inforoute.ca/about-infoway/news...

New statistical tool could advance personalized medicine
Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) say a new mathematical model examining treatment options patient-by-patient may be the best way to advance personalized medicine. Also known as systems medicine, personalized medicine is a holistic approach to a patient’s care, according to Farrokh Alemi, Ph.D., a professor at GUMC’s Department of Health Systems Administration. Personalized medicine incorporates evidence-based medicine along with the interactions between components of health and disease including human genetics, environment, and behavior. Use of statistics in medicine would seem to contradict the individualized care that doctors like to promote, but a statistical tool that sequentially examines the most-similar patients until a pre-determined stopping criterion is met – a “patients like me” approach – could allow detection of cases where the average recommendation is no longer valid, Alemi said. Alemi’s findings were published Oct. 30 in The Open Translational Medicine Journal. http://explore.georgetown.edu/news/?ID=46134&PageTemplateID=295

Patient tracking systems reduce hospital ER wait times
More than two dozen hospitals in Arkansas and Oklahoma have boosted their emergency department efficiency through use of patient tracking systems, according to a report by Irving, TX-based healthcare coalition VHA Inc. The study’s 28 participating hospitals report an average emergency department treatment time of 97 minutes – almost an hour less that the 156-minute national average. The decrease has occurred even while the emergency room patient volume has risen by 13 percent since 2005, according to the report. Approximately one-third of participating hospitals have a lower-than-average number of patients who grow tired of the wait and leave the ER without being seen; some hospitals have nearly eliminated that situation. On average, about 3 percent of all ER patients nationally leave without being treated by a doctor, and each such departure means an average income loss of $300, according to the report. https://www.vha.com/News/PressReleases/Pages...

‘Teletrauma’ system is good fit for state of Maine
A new “teletrauma” system connecting trauma specialists at East Maine Medical Center (EMMC) in Bangor, ME and rural health centers throughout the state is on its way to full implementation, according to medical officials. Eleven hospitals have connected to the system since 2005, and that figure is expected to double by the end of this year, according to EMMC trauma coordinator Pret Bjorn. The system, costing $5,000 per hospital, is proving popular largely due to Maine’s rural nature. Teletrauma allows smaller hospitals to take advantage of the state’s best and most-experienced trauma specialists to stabilize severely injured patients before transferring them to a larger facility. In some cases, Bjorn said, smaller hospitals may be encouraged to keep patients they ordinarily might transfer. http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/127905.html

Jordan unveils national health IT system
The Kingdom of Jordan has unveiled its VistA-based health information technology system and plans to implement the bulk of the product over the next year. According to Dr. Rami Farraj, chairperson of Electronic Health Solutions, the nonprofit agency overseeing the project, the new technology will “provide a seamless journey of care for patients through our healthcare system, from doctors’ offices to clinics to hospitals.” The VistA open source clinical and healthcare information management system, and the computerized patient record system, will be implemented in 2010; an 18-month pilot phase of the project will be followed by a rapid roll-out phase to all 43 hospitals in Jordan, Farraj said. Technology implementation and integration will be provided by Plano, TX-based Perot Systems Corp. http://www.ehealtheurope.net/news/...

Army stops rollout of electronic dental record project
An electronic dental record application scheduled for deployment to 18 Army clinics this week has been indefinitely postponed. According to Maj. Gen. David Rubenstein, the Army’s deputy surgeon general, a “strategic pause” has been called in the deployment of AHLTA Dental, the electronic health record system operated by the Department of Defense for members of the uniformed services. Rubenstein did not give a reason for the halted deployment of the system, which the Air Force and Navy use, but it is possible the Army wishes to go with its own electronic dental record, the Corporate Dental Application. The Military Health System’s original plans call for deployment of AHLTA Dental to more than 370 Army, Air Force, and Navy dental clinics worldwide. http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov...  http://dhims.health.mil/userSupport/docs...