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Telemedicine and e-Health News Alert for December 4, 2007

E-prescribing becomes talk of town in Washington

The practice of e-prescribing - currently not accepted by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and other government and private medical groups - could be closer to becoming a medical standard, based on the myriad of recent activity by lawmakers in Washington, D.C. in the past week. That activity includes the recommendation by a high-level advisory committee that Health and Human Services (HHS) seek permission from Congress to mandate e-prescribing in Medicare, the drafting of a letter to President Bush by the e-Prescribing Controlled Substances Coalition asking for removal of a barrier to widespread e-prescribing, and the scheduling of a hearing by the Senate Judiciary Committee on that same barrier. The committee will meet this week to discuss the DEA's rules prohibiting e-prescribing of controlled substances such as narcotics. These and other efforts signify escalating pressure on the federal government to decide how to get health information technology such as e-prescribing adopted nationwide.
For complete story, visit http://www.fcw.com/online/news/150966-1.html

Army seeks ideas for joint DOD-VA e-health record project

The departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs want to develop an Electronic Health Record (EHR) system for inpatient care. And they want ideas from vendors on how to do it. In a notice on the government's Web site at www.fbo.gov/spg , the Army states it is looking for industry input on topics such as how it should go about creating the new system, whether that system can interact with systems in other military departments, what a feasible timeline for developing the system should be, whether the system should comply with federal and industry standards, and the expected cost of developing the new system. Responses should be no more than 30 pages and are due by Dec. 13.
For complete story, visit http://www.fbo.gov/spg/USA/USAMRAA/DAMD17/W81XWH%2D08%2DRFI%2DEHR/SynopsisR.html

Make emergency hospital communications a priority, government says

When it comes to ensuring that medical facilities can communicate with each other during disasters, a regional approach is needed, according to American Telemedicine Association Executive Director Jonathan Linkous. But currently the many emergency systems in place are operating in a non-integrated landscape, Linkous told members of the Joint Advisory Committee on Communications Capabilities of Emergency Medical and Public Health Care Facilities during its November meeting in Washington D.C. Electronic patient records are also critical elements of communication, but progress implementing them has been "agonizingly slow," Linkous said. In response, the Office of Emergency Communications offered details of its forthcoming national emergency communications plan, which it considers an "agenda for the future."
For complete story, visit http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?filepath=/dailyfed/1107/112807tdpm1.htm

Hospital execs: Telehealth programs can make care more affordable for all

For New York doctors, the goal is simple: avoid the next Berger Commission. Doing so is not as easy, but telehealth is a good start. During a late November meeting of more than 100 hospital executives, doctors and other physicians, the major worry was whether the local industry had eliminated redundancies found by the original Berger Commission when it reviewed hospitals and nursing homes in late 2006. The Commission's recommendation was the closure or merger of 80 facilities statewide because there were "too many unneeded beds." Now, New York physicians have gathered to consider ways to cut costs and keep hospitals open. Among them: additional use of telemedicine programs, such as one at a Cooperstown hospital where more out-of-area doctors sit in on local emergency room trauma surgeries via remote TV cameras.
For complete story, visit http://timesunion.com/AspStories/storyprint.asp?StoryID=642532

Experimental technique offers real-time analysis of breast cancer

Fewer women suspected of having breast cancer may have to undergo needle biopsies in the future, thanks to a new "real time," 3-D microscope. According to researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, the device instantly reveals if the cells under examination are cancerous, regardless of the type of cell being viewed. Such a procedure reduces the chance of a biopsy being needed, and also can be used to help physicians remove all cancerous tissue, according to LCCC investigator Maddalena Tilli, PhD. The process takes about 10 minutes, compared to the hours-long traditional slice-and-stain method. In addition, if necessary, the extracted tissue can be subjected to the traditional examination after 3-D microscopic review, instead of requiring multiple samples from the patient, according to Georgetown Professor of Oncology Priscilla Furth, M.D.
For complete story, visit http://explore.georgetown.edu/news/?ID=29294

Illinois hospitals to be linked by statewide broadband network

Within three years, doctors at rural Illinois hospitals will be able to consult with their big city colleagues at the push of a button. Construction of the state's Rural HealthNet project, a fiber-optic communication system linking health care providers and universities statewide, is officially underway thanks to a $21 million grant from the Federal Communications Commission. When finished in 2011, the network will extend from Galena to Metropolis - a 490-mile stretch - and will serve 80 small towns and a few larger communities, according to Illinois Rural HealthNet Coalition officials. It will initially include 85 hospitals and clinics but can be expanded as needed. Participants in northern Illinois will come online by mid-2010, while the rest will be tied in within the following 18 months, according to the coalition.
For complete story, visit http://www.niu.edu/PubAffairs/RELEASES/2007/nov/irhn.shtml

European Space Agency tests telemedicine alert in Crete

At first glance, it looks pretty grim: widespread destruction to the island of Heraklion, Crete, courtesy of an earthquake. All conventional communication methods are down, leaving only one - a satellite 36,000 kilometers (22.3 miles) above the earth - which immediately links the locations in the catastrophe with rescue crews. But surprise - this is really a two-day training exercise by the European Space Agency to monitor the effectiveness of its SAFE (Satellite for health early warning And For Epidemiology) telemedicine project. The agency staged emergency situations in several sites on Crete, including a power plant, a beach, a hotel and gastroenteritis-impacted area, and tested the response of rescue teams as they communicated via a satellite network. Far-away doctors were able to help the on-site teams with minimal effort.
For complete story, visit http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM7DK73R8F_index_2.html

Neurosynaptic Ltd. of India among WEF's 'Technology Pioneers '08'

Neurosynaptic Communications Pvt. Ltd. of India was among the 39 companies selected as "Technology Pioneers '08" by the World Economic Forum, the WEF announced. Neurosynaptic is a telemedicine solutions company that has developed a low-cost diagnostic kit to measure viz temperature, blood pressure, ECG and heartbeat (stethoscope) for teleconsultation. WEF selects companies as tech pioneers based on accomplishments in energy/environment, biotechnology/health and information technology. Final selection was made from 273 nominees and was made by a panel of leading technology experts appointed by WEF. Twenty-three of the 39 companies deemed pioneers were from the United States; other countries with selected companies were Israel and the United Kingdom (three each), Sweden and Switzerland (two each), and Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Russia with one each.
For complete story, visit http://www.weforum.org/en/about/Technology%20Pioneers/SelectedTechPioneers/SelectedTechPioneers

NCPA: Medicine stuck in 'Stone Age' courtesy of government, insurance companies

Government and traditional insurance is the biggest obstacle to Information Age medicine - a.k.a. telemedicine - and is "keeping the practice of medicine in the Stone Age," according to a study by the National Center for Policy Analysis. The study notes that under existing standards, only face-to-face consultations are reimbursed, meaning that the "most interesting" developments in telemedicine are occurring outside traditional insurance. Those developments include practitioners who use telephone, e-mail, text messaging and computer software programs to make medical care more accessible and convenient for patients. Up to 1 in 3 patients have trouble seeing a primary care physician, and 1 in 4 have problems taking time off from work to see a doctor, according to the study.
For complete story, visit http://www.ncpa.org/prs/rel/2007/20071128.html

Telemedicine becomes key to healing children at HUMC

If all goes according to plan, there will be fewer ill children making the rounds at Hoboken University Medical Center. And that's fine with everybody. Doctors at the Hoboken, N.J. hospital have begun using telemedicine to connect the site to Patterson's St. Joseph's Children's Hospital. Patients at HUMC "see" their doctors from St. Joseph's via a teleconference. The program is expected to be quite busy, as another local hospital, Jersey City Medical Center, closed its pediatric center earlier this year. The new agreement provides patients, by appointment, with real-time access to 24 specialists at St. Joseph's and saves HUMC the expense of providing consultation rooms.
For complete story, visit http://www.nj.com/news/jjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1196320084269320.xml&coll=3

Broadband network to link Hawaii and other Pacific islands

A broadband network that will link an 11-island chain throughout the Hawaii and Pacific Island region will be completed by 2011, the Federal Communications Commission announced. The Pacific Broadband Telehealth Demonstration Project, which will cover approximately 96 healthcare facilities in a 6,200-mile area from the U.S. mainland through Hawaii, to American Samoa, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, will be the result of a $4.9 million federal grant awarded to Hawaii in November. When complete, rural healthcare providers will be able to quickly consult with larger, urban medical centers hundreds or thousands of miles away. It will interconnect the networks of several major healthcare providers, including the Hawaii Department of Health, the Hawaii Health Systems Corp., the Hawaii Pacific Health system and the Department of Veterans Affairs Pacific Islands Health Care System.
For complete story, visit http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/rural/rhcp.html

Telemedical network on tap in Russia

Within the next year Russia hopes to launch a telemedicine network to link all of its medical institutions via the Internet, according to Leonid Reiman, Minister of Communications of the Russian Federation. Currently, the country uses telemedicine for consultations, health care-related teletraining, education in new medical technologies and upgrading of physicians' qualifications. Home monitoring is also being developed as an application of the technology, according to Reiman. When developed, telemedical technologies might result in significant financial savings and better medical assistance quality, according to Valery Stolyar, head of the Bakulev Scientific Center for Cardiovascular Surgery RAMS.
For complete story, visit http://eng.cnews.ru/news/top/indexEn.shtml?2007/10/31/272890