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Ultra low-cost lens-free microscope could mean big things in disease diagnosis
Scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena have developed a lens-free telescope capable of diagnosing diseases by connecting to a smartphone or PDA. According to device co-creator and study lead author Guoan Zheng, the subpixel resolving optofluidic microscope (SROFM) uses a $1.50 digital camera sensor to snap images in rapid succession as a sample passes across a system of microfluidic channels. The device has a standard resolution of 0.75 microns, comparable to a light microscope at 20 times magnification. But using a higher-resolution CMOS sensor should enable resolution of up to 40x magnification, allowing the item to be used to diagnose diseases such as malaria, according to co-creator Seung Ah Lee. A lensless microscope could also be used for rapid cancer or drug screening, with dozens or hundreds of microscopes working simultaneously, researchers note. This is the second lens-free microscope created this year from components costing less than a Sunday newspaper. Researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles have a similar product undergoing field trials. Full Story

Pacemaker developers turn to ultrasonic energy to prevent lead failure
Wireless technology specialist Cambridge Consultants Inc. is partnering with Sunnyvale, Calif.-based EBR Systems Inc. to develop a wireless pacemaker based on ultrasonic energy. The typical pacemaker uses leads that can deteriorate over time and cause the device to fail. According to Andrew Diston, director of Cambridge Consultants' global medical technology practice in Cambridge, England, EBR Systems' project involves shining ultrasonic energy onto an electrode that is implanted in the heart and converts the acoustic energy into electricity. Doctors can therefore connect to an electrode inside the heart without having to use leads. Wireless surgery will also be less expensive, as it will cut the cost of operations, Diston said. In recent years, several manufacturers have had to recall their pacemakers due to lead failure. Some medical experts predict that lead failure rates could reach 30 percent in the next four years. Full Story

Virtual ICUs may lead to better patient health, greater career options for nurses
Virtual intensive care units are destined to play a major role in helping acute care nurse practitioners (ACNPs) serve an aging population, according to a presentation by St. Louis, Mo.-based critical care provider Advanced ICU Care. ACNPs, who are capable of treating the sickest of patients, currently represent only 5 percent of all nurses. But virtual ICUs allow these nurse practitioners to treat patients in ICUs around the country, according to Advanced ICU Care ACNP Tifuh Amba. "The nurse practitioners work alongside the intensivists and serve as an extra layer of care and safety when the regular critical care practitioners or specialists are off site," Amba said. The program saves lives, reduces complications and optimizes care in the ICU, allowing patients to recover faster and transfer out of the ICU sooner. It also opens a window of opportunity for nurses who may want to do more with their careers. According to Amba, the concept "creates exciting opportunities for new jobs for nurse practitioners, new nursing research and education in telemedicine for nurses," and helps hospitals retain nurse practitioners. Full Story

Free smartphone application tracks servicemembers' combat deployment stress
The National Center for Telehealth and Technology (NCTT) has released a free smartphone application designed to help recently deployed servicemembers and veterans track their emotional health. According to NCTT psychologist Perry Bosmajian, the T2 Mood Tracker allows users to easily chart their stress and happiness levels on a daily basis. That information can be later shared with doctors and therapists, who can use the trends in their treatment recommendations. "Research has shown that information collected after the fact, especially about mood, tends to be inaccurate," Bosmajian said. "The best record of an experience is when it's recorded at the time and place it happens." Mood Tracker's release comes as the military confronts growing numbers of suicides attributed to combat stress. The application, available for free download at the T2 Mood Tracker Web site, is currently only for smartphones using the Android operating system. But it should be available for iPhone users early next year, according to the center. Full Story   Further Information

New York officials submit plan for nation's largest health information exchange
The New York State Department of Health and the New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC) have submitted a proposal to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology to build what would be the nation's largest electronic health information exchange. According to NYeC Executive Director David Whitlinger, the $129 million Statewide Health Information Network for New York would serve up to 20 million patients, thousands of healthcare providers and hundreds of hospitals throughout the state by providing access to patient histories, prescriptions, medical analyses and diagnoses, test results, and other health-related information. Services provided through the network would be added every few months from 2011 to 2014, according to the proposal. Full Story

E-prescription giant Surescripts adds EHR network for physicians
E-prescription network provider Surescripts is launching an online health records network for physicians. According to Surescripts President and CEO Harry Totonis, the new subscriber-based program will help accelerate the ongoing switch to digital records by supporting and enabling the electronic exchange of all types of clinical information. Doctors can connect to the network through a secure Internet portal, a health information exchange or their existing electronic records system. Surescripts will initially market the product to its existing client base of 200,000 physicians. The new network comes as the White House prepares to release $20 billion in stimulus funds to continue promotion of electronic medical record-keeping. Surescripts' exchange will not be a stand-alone model, and will be compatible with the federal government's information exchange standards as determined by the National Health Information Network's Direct Project, Totonis said. Full Story

HealthPartners goes online with 24-hour medical illness diagnosis site
HealthPartners, the nation's largest nonprofit healthcare organization, has launched a 24-hour convenience care service offering online diagnosis and treatment of simple medical conditions, as well as access to prescriptions. According to HealthPartners President and CEO Mary Brainerd in St. Paul, Minn., the virtuwell.com site features experienced nurse practitioners to provide personalized diagnoses, treatment suggestions, and prescriptions for conditions such as colds, coughs and allergies, ear pain, and yeast and urinary tract infections. Response time is within 30 minutes. If the user has a serious medical condition, virtuwell.com will direct the user to call 911 or seek care from the nearest emergency department, Brainerd said. The service is available to all Minnesota residents and visitors to the state. The service costs up to $40 per virtual consultation, compared with $53 at a retail clinic and $115 at a primary care physician's office. Full Story  Further Information

Doctors who use EHRs are fiscally better off than paper records users
Medical practices that use electronic health record (EHR) systems are doing better financially than those that are still paper records-based, according to a report by the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) in Englewood, Colo. The study found that practices that were not owned by hospitals or integrated delivery systems reported almost $50,000 in greater total medical revenue per full-time-equivalent (FTE) physician than practices with paper medical records. These practices also reported greater expenses, at about $105,000 per FTE physician, but had almost $180,000 greater median revenue per FTE physician than practices with paper medical records. And, after five years of EHR use, independent physician practices had a median operating margin that was about 10 percent higher than physician practices in their first year of using EHRs, the report notes. Full Story

Philips acquires Wheb Sistemas, expands South American health IT presence
Amsterdam-headquartered Philips Royal Electronics has finalized acquisition of Blumenau, Brazil-based software provider Wheb Sistemas, expanding its heath information technology operations in the South American nation by 280 healthcare facilities. According to Tom Andriola, general manager of healthcare IT for Philips, the acquisition is part of Philips' efforts to simplify the clinical processor for physicians. "We see a healthcare transformation coming in these growing countries, Andriola said. "Philips' mission is to enhance the quality of care and Wheb Sistemas is helping us to do that." The deal, first announced in September, was Philips Healthcare's third in Brazil this year. The acquisitions of Wheb and Tecso Informatica, one of Brazil's leading radiology information systems firms, make Philips one of Brazil's leading clinical informatics companies, Philips Healthcare Chief Executive Officer Steve Rusckowski said. Full Story

Canadian government hopes $15.7 million program will draw doctors to EMRs
The government of Manitoba, Canada has announced a $15.7 million [USD] initiative to help physicians in that province switch to electronic medical record (EMR) systems. According to Health Minister Theresa Oswald, the program will reimburse eligible community physicians for up to 70 percent of the eligible costs of purchasing and using qualified EMR products, as well as up to $20,000 in operating costs for the first two years. About 1 in 4 Manitoba physicians already use EMRs. Oswald said she would consider the program a success if 70 percent of doctors made the switch. The initiative "moves the way we track and exchange health information into the 21st century," Canada Health Infoway President and Chief Executive Officer Richard Alvarez said. Full Story

Public comment sought on set-up for nationwide health information network
The Federal Advisory Committee's Governance Workgroup on Health Information Technology is seeking public comment on how to set up a governing system for the forthcoming nationwide health information network (NHIN). The workgroup would like to identify existing mechanisms that might be appropriate, with or without modifications, and with or without some added coordination; and whether new mechanisms are needed, and if so, which. Comments, to be submitted in a table format available from the Department of Health and Human Services' Health IT Policy Committee blog site, are due by Nov. 3 and may be sent to onc.request@hhs.gov.  Full Story

Movers & SHAKERS

Bart Bernstein, MD, has been named chief medical officer at Yuma Regional Medical Center...Christopher Mackie, former program officer for the Program in Research in IT at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, has been named executive VP and Chief Innovation Officer at Open Health Tools...Timothy Mills, former senior VP of provider operations with NaviNet, has been named VP of sales and marketing for Avisena...Eric Rosenfeld, former senior VP of IT for the wellness division of BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, has been named CIO of DrFirst...David Eddy, MD, PhD, founder of Archimedes, Inc., announced a new Web application for the Archimedes Outcomes Analyzer, a healthcare outcomes simulation model...Dr. Louis Cornacchia III, Founder and CEO of DocPatientNetwork, Inc., announced that their Doctations Version 2.0, a complete Internet-based electronic health record, is Surescripts Gold Certified and a CCHIT Certified 2011 Ambulatory EHR...Dr. Ed Brown, CEO of the Ontario Telemedicine Network, discusses the telemedicine network with the Ottawa Citizen...Tom Feitel, Chief Web Officer of Medco Health Solutions, announced the launch of a suite of online tools that create a safety net about maintenance medication gaps of care...Virginia Rowthorn, Managing Director, Law & Health Care Program, and Diane Hoffmann, Professor of Law, University of Maryland School of Law, have published a white paper, "Legal Impediments to the Diffusion of Telemedicine." Please send us your news on Movers and Shakers in the field.

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