NIH awards Kaiser $54 million in health IT research grants
Kaiser Permanente has been awarded nearly $54 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and plans to use them for electronic health record (EHR) and other health information technology research projects. The largest of the 22 grants, $24.8 million, will be used by researchers at the University of California at San Francisco to examine how genes and the environment influence disease, health, and longevity. The project could help determine genetic factors that cause different responses to medication, according to Raymond J. Baxter, Ph.D., Kaiser Permanente’s senior vice president of Community Benefit, Research and Health Policy. Other health IT grants include $7.2 million to develop a cardiovascular surveillance system; almost $3.4 million for a National Research Database to organize Kaiser’s EHRs, and $1 million toward an EHR project to measure rehabilitation outcomes for stroke patients. http://xnet.kp.org/newscenter/pressreleases...

iPhone software allows virtual dissection of human body
Researchers at the University of Utah have developed a new iPhone application that allows users to carry out a virtual dissection of a human body. The “AnatomyLab” program, aimed at medical and anatomy students who might not have the opportunity to dissect a real human body, provides 40 authentic images of a cadaver for them to examine, according to UU biology professor Mark Nielsen. The university has also unveiled iPhone applications “ImageVis3D,” which provides users with 3D images of medical CT and MRI scans, and “My Body,” a scaled-down version of AnatomyLab for anyone in the general public who is “curious what their body looks like,” Nielsen said. All three applications are available for purchase at Apple Inc.’s online iTunes App Store at www.apple.com/iphone/apps-for-iphone/.       http://unews.utah.edu/p/?r=092409-2

Organized phone therapy is long-lasting treatment for depression
Patients who receive brief but structured phone-based cognitive behavioral psychotherapy shortly after starting on antidepressant medication may continue to receive the benefits of that initial therapy up to two years later, according to a study by researchers at the Group Health Research Institute (GHRI) in Seattle. Over two years, phone psychotherapy results in an additional 46 depression-free days, with an increase in outpatient care costs of less than $400, according to the study. In contrast, those who received phone care management alone, without phone psychotherapy, gained only 29 days free of depression, while outpatient care costs rose by almost $700. The findings suggest that insurers or healthcare systems that want to improve depression treatment in primary care should consider incorporating structured psychotherapy, according to GHRI psychiatrist Gregory E. Simon, M.D. The study appears in the October 2009 issue of Archives of General Psychiatry. http://www.grouphealthresearch.org/newsroom/...    http://archpsyc.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/...

LiveData receives $730,000 Army telemedicine grant
The U.S. Army Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC) has awarded a $730,000 grant to Cambridge, MA-based data integration firm LiveData Inc. for the study of standardized integration technologies. The funds will be used to develop an integrated clinical environment with the Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology (CIMIT) and Massachusetts General Hospital. The project, MD-ICEMAN, will integrate medical devices and provide physicians with critical information about a patient’s condition, according to Julian Goldman M.D., a CIMIT medical director and anesthesiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital. Ultimately, MD-ICEMAN could improve medical workflow, lower healthcare costs, provide information for electronic health records, and reduce medical errors, TATRC and LiveData officials note. http://www.livedata.com/content/view/311/155/

Google adds 16 nations to online flu tracking tool
Google has expanded its free Flu Trends tracking tool to include 16 more countries. Since its launch in November 2008, Flu Trends has gone into use in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Mexico; the latest expansion means it is now tracking the spread of influenza across Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, France, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the Ukraine. Flu Trends counts the number of flu-related queries typed into the Google search engine and predicts outbreaks by analyzing flu patterns in each region; estimates generated during last season’s flu outbreak were nearly identical to those released by U.S. health officials. The expansion comes shortly after Microsoft’s launch of its “H1N1 Response Centre,” a Web site that provides up-to-date flu information and advice. http://www.ehealtheurope.net/news/5288/google_spreads_flu_trends    http://www.google.org/flutrends/intl/en_gb/

MIT tests software for transmission of X-rays by rural cell phone
Students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed software that enables healthcare workers in the most isolated regions to use their cell phones to send X-rays to radiologists in large cities. As part of the Moca project, healthcare workers in the northern Philippine province of Batanes are transmitting medical files to urban area physicians for their review. Moca is one of several projects underway in an MIT course known as NextLab, which is examining potential applications for the 1 billion people expected to become cell phone users over the next three years. The program will eventually be scaled up and offered to universities in Web-developing countries such as India, China, Thailand, and the Philippines, according to NextLab instructor Jhonatan Rotberg. http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/...   http://nextlab.mit.edu/spring2009/main/

‘Intelligent crutch’ could ease pain of recovering from leg injuries
Persons recovering from leg injuries may be in a bit less pain if a Southampton University professor succeeds in his dream invention: an intelligent crutch. According to Engineering Prof. Neil White, many people suffer more from improper use of crutches than they do from the injuries they need the crutches for. White, and colleagues at SU and Southampton General Hospital in the UK, have designed a unit that can properly detect and pre-set the amount of pressure needed on the crutch when a person attempts to walk. The electronic crutch will then beep to inform the user if he or she is making a correct attempt, according to White. A prototype of the unit is suitable for monitoring and training patients in hospital environments, but White hopes to develop an at-home version and have it commercially available within a year. http://www.exfn.com/intelligent-crutch

UK to invest $64 million in new IT services in 2010
Over the next six months, the United Kingdom’s Technology Strategy Board plans to invest $64.2 million [USD] in various innovative technologies, including health information technology, in an effort to improve services to a growing and aging population. According to the Chief Executive of the Technology Strategy Board, Iain Gray, businesses across the UK will be invited to compete for government funding in regenerative medicine, transport and logistics, agriculture and food, infectious diseases, and low carbon housing. The hope is that the competitions will encourage businesses to take “innovative leaps forward” and work to develop new solutions to existing challenges that may be preventing them from taking new products to market, Gray said. The government also hopes to boost the UK’s broadband technology and plans to test new high-speed broadband services in up to three areas by next summer, chief technologist for Technology Strategy Board, Nick Appleyard said. http://www.innovateuk.org/content/news/...

Program linking two villages could bridge Africa’s IT divide
French telecommunications firm Telemedia Group has launched Telemigrants Mali, a pilot program designed to provide continuous high-speed Internet between two remote villages in Mali, Kersiniane and Yelimane, and native migrants based in the Parisian suburb Montreuil. The program will help increase access to services such as health centers, food cooperatives, and education services, according to Telemedia officials. The distance teaching, training, and telemedicine provided by the digital infrastructure will eventually help bridge a technological and commerce-oriented gap between Africa’s northern and southern nations once the project is taken full-scale, Telemedia Group notes. http://www.vanguardngr.com/2009/10/11/telemedia...

CCHIT to offer site certification for EHR providers
The Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT) next year plans to offer a site certification program for healthcare providers who develop their own electronic health record (EHR) system or who use an older but heavily customized commercial clinical system. According to CCHIT Chairperson Mark Leavitt, M.D., the program is designed to measure whether a provider’s EHR system meets forthcoming “meaningful use” standards called for by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The program will include sliding-scale pricing to make it affordable to providers of various sizes. Site certification won’t begin until at least the middle of 2010, when final “meaningful use” rules are enacted. More information on the program is available at www.cchit.org. http://www.cchit.org/media/news/2009/...   http://www.healthdatamanagement.com/news/certification...

Health IT worker shortage could be worse than expected
The effort to move the healthcare industry toward electronic health record (EHR) adoption could result in a worse health information technology worker shortage than expected, according to a report from HealthLeaders. Earlier studies projected a need for 10,000 to 15,000 more health IT workers to manage the conversion from paper to electronic records. But according to David Hunt, MD, chief medical officer of the National Coordinator for Health IT’s Office of Health IT Adoption, those estimates were made before the federal government’s plan to allocate $20 billion for health IT implementation was announced last February. The workforce shortage “could be more acute in the short term,” as healthcare groups attempt to meet a 2011 implementation deadline, according to Hunt. One-fourth of hospitals do not have the staff or expertise needed to address the IT issue, according to a survey by the American Hospital Association.   http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/content/240334...

Older people may miss potential benefits of telecare
The Internet is causing a technological divide between the over- and under-50-year-olds, according to a study by the Oxford Internet Institute at Oxford University. Nearly 50 percent of persons over age 50 surveyed said they have never used the Internet, compared to nearly 10 percent of the 25- to 49-year-olds. In addition, only 51.5 percent of those over 50 said they have Internet access, compared to nearly 82 percent of the 25-to-49-year-olds. Older persons “on the wrong side of the digital divide” stand to miss various benefits afforded by Web access, such as telecare, which is expected to become the primary method of healthcare for seniors within a decade, according to Tony Watts, editor of Mature Times. In the study, seniors cited computer affordability and fear of lack of security associated with the Web as reasons for not attempting to go online. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/...