President's new drug control strategy calls for electronic monitoring
President Obama has announced a new drug control strategy that includes use of electronic monitoring systems to guard against overprescribing of controlled substances. According to the President, the National Drug Control Strategy establishes five-year goals for reducing drug use and its consequences by 15 percent through "a balanced policy of prevention, treatment, enforcement, and international cooperation." The new drug plan encourages healthcare professionals to ask patients questions about drug use even during routine treatment so that early intervention is possible. It also helps more states set up electronic databases to identify doctors who are over-prescribing addictive pain killers. The strategy's goal is also to help states with existing prescription drug monitoring programs better coordinate their services. Currently, 41 states have such programs but all run them differently, National Drug Policy Director Gil Kerlikowske said. Full Story

Intuit to buy Medfusion for $91 million, combine online health platforms
Mountain View, CA-based software maker Intuit has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Cary, NC-based online medical service provider Medfusion for $91 million in cash, the companies announced. According to Intuit President and Chief Executive Officer Brad Smith, the deal will help the companies resolve healthcare provider and consumer concerns. Medfusion's online service helps patients communicate with their providers to schedule appointments, pay bills, request prescription refills, complete medical forms, review lab results and clinical summaries, receive reminders and exchange secure messages for related care and administrative issues. After the deal is finalized, Intuit will incorporate the product into Intuit's Quicken Health platform, Smith said. The deal is expected to close by July 31.Full Story

New cellular accessory offers cardiac patients link to doctors
Medtronic Inc. has released a cellular accessory that provides cardiac device patients with the ability to securely send information stored in their implanted devices to their clinics via cellular signals instead of a telephone landline. According to Medtronic Cardiac Rhythm Disease Management Business President Pat Mackin, the M-Link accessory simplifies connection to the company's CareLink Network and enables clinicians to remotely monitor more patients who are implanted with cardiac devices. It also allows transmission of care alert notifications when any of the programmable alert conditions from a patient's implanted device have occurred. Physicians and nurses can view the transmitted data through a secure Web site, giving them the opportunity for a "real-time" look at how the patient's device is functioning, Mackin said. Full Story

LifeWatch to launch remote patient monitoring application for iPad
Swiss healthcare and technology company LifeWatch Services Inc. plans to launch an application for the Apple iPad designed to enable easy remote patient monitoring. According to LifeWatch Chief Executive Officer Brent Cohen, the ECG report TeleViewer application will be part of LifeWatch's newly announced TeleClinics series of remote patient monitoring service packages. Cohen said the iPad's ease of use, portability, convenience and multi-touch capabilities are "well suited to the timely review of patient remote monitoring reports by physicians." TeleViewer's features also help physicians increase their productivity and standard of care through immediate access to critical patient data and can reduce risk of error as patient care is increasingly handed off from one doctor to another. Full Story

Apollo Hospitals, Cisco unveil telemedicine improvement plan for India
Apollo Hospitals, Asia's largest healthcare provider, and networking giant Cisco have announced a plan to use health information technology to improve telemedicine services throughout India. According to Apollo Hospitals Group Executive Director Sangita Reddy, the joint initiative will "help drive inclusive growth and well-being" via Cisco's HealthPresence Extended Reach technology. Such a product will make telemedicine an affordable alternative to traditional medicine, Reddy said. The two companies will launch the three-phase project in Raichur, Karnataka, South India, to demonstrate the benefits of telemedicine. Eventually, the project will be extended to other emerging countries, according to Reddy. Full Story

Merlin@home system wireless adaptor released for sale in U.S.
St. Paul, MN-based medical device maker St. Jude Medical has begun U.S. sale of its Wireless USB Adaptor for the Merlin@home system, which allows patient data from an implantable cardiac device to be wirelessly downloaded and securely transmitted via telephone for review by a physician. According to Eric S. Fain, M.D., president of the St. Jude Medical Cardiac Rhythm Management Division, the device plugs into a new or existing Merlin@home transmitter, which wirelessly communicates with the patient's cardiac unit while they are asleep. The data is sent to the Merlin.net Patient Care Network (PCN), an Internet-based repository of patient and device data. The Merlin.net PCN organizes the data for fast analysis and easy review, and allows information to be sent directly to a clinic's or hospital's electronic health record (EHR) system for inclusion in the patient's comprehensive EHR, Fain said. Full Story

Honeywell HomMed extends function of LifeStream remote patient care system
Remote patient care system provider Honeywell HomMed is expanding its partnership with mobile health products maker eDevice to bring extended connectivity to its LifeStream remote patient care system and Genesis DM monitor. According to Honeywell HomMed President Terry Duesterhoeft, the new bundle will offer patients and healthcare providers greater access to health information utilizing existing network coverage at the patient's location. The Genesis DM telehealth device measures vital signs such as heart rate, blood pressure and weight, and provides customizable subjective disease-related queries for a more complete picture of an individual's health. Automated and secure transfer of medical and vital signs records is made using eDevice e-health data communication terminals and modules, Duesterhoeft said. Full Story

FDA approves sale of upgraded LATITUDE software in U.S.
Natick, MA-based Boston Scientific Corp. has received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to market an upgraded version of its LATITUDE Patient Management System software in the United States. According to Kenneth Stein, M.D., chief medical officer for Boston Scientific's Cardiology, Rhythm and Vascular Group, the LATITUDE system can detect changes in a patient's heart health status between scheduled follow-up visits and send relevant data and alerts directly to physicians. More than 160,000 patients have been enrolled on the system at more than 2,300 clinics across the U.S. The LATITUDE system is available in 15 other countries, with nearly 1,700 patients enrolled in Europe at approximately 150 clinics. Full Story

Prescription vending machines become tool in pharmacist shortage
A new type of telemedicine is offering medical care to persons in rural locations - one that comes in vending machines. According to a report by HealthLeaders Media, urgent-care clinics and emergency departments are increasingly installing automated medication dispensing machines to supply prescription drugs to patients in pharmacist-short areas. Minneapolis-based InstyMeds Corp. has installed about 200 ATM-like units in medical facilities throughout the U.S. over the past two years. The machines can hold 20-30 different medications, such as pain medications, antibiotics, and other drugs commonly prescribed to ER patients. While the machines are considered helpful in some locations, many states regulate or prohibit their use, according to the HealthLeaders report. Full Story   Further Information

NRTRC white paper examines convergence of telehealth, EHRs and HIE
Incentive programs, communication reforms and increased acceptance of telemedicine technologies are expected to bring about a convergence of telehealth, electronic health records (EHRs) and health information exchange (HIE), according to a white paper by the Northwest Regional Telehealth Resource Center in Spokane, WA. "The Crossroads of Telehealth, Electronic Health Records & Health Information Exchange: Planning for Rural Communities" notes that accelerating adoption and utilization of telehealth technologies will be "critical to a successful stakeholder response to the disruptive changes that are underway in healthcare." Other factors include the growing use of the Internet as a health tool by consumers, 61 percent of whom go on the Web for healthcare information, and 80 percent of whom have expressed a preference for online health records, according to the report.Full Story

Arizona officials to spend $10 million on prison EHR system
Officials in Maricopa County, AZ are moving forward with a $10 million plan to buy an electronic medical records system in an effort to improve inmate care and prevent lawsuits. According to Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox, millions of dollars in wrongful death judgments, and the Department of Correctional Health Services' loss of accreditation in 2009 forced the county to "bite the bullet and get it done." Family members, inmate advocates, consultants and attorneys have blamed problems in managing inmate health data for unnecessary suffering and deaths in the county jails. Maricopa County still uses paper medical records. It will take several years to fully purchase and install the system, with the process beginning in June after supervisors adopt the 2010-11 fiscal budget, Wilcox said. Full Story

Wayne Swan, Australia's Federal Treasurer, announced an additional $A2.2 billion in funding for the Australian health system, with $A467 million designated to voluntary electronic health records...Representative Niki Tsongas (D-Mass.) introduced a House bill (HR5225) that would provide veterans with online access to their military personnel file and health and benefits records...Rizwan Bashirullah, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Florida, developed a standard-size pill capsule that integrates a microchip and digestible antenna that would allow physicians to monitor patients' drug-taking compliance...Anthony J. Guzzi, president and COO of EMCOR Group, Inc., announced that EMCOR Services Integrated Solutions, along with Dynalectric, Contra Costa Electric, and Marelich Mechanical have been awarded contracts for the installation of mechanical, electrical, voice/data, and controls systems for the renovation of a new state-of-the-art Telemedicine Facility at the University of California, San Francisco... Ron Harvey, Commission Chairman of Washakie County, Wyoming, is seeking grants worth approximately $444,000 to fund the Worland VA Primary Care Telehealthcare Outreach Clinic and the Worland Crisis Stabilization Center...Dr. Mohit Kaushal, digital healthcare director of the FCC's Omnibus Broadband Initiative, advocated for mobile healthcare technologies at an event hosted by the Institute for e-Health Policy...Pascale Massin, MD, discussed the use of a telemedicine network, OPHDIAT in use around Paris, France, at a recent meeting of the French Society of ophthalmology...Megan von Isenburg, associate director of public services at Duke University Medical Center's library, presented a way for physicians to use the Amazon Kindle e-reader to wirelessly access digital textbooks and clinical guidelines...Please send us your news on Movers and Shakers in the field.

• ATA 2010: 15th Annual International Meeting & Exposition
  May 16 - 18, 2010 - San Antonio, TX
  Click here for exhibiting Information
  
  
• e-Health 2010: From Investment to Impact
  May 30 - June 2, 2010 - Vancouver, Canada
  e-Health 2010
  
  
• Seventh Annual Healthcare Unbound Conference & Exhibition
  July 19-20, 2010 - San Diego, CA
  Networks, platforms & 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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