Virtual Sleep Lab provides cardiac and sleep apnea analysis
GE Healthcare has unveiled its MARS Virtual Sleep Lab (VSL), the first device to provide a streamlined view of quantitative cardiac and sleep apnea analysis from any GE-monitored inpatient bed, helping enhance speed of diagnosis. According to Dr. Matthias Weber, vice president and GM of Global Diagnostic Cardiology at GE Healthcare, MARS VSL effectively turns a patient’s room into a sleep lab. The device automatically reports on clinical data that is critical for making a sleep apnea diagnosis, such as apnea hypopnea index, sleep staging and respiratory events. Treatment can then begin while the patient is still in the hospital, before other complications develop, Weber said. More than 80 percent of individuals with moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea have not been clinically diagnosed, he noted. Full Story

New National Broadband Plan places emphasis on e-health 
The Federal Communication Commission’s far-reaching national strategy for broadband strongly emphasizes use of electronic health record adoption, health data exchanges, telemedicine and mobile health services in healthcare. The National Broadband Plan, released Tuesday, offers 11 recommendations for using high-speed broadband networks in e-heath, such as establishing a Health Care Broadband Infrastructure Fund to help defray healthcare delivery costs in underserved areas; extending broadband grants to nursing homes, healthcare administrative offices, healthcare data centers and other locations; increasing federal reimbursements for telemedicine; and partnering with FDA to clarify regulatory requirements for devices with dual uses in communications and healthcare. The plan also allocates at least $29 million annually to the Indian Health Service to upgrade its broadband services. The American Telemedicine Association has stated its support of the plan, with ATA Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Linkous noting that Congress should implement the recommendations immediately. Full Story   Further Information

EmotaMe product tackles ‘emotional networking’ with seniors
Menlo Park, CA-based health networking technology designer Emota plans to have a beta release of its EmotaMe “emotional networking” product available this spring. According to Emota founder and Chief Executive Officer Paul To, the platform, geared toward the emotional health of the elderly, relies upon use of affordable and intuitive touch screen Internet tablets and picture frames – easily used by elderly patients – that allow long-distance communication, and also give caregivers and providers a non-intrusive connection to patients, allowing them to encourage medical compliance and support wellness. Seniors often feel isolated and alone, leading to depression and chronic conditions such as heart disease and diabetes. The ambient EmotaMe is not competition for a telephone or PC, but rather a way of enabling “the kind of subtle and minimal communication that, based on scientific research, carries much stronger social and emotional values over a long term,” To said. Full Story

HHS awards 16 states $162 million in HIE development funds
In its latest round of health information technology funding, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has awarded 16 states or state-designated entities a total of $162 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act monies to help facilitate health information exchange. According to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, the funding is part of a $2 billion initiative to “achieve widespread meaningful use of health IT and “provide use of an electronic health record [to] every citizen” by the year 2014. The awards include the Texas Health and Human Services Commission ($28.8 million); Florida Agency for Health Care Administration ($20.7 million); New Jersey Health Care Facilities Financing Authority ($11.4 million); and Louisiana Health Care Quality Forum ($10.6 million). A complete list of awards and recipients can be found at the HHS website. Full Story

Mary Ann Liebert releases free iPhone app for TMJ resources
Mary Ann Liebert Inc., publisher of Telemedicine and e-Health, has released a free iPhone application that allows delivery of the latest news, resources, press releases, research, and multimedia content directly to the user’s iPhone. The Liebert Mobile iPhone App is updated daily and provides access to information across the biomedical, biotechnology, medicine, surgery, and nursing, integrative medicine, environmental, and public health fields. Liebert Mobile also offers access to the full portfolio of authoritative Liebert peer-reviewed journals, as well as the comprehensive Liebert reference book collection. The application is available for download at the App Store via iTunes or an iPhone. Further Information

The broadband transmitter of the future: the human arm
Researchers at Korea University in Seoul have developed a new type of broadband transmitter that could improve monitoring of vital signs: the human arm. According to researcher and study co-author Sang-Hoon Lee, the transmission requires two electrodes placed 30 centimeters apart on human skin. Data transmits at 10 megabits per second and uses less energy than a wireless link like Bluetooth, Lee said. The skin also acts as a shelter for the transmission waves, making communication free of exterior interference. A network of this type for monitoring human vitals, such as blood sugar and electrical activity of the heart, would require only one-tenth the energy of current methods and be much more portable, as no batteries or plug-in cords would be needed. The researchers’ study appears in the February issue of the Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering. Full Story   Further Information

Disposable patient monitoring probes go on market
Hampton, VA-based Measurement Specialties Inc. (MSI) has introduced its 4400 Series family of disposable medical temperature probes for continuous patient monitoring applications. According to MSI Marketing Director Stéphanie Jouy, the sterile, single-use probes are designed for various applications, including esophageal temperature measurement, rectal temperature monitoring, skin temperature monitoring, esophageal temperature and monitoring heart sounds, and urinary drainage and bladder temperature. The product, with a three-year shelf life, is approved for marketing in Europe and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.  Full Story   Further Information

St. Jude Medical, Siemens enter new distribution agreement
Medical device maker St. Jude Medical Inc. has expanded access to its Wireless PressureWire Aeris Fractional Flow Reserve (FFR) Measurement Technology through a new agreement with Siemens Medical Solutions U.S.A. According to Frank Callaghan, president of St. Jude Medical’s Cardiovascular Division, the agreement will enable integrated wireless FFR measurement with PressureWire Aeris as an upgrade to hospitals using the Siemens AXIOM Sensis XP. The AXIOM Sensis XP is one of the most widely used hemodynamic recording systems and offers advanced measurement programs which aid physicians in interventional procedures, Callaghan said. FFR measurement technology aids in the diagnosis and treatment of coronary artery blockages. Full Story

AMA online database helps physicians analyze insurer contracts
The American Medical Association (AMA) has launched a first-ever online managed care database designed to help physicians analyze and negotiate better contracts with insurers. According to AMA President J. James Rohack, M.D., the National Managed Care Contract (NMCC) was developed specifically for physicians and will provide model contract language that complies with the managed care laws of all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and cover physicians’ concerns with managed care contracts. NMCC’s searchable database provides physicians with access to updated laws and regulations nationwide, and covers the managed care contracting process, the managed care contract itself, and the business relationship between physicians and health plans after an agreement has been signed. It can also assist with legislative, regulatory, and legal efforts to reform unfair managed care business practices, and monitor emerging state and federal legislative and regulatory trends, Rohack said. Full Story

E-health’s success in Europe depends on multi-nation coordination
European governments must coordinate their efforts if e-health is to be successfully established on the continent within the next 10 years, according to a declaration signed by representatives at this week’s World of Health IT conference in Barcelona. The declaration acknowledges the “importance of fully integrating digital healthcare into the European policy portfolio and the development of the post-2010 European strategy,” as well as a need to work toward greater political coordination between areas in which e-health can improve healthcare and aim to remove barriers in its deployment. E-health is recognized as a market worth more than $20.4 billion [U.S.] that will only grow over the next decade. Ministers signing the declaration also committed to organizing activities at the European level related to innovation and to the legal issues involved in managing healthcare data digitally.   Full Story

Telepresence market to peak this year at $73 million
Demand for telepresence systems is expected to peak this year and decline sharply to where no market growth is seen by 2015, according to a report by Frost & Sullivan. The drastic reversal from a 64 percent growth rate and $73 million in revenues for 2010 will be due to stiffening competition in the market over the next two years, in which prices for mid-range and customized systems will begin to fall, Frost & Sullivan industry manager Pranabesh Nath said. There is also a chance that most of the big-ticket clients will have invested in telepresence systems by then, he added. Full Story

Sutter Health to invest $400 million to finish EHR
Sacramento, CA-based not-for-profit Sutter Health plans to invest $400 million over the next five years to implement an electronic health record (EHR) system throughout its California medical chain. According to Sutter Health President Pat Fry, the action is an extension of efforts begun in 2009, in which Sutter installed the EHR system at most of its physician care centers. Sutter Health is one of the state’s largest care providers, serving more than 1 million patients in Northern California. The company is the second major healthcare provider with plans for a statewide EHR; earlier this month Kaiser Permanente, California’s largest healthcare provider, announced that its $4 billion HealthConnect EHR is fully operational.  Full Story

Lawrence E. Strickling, Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information at the Department of Commerce, reported that of the $4.7 billion allocated to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), over $1 billion has already been awarded…Martin Schnier, chief of staff of the Big Spring Hospital, part of The West Texas Veterans Affairs Health Care System, announced plans to expand its use of telemedicine to the Thomas E. Creek Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Amarillo and larger centers in New Mexico…Robert Mesirow, vice president and show director for the International CTIA Wireless convention to be held March 23-25 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, announced that the show floor will be the Wireless Health Pavilion, focusing on wireless health applications…James K. Lassetter, MD, chief executive officer of Medicity, announced that Michigan-based Trinity Health went live with the first stage of Medicity’s Novo Grid deployment to establish their Health Information Exchange…Aneesh Chopra, Federal Chief Technology Officer of the U.S. and John P. Howe, III, MD, president and chief executive officer of Project HOPE, will be featured speakers at the May 16-18th 15th American Telemedicine Association Annual International Meeting and Exposition to be held at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas…Harry Totonis, president and chief executive officer of Surescripts, describes a new study indicating that only one in four office-based doctors use e-prescribing…Silke Schmidt presents a study in the Deutsches Arzteblatt International indicating that telemonitoring may reduce the mortality of patients with heart failure by 20%...Lluis Donoso, member of the executive council of the European Society of Radiology, presented a talk on the extensive use of teleradiology at the European eHealth Conference in Barcelona, Spain…Peter Schwarz of the Division of Prevention and Care of Diabetes at the University of Dresden, presented preliminary results of a telemedicine study on diabetes care using mobile phones at the European eHealth Conference in Barcelona, Spain…Please send us your news on Movers and Shakers in the field.

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