Advertisement HHS awards $83.9 million to help healthcare centers switch to EHR systems  Pilot begins in Mexico for 'Intelligent' portable telemedicine kiosk Austin, TX-based Freescale Semiconductor Inc. has partnered with Pounce Consulting to create a portable telemedicine kiosk that allows patients or physicians to routinely perform health screenings at home or remotely. According to Dr. José Fernández Villaseñor, physician, surgeon and electrical engineer for Freescale Semiconductor, the Intelligent Hospital kiosk enables patients to remotely send their vital signs and test results to healthcare providers to proactively monitor and prevent complications of chronic disorders. The kiosks can also be displayed in public places to allow patients to performs various medical tests and transmit the data to a hospital. The product is being piloted in Mexico, in part due to grant funding by the Jalisco State Secretariat of Economic Development and the National Council of Science and Technology. Full Story UnitedHealth Group to offer telehealth services to Delta Air Lines employees Delta Air Lines has begun offering UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UHG)'s OptumHealth NowClinic online care services to its employees. According to OptumHealth Care Solutions Chief Executive Officer Rob Webb, Delta will be the first airline in the United States to use OptumHealth, which allows workers to have Internet-based medical visits with their doctors. Available 24 hours per day every day, employees can connect with doctors through five physician networks through live Web cams and live computer chats at a cost of $10 for every 10 minutes. In addition to improving access to their regular doctors, employees may also use the product to contact any physician for urgent medical care. OptumHealth will initially be used by Delta's 10,000 employees in Minnesota. Delta is also piloting a patient-oriented system in Texas. Full Story Vgo's new telepresence robot offers advanced conversation, remote piloting A real-life "avatar" is about to make its public debut, and Nashua, NH-based Vgo Communications Inc. (VCI) hopes this really is the droid you're looking for. "Vgo," a four-foot high, 18-pound telepresence robot is scheduled for unveiling today in Las Vegas, and according to VCI founder and Chief Technology Officer Tim Root, the Wi-Fi driven mechanical "creature" represents the future of medical robotics. Although similar units, also featuring a mounted television monitor and Web cam, have been introduced or put on the market - and more are on the way - Vgo offers something the others (so far) don't - the ability to follow you around and effectively hold a conversation. Doctors may remotely pilot the unit while engaged elsewhere, or even use it to physically take the physician's place in meetings. And, with an easily chargeable battery capable of lasting 6 to 10 hours, and a price tag that's about one-third as much as forthcoming models from competitors, Vgo may be hard to resist, according to Root. Full Story Further Information New BRIT Systems tool helps doctors instantly update contact information Dallas-based digital services provider BRIT Systems has introduced a new communications tool that allows referring physicians to easily verify and update their contact information via automated dialing. According to BRIT Systems President Shelly Fisher, the company's Fire Drill program, designed for the UrgentWorks Critical Results Reporting application, automates many of the processes needed by doctors to keep their contact information up to date. Fire Drill includes a tool to schedule the drill and send e-mails to the users informing them of when to expect the call, and the questions that will be asked. It also includes management reports showing which phones numbers were verified or updated, indicated as being wrong, or never answered. The application requires no installation of a client or download, not even Flash, Fisher said. Full Story Make Internet technology simpler and the elderly will come, study says Older Americans are not using web technology, information gathering or social networking products as much as Generation X- or Millennial-age persons, but they might if the products are simpler to understand, according to a report by The SCAN Foundation. Internet technology might also be more readily adopted by seniors if the products are more enjoyable and personalized, appropriate for their particular physical or cognitive states, and endorsed by respected members of the local community. Bruce Cernoff M.D., president and chief executive officer of The SCAN Foundation, emphasized the importance of getting the elderly to use the Internet and its various services. "Unless older adults have access to and embrace these tools, their voices (in society) will be muted," he said. Full Story Further Information HHS offers free software for quick, low-cost medical quality Web sites The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)'s Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is offering free software designed to reduce the cost and time a state, hospital or other organization needs to spend to compile, analyze and post data on quality of hospital care, its cost and how that care is used. According to AHRQ Director Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D., the Microsoft Windows-based MONAHRQ - My Own Network Powered software - allows users to create a customized Web site with data that can be used for internal quality improvement or reporting quality information to the public. The cost of creating a Web site with this data is estimated to be $300,000 or more, and the time required could be a year. With MONAHRQ, that time can be cut to a few days, Clancy said. MONAHRQ can be downloaded from AHRQ's Web site at http://monahrq.ahrq.gov. Full Story Kaiser earns information technology honor for Mobile Health Vehicle Kaiser Permanente's first-of-its-kind Mobile Health Vehicle (MHV) has been recognized by CIO magazine with a CIO 100 Award for "using information technology in innovative ways that provide value," the San Francisco-based medical care provider announced. According to Kaiser Chief Information Officer Philip Fasano, the MHV, first introduced in June 2009, increases and extends access to critical health care services, including a broad range of screenings, for Kaiser Permanente members and uninsured patients who would otherwise lack access to these services. The 500-square-foot, 10-wheeled vehicle was the nation's most wired private mobile health solution at the time of its deployment, having full access to Kaiser Permanente HealthConnect, Kaiser's comprehensive electronic health record, Fasano said. Every year, the CIO 100 competition honors companies that "demonstrate excellence and achievement in IT," CIO magazine Editor in Chief Maryfran Johnson said. Full Story June 9 deadline to register for FDA workshop on medical device innovation The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is planning a public workshop in Washington, D.C. on June 24 to address innovation in the medical device industry. The workshop, presented by the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH), will cover unmet public health needs defined as illnesses and injuries that are serious or have moderate adverse impact on health, but affect many individuals; could be cured, significantly improved, or prevented by development or redesign of a device; and for which the device is not being developed or redesigned due to barriers that the federal government can directly or indirectly remove or minimize, CDRH Director Melanie Fleming said. There is no fee to register or attend, but workshop attendance applications are due by close of business on June 9. For more information, contact Fleming at (301) 796-5424, fax (301) 847-8510, or melanie.fleming@fda.hhs.gov. Full Story
Freda C. Lewis-Hall, MD, senior vice president and chief medical officer, Pfizer, and Rose Crane, CEO of Epocrates, announced a collaboration between the two companies to give healthcare providers mobile access to the Pfizer Medical Information Group...Markus Tjahjadi, director of engineering at Asolva, announced the launch of Drug Waste Tracker, a software tool for hospital pharmacies that allows instant tracking of the amount and cost of oncology drugs that are prepared versus the actual amount consumed...Madeline Rivera, vice president for Care Management for Maimonides Medical Center, announced they had adopted the Allscripts Care Management solution for utilization management and discharge planning...Scott Jenkins, PhD, vice president of Dell Healthcare Solutions and Ryan Howard, CEO of Practice Fusion, announced that the two companies will bundle Practice Fusion's free web-based EMR with Dell desktop, laptop, printer, scanner and networking systems...Dr. Max House of Memorial University in St. John's (Canada) and founder of the Telemedicine Centre, received a special award from the Canadian Association for University Continuing Education...Dr. Krishnakumar Menon, Managing Director, Maestros Mediline Systems Limited, Mumbai, India, announced the launch of a mobile electrocardiogram application, eUNO R10, for BlackBerry smartphones in India...Neal Neuberger, Executive Director of the Institute for e-Health Policy, moderated a Congressional Luncheon Seminar on June 2, 2010...Serena Clayton, PhD, Executive Director of the California School Health Centers Association announced they had partnered with CompuMed to promote CompuMed's CardioGram and CardioGramKids ECG telemedicine technologies for use in school health centers throughout California...Please send us your news on Movers and Shakers in the field.
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