Virtual avatars attempt to conquer 'digital divide' in diabetes education
Researchers at Boston University's School of Medicine are studying 3-D virtual avatars vs. traditional face-to-face patient-doctor meetings for diabetes education. According to study lead author John Wiecha, the goal is to challenge the "so-called 'digital divide' that assumes that low-income patients are less able to utilize the Web for health promotion purposes." The study, made possible through a $950,000 grant from the National Library of Medicine, will recruit African-American women with Type 2 diabetes. Participants will be recruited from Boston Medical Center and BMC health centers. They will be randomly placed into groups and receive diabetes education face-to-face at BMC, or via Second Life while at home. Participants in Second Life will create 3-D representations of themselves that they can navigate through the virtual world. They can "sit" with other patient avatars and participate in discussions as they would in a physical world, without leaving their homes or traveling. The environment's relative anonymity could encourage patients to disclose information about themselves that could help them overcome barriers to healthier life styles. Full Story

New 'super Wi-Fi' spectrum could bring health IT to rural U.S.
The Federal Communications Commission has approved a proposal for unlicensed use of television "white spaces"—the vacant airwaves between TV channels—that could improve availability of new technologies such as "super Wi-Fi" for underserved areas, including rural healthcare providers. According to FCC Chairperson Julius Genachowski, the new unlicensed spectrum "will be a powerful platform for innovation." This is the first significant block of spectrum made available for unlicensed use in more than 20 years, he said. That last unlicensed spectrum resulted in a wave of new technologies--baby monitors, cordless phones, and eventually Wi-Fi. White spectrum also has the capacity to carry secure patient data, aiding in the transition to electronic health records and other telemedicine devices. In August, Hocking Valley Community Hospital, a 25-bed critical access hospital in rural Logan, Ohio, about 50 miles outside Columbus, became the first medical facility in the nation to test the new spectrum through a demonstration project funded by Google and Spectrum Bridge Inc., a wireless software and services provider. Full Story   Further Information

Federal Regional Extension Center program awards final $9.8 million in funding
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONCHIT) has awarded nearly $10 million in funding for the last two regional extension centers (RECs) under the federal Health Information Technology Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. Under HITECH, the Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative, covering the state of New Hampshire, will receive $5.1 million, while the CalOptima Foundation, which covers Orange County, Calif., will receive $4.7 million, according to ONCHIT Coordinator David Blumenthal, M.D. Funding is for two years. RECs are designed to help physicians, clinics and hospitals transition from paper-based medical records to electronic health records (EHRs). Blumenthal said the final allocations, which bring the overall total to 62 RECs at $677 million, now ensures there are centers available throughout the country. "For primary care physicians and smaller hospitals in particular, the RECs will be an important resource to help meet the challenges of adopting EHRs and using them to deliver better care," he said. A complete list of REC grant recipients is available at the HHS website. Full Story   Further Information

RFID sensor projects aim to improve data transmission to telehealth devices
Advances in Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)-enabled sensors can help improve the way data is transmitted to telemedicine devices and the way doctors are able to monitor patients during at-home care. Researchers at Michigan State University have developed RFID-based sensors that monitor the level of activity performed by homebound patients, and alert physicians if the patient's activities appear unsafe. The units, attached to a person's upper arm, wrist and ankle, contain proximity sensors and accelerometers, allowing the system's software to calculate the amount of movement and angle of a person's limbs, and monitor activity levels. Meanwhile, at the Kainuu Central Hospital in Kajaani, Finland, a low-latency wireless sensor network is being used to improve the security of personnel in a psychiatric ward. The network transmits an alarm signal encoded with a unique serial number that identifies the individual to whom that tag was issued. Patients could use the system to alert doctors if they are in distress, and the tags could also include fall sensors to monitor patients remotely.   Full Story   Further Information

Blood pressure telemonitoring as effective as in-office or drug-related treatments
Telemonitoring helps reduce blood pressure in a comparable rate to antihypertensive drugs, according to an analysis by researchers at the Institute for the Future of Aging Services and the Center for Aging Services Technologies in Washington, D.C. "Impact of Blood Pressure Telemonitoring on Hypertension Outcomes: A Literature Review" finds that blood pressure telemonitoring reduced blood pressure more effectively than traditional in-office monitoring in 13 of 15 studies reviewed by researchers. Most of the studies were randomized clinical trials, and almost every one reported better outcomes with telemonitoring than with usual care. Basic blood pressure control was better in most of the studies, and medication management and compliance improved. Patients and providers also appeared satisfied with the method. Cost outcomes were not reviewed in most cases, but that was not expected to be a significant factor, according to the report. The analysis appears in the September issue of Telemedicine and e-Health Journal. Full Story

Non-invasive mobile lung imaging system monitors breathing without radiation
Israeli medical device maker Deep Breeze Ltd. has launched a non-invasive pulmonary imaging system designed to help emergency room clinicians monitor lung sounds without use of radiation. According to David Barton, president of Deep Breeze USA in Las Vegas, the VRIxp lung imaging system records lung sounds from patented V-array sensors applied to a patient's back. The system then uses sophisticated algorithms to convert data into images and quantitative regional lung information. Changes in tissue composition and airflow affect the vibration of sounds within the lung, which is reflected in the image and results produced by the VRIxp system. The system is also mobile, allowing it to easily provide information "at the bedside and at the fingertips for fast, reliable results," the company reported.    Full Story

Kaiser donates medical translation technology to healthcare community
Kaiser Permanente is donating its Convergent Medical Terminology (CMT) to the International Healthcare Terminology Standards Development Organisation to supply all healthcare providers with use of the translation-enabling technology. The product, to be distributed to U.S. healthcare providers by the Department of Health and Human Services, will allow clinicians to use a familiar language within their respective electronic health information exchanges. The donation consists of terminology content Kaiser has already developed, a set of tools to help create and manage terminology, and processes to control the quality of terminology that is developed. CMT also includes classifications and standard vocabularies, such as the Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine-Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT) already accepted by U.S. and international health policy makers. These resources will assist the distributed enhancement of standard vocabularies, such as SNOMED CT, to better meet U.S. and international needs, according to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. Full Story

HealthBridge, Ohio hospital group to create one of nation's largest HIEs
The Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association (GDAHA) has partnered with Cincinnati-based nonprofit health information exchange (HIE) agency HealthBridge to create one of the nation's largest secure health information networks. When complete, the Dayton-Cincinnati HIE will connect more than 50 hospitals and 7,500 physicians across southwest Ohio. Other goals of the partnership include using the HIE to securely send patients' electronic health records to doctors, thereby improving the quality of care and reducing costs by eliminating repeat services; and providing physicians and staff with easy access to patients' medical histories within specific hospitals or doctors' offices. Full Story

European Union finding public support for health IT funding on decline
Due to a tough economy, the European Union is losing its ability to fund and foster health information technology research. Taxpayers are becoming increasingly difficult to convince that health IT research is a necessary investment, according to Commissioner Neelie Kroes. Long-term research and development is often risky and expensive--the IT sector spends double that of the automotive industry and triple that of the pharmaceutical industry on research, Kroes said. In the past 30 years, the European Commission has invested $27 billion (USD) in IT research, boosting Europe's share of R&D from 10 percent to 25 percent of the global IT market. But still, it's a hard sell to the public. "Taxpayers, ministers and people in need have good reasons to expect that all public expenditure is duly justified," Kroes said. "That does not make it impossible to increase public investments in (IT) research. But it does mean we have to make the strongest possible case." Full Story

International venture to provide e-healthcare to underserved African nations
Evansville, Ind.-based telemedicine software developer ICUcare LLC and Bethesda, Mass.-headquartered United Energy International subsidiary Hamilton Global Resources are entering a joint venture to improve healthcare services to several underserved countries in Africa. The venture, Global Care International (GCI), has the potential to "bring 21st century healthcare to an indigenous population of over 8.7 million who have never before known what it is to receive medical services," ICUcare President Robert E. Higgs said. The deployment will involve water- and land-based systems supported by a national and international network of care providers, according to United Energy International President Austin Dorsu. Higgs will serve as GCI's chief executive officer, while Dorsu will be its president. Full Story

Movers & SHAKERS

Eric Collins, co-founder of MediSens Wireless, has been named senior VP of commercial engineering of the West Wireless Health Institute...Richard Sommer, co-founder and former CEO of De La Cruz Occupational Healthcare and Medchannel, has been named CEO of Rothman Healthcare...Robert C. Hendel, MD, Chair of the Cardiac Radionuclide Imaging Writing Group, announced that Astellas Pharma US, Inc., had launched the Appropriate Use Criteria (AUC) for Cardiac Radionuclide Imaging application for smartphones...Dr. Martin Watemberg, medical director of Fundacion Valle el Lili, a hospital in Cali, Colombia, and Dr. Ricardo Munoz, Chief of Cardiac Intensive Care at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, discuss the two hospitals' telemedicine system on phillyBurbs.com...Norbert Muhrer, CEO of CINTERION, announced they received the Duke's Choice Award for Integration for its mHealth solutions...Brett Shamosh, founder of WellApps, LLC, announced that its GI Monitor, a Crohn's and Colitis symptom tracking app for smartphones, has been expanded to the Android system...Ken Rardin, president and CEO of REACH Call Inc., announced the company had completed a $5 million round of Series A financing...Jill Fortuin-Abrahams, telemedicine platform manager for the South African Medical Research Council, hosted the first-ever telemedicine conference in the country...Krishna Gazula, founder and CEO of iHAS, announced the company had launched iHASMD, a software-based comprehensive telehealth platform. Please send us your news on Movers and Shakers in the field.

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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.