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Advertisement Health information technology developer Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions Inc. is buying main competitor Eclipsys Corp. in an all-stock transaction worth $1.3 billion, the companies announced. The merger will create the nation's largest provider of clinical software, information and connectivity solutions for physicians and hospitals, with a combined client base of 180,000 physicians, 1,500 hospitals and 10,000 post-acute organizations, Allscripts Chief Executive Officer Glen Tullman said. Tullman will be CEO of the combined company, while Eclipsys CEO and President Phil Pead will be the new firm's chairperson. The merger also positions the combined company to help its clients more effectively access the approximately $30 billion in federal funding available for hospital and physician adoption of Electronic Health Records (EHRs). "Think of this as doing (for EHR adoption) what the Internet did for computers," Tullman said. The deal is still subject to shareholder approval from both companies. Full Story $80 million VA grant program seeks ideas on ways to improve veterans' healthcare The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) plans to award $80 million in grants through a health information technology competition for applications that could improve the quality of healthcare and other services for veterans. According to Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki, the VAi2 Innovative Initiative competition will encourage use of telehealth tools for in-home care toward treatments such as dialysis, as well as develop ways to counteract adverse drug reactions, and spur development of remote monitoring technologies and other tools that could improve care for veterans with multiple injuries. The VA seeks submissions from the general public, private companies, entrepreneurs, universities and not-for-profit organizations. Ideas should be implementable and be able to achieve progress within two years of start. Deadline for proposals is Sept. 30. For more information, visit the Federal Business Opportunities Web site at www.fbo.gov. Full Story Further Information Medtronic goes worldwide with new wireless diabetes management system Minneapolis-based Medtronic Inc. has implemented a worldwide launch of a wireless continuous glucose monitoring system to help improve diabetes management. According to Francine Kaufman, M.D., chief medical officer of the Medtronic Diabetes business, the company's iPro 2 Professional continuous glucose-monitoring system offers advanced processes for detecting high and low glucose fluctuations that can lead to dangerous health complications, which often go undetected with traditional tests performed over a two-to-three-month period. Patients wear a disposable glucose sensor and a small data recorder that can be uploaded into a proprietary computer docking station for evaluation. iPro 2 has been released to market in 49 countries worldwide, with 22 more planned for coming months, Kaufman said. This includes the United States, where the product is under review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Full Story Heartbeat-powered generators could one day power up medical implants Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta have developed a nanogenerator that could one day lead to medical implants and sensors that are powered by heartbeats or breathing. According to Georgia Tech professor of materials science and engineering and lead researcher Zhong Lin Wang, zinc oxide nanogenerators would be an ideal power source for nano-scale sensors that monitor blood pressure or glucose levels and detect cancer biomarkers. Thus far, the Georgia Tech team has successfully tested the process on a live rat and its heartbeat. Meanwhile, researcher Michael McAlpine at Princeton University has performed similar tests using PZT, a compound of lead, zirconium, and titanium. It is 10 times more efficient than zinc oxide at converting mechanical stress into electric current, McAlpine said. But the biggest challenge for both materials will be getting higher energy outputs, researchers note. Full Story  NIH awards $2.8 million to Kinetic Muscles for new stroke teletherapy project Tempe, AZ-based robotic neurotherapy technology developer Kinetic Muscles Inc. (KMI) has received a $2.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support delivery of the company's new teletherapy service to stroke survivors in rural areas. According to KMI President and Chief Executive Officer Grant Farrell, the grant is one of only 10 provided by NIH to bridge the gap between research and development, and commercialization for promising new medical technologies. KMI is collaborating with Cleveland Clinic and Emory University School of Medicine to develop the affordable, state-of-the-art treatment for stroke survivors with reduced limb function, Farrell said. The new model of stroke rehabilitation cost effectively provides consistent, effective therapy in a continuum from acute care to the home and "can represent the difference between a person regaining independence or being confined to a nursing home," Farrell added. Full Story CHA contends with barriers to personal health mobile solutions market Personal health mobile solutions are on the verge of becoming a major part of the telehealth market, but several obstacles remain, according to a recent roundtable discussion by members of international standards-based personal health solutions coordinator Continua Health Alliance (CHA). In "Continua Enables Standards-Based Mobile Personal Health Solutions," published in the May issue of Telemedicine and e-Health, CHA President Rick Cnossen notes three key market barriers in personal health mobile solutions' path to prominence: a maturing market, subject to "uncertainty and trepidation"; lack of certain necessary market building blocks, such as an open-source mobile version of the complete Bluetooth health device profile; and a "confusing and intimidating" regulatory environment. To counter these barriers, the Alliance's Web site offers white papers, evidence, market analysis information, reference to pilot studies, and a list of building block providers that "people can use to easily piece these solutions together," Cnossen said. Further Information Mobile ECG 'Telemedicine' unit finally makes mass-market debut in India A joint venture between BlackBerry developers Research in Motion (RIM), Vodafone Essar and Maestros Mediline Systems will allow doctors in India to review ECG reports on their BlackBerry phones. According to Vodafone Chief Marketing Officer Kumar Ramanathan, Maestros' eUNO R 10, a mobile electrocardiogram (ECG) application, will now enable a cardiologist to accurately check the heart performance of patients via their BlackBerry running under the Vodafone network. The product was originally named "Telemedicine" when developed by RIM several years ago, but was not distributed well, RIM Managing Director Frenny Bawa said. But RIM, now backed by Maestros, can distribute the formerly named "Telemedicine" on a large scale, he said. Full Story New Polycom telemedicine platform uses less bandwidth, cuts healthcare costs Pleasanton, CA-based global telecommunications provider Polycom has unveiled a high-definition, expanded telemedicine platform that uses half the bandwidth of comparable systems and reduces start-up costs for healthcare providers. According to John Antanaitis, Polycom's vice president of product marketing, the Polycom Open Telepresence Experience (OTX) 300 will appeal to healthcare providers looking to connect to outlying clinics and specialists to "offer everything from clinical advice to educational content." It is also designed to help the company compete with products offered by competitors such as telecommunications rivals Cisco and Tandberg, who are staking their claim to parts of the telemedicine market, Antanaitis said. The system builds off Polycom's line of telepresence offerings, including the Telepresence Experience (TPX), RealPresence Experience (RPX) and Architected Telepresence Experience (ATX) 300 solutions, he added. Full Story Study to examine benefits of electronically sharing doctors' notes with patients A new yearlong study sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) will examine the impact of adding a new layer of openness to a traditionally one-sided element of the doctor-patient relationship-the notes that doctors record during and after patients' visits. According to Tom Delbanco, M.D., a primary care physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston, the 12-month OpenNotes project will evaluate the benefits, on patients and physicians, of sharing, through online medical record portals, the comments and observations made by physicians after each patient encounter. Approximately 100 primary care physicians and 25,000 patients at BIDMC, Geisinger Health System in Pennsylvania, and Harborview Medical Center in Seattle will participate in the trial, Delbanco said. The study is being funded by a $1.4 million grant from the RWJF's Pioneer Portfolio. Full Story HHS plots effort to create pediatrics patient-friendly EHR The Department of Health and Human Services is developing a model electronic health record (EHR) with features tailored to the health needs of pediatric patients. According to Dr. Carolyn Clancy, director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), AHRQ and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) are creating the pediatric record template for children enrolled in Medicaid or in the Children's Health Insurance Program. Studies have shown that only 21 percent of pediatricians use digital health record systems, and only six percent of those doctors say the systems include all the core functionalities that doctors believe necessary, Clancy said. The AHRQ-Medicaid model children's digital record project will involve an environmental scan and gap analysis to identify up to three core functions needed for the pediatric EHRs that are currently not available in most digital health record systems. Full Story Joint Commission's telehealth credentialing standards delayed until 2011 The Joint Commission's plan to implement Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)-based telemedicine standards for hospitals has been pushed back until March 2011 due to proposed changes by CMS. Originally slated for implementation on July 15, 2010, the Joint Commission had intended to add new Elements of Performance that would bring the organization's requirements more in line with CMS standards for telemedicine services, specifically for credentialing of telehealth providers. According to Joint Commission Vice President for Public Policy and Government Relations Margaret VanAmringe, CMS issued the extension because the agency has issued a new proposed regulation on telemedicine, which will ultimately affect Medicare's credentialing standards - the very requirements that the Joint Commission was trying to match. Full Story Telehealth technology put to new use in Iowa Planned Parenthood clinic Iowa has become the first state in the nation in which physicians are using videoconferencing and a remote-controlled pill dispensing system to make abortions available in locations where few doctors offer them. According to a report in The New York Times, a physician from a Planned Parenthood clinic in Des Moines carefully visits with each patient by videoconference at a clinic up to 100 miles away. If satisfied with the meeting, the doctor presses a computer button, which grants the patient access to the pregnancy-ending drug Mifeprex (RU-486). The system is drawing interest from other abortion providers around the country, according to The New York Times. Abortion opponents have filed a formal complaint with the Iowa Board of Medicine, citing a state law requiring abortions to be performed by a physician. Full Story
Joe Lueckenhoff, senior vice president, AT&T Business Solutions, announced the company is offering its first-ever, network-based telepresence, inter-company interoperability feature for Cisco TelePresence through the AT&T Telepresence Solution Business Exchange...Vinu Nair, CEO of Webahn, Inc., announced that the Capzule PHR, the first personal health records App for the iPad, is now available on the Apple App Store...Judy Bishop, CEO of Guardian Home Care Holdings, Inc., announced it has initiated a relationship with Cardiocom to provide home telehealth technology using Cardiocom's Commander Telehealth System to patients with chronic illnesses...Michael Quinn, Chief Financial officer of the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, announced they have selected the Allscripts Electronic Health Record...Wendy Barnhart, director of operations for the Sierra Family Medical Clinic, announced they are partnering with the University of California, Davis, to implement a telemedicine program for diabetes patients...Wolf Shlagman, founder and CEO of Consult A Doctor, Inc., announced TeleCare 3.0, a technology that allows health plans to offer consumer-directed telemedicine services by phone and online...Farid Shouekani, CEO of Viper Networks, and Govindan Gopinathan, MD, Co-Founder and Chairman of iNeedMD, announced the two companies had entered an agreement to deploy a telemedicine network throughout Europe and the Middle East...Please send us your news on Movers and Shakers in the field.
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