Cell phone makers eye mobile health as potential new income stream
Hoping to find new revenue sources, wireless healthcare has become the new frontier for telecommunications companies. Major players such as AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon, as well as international providers such as Telefonica, France Telecom and NTT DoCoMo view mobile health (m-health) as a major revenue stream, along with content and advertising, according to a report in Business Week . The migration could make an already-crowded telemedical field even more robust – e-health players such as GE Healthcare, Philips and Siemens already have products geared toward remote patient monitoring and disease management, and scores of smaller firms are trying to break into the field. Still, the market’s growth potential can’t be ignored: Dallas technology firm Parks Associates expects m-health to grow from $304 million now to $4.4 billion by 2013. Full Story

Pfizer looks to mobile technology for improved drug safety monitoring
Pharmaceuticals manufacturer Pfizer Inc. in New York City has begun emphasizing use of electronic health records (EHRs) and mobile technology to improve drug-safety monitoring and communications with physicians. According to Pfizer Chief Medical Officer Freda Lewis-Hall, Pfizer has developed programs such as “Aster,” which helps doctors report adverse reactions to drugs through EHRs – performed in partnership with Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston; a program with San Mateo, CA-based Epocrates, whose software system allows physicians to access medical data on mobile devices such as smart phones; and a joint effort with Cambridge, MA-based Sermo, an online community that makes it easier for doctors to contact Pfizer with questions about drug products. Pfizer is looking for other technology that improves safety data collection on its drugs, Lewis-Hall said.    Full Story

Error rate using electronic prescriptions drops significantly at Weill Cornell
Use of an electronic system to write prescriptions cuts the risk of medication errors by up to 600 percent, according to a report by scientists at Weill Cornell Medical College (WCMC) in New York City. Report authors reviewed 3,684 paper-based prescriptions at the beginning of the study and 3,848 paper and electronic prescriptions one year later. The error rate dropped from 43 percent to 7 percent for those switching from paper to electronic prescriptions, while the error rate was nearly identical – 37 percent before, 38 percent one year later – for those relying solely on paper, the report notes. Most of the errors found were not life-threatening, but they did require callbacks from pharmacies, resulting in lost time for pharmacists, doctors and patients, WCMC assistant professor of pediatrics and study lead author Dr. Erika Abramson said. Full Story

Healthline Networks takes over management of Yahoo Health
Hoping to boost popularity of its online health channel, Yahoo has entered a three-year deal to have San Francisco-based Healthline Networks manage the Yahoo Health channel. Under the agreement, for which financial terms were not released, Healthline will provide Yahoo with various medical and health-related content and tools, according to Healthline Chairperson West Shell III. Those include SymptomSearch, TreatmentSearch and DocSearch, a suite of interactive tools that give consumers “a complete decision support platform for health.” Although Yahoo is the Web’s most-popular Web presence, Yahoo Health is currently the third most-popular health Web site, behind WebMD and Everyday Health. The revamped channel will launch during the second quarter of this year, Shell said. Full Story

‘Stealth’ implant allows researchers to hear medical reactions in cell
Engineers at Stanford have developed an implantable nanoscale probe that allows researchers to “listen in” on electrical signals within the cell, potentially leading to a better understanding of how cells respond to medication. According to researcher Nick Mellosh, the “stealth” probe can be firmly fused into a cell membrane without damaging the cell wall – a medical first, as most implants kill the cell a few hours after implantation due to the harm it causes. In addition to noting how the cell responds to medication, the implant could also give scientists a view of a better way to attach neural prosthetics and of inserting medication within a cell. A report on the research appears in the March 30 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Full Story

Virtual dentist to treat low-income families in California
Low-income families in California will receive dental care through a new virtual dentist program launched by the University of the Pacific (UOP) in Stockton, CA. According to Dr. Paul Glassman, project creator and professor of dental practice at UOP’s Pacific Center for Special Care, the four-year pilot will allow participating dentists to treat patients remotely through electronic review of their dental records. Dental hygienists and dental assistants will perform basic preventative and restorative treatments; patients needing more-complex treatment from a dentist will be referred to suitable offices or clinics in their areas. The project is planned for nine regions involving schools, nursing homes and Head Start centers in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Sacramento, Northern California, and the Central Valley.    Full Story

Wireless glaucoma sensor hits market in Europe, awaits U.S. approval
Lausanne, Switzerland-headquartered biotech firm Sensimed AG has begun marketing its Triggerfish glaucoma monitoring system in Europe, the company announced. The system utilizes a sensor-based, disposable contact lens-like unit to continuously measure pressure build up within the eye and transmit the data to physicians through a wireless transmitter worn around the patient’s neck. This results in earlier diagnosis and improved treatment for glaucoma, according to Sensimed Chief Executive Officer Jean-Marc Wismer. Glaucoma is the second-most common cause of blindness, affecting 68 million people worldwide, Wismer said. Triggerfish received European marketing approval in late 2009 and is currently under review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for sale in the United States. Approval is anticipated by late 2011, Wismer added.   Full Story

Program seeks $1.75 million in federal funds to train elderly in health IT
The Health and Wealth Care Initiative for Vermont and New Hampshire has applied for a $1.75 million grant, with a $750,000 match, from broadband-directed stimulus funds in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to retrain information technology workers to train older patients how to utilize telehealth technologies and programs. According to New Hampshire Technical Institute and Arnett Development Group LLC (NHTI) Vice President for Adult Learning Tom Foulkes, the IT workers would then act as “mentors,” teaching the elderly to use systems with devices like the Apple iPad. The on-site tech mentors will also help “ensure that barriers to telehealth use are overcome,” Foulkes said. ARRA funds will be awarded to suitable programs by Sept. 30. Full Story

Healthcare providers to increase spending on health IT despite economy
More than 90 percent of healthcare executives expect healthcare reform to lead to increased spending on health information technology over the next few years, according to Boston-based L.E.K. Consulting LLC. The report notes that this spending boost comes when most healthcare providers are scaling back on purchases due to a tough economy, or are carefully basing expenditures on their strategic value to the facility. But despite tight funds overall, hospitals and other healthcare providers are keeping patient safety and error control at the top of their improvement lists, making purchases such as electronic health record systems and patient monitoring units all the more attractive, according to LEK.  Full Story    Further Information

Non-invasive high-resolution camera capture life before it starts
Researchers at the University of Houston’s Cullen College of Engineering and Texas Medical Center have developed an imaging system that captures high-resolution video of the human embryonic heart before it begins beating. According to Kirill Larin, assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Cullen College, the non-invasive device captures the best live imagery ever taken of the premature organ and effectively photographs life before it has officially begun. Unlike ultrasounds, which use sound to create viewable but grainy images, the new optical coherence tomography (OCT) method relies on depth-resolved analysis created by a reflected infrared laser beam. It’s taken several years and $1.7 million from the National Institutes of Health to get this far, and Larin and his colleagues hope to one day use the device to study the development of known heart abnormalities, as well as how to prevent and treat heart-related problems before birth. Full Story

FCC seeks comment on proposed medical body area network plan
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is seeking comment on a plan to use existing radio spectrum to create new medical body area networks (MBANs). Under the proposal, included in the FCC’s national broadband plan unveiled in March, MBANs would be used to create wireless body-sensor networks that could monitor an array of physiological data, such as temperature, pulse, blood glucose level, blood pressure and respiratory health. Wireless MBAN systems could also monitor all required functions and then aggregate the results and transmit them to a remote location for evaluation. The FCC plan calls for first using the MBAN spectrum only in hospitals, but over the longer term, they could be used at home, where 80 percent of healthcare services are delivered, according to Paul Coss, MBAN and wireless strategy lead at Philips Healthcare in Andover, MA. Full Story    Further Information

More senators sign, send letter requesting ‘meaningful use’ changes
The push for changes to the “meaningful use” rule continues, with 37 Democratic senators last week sending a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, asking for a “phased, flexible approach” that won’t interfere with the government’s forthcoming electronic health record (EHR) implementation deadline for incentives. The letter, headed up by Sens. Max Baucus (D-MT) and Tom Harkin (D-IA) follows a similar letter signed by a bipartisan group of 27 senators and sent in March to acting Centers for Medical and Medical Services Administrator Charlene Frizzera. The proposed regulations cover how healthcare providers can demonstrate meaningful use of EHRs and qualify for incentive payments under the federal economic stimulus package beginning in 2012. Full Story

Brad Waugh, president and CEO of NaviNet, announced the results of a new study that found adoption of healthcare IT is on a steady incline…Tonya Miller, regional director of Celtic Healthcare of central Pennsylvania and Maryland, announced the expansion of their telemedicine services via Celtic Homehealth…Dr. Mingmar Sherpa, former head of the main hospital in the Everest region in eastern Nepal, announced the Nepal government plans to connect 25 district hospitals, most located in the Himalayas, to specialists in Kathmandu via satellite uplink…Dr. Peter Hunt, otolaryngologist with Associates in ENT, Head, and Neck Surgery, leading a Erlanger Health System team, implanted a device called the BrainsGate into a stroke victim, which stimulates vessels deep within the brain, increasing blood flow to areas affected by stroke…David Quirke, CIO for Frederick Memorial (Maryland), announced they will be using MEDSEEK to expand its healthcare enterprise portal connectivity activities…Mark Shuter, president and CEO of Adena Health System, announced that their ongoing telemedicine project recently received a $226,467 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture… Alvaro Fernandez de Araoz, Telefonica’s director of corporate e-health in Milan, Italy, jointly with Barcelona’s Hospital de la Esperanza, announced a knee brace embedded with motion sensors that enables physicians to monitor patients’ rehabilitation remotely…Damon Cronkey, Yahoo’s regional business lead for autos, health, and technology, recently announced the company is teaming up with Healthline Networks to bolster the popularity of its online health channel…Dr. Ely David Zaslow, formerly of Hazelwood Family Medicine, files lawsuit against Secure Telemedicine for fraud, misrepresentation, and unfair and deceptive trade practices…Please send us your news on Movers and Shakers in the field.

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