CMS revises credentialing requirements for hospitals' use of telemedicine
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed changes that will make it easier for hospitals to handle the burden of required paperwork for credentialing and telemedicine. The proposed rules, available for review and comment on the Federal Register site at www.gpoaccess.gov, revise the conditions of participation for hospitals and critical access hospitals (CAHs). It would allow hospitals to use information from another location to make credentialing and privileging decisions regarding physicians and practitioners that will use telemedicine at their facility. Previously, CMS allowed hospitals and CAHs to accept credentialing information about telemedicine providers from the distant site, but not privileging information. CMS said the new rule aims to make the credentialing process less burdensome, particularly for small hospitals with limited resources. Full Story  Further Information

Boston Scientific, Philips and Siemens to offer improved cardiac imaging system
Boston Scientific Corp., Philips Healthcare and Siemens Medical Solutions are developing an ultrasound product that will give physicians a more-accurate view of a diseased heart. According to Joe Fitzgerald, president of Boston Scientific's Endovascular Unit, the agreement calls for joint use of the company's iLab Ultrasound Imaging System with the Philips Allura Xper, and the Siemens AXIOM Artis and Artis zee interventional X-ray systems to provide doctors with a 360-degree inside view of the heart and coronary vessels. The system provides more-accurate imagery of the diseased vessels than through angiography alone, Fitzgerald said. The three systems are compatible, and the joint program can be used with most interventional X-ray systems, he added. Full Story

Dossia expands health record software platform to other companies
Dossia, a consortium founded by large employers to develop and offer electronic health records (EHRs) to their workers, is expanding the software platform and making it available to other companies. According to Dossia Chief Operations Officer Steve Munini, the new, subscription-based Software-as-a-Service package includes applications that have been developed for or are available via the Dossia platform by third parties, including Mayo Clinic, Allviant, Vitality and MediKeeper. The consortium, whose founders include Walmart, Intel, Pitney Bowes and Vanguard Health Systems, plans to collaborate with employers' third parties - such as benefit providers and labs - to integrate patient information into employees' EHRs. Dossia is also in the process of developing a package for small to medium sized businesses, which the company hopes to be able to start offering later this year, Munini said. Full Story

More countries to have access to Intel Health Guide in Europe
Intel plans to expand availability of the Intel Health Guide in Europe and is working with strategic industry partners in France, Germany, Spain and The Netherlands to bring localized versions of the device to market over the coming year. According to Doug Busch, vice president and chief technical officer of Intel's Digital Health Group, chronic conditions can account for 70 percent of total health expenditure in Europe, especially if the conditions are poorly managed. The Intel Health Guide is already commercially available in the United Kingdom, United States, Ireland and Australia. It combines an in-home patient device with the company's Health Care Management Suite, an online interface that allows clinicians to securely monitor patients in their homes and manage care remotely. It was designed to help address the challenges of chronic conditions for patients, their family caregivers and the healthcare professionals responsible for their care, Busch said. Full Story

New medical apps make mental health treatment possible via cell phones
Increasingly sophisticated mental health applications are being developed for use in mobile phones and providing patients with additional treatment options. According to a report on National Public Radio (NPR), the applications are seen as a way to bridge periodic therapy sessions - becoming an always-available mobile therapist that can help with everything from quitting smoking to detecting relapses in psychotic disorders. The mobile technologies also let users track their moods and experiences, providing a supplemental tool for psychiatrists and psychologists, NPR reports. University of Pennsylvania researcher Dimitri Perivoliotis, who treats patients with schizophrenia, said the applications help a cell phone become "a therapist in your pocket." Researchers say the applications can also be used to treat anxiety, phobias, eating disorders and other mental health issues. Full Story

FDA, NIH launch health and safety Web site for foods, human gene trials
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health have launched a Web site that allows consumers to report safety problems related to foods, including pet foods, and animal drugs, and adverse events in human gene transfer trials. According to Commissioner of Food and Drugs Margaret A. Hamburg, the new site, called the Safety Reporting Portal, provides "easier and safer access to online reporting." The Web portal will eventually encompass other types of clinical trials and safety problems arising from products regulated by a broad array of federal agencies. Hamburg called the site "a first step toward a common electronic reporting system that will offer one-stop shopping, allowing an individual to file a single report to multiple agencies that may have an interest in the event." Further Information   Further Information

Medical waiting device lets patients check if doctors are behind schedule
Physicians are beginning to test out a new Web-based tool that allows patients to check whether their doctors are running behind schedule on appointments. According to Vishal Mehta, founder of Chicago-based Medical Wait Time LLC, the application, MedWaitTime, enables patients to check appointment status up to two hours ahead of time. The patient can also opt to receive text messages alerting them about wait times. Mehta, an orthopedic surgeon, said he developed the product after feeling guilty about routinely running behind and making his patients sit in the waiting room for up to an hour or more. The company plans to charge $50 monthly per physician and $300 monthly per hospital department for using the service. Mehta also wants to develop an iPhone application for the product. Full Story  Further Information

Technology may shift responsibility of healthcare to consumers, lower costs
Healthcare costs are likely to be lowered by increased use of products such as low-cost computing devices, digital sensors and the Internet, according to a report in the New York Times. Such products will shift the responsibility of diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of diseases from hospitals and specialty clinics, to primary care physicians and patients, which are far less expensive options, the Times reports. The technology-dependent efforts emphasize early detection of health problems, prevention and management of chronic disease. While seemingly indicative of the proper path for healthcare, there are obstacles to change. Those include getting patients to embrace healthier lifestyles and persuading the government and insurers to reimburse at-home testing and monitoring devices. Full Story

VA telehealth program to become cost reduction model for healthcare reform
The White House and Health and Human Services Department are preparing to take a much closer look at the Veterans Affairs Department (VA)'s telehealth program, in an effort to find ways to reduce overall costs and improve access to care as part of cross-cutting healthcare reforms. According to Dr. Adam Darkins, the Veterans Health Administration's chief consultant of care coordination, in recent years, VA has taken a lead role in adopting telemedicine strategies, and it is expanding those programs as word has spread of its good results. Those results include reductions in hospital admissions and shorter hospital stays for the telehealth populations, which result in lower costs. As a result, VA's telemedicine program, the largest in the world, is poised to expand, with its budget to grow to $163 million in fiscal 2011, more than twice the $72 million spent in fiscal 2009. New VA telehealth programs in development include care coordination for substance abuse, weight loss and palliative care, Darkins said. Full Story

Seattle Cancer Care Alliance implements eHealth Global record retrieval program
Rochester, NY-based eHealth Global Technologies Inc. (eHGT) has established a partnership with Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA). According to Elaine Zedella, SCCA patient intake manager, SCCA has successfully implemented eHGT's eHealth Access Record Retrieval Service, which retrieves required records, images and pathology slides for SCCA patients, along with acquiring any needed patient consents for the retrieval process. This service speeds SCCA's ability to see new patients; staff can simply and securely request outside records for their referred-in patients. eHGT then retrieves all requested records and securely delivers them in a standard digital format. "What took weeks now takes hours or days, and relieves patients of this stressful burden," Zedella said. Full Story

AMA releases 10-point Health Insurer Code of Conduct
The American Medical Association (AMA) has released a 10-point Code of Conduct that the Chicago-based group says all health insurers should follow. The Health Insurer Code of Conduct Principles features 41 provisions, including ones on cancellation, spending on medical services, provider access, respectful relations and benefit management. According to AMA President J. James Rohack, M.D., the AMA developed the code with support from 43 state medical associations and physician groups representing 19 types of specialized care. The association hopes to publish a scorecard showing which plans follow these rules in a few years, in time for the launch of health exchanges enabled by health reform legislation. The code is available for review at www.ama-assn.org. Full Story

Andrew VanZee, former VP of provider networks and operations at Logansport Memorial Hospital (Indiana) has been named Indiana's statewide health IT coordinator...Sidney Higa, president of Spae International Communications, announced a new lost-cost approach to telemedicine called VidyoHealth...Robert Mills, spokesman for the American Medical Association, announced a lawsuit to prevent the Federal Trade Commission from implementing the Red Flags Rule that defined physicians as "creditors" on behalf of the AMA, the American Osteopathic Association and the Medical Society of the District of Columbia...Dr. Adam Darkins, chief consultant of care coordination for the Veterans Health Administration, reports their Care Coordination/Home Telehealth program is getting patient satisfaction scores of 86 percent...Dr. P. Namperumalsamy, chairman of the Aravind Eye Hospital (India), discusses the Indian government's plans to set up 20,000 additional rural vision centers, implementing a telemedicine wi-fi video conferencing network...John West, chief technology officer of Baptist Health System (Birmingham, AL), discussed how the four-hospital system hopes to roll out a new e-health record system without disrupting patient treatment...Peter Kuhn, CEO of MEDSEEK, announced that they had awarded Spectrum Health the MEDSEEK 2010 eHealth Excellence Award for outstanding vision, innovation and performance in using eHealth technology...Dr. Peter Yellowlees, professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at UC Davis School of Medicine, was appointed to the American Telemedicine Association board of directors...Ron Emerson, global director of healthcare for Polycom, Inc., received the Fifth Annual American Telemedicine Association Industry Council Award at the American Telemedicine Association's annual meeting...Please send us your news on Movers and Shakers in the field.

• 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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		Telemedicine and e-Health delivers more authoritative content from the peer-reviewed journal of record. The peer-reviewed publication,Telemedicine and e-Health, is published 10 times a year in print and online covering all aspects of clinical telemedicine practice, technical advances, enabling technologies, education, health policy and regulation and biomedical and health services research. The journal also deals with the clinical effectiveness, efficacy and safety of telemedicine and its effects on quality, cost and accessibility of care, medical records and transmission of same. For complete information and to subscribe, check out our website. Telemedicine and e-Health is an Official Journal of the American Telemedicine Association.