Hospital information systems market to hit $18 billion globally by 2016
Government incentives for health information technology are expected to drive the hospital information systems (HIS) market to $18 billion globally by 2016, up from nearly $8 billion in 2009, according to a forecast by New York City-based research firm GlobalData. And while the 13 percent annual increase is considered "extremely healthy," the forecast is even brighter in the United States, where the HIS market is expected to grow at a rate of more than 19 percent over the next seven years, according to the report. Globally, electronic health records will experience the fastest individual sector gain, rising by 15.3 percent annually, followed by computerized physician order entry (12.1 percent) and practice management market (10.8 percent). Full Story

DoD seeks telehealth research proposals for online PTSD portal
The Department of Defense's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is seeking proposals for a telehealth project designed to provide counseling to soldiers suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). According to DARPA Program Manager and U.S. Navy Capt. Russell Shilling, the "Healing Heroes" project will act as an online portal for telehealth services, message forums and referrals for "everything from yoga classes to family physicians." In particular, the project will zero in on depression, PTSD and the psychological impact of traumatic brain injuries, Shilling said. DARPA is soliciting innovative research proposals in the area of Web-based approaches for medical and psychological health social networking, care delivery via telehealth, and informatics. Proposed research should investigate innovative approaches that enable revolutionary advances in science, technology, or systems. Initial proposal deadline is July 13, 2010. More information is available at www.fbo.gov. Further Information Further Information

Telehealth systems dramatically shorten cardiac patients' hospital stays
Patients with heart failure who used an interactive telehealth system with motivational support tools at home spent 73 percent fewer days in the hospital, according to a study by doctors at a cardiac clinic in Badalona, Spain. The CARME (CAtalan Remote Management Evaluation) study at Germans Trias i Pujol Heart Failure Clinic used Royal Philips Electronics' Motiva systems to connect patients with their providers via their television and broadband connection. The research also showed a 68 percent decrease in heart failure-related hospitalization. Days spent in hospital decreased from 646 days to 168 days. According to Josep Lupon, M.D., head of the Heart Failure Unit and study lead researcher, patients showed a significant improvement in their perception of quality of life: at the beginning of the study, 56 percent of participating patients described their quality of life as "medium" or "low." Those responses decreased to 22 percent by the end of the study. Full Story

Kaiser, UCSF launch medicine's largest robot-driven human genome project
In the largest effort of its kind, researchers at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland and the University of California at San Francisco have begun an automated human genome project designed to uncover the genetic roots of disease and determine why some humans outlive others. According to Winifred K. Rossi, who is overseeing the project for the National Institute on Aging, the process involves using robotic, high-speed gene-reading machines to analyze DNA from saliva donated by more than 130,000 Kaiser members since 2008. The hope is that scientists will be able to compare genes of healthy persons against those with diseases such as cancer or multiple sclerosis and find the genes responsible for the illnesses. The process, which will ultimately utilize samples from more than 500,000 participants, is expected to be completed within 18 months, Rossi said. Full Story

Microsoft HealthVault platform goes international, debuts in Canada
Vancouver-based TELUS Health Solutions has unveiled an electronic health record system that will give patients instant online access to all of their medical files. According to TELUS Chief Executive Officer Darren Entwistle, the TELUS Health Space system, which uses Microsoft's HealthVault application, will allow patients or providers to enter or access medical data by computer or smartphone. It marks the first time HealthVault is being used outside of the United States, and is Canada's first consumer e-health service. The program, to be rolled out to TELUS employees before expansion to the general Canadian populace by year's end, will "revolutionize healthcare in Canada," Entwistle said. Full Story

FDA approves U.S. sale of anti-clotting home monitoring tool
Fremont, CA diagnostic device company CoaguSense Inc. has received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to market its home-based blood coagulation monitoring system in the United States. According to CoaguSense President and Chief Executive Officer Doug Patterson, many patients recovering from heart failure, strokes or joint replacement have their blood coagulation levels checked too infrequently to reduce the risk of bleeding and thrombotic complications. In response, the company's portable point-of-care Prothrombin Time/International Normalized Ratio (PT/INR) analyzer - which consists of a low-cost meter and disposable test strip - directly detects blood clotting time for patients stabilized on oral anti-coagulation medications such as Coumadin or warfarin. The product is also Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments waived for use by physicians in their offices, Patterson said. Full Story

Duke, Virtual Heroes to bring video gaming technology to medical training
Duke University School of Medicine (DUSM) and Raleigh, N.C.-based interactive healthcare products maker Virtual Heroes Inc. have partnered on a program that uses video game technology for medical education and training. According to Dr. Jeffrey Taekman, DUSM Assistant Dean for Educational Technology, the partnership will include initiatives in healthcare team communication training; medical device and pharma product education; patient education; medical recertification; clinical trial education; CME courses; and healthcare quality assurance training. It will also allow use of Virtual Heroes' HumanSim platform, which will soon enable healthcare professionals to sharpen their assessment and decision-making skills without risk to patients in realistic, challenging, immersive 3D environments. HumanSim integrates video gaming with a real-time physiologic-pharmacologic model for "an unprecedented experiential learning experience," Taekman said. Full Story

Merge Healthcare products to help doctors add health IT to practices
Health information technology products provider Merge Healthcare Inc. has released several products designed to help facilities and physicians incorporate medical imaging-based health IT into their practices. According to Merge Healthcare Chief Executive Officer Justin Dearborn, the company's latest version of its WebAccess technology allows expansion of health information exchange services beyond the traditional provider "silos." WebAccess 2.3 also features an Enterprise Master Patient Index (EMPI) capability, which manages the multiple patient identities that typically exist across a healthcare enterprise. And, the company's latest MergeCOM-3 Toolkit offering includes structured report templates that facilitate workflow efficiency and mining of critical information that is typically locked away in free text reports. Full Story

Health trends, technology place society on brink of telemedicine 'gold rush'
Health trends and technological advances are turning telemedicine into a mainstream industry, according to a report in The New York Times. The report notes that the interactive telemedicine business has been growing by almost 10 percent per year, and it is gaining traction like never before. Part of the growing interest is due to the government's federal incentive plan for medical practices and hospitals that implement health information technology systems in coming years. Part is due to increased interest by health insurers, who see telehealth as a way of controlling or reducing booming medical costs. The end result is a "gold rush of new investment" that can one day make in-person patients' appearances as rare as videoconference ones are now, The New York Times reports. Full Story

Robotic telemedicine links Kentucky hospitals, improves stroke program
Frankfort Regional Medical Center (FRMC) in Frankfort, KY, has expanded its care for stroke victims through the use of robotic telemedicine technology from the Stroke Center at University of Louisville Hospital in Louisville, KY. According to FRMC Chief Executive Officer Chip Peal, stroke patients are one of the top emergencies handled at the center's ER. The partnership allows 24-hour coverage through webcam-equipped robots that beam patient conditions and medical data to specialists at UoL. The university's healthcare network now includes 13 hospitals throughout the state of Kentucky; in 2009, more than 1,000 people benefited from the robot-driven network, UoL Director of Interventional Neurology Alex Abou-Chebl, M.D. said. Full Story

European Commission should play greater role in promoting e-health projects
If e-health is to gain a stronghold in Europe over the next decade, the European Commission will need to step up its coordinating efforts, according to a report by RAND Europe and Brussels, Belgium-based Capgemini Consulting. The report, "Business Models for eHealth," said the commission should "act as the coordinating body for launching eHealth pilot projects." The report also outlines a set of responsibilities for the commission, including fostering the sharing of specific best practice, for the design of value-creating and sustainable business models for eHealth systems; defining benchmarking parameters to ensure that individual organizations can monitor and compare the way they develop and implement business models for e-health; ensuring safe exchange of medical data across national borders; and working towards the solution of technical issues and the facilitation of market developments via interoperability, common medical terminologies and technical standards. Full Story

GEMCITY acquires implant maker Vistek Medical
In a private transaction, Dayton, OH-based contract manufacturer GEMCITY Engineering and Manufacturing has acquired Ivyland, PA-based wireless implant developer Vistek Medical for an undisclosed sum. According to GEM Chief Executive Officer Jim Whalen, the deal is part of an overall growth and acquisition strategy that began with its partnership with Riverside Partners, a middle market private equity firm based in Boston that is GEM's majority owner. The merger is "a strong fit" for the company, Whalen said. The combined companies can now offer customers a broader array of technical capabilities from plants in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Thailand, he added. Vistek founder Vince Visco will become a GEM executive and continue to manage Vistek Medical's operations. The combined company is expected to have annual sales of $50 million to $100 million. Full Story

Roy R. Mellinger, vice president, IT Security, and Chief Information Security Officer for WellPoint, announced that the insurer will accept the results of HITRUST Common Security Framework (CSF) assessments for evaluating and verifying its business partners' ability to protect health information...Eric Demers, former vice president of operations, North America, at Orion Health, has been named senior vice president of life sciences at MEDecision...Brett Michalak, former platform developer for Tickets.com, has been named CIO of Crescent Healthcare...Peter Menziuso, General Manager, LifeScan Canada, announced it will be the first distributor supporting the diabetes arm of the TELUS health space platform...At the e-Health 2010 conference in Vancouver, May 30-June 2, Paul Blackburn, senior vice president of Fujitsu America, Canada, moderated a symposium titled "Self-Service Healthcare: Migrate Over 50% of Patients to Kiosks" which featured Jim Hewitt, CIO of Springfield Clinic and Josh Napua, vice president of Healthcare Kiosk Solutions, Fujitsu Frontech North America...Bruce Broussard, Chairman and CEO of US Oncology, announced the launch and expansion of its new iKnowMed Technology Platform to support community oncologists nationwide...Branislav Vajdic, PhD, CEO of NewCardio, announced that they will be presenting data on coronary artery disease and atrial fibrillation clinical studies, as well as additional information about their CardioBip clinical studies at the 15th Annual World Congress on Heart Disease in Vancouver, BC on July 24-27, 2010...Pallikonda Rajasekaran of Kalasalingam University in Tamil Nadu, India, detailed a wireless monitoring system for people with Parkinson's disease or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in the International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology...Christine Chang, healthcare technology analyst with Datamonitor's Ovum unit, estimates that the interactive telemedicine business has been growing by almost 10% annually to more than $500 million in North America, part of the $3.9 billion telemedicine market...Please send us your news on Movers and Shakers in the field.

• Seventh Annual Healthcare Unbound Conference & Exhibition
  July 19-20, 2010 - San Diego, CA
  Networks, platforms and applications for technology-enabled participatory medicine. Special focus on remote monitoring, home telehealth, mhealth and ehealth for chronic care management and wellness promotion. Featuring an aging services educational track. Supporting organizations include: AAHSA, CAST and DMAA: The Care Continuum Alliance. www.tcbi.org



• Global TeleHealth 2010
  November 10-12, 2010 - Perth, Western Australia
  More Info
  

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