Pharmaceutical firms to share Alzheimer's research in first-ever public database
In an effort to improve drug development for treatment of Alzheimer's disease, a group of major pharmaceutical firms has agreed to share its research in a first-ever public database created by the Coalition Against Major Diseases (CAMD). Data from 4,000 patients across 11 failed Alzheimer's-drug clinical trials from Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline PLC, AstraZeneca PLC, Sanofi-Aventis and Abbott Laboratories will be publicly available as of today, according to CAMD Executive Director Marc Cantillon. Data from additional drug makers and the National Institutes of Health will be added in the future. The data will be available to all participating drug makers, as well as qualified outside researchers. The detail and scope of this database will allow researchers to more accurately predict the course of Alzheimer's and other neuro-degenerative diseases, enabling the design of more efficient clinical trials, Cantillon said. The coalition plans to create similar pooled databases for Parkinson's disease and tuberculosis, Cantillon added. More information on the database is available at www.c-path.org/CAMD.cfm. Full Story

GE Healthcare releases Centricity EMR system for small physician practices
GE Healthcare has unveiled a "software as a service" e-medical record system to help small medical practices comply with healthcare reform's "meaningful use" requirements. According to Vishal Wanchoo, president and chief executive officer of GE Healthcare's information technology business, GE's Centricity Advance system is a Web-based, "cloud" version of its popular Centricity EMR software that includes integrated e-medical records, practice management applications, and a patient portal. The new software is aimed at the 500,000 physicians in small U.S. practices with 15 or fewer doctors, Wanchoo said. Physician practices can often complete implementation and training in less than four weeks. The technology will help physicians take advantage of financial incentives available under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, he added. Full Story

Philips, NMT collaborate on home monitoring product for heart failure patients
Royal Philips Electronics and Las Vegas-based Noninvasive Medical Technologies Inc. (NMT) are partnering on a deal designed to expand home monitoring capabilities for congestive heart failure (CHF) patients. According to Paul Bromberg, general manager of Philips Remote Patient Monitoring, Philips will market, sell and distribute NMT's ZOE fluid status monitors with Philips' patient telemonitoring service. ZOE measures the accumulation of fluid in the chest, an early indicator of heart failure. Fluid status monitors supplement Philips' existing telemonitoring solution, which measures vital signs including weight, blood pressure and blood oxygen saturation, as well as measurements from other third-party equipment such as blood glucose monitors, Bromberg said. Roughly 5.7 million people in the United States suffer from CHF and require monitoring and management of fluid status, according to the American Heart Association. Full Story

Smartphone becomes new, low-cost outlet for healthcare applications
Emergence of low-cost smartphone applications are helping healthcare product developers find new ways to monitor health and prevent disease. According to Steve Parente, a health finance professor at the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management in Minneapolis, products such as the iPhone or BlackBerry have companies creating accessories such as those designed to help prevent heart disease, measure the health and safety of food, and determine if someone is exercising as much as they should. The iPhone, in particular, is well-suited to such applications as it is a low-cost platform with broad appeal and a significant amount of power. In the past, these technologies would have been too expensive to develop because companies would have also had to create their own hardware and support network, Parente said. Full Story

New online patient record tool cuts treatment time to days from weeks
Rochester, NY-based eHealth Global Technologies, Inc. (eHGT) has unveiled a product that allows physicians to obtain the clinical records needed to treat referred-in or new patients in days instead of weeks. According to eHGT Chief Executive Officer Michael Margiotta, the company's new eHealth Access Indexing system creates digital patient records that are fully indexed and organized, by date and type of report, saving valuable staff time and providing physicians with the ability to quickly and easily access the data in minutes instead of hours. The product works in conjunction with eHGT's eHealth Access Record Retrieval Service and removes the need to "flip through pages" of medical records to find important clinical information needed for ongoing patient treatment, Margiotta said. Full Story

Tunstall unveils enhanced virtual telemedicine training tool
Telehealth products maker Tunstall Healthcare has released an enhanced virtual training product designed to improve the medical skills of general practitioners and other frontline telecare providers. According to Tunstall Group Marketing Director Ali Rogan, the Telehealthcare Training Tool (TTT) uses interactive real-life scenarios to trigger the viewers' senses and guides the user through various modules covering needs, risk and solution identification. Originally released in 2007, the new model includes updated telehealth scenarios, an enhanced feedback tool, better scenario relevancy and new management login and reporting. Users can progress at their own pace, fitting use of the training tool to their schedules, needs and knowledge levels. Users will receive a certificate as they complete each level, Rogan said. Full Story

WellPoint to offer members online healthcare through American Well platform
Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc., one of the nation's largest health insurers, will begin offering online care services to its health plan members through American Well's Online Care platform. According to WellPoint Chief Executive Officer Dijuana Lewis, the agreement will allow WellPoint members to contact their physicians for consultations from home or work via the Web or telephone when needed. The system will also create a record of each encounter for later physician access and review. The company plans to have the new network in place within the fourth quarter of this year. WellPoint has approximately 34 million members within its affiliated health plans, which include Blue Cross Blue Shield and Unicare. American Well, based in Boston, specializes in using innovative technology to increase access to affordable healthcare, CEO Ido Schoenberg said. Full Story

Telecare Services Association, Continua explore UK Internet standards for elderly
The Telecare Services Association (TSA) of the United Kingdom, and Continua Health Alliance are partnering on a project that will improve use of elderly-based telecare over the Internet. According to TSA Board Director David Foster, there is currently only one telecare quality standard available in the UK - the 2009 Telecare Code of Practice - and this arrangement will assist Continua in its work towards ensuring interoperability in the connected healthcare industry. The use case will "showcase interoperable solutions for those aging independently and allow for that information to flow seamlessly into health records," Foster said. This is "a positive step for both organizations in the provision of personal connected healthcare solutions for the industry, specifically benefiting those who choose to live independently," he added. Full Story

AALF hopes investment forum will increase Denmark's health IT plans
Producers of the annual Ambient Assisted Living Forum are also planning a first-ever investment forum at this year's AALF conference in Denmark in an attempt to attract more health information technology development and investment to the area. According to AAL Investment Forum Chairperson Reinhard Goebl, the investment event, set for Sept. 14-15 at the Odense Congress Centre in Odense, will bring together information and communication technology companies in the market with potential public and private investors. Currently, only a few options exist for raising investment capital for AAL solutions - a particularly problematic issue given that the senior generation is expected to nearly double by 2060, Goebl said. The demographic challenge "will put an enormous burden on public finances. Efficient usable technology will be one solution," he said. The forum "will undoubtedly be an excellent opportunity to accelerate the path from R&D to commercially viable products." Full Story

Privacy task force tackles security risks of electronic health records
The Privacy and Security Task Force - recently created by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONCHIT) - has begun the task of reviewing privacy issues related to electronic health records. Topics under consideration by the group, created last week by ONCHIT, include whether health information service providers should be able to view data being transferred between healthcare providers, and to what degree that ability should be granted; whether patients should receive information about the persons or groups that can electronically access their health data; how long the records should be retained; and how to settle differences between federal and state regulations on electronic health data sharing. ONCHIT has set a fall deadline for the team to complete its evaluation; team co-chairperson Paul Egerman, former chief of operations at health IT vendor IDX Systems, said the process will be "very intense." Full Story   Further Information

Comments sought for proposed EHNAC health information exchange program
The Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission (EHNAC), a non-profit standards development organization and accrediting body, is seeking public comment for its Health Information Exchange (HIE) Accreditation Program. Comments for this stage of the review, which will address HIE-specific policies as developed by the HIE Advisory Board, will be accepted until Aug. 13. The Criteria Committee and HIE Advisory Board will incorporate the public comments from this phase and an earlier one from February for commission review. Comments may be submitted to the EHNAC Web site at www.ehnac.org. The Final HIE Accreditation Program criteria are scheduled for public release on Sept. 23. Full Story

EHRs may be subject to processing errors, health information breaches
Use of electronic health records has suffered a blow to its credibility following a pair of reports detailing problems with accuracy and personal health information (PHI) breaches. According to the American Medical Association's 2010 National Health Insurer Report Card, 1 in 5 medical claims are processed inaccurately by insurers, to the cost of $15.5 billion annually. The finding "emphasizes the huge potential for reducing administrative costs for physicians and insurers," AMA Immediate Past President Nancy H. Nielsen, M.D. said. Meanwhile, the number of large PHI breaches has climbed from 32 in September 2009 to 93 as of June 11, according to the Office for Civil Rights in Washington, D.C. A large PHI breach affects 500 or more individuals. Most are the result of laptop thefts or improper disposal of paper records. Large PHI breaches are posted on the OCR Web site at www.hhs.gov/ocr.   Full Story   Further Information  Further Information 

Phyllis Albritton, executive director of the Colorado Regional Health Information Organization, announced it is building a network of electronic medical records linking doctors' offices and hospitals across the state...David Shaw, of Metaform Product Development, is credited with creating the industrial design of the Waldo Health Home Monitor for Waldo Networks...Erik Jansink, CEO of Ipswich Community Aid (Australia), announced a joint initiative by Ipswich Community Aid and Tunstall Healthcare, called the TLC Centre, which is a demonstration facility to showcase assistive technology...Therese Murray, Massachusetts Senate President, will be a keynote speaker at the European Connected Health Leadership Summit in Belfast, speaking on "Connected Health Collaboration"...Dr. Ed Brown, CEO of the Ontario Telemedicine Network (OTN), announced that the OTN had performed more than 100,000 patient consults in fiscal 2009/10 ...Augie Palisoc Jr., executive director for hospital operations, Metro Pacific Investments Corp., which owns Makati Medical Center and Davao Doctors Hospital and runs Cardinal Santos Medical Center in San Juan, Philippines, announced they will be installing a telemedicine network for their three hospitals... Please send us your news on Movers and Shakers in the field.

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