Dell, AMA launch health IT adoption strategy for small practices
Technology giant Dell and the American Medical Association are partnering on a “one-stop shopping” strategy to help small physician practices adopt electronic health records (EHRs) and other health IT systems. According to AMA board member Steven Stack, M.D., the plan will provide doctors with access to information, products, services and resources that ease adoption of health IT. Initial offerings – e-prescribing and CPOE – will be aimed at helping practices meet federal EHR “meaningful use” standards that are expected to become mandatory by 2011. The platform is currently being beta-tested in Michigan in collaboration with the Michigan State Medical Society. Dell Healthcare and Life Sciences Vice President Jamie Coffin, Ph.D., said the program will “knock down barriers to the adoption and meaningful use of digital patient info across the healthcare system.” Full Story

Cisco unveils global video collaboration platform
Communications technology company Cisco has launched a telemedicine system designed to improve physician and patient global access to medical care. According to Dr. Kaveh Safavi, vice president at Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group Healthcare Practice, the Cisco HealthPresence video collaboration platform addresses four key healthcare delivery challenges: capacity, or the scarcity and productivity of clinical expertise; collaboration; information exchange; and personalization, or the engaging of patients in ways that make them more active participants in consults. HealthPresence also allows multiple members of a patient’s care team to simultaneously participate in consultations, creating new ways to deliver and coordinate care. This is a significant innovation from typical point-to-point telemedicine solutions and even traditional in-person medical examinations, Safavi said. Full Story

Military develops ‘store-and-forward’ EHR system for White House
The Military Health System (MHS) has developed a version of its AHLTA electronic health record (EHR) system for use in the White House. According to MHS Chief Information Officer Charles Campbell, the system is based on AHLTA Theater, the EHR program used by the Department of Defense for war zones. The White House version will be used in the residence clinic, Camp David, Air Force One, Marine One, and the President’s plane and helicopter, Campbell said. AHLTA Theater has a store-and-forward capability that allows it to preserve digital health records under conditions when no signal is available to transmit records to forward-care stations, making it ideal for the White House, he added. Other government locales, such as the State Department, are also considering using an MHS-driven EHR system. Full Story

Harvard, UpToDate plan effort to end ‘professional isolation’
A collaboration between a Waltham, MA, medical information company and a Harvard University research institute aims to reduce “professional isolation” and increase medical resources to doctors in the developing world. The effort from UpToDate Inc. and the Global Health Delivery (GHD) Project will allow physicians in remote nations to tap into a regularly updated database of expert advice on 8,000 medical conditions. According to David Mendels, a former executive with Adobe Systems Inc. and unofficial adviser to GHD, typically, the biggest resource needed in developing nations “is not technical, it’s know-how”. UpToDate and Global Health Delivery have set up an application process to determine which doctors will be able to make the best use of the service. Although originally centered on poverty-stricken nations such as Rwanda, the program is also being directed to Haiti following the massive earthquake there in January. Full Story

Philips, Cinterion win GSMA honor for new wireless sleep aid
Royal Philips Electronics’ Respironics System One sleep therapy product has won the GSMA’s “Best Embedded End-to-End Service Award,” the Netherlands-based medical technologies developer announced. Respironics System One, co-developed with Munich-based machine-to-machine communication module maker Cinterion Wireless Modules, combines mobility and reliable two-way wireless communications with advanced sleep apnea therapy to help millions of patients and their healthcare providers who must meet rigorous new reporting standards, according to GSMA Chief Technology Officer Alex Sinclair. Physicians may wirelessly obtain timely, detailed patient breathing reports and respond with prescription air pressure changes transmitted instantly to the device, providing immediate patient relief. The device is currently available only in the United States and will roll out in markets worldwide over the coming year. The award was presented as part of GSMA’s annual Embedded Mobile Competition. Full Story

Robot-driven prostate surgeries prove as successful as traditional surgery
Use of virtual, robotic technology to perform prostate surgery is just as successful, and in some cases even more so, than traditional human hand-performed surgeries, according to a study by researchers at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. The study is the first to show that lack of tactile feedback during robotic surgery does not adversely impact outcomes in patients with prostate cancer, according to lead researcher Dr. Ashutosh Tewari. Robotic surgery, with its three-dimensional, high-definition view, often gives surgeons the sensation of touch, even as they operate from a remote console. This ability by doctors to “feel with their eyes” – also known as intersensory integration – indicates that the outcomes of prostate cancer surgery “are not just technology dependent, but rather dependent on surgical experience, anatomical details and attention to basic surgical techniques,” Tewari said. Full Story

With new telepresence robot, it really is all about Me
Engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)’s Personal Robotics Group (PRG)  have developed one of the world’s most expressive telepresence robots, one that could point the way for future telemedicine-related patient care. Like many current telepresence robots, the foot-high “MeBot” displays a person’s face on its screen and allows that person to “see” what’s taking place wherever the robot happens to be. But the MeBot also responds to a subject’s facial, head and arm movements. While the crab-like device lacks hands, making remote services impossible, the fact that it can be controlled by a smile or raising of a person’s arms leads to some “intriguing” possibilities, according to PRG. The group’s thesis, “MeBot: A Robotic Platform for Socially Embodied Telepresence,” has been nominated for best paper at the conference for Human-Robot Interaction (HRI 2010) in Osaka, Japan.  Full Story

Spending on health IT to increase by 2012 due to federal mandate
Purchase of health information technology and electronic health record (EHR) systems are expected to rise sharply over the next two years because of federal usage requirements, according to a pair of industry surveys. Accenture and Harris Interactive’s survey shows that 80 percent of responding physicians under the age of 55 and 58 percent of non-users plan to implement EHR programs within the next two years to take advantage of federal incentives. Meanwhile, 72 percent of the hospitals and other healthcare organizations surveyed by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) expect to increase their spending on health IT in response to the government’s “meaningful use” criteria for incentives. Under the economic stimulus plan passed in 2009, healthcare providers and doctors qualify for incentives if they implement EHRs and can demonstrate meaningful use of such systems beginning in 2011. Full Story    Further Information

Sprint CEO: Healthcare being transformed by wireless technology
Wireless technology has an “historic opportunity” to transform the healthcare industry, according to Sprint Nextel Chief Executive Officer Dan Hesse. Hesse, the keynote speaker at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS)’s annual conference in Atlanta, noted that wireless technology has become essential for 277 million Americans and is “changing the paradigm of how healthcare is administered.” He cited various trends: in 2009, 89 percent of wireless Internet users sought health information online; caregivers are increasingly using smartphones equipped with medical applications for instant, secure access to lab results, x-rays, vital signs, drug-to-drug interactions, and other vital medical records; and wireless has the potential of “shaping the future of healthcare by enabling innovative and cost-effective approaches in delivering quality care.” Full Story    Further Information

Blumenthal announces new Health IT certification rule
The Department of Health and Human Services has released the proposed rule for establishing certification programs for health information technology. According to David Blumenthal, M.D., National Coordinator for Health IT, the proposed rule describes the creation of a certification program for electronic health records, as mandated by the HITECH Act of 2009. ONC policy analyst Steven Posnack said the rule will allow organizations to apply for temporary or permanent authorization to become certification bodies. Organizations wishing to apply for a temporary certification will be required “to demonstrate through documentation” that they are qualified to test and certify EHRs for part or all of the meaningful use requirements. Permanent certification will take longer and require more rigorous qualifications for testing and certification of EHRs, he said. Full Story    Further Information

Deadline extended for broadband stimulus funding applications
Applicants seeking stimulus funding for new broadband networks will have up to two extra weeks to submit their applications. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration has pushed back the deadline from March 15 to March 26 for submissions to the U.S. Department of Commerce. Applicants requesting funding for public computer center and sustainable broadband adoption must still submit their applications by March 15. These proposals are for the second and final round of federal funding; some applicants complained that the deadlines should be moved because the government is still reviewing proposals submitted for the first round of funding in December. Full Story

Wired and wireless treatments for stroke grow in popularity
Mechanical devices – wired and wireless – are becoming an increasingly popular method of treating acute ischemic stroke in the United States, according to a report by researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC). Eighty-five percent of all strokes are acute ischemic, in which a blood clot blocks the flow of blood to an artery supplying the brain, according to the study. Mechanical embolectomy devices—which remove or break up clots and restore blood flow via a catheter-based system—are approved for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for removal of clots and reimbursed as a stroke treatment by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), according to lead researcher Pooja Khatri, MD, UC assistant professor of neurology. Mechanical embolectomy is “a promising therapy, and deserving of further study,” Khatri said. Full Story

Donna-Bea Tillman, former director of the FDA’s Office of Device Evaluation, is moving to the Washington office of Microsoft Corp. as the director of regulations and policy for Microsoft’s health solutions group...Keith B. Hagen has been named chief operating officer (COO) of digital pathology company, Aperio Technologies, Inc…Jeff Allport, vice president, IT Solutions Delivery, St. Joseph Health System, announced the health system would be utilizing IBM’s Initiate Exchange, a health information exchange system…Richard A. Mahoney, vice president of Quest Diagnostics’ Healthcare Information Solutions, introduced Care360 Electronic Health Record, the next innovation of its Care360 platform used by the laboratory company’s 150,000 connected physicians…Stephanie S. McCutcheon, president and chief executive officer of Hospital Sisters Health System announced that they had selected the Allscripts Electronic Health Record and Practice Management solution to connect their 130 employed doctors and 3,300 independent physicians affiliated with the system’s 13 hospitals…Dr. Kimberly Shea, a veteran nurse and Arizona State University Assistant Professor, has been awarded a $385,000 research grant by The National Institute of Health’s National Institute of Nursing Research to study “telemonitoring” patients in conjunction with Arizona-based Banner Home Care…F. Mark Gumz, president and CEO of Olympus Corporation of the Americas, and Gene Cartwright, CEO of Omnyx, announced a nonexclusive worldwide licensing agreement that allows Omnyx to access an extensive portfolio of Olympus America patents in the field of virtual microscopy and digital pathology…Philip Hardin, executive vice president of Emdeon, announced the introduction of a mobile application for the medical claim management platform, the Emdeon Vision…David Gulian, president and chief executive officer of InfoLogix, announced the launch of a new line of mobile workstation solutions, the InfoLogix ST7 Mobile Workstations, part of the integrated Healthcare Mobility Solutions Suite…Richard Bootes, vice president of development for TeleHealth Services, announced an update of their TIGR Version 7 system, an on-demand patient and staff interactive education system that has been installed in more than 400 U.S. hospitals… Please send us your news on Movers and Shakers in the field.