Health-related video games take center stage as disease fighters
Health-related video games are becoming a recognized way for people to live healthier lifestyles and better manage diseases. Two recent conferences - Boston's Games for Health Conference and the Games 4 Change festival in New York City - showcased the use of video games in battling health epidemics such as obesity and cancer. Meanwhile, schools such as Yale University are receiving federal funding to create health-promoting projects - in Yale's case, it was a five-year, $4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a game to teach youths how to avoid the risk of HIV. Even First Lady Michelle Obama is employing video game technology to promote her child anti-obesity campaign, while HopeLab has developed a cancer-fighting game, Re-Mission. Yale's Dr. Lynn Sullivan said the use of video games to reach children makes sense, as "that is where they are already." Full Story   Further Information

IOM, HHS plan forum and webcast of latest public health technology efforts
On Wednesday, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will unveil progress made toward its Community Health Data Initiative, designed to improve public health by encouraging developers to create data-dependent medical applications. According to IOM Study Director Meg McCoy, in March HHS released stored community health information to the public, improving access and hopefully increasing awareness of what it needs to do to stay healthy. At the same time, developers are using that data for products that promote and protect public health. A community health data forum, to be webcast at 9 a.m. Eastern time on HHS sites will demonstrate what innovators have been able to do thus far with the HHS-supplied materials, McCoy said. Full Story   Further Information   Further Information  

European Commission announces 10-year plan for continent-wide health IT
The European Commission (EC) has unveiled a 10-year plan for continent-wide health information technology and telemedicine services in an effort to limit healthcare costs as Europe's population gets older. According to EC Vice President Neelie Kroes, the commission's Digital Agenda calls for patient records to be accessed or exchanged electronically by all 27 member states of the European Union by 2012. It also expects all Europeans to have secure, online access to their medical health data by 2015, and calls for widespread deployment of telemedicine services by 2020. The agenda also outlines plans to provide effective interoperability between IT products and services to "build a truly digital society," including new legal measures to reform rules on implementation of information and communications technology standards, Kroes said. Full Story

Investors increasingly target medical device makers for spinoffs 
Taking a cue from biotech venture firms, medical device investors are increasingly talking manufacturers into spinning out their technologies into start-up firms. According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, many device manufacturers have amassed more products than they can develop. But instead of fearing a backlash if a spinout turns into a success, they are starting to see non-priority products as an opportunity to create value for patients and themselves. Spinouts can enable venture firms to capitalize on the investment a corporation has made in a product, the WSJ reports. Successful spinoffs include Minneapolis-based Inspire Medical Systems, an implantable sleep apnea technology developer that separated from medical products maker Medtronic in 2006. Inspire Chief Executive Officer Timothy Herbert said Medtronic didn't consider the implant a strategic fit and could have merely let the technology "sit on its shelf." Instead, Medtronic opted to spin-out Inspire, a "commendable" action, Herbert said. Full Story

Volcano Corp. receives European approval for vascular imaging catheter
San Diego-based Volcano Corp. has received approval to market its VIBE RX Vascular Imaging Balloon Catheter in Europe, the company announced. According to Volcano President and Chief Executive Officer Scott Huennekens, the device can help surgeons quickly access, prepare, and assess challenging lesions. The unit, the world's only imaging balloon catheter, also allows doctors to "see more detail right at the point of the therapy," Huennekens said. Designed initially for cardiovascular purposes, the device should eventually be useful on other applications throughout the body, he added. Volcano expects to begin commercial shipments of the VIBE RX in Europe in the third quarter of 2010.  Full Story

Zargis launches application for remote transmission of stethoscope sounds
Stamford, CT-based Zargis Medical Corp. has launched a live-streamed version of its ZargisTelemed platform, allowing healthcare professionals to share stethoscope sounds in real time with colleagues anywhere in the world via the Internet or a private network. According to Zargis Chief Executive Officer John Kallassy, the platform allows healthcare professionals to record, view and transmit heart and lung sounds, and it can be deployed as a turnkey enterprise server or accessed through Zargis' secure server. The platform supports delivery of cost-effective, expert healthcare to people in remote and rural locations by extending the use of auscultation to situations and environments where face-to-face encounters are not always feasible. The technology has been approved for sale in the United States and 36 other countries. Zargis has delivered or is scheduled to deliver trial versions of the platform to eight telemedicine groups for evaluation; with wide-scale implementation expected to take place thereafter, Kallassy said. Full Story

Multiple-lead system for treatment of back pain goes online in Europe
St. Paul, MN-based medical device company St. Jude Medical Inc. has received approval to market its Epiducer lead delivery system in Europe. According to Chris Chavez, president of the St. Jude Medical Neuromodulation Division, the Epiducer allows physicians to efficiently place neurostimulation leads and multiple lead arrays used in spinal cord stimulation therapy for the management of chronic pain. Prior to the Epiducer system, the placement of leads was only possible through a laminotomy, a more-invasive surgical procedure that usually requires removal of part of the vertebral bone. Neurostimulation therapy is used for managing chronic pain of the trunk and limbs, and pain from failed back surgeries. Chronic pain affects more than 76.5 million people in the United States, according to the American Pain Foundation. Full Story

ONC to offer $30.3 million in grants for two new Beacon communities
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) plans to award $30.3 million in grant funding for two additional communities to participate in its Beacon Community program. According to Aaron McKethan, Beacon Community program director, the additional grant awards will consist of cooperative agreements to two qualified not-for-profit organizations or government entities that represent geographic healthcare communities. Interested parties should submit a Letter of Intent by June 9, with applications due by June 28. Award decisions are expected by August, McKethan said. More information may be found at www.grants.gov/search/basic.do. ONC awarded $220 million in grants to 15 Beacon communities in early May. Full Story   Further Information

Visio Mobile rolls out CompuMed telemedicine technology in Ohio
Ohio's largest provider of mobile X-ray and cardiac testing services, has begun to roll out CompuMed's digital telemedicine technology to hospitals, occupational and home health clients, as well as long term care facilities in mobile and rural markets across the state, the Columbus, OH-based company announced. According to Visio Mobile Chief Executive Officer Doug Cook, CompuMed's CardioGram and OsteoGram systems are now core components of Visio's suite of telemedicine and digital X-ray-based healthcare services. The effort is part of CompuMed's recently initiated campaign to reach underserved markets for cardiac care, which include geriatric, pediatric and rural healthcare, according to CompuMed President and CEO Maurizio Vecchione. Full Story   

Requiring doctors to enter computerized orders cuts down on inappropriate tests
Making physicians personally enter computerized orders for low-yield diagnostic imaging tests instead of letting other staff do it may reduce the number of potentially inappropriate scans, according to a study by researchers at Harvard and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Use of outpatient CT, MRI, and nuclear medicine exams decreased by nearly 3.5 percent and were 3.5 times more likely to be cancelled when making physicians responsible for data entry, according to study lead author Vartan M. Vartanians, M.D., of Harvard. The "relatively simple and minimally disruptive alteration" to the order entry system appeared to improve patient care, Vartanians said. The study appears in the June issue of Radiology. Full Story

Patients with STDs are treated three times faster when EMRs are used
Switching to electronic medical records (EMRs) can significantly boost how quickly patients with the sexually transmitted disease Chlamydia are treated, according to a study by researchers at Central Middlesex Hospital in London. The study found that use of an EMR system more than doubled the percentage of patients treated within two weeks of diagnosis. According to lead author Dr. Gary Brook, the study examined the medical records of 100 STD-afflicted patients at a sexual health clinic. Before the clinic converted to computerized records, it took an average of 11.5 days for a patient to be treated after being diagnosed with Chlamydia. That rate fell to 3.5 days after the switch. And the percentage of those who were treated within two weeks of getting a positive test result rose from 38 percent to 94 percent, Brook said. The study appears in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections. Full Story

VA selects winners in employee health IT innovation competition
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has chosen 26 winning health information technology ideas in its Veterans Health Administration/Office of Information and Technology Innovation Competition. The competition, launched in February, sought health IT ideas from VA employees that could improve healthcare services to veterans. According to Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki, the agency received more than 6,500 entries, and the winners represent 23 VA medical centers, program offices or regional healthcare facilities in 17 states. The 26 health IT ideas selected will receive funding and support for prototype development and implementation. A complete list of winners is available at the VA Web site at www1.va.gov.  Full Story

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