Senate considers impact of National Broadband Plan on health IT
Communications and medical technologies can improve care to patients and lower costs to healthcare providers, and the Federal Communications Commission's National Broadband Plan is a key to making that change happen, government officials announced. In a recent hearing conducted in Washington D.C. by the Senate Special Committee on Aging, attendees such as Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) noted that development of broadband and health information technologies such as wireless medication monitors have the potential to "truly transform" healthcare in the next few years. Other changes, such as allowing payment to doctors for Internet-conducted visits in addition to in-person ones, will drastically help reduce the cost of Medicare, according to FCC Health Care Director Dr. Mohit Kaushal. Fittingly, Kaushal's testimony came via videoconference, due to travel disruptions caused by the recent volcanic eruption in Iceland.  Full Story   Further Information

Wireless patient monitoring system developed for hospitals
United Kingdom-based GE Healthcare and Ascom Wireless Solutions in Zurich, Switzerland, are implementing a wireless hospital-wide system designed to send alerts from patient monitoring devices directly to a caregiver via paging or text messaging. According to Fritz Mumenthaler, general manager of Ascom's Wireless Solution Division, GE Healthcare will integrate its patient-monitoring platform into wireless Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phones, pager and DECT handsets designed by Ascom. The plan follows a recent report from Spyglass Consulting Group in Menlo Park, CA, which found that 66 percent of nurses already using VoIP at their various hospitals had greater mobility and were able to perform their jobs better. Over the past year, GE has focused on using technology to improve patient care, such as with its collaboration with Intel to market the Intel Health Guide patient record system, and expansion of its QuietCare System, an at-home patient monitoring product for seniors.  Full Story

Beringea takes $6 million step into robotic telemedicine
Farmington Hills, MI-based Beringea, the state's largest venture capital firm, has entered the remote presence telemedicine market with a $6 million investment for a new research and development center for InTouch Health, developers of the RP-7 line of telehealth robots. According to Dr. Yulun Wang, InTouch chairperson and chief executive officer, the funding will allow the Santa Barbara, CA-based company to expand its services into Michigan, where it can recruit from "the world-class engineering programs that the universities have to offer." Controlled by a physician at a computer in a remote location, the RP-7 robot can move untethered around a hospital, allowing a physician to freely interact with patients, family members and hospital staff, and removing time and distance barriers, Wang said. Currently, the company's RP technology is used in more than 300 hospital locations nationwide, including 50 across Michigan. Full Story

New technology enables autistic children to communicate
Technology that improves communication with autistic children could soon make its way to a desktop or laptop computer near you. Sheffield, England-based Speaks4me Ltd. hopes to design a "software only" version of its autistic communicator, a program that uses a drag-and-drop imaging system to help autistic, non-verbal children form sentences. According to company founder Stephen Lodge, the product works on any device that can run the Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 operating systems, but is currently only sold on a portable, touch screen media player imported from the Far East. Lodge developed the system several years ago to improve communication with his autistic son, Callum, after finding other products unsatisfactory. Users can drag-and-drop images to form sentences such as "I want to go outside" or "I want a glass of juice." Speaks4me, which retails for about $3,000 [USD], also has potential for helping stroke survivors, about one-third of whom lose their ability to speak, Lodge said.Full Story   Further Information

'Next generation' mobile wound therapy machine unveiled
San Antonio-based Kinetic Concepts Inc. has unveiled its V.A.C.Via Therapy System, a "next generation" negative pressure wound therapy solution designed for mobile healthcare. According to KCI President Catherine Burzik, V.A.C.Via's portable, discreet, easy-to-operate design enables patients to return to home or work as seamlessly as possible. Meanwhile, for providers, the unit may allow for earlier patient discharge by reducing or eliminating the need for insurance authorizations before discharge. Its single-click functionality also makes training and treatment easier than ever, Burzik said. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved V.A.C.Via in March. The company plans a global launch in the third quarter. Full Story

FDA clears Medtronic MRI imaging system for sale in U.S.
Minneapolis-based Medtronic Inc.'s real-time MRI imaging system has been approved for marketing in the United States by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. According to Jim Cloar, vice president and general manager of Medtronic's Navigation division, the PoleStar N30 Surgical MRI system provides surgeons with targeting and navigational accuracy despite the anatomy movement that may occur during a surgical procedure. The system may also reduce the need for revision surgeries and the length of stay at the hospital for the patient, Cloar said. In 2009, the PoleStar N30 system received the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design's Good Design Award, the world's oldest and most prestigious award for global design excellence. Full Story

CMS awards $1.8 million for EHR implementation in Puerto Rico
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has awarded $1.8 million in matching funds for planning activities needed to implement electronic health record (EHR) incentive programs in Puerto Rico. According to Cindy Mann, director of the Center for Medicaid and State Operations at CMS, the funds were awarded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) and will be used to "improve the quality of healthcare for the citizens of Puerto Rico and make their care more efficient." ARRA provides a 90 percent federal match for state and territory planning activities to administer incentive payments to Medicaid providers, ensure their proper payments through audits and to participate in statewide efforts to promote interoperability and meaningful use of EHR technology. CMS has been making the grant awards throughout 2010; this is the first award outside of the United States. Full Story

Surgical wireless high-definition tool approved for sale in U.S.
San Jose, CA-based NDS Surgical Imaging (NDSsi) has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance to market its ZeroWire Duo wireless surgical tool in the United States. According to NDSsi President John Murphy, the ZeroWire Duo is a Class II medical-grade wireless and full high-definition video solution for minimally invasive surgery. ZeroWire Duo fills a vital need for a "reliable wireless HD product for the operating room," Murphy said. The product's benefits include lower installation costs, accelerated turn-around time, and greater flexibility during clinical procedures, he added.   Full Story

"All-in-one" patient monitoring system licensed to Rhemisphere
Researchers at the University of Maryland in Baltimore have reached a marketing agreement for their new Blink patient monitoring system. Baltimore-based startup Rhemisphere LLC has acquired the rights to commercialize the "all-in-one system" that constantly updates and displays current analytical data from laboratory tests on a patient, Rhemisphere Chief Executive Officer Henry R. Rossell, Jr. said. The product takes lab information and "provides it to clinicians in any critical care environment in a manner that is clear and up to the minute, avoiding repetitive logon sessions or phone calls to get the latest lab information," he said. With the new monitoring system in place, each specialist will arrive at a patient's bedside and be able to read 48 hours of lab data translated into the current status of the patient. Blink is "a game changer," Rossell said. Full Story

Grant awarded to research errors in computerized prescriber order entry
The Center for Patient Safety Research and Practice (CPSRP) at the Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston has been awarded a year-long grant from the National Patient Safety Foundation to research the degree of errors in computerized prescriber order entry (CPOE). According to Gordon Schiff, MD, CPSRP's associate director and project principal investigator, the center will partner with Silicon Valley-based Quantros Inc., manager of MEDMARX, the world's largest adverse drug event database, to research errors that have been reported to be associated with CPOE. The two groups will analyze roughly 200,000 MEDMARX records that list CPOE as a contributing factor for medication errors. They hope to better understand the nature and mechanism of the CPOE-related errors and how better-designed systems might have prevented them, and also find vulnerabilities in the process. Full Story

EHR adoption to boost use of national telemedicine initiatives
Widespread adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) is expected to increase the use of telehealth initiatives nationwide, according to a report from InformationWeek. Medical specialists are already seeing the benefits of EHR use, such as videoconferencing capabilities that let clinicians remotely communicate with each other and patients, digital medical images from picture-archiving systems that make a wide range of information available to doctors about distant patients, and a way of meeting an overall shortage of doctors in numerous areas, particularly in pediatrics. However, a big hurdle for telemedicine is that its capabilities for improving care are advancing faster than many health insurers' willingness to cover remote services, InformationWeek notes. Full Story

FCC to resume creation of national public safety broadband network
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is resuming preparations for the creation of a national public safety broadband network. According to Jamie Barnett, chief of the FCC's public safety and homeland security bureau, the FCC has established a new Emergency Response Interoperability Center and has released recommendations on how such a network would be economically viable. The network, designed to piggyback on existing commercial network buildout, would cost a mere $6.5 billion over a 10-year span - far less than the projected $15.7 billion cost of a stand-alone public safety network, Barnett said. It would also be coordinated with the Department of Homeland Security and the National Institute of Standards and Technology to ensure interoperability in the 700-MHz band.  Full Story   Further Information

Michael A. Brodeur has joined American TeleCare, Inc. (ATI) as the new chief financial officer...Mike Fuller, director of InterSystems in Scotland, announced that it had just inked a contract with the National Health Service Scotland to provide its Ensemble product for e-health integration across Scotland...Richard Kuebler, Department Head for Telehealth at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (Memphis) was one of several speakers before the Senate Special Committee on Aging to emphasize the need for telehealth strategies for dealing with an aging population...Greg Hill, MD, founder of JumbleMe, a free email encryption program, reminds physicians that a new law has been enacted with new penalties for doctors that send non-encrypted emails that include patient information...David Blumenthal, National Coordinator for Health IT, announced that new federal health IT projects will focus on helping rural healthcare providers adopt electronic health records...Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization, visited North Korea for the opening of a medical videoconferencing network which will link medical facilities in 10 rural provinces to a main hospital in the capital Pyongyang ... Sara Czaja, PhD, co-director of the University of Miami's Center on Aging, announced a partnership between IDEAL LIFE Inc and the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine for a pilot program using wireless remote health monitoring to improve health for residents of rural Florida communities...Dr. Bill Crounse, senior director of Microsoft Health announced that Microsoft hopes to pilot its HealthVault system in Australia within the next 12 to 18 months…Please send us your news on Movers and Shakers in the field.

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