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April 29, 2011
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Abstracts available online for ATA 2011 annual meeting
Abstracts of the oral and poster presentations for American Telemedicine Association's ATA 2011 16th Annual International Meeting and Exposition have been published in Telemedicine and e-Health and posted online. A comprehensive author index is also provided. The annual meeting is set for May 1-3 in Tampa, Fla.
CONTACT: Telemedicine and e-Health
Patient Internet data shows promise for assessing drug effectiveness
Because of its speed, data reported by patients over the Internet may be useful for accelerating clinical discovery and evaluating the effectiveness of drugs already in use, concluded a team of researchers from PatientsLikeMe (Cambridge, MA). In a study published in Nature Biotechnology
and available free, the team analyzed data reported on the group's website from patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) who experimented with lithium carbonate treatment. Just nine months after a 2008 study claimed the treatment could slow down the disease, PatientsLikeMe presented preliminary results showing 348 ALS patient members of the group reporting that lithium was not having an observable effect on their disease progression. The study reached the same conclusion as later randomized trials.
CONTACT: PatientsLikeMe
Digital pathology system links Reagan UCLA, China's ZHU
Aperio Technologies (Vista, Calif.) said its digital pathology system is being used to support sub-specialty pathology consultations between Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center (UCLA) in Los Angeles, and Second Affiliated Hospital Zhejiang University (ZHU) a 2,000-bed hospital in Hangzhou, China. UCLA provides more than 30 sub-specialty experts in pathology, each available to provide remote medical consultation services to China for cases deemed unusual and complex. Aperio's scanning technology allows pathologists at ZHU to capture a digital slide image at very high resolution of the entire tissue sample on a glass slide and share it with pathology experts at UCLA in a secure web-based
environment. More than 100 cases have been remotely reviewed to date.
CONTACTS: Aperio Technologies Inc., (866) 478-4111; Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, via email, or (800) UCLA-MD1; Second Affiliated Hospital Zhejiang University.
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ATA's Jon Linkous: Telemedicine finally "turning the corner"
For years, telemedicine leaders and advocates have been saying that the industry will soon come of age, toward steady growth fueled by new money-saving technologies and support from Washington.
"The long-awaited corner for telemedicine has arrived," declared Jonathan Linkous, CEO of the American Telemedicine Association. He spoke with the News Alert days before ATA's 16th Annual International Meeting and Exposition in Tampa, Fla., set for May 1-3. "The rhetoric, the attention, and even some of the investments in telemedicine are substantially higher than they've ever been before."
Federal officials all the way up to President Obama have publicly extolled telemedicine's benefits. Obama last year enacted the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which creates "accountable care organizations" linking provider payments to improved health and reduced costs. ATA is urging the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to lift restrictions on use of telemedicine for Medicare. Linkous said ATA is also working with Congressional staffers on legislation it hopes will be introduced later this year.
ATA predicts the Tampa conference will break all records - including the largest expected attendance (close to 4,000); the largest group of vendors exhibiting their products (about 200); and the most presentations (more than 400).
2011 is an important year, he said, because this is the first year when Baby Boomers become eligible for Medicare. With healthcare costs set to rise significantly in the foreseeable future, officials, providers, and payers are scrambling to contain the inevitable cost increases.
"Telemedicine is not the total solution for all of the problems we face in healthcare, but it is a part of the solution for many areas like reducing the number of emergency room visits, and improving the quality of healthcare delivered to residents in long-term rehabilitation and nursing home care," Linkous said.
Another ATA priority is expanding its portfolio of practice guidelines for telemedicine use in various specialties. The association has completed eight sets of guidelines available through the "Telemedicine Standards & Guidelines" page of ATA's website.
Linkous said another four are in the works and should be rolled out within the next six months - including remote data management, desktop Internet and mobile tele-mental health, telepresenting, and remote prescribing.
He said ATA, as with its namesake industry, is expanding its focus internationally: Close to one-quarter of association members come from outside the U.S., and some 40 countries will be represented at ATA 2011.
While many nations have embraced telemedicine more than the U.S., Linkous added that the domestic telemedicine industry is also healthy if mature, with numerous startups, and more mHealth applications commanding a growing share of venture capital dollars. Doximity (San Mateo, Calif.), for example, closed in March on $10.8 million of series A VC financing for a mobile communication platform offering doctors information on 567,000 U.S. physicians.
"Some will survive and grow. Some may not. And some may merge with others. It's really an exciting, dynamic time," Linkous said.
The industry has begun consolidating, as when Virtual Radiologic (vRad) acquired teleradiology company NightHawk last year, creating the nation's largest radiology practice with 325 radiologists serving more than 2,700 healthcare facilities, and reading 7 million studies annually.
"I think we're going to see more of that as we move ahead," Linkous predicted.
He also expects more growth in mHealth, as devices like iPad 2 change how health information and care are delivered, and social networks keep growing: "We're going to have patient groups become even more empowered than they used to be," Linkous said.
"For the first time in healthcare, the patients are going to have a voice, and are going to start making demands. I think we're going to see that happen in the next five years," Linkous said.
He said that influence will be felt in the shaping of policy to the sharing of diagnoses and other information, though it remains to be seen whether patients can sway decisions on pricing.
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Turkish study supports telemedicine use for patients with burns
Telemedicine is an appropriate and cost-effective option for treatment and follow-up of patients in burn units staffed with personnel that have limited experience, a research team from the Baskent University Faculty of Medicine in Ankara, Turkey has concluded. Writing in the journal Burns
, the team said it performed 525 televisits on all 187 patients admitted to the Konya Burn Unit from its establishment in July 2003 through December 2009. All were linked to the same burn surgeon at the Ankara Burn Referral Center of the team's hospital network. As a result of the televisits, 21 patients (11.2%) were transferred to the referral center, with the number of dead and transferred patients decreasing during the study.
CONTACT: Baskent University Faculty of Medicine, Department of General Surgery and Burn and Fire Disasters Institute, Ankara, Turkey
Support, technical know-how help nursing homes adopt telemedicine
Government support, technological knowledge, supplier support, team skills, and compatibility are the five key factors that positively impact intention to adopt telemedicine from an institutional perspective, a research team at Taiwan's Chia-Nan University of Pharmacy and Science concluded. Writing in the journal Telemedicine and e-Health
, the team collected data through a self-administered questionnaire sent to managers of all 339 nursing homes in Taiwan. A total of 70 valid questionnaires yielded a response rate of 20.65%. The team concluded that care institutions, for the most part, are willing to develop telecare and are already incorporating some of its preliminary applications, such as distance learning and resident positioning.
CONTACT: Department of Information Management, Chia-Nan University of Pharmacy and Science, Tainan, Taiwan.
iPhone envy grows among U.S. physicians
More than half of U.S. physicians (61%) said they intend to own an iPhone by the end of this year, up from 39% when the question was asked at the start of 2011, according to survey results released this week by Aptilon (Montreal). The iconic Apple smartphone dominates among cell phone options offered in the survey, which also showed 16% saying they will own a regular cell phone, 9% Google's Android platform, and 9% RIM's BlackBerry platform. Aptilon used its ReachNet Physician Access Channel to recruit physicians for the survey, in which 341 physicians from across the U.S. participated.
CONTACT: Aptilon Corp., (514) 844-8866.
New app designed as electronic diary of Neurodermatitis
Artificial Life (Hong Kong) has developed a mobile app for patients suffering from lichen simplex chronicus (neurodermatitis) that is now available for free download through the Apple App Store. Opus-M Health: Neurodermatitis is designed to serve as an electronic diary for people with the skin disorder, which is characterized by chronic itching and scratching. Features include data input for photo and text; a slideshow function; an interactive graph to track measurements of skin areas monitored for the disorder; PDF data summaries that can be exported to patients and caregivers' medical records via iTunes sharing; and health tips on skin care.
CONTACT: Artificial Life Inc., +852 3102 2800.
China's Neusoft takes 30% stake in Israel's Aerotel
The European subsidiary of Neusoft (Shenyang, China), an IT solution and service provider, will invest $1.77 million in Aerotel Medical Systems (Holon, Israel), a global manufacturer of modular, mobile and home based telemedicine and telecare solutions. Neusoft Europe will buy 26,915 shares of Aerotel, to hold 30.77% of the company's outstanding shares. The deal, subject to regulatory approvals in China, is designed to increase Neusoft's global presence.
CONTACTS: Neutel; Aerotel.
Kelley Malott, former director of business development in Vangent's department of homeland security and biodefense, has been named VP of federal systems at CliniComp International (San Diego)…The Standards Development Organization Charter Organization has named John Quinn, CTO of Health Level Seven International (HL7),as chair of the insurance subcommittee of ASC X12, and Margaret Weiker, director at EDS and product director at HP, as chair-elect…David Curtis
president of Residential Home Health (Madison Heights, MI) says its use of remote medical monitoring has held hospital readmissions to 3% in 2010…Dr. Kumar Bhandari inaugurated the telemedicine and information center of India's Mission Hospital of Durgapur…Gov. Eddie Calvo of Guam announced that the territory will receive $1.6 million in federal grant money over four years to implement Guam's health information exchange…Evan Allen, MD,
medical director, Florida Hospital Neuroscience Institute (Orlando), and Southeast regional medical director for Specialists On Call (Westlake Village, CA), Inc., presented "The Feasibility and Efficacy of Using Telemedicine to Treat Stroke" during an April 27th webinar titled "Improving Access and Treatment for Stroke"…Peter Kleeburg, VP of operations for Medcor (McHenry, IL), announced the company had received the 2011 Innovation Award from the magazine Business Insurance for developing its 24/7 Telephonic Injury Triage service…Christopher M. Carrington,
CEO and president of Alpine Access (Denver), announced the company has completed an independent, third-party audit for HIPAA and HITECH Act compliance…Mony Weschler, director of ancillary informatics at Montefiore Medical Center Health IT (Bronx, NY) IT and its Emerging Health IT subsidiary (Yonkers, NY), announced that Montefiore has joined with Mach 7 Technologies (Burlington, VT) to deploy Keystone Engine to handle mammography reading workflow, including distribution to multiple sites.
- ATA 2011
May 1-3, 2011 – Tampa, Florida
More Info
- Panel Session on Image Challenges in Forensic Medicine
May 16-18, 2011 –Washington, DC
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.
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