8/4/2008
AMD Global Telemedicine has reported an increased demand for products worldwide. In the last quarter, AMD has received orders and shipped products to support new projects in countries such as; Canada, China, Greece, Greenland, India, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Spain, Saudi Arabia and the UK.
Dan McCafferty, Director of Global Sales and Corporate Development at AMD Global Telemedicine said: "AMD has historically done a good job of supporting international telemedicine projects however, recently we have seen a general and well distributed increase in telemedicine worldwide.
"We attribute this to three things; the continued technological advances in telemedicine which open more doors for telemedicine use, the continuing gap between rural residents and urban medical resources - and our international staff and worldwide network of resellers. This is an expanding market with more and more countries interested in its mainstream utilization."
The lack of healthcare access between urban and rural geographies in many countries drives communities to reevaluate healthcare access making telemedicine a remarkable alternative. According to Telemedicine In Rural India, published in 2006: "In India, nearly 75% of the population lives in rural villages, and more than 75% of doctors are based in cities." These circumstances stand true in many countries across the world.
Steve Normandin, President of AMD said: "Telemedicine is an essential tool in geographic areas where distance is a barrier for obtaining proper healthcare as well as a great cost-cutting opportunity for single payer systems and national health plans. We are excited to see the market growing not only domestically, but internationally as well."
(Source: Hospital IT Europe, August 4, 2008)
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted market clearance to
Intel for its personal telehealth system, the Intel Health Guide. The system is an home telehealth device that provides online access for healthcare providers to monitor and treat patients. The system can connect to blood pressure machines, glucose meters, pulse oximeters, peak flow meters, and weight scales. The information collected is stored and once transferred to a secure FTP site, it can be studied by health care professionals via a touch screen, at their convenience.
The telehealth system is expected to be available commercially from healthcare providers in the United States and the United Kingdom, towards the end of 2008 or beginning of 2009.
The touch screen based device also allows patients to monitor their health status and correspond with clinicians via video conferencing and e-mail, empowering them to take active role in their care management. The device includes features such as interactive patient health sessions, audio and visual patient reminders, schedules, multimedia educational content and feedback.
Pilot studies to facilitate the understanding of Health Guide by patients and clinicians have been completed in the United States and United Kingdom, and the company has plans of conducting additional pilots with healthcare providers in order to assess the integration of the solution with various care management models. Intel hopes to develop a wide range of usage models for not only chronic conditions but also programs for in-house health and wellness management.
The personal and telehealth market is becoming increasingly competitive with the demand for novel approaches in healthcare. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 90 million Americans suffer from chronic diseases, with expenditures on diagnosis and treatment nearing $7,000 per person annually. The magnitude of the problem and the costs involved have steered a change in the way healthcare is delivered. Telehealth, the delivery of healthcare and health-related services to patients leveraging telecommunication and information technology, has been found to reduce the cost of chronic disease care. A 2007 report, by independent market analyst firm Datamonitor, predicts the homecare telehealth market to grow at a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 56% compared to 9.9% in the clinical market, and anticipates the overall global telehealth market to exceed US$8 billion by 2012.
Intel, the largest manufacturer of computer chips, has been involved in extensive research in developing home-based technology that would move care delivery from within the hospital, to the convenience of homes of patients suffering from chronic diseases. The company is also a member of the Continua Health Alliance since its launch in June 2006. The open industry alliance of medical device, health, and fitness industry organizations, works together to establish interoperability between personal health products in the market to forge patient participation in their own healthcare, for better health outcomes. Santa Clara, California-based Intel, a world leader in silicon innovation, recently reported first quarter revenue of $9.7 billion, an increase of 9% from $8.9 billion of the previous year.
(Source: Health News, July 15, 2008)
XTend Medical, a provider of telehealth and telemedicine solutions for monitoring and caring for patients with chronic disease conditions, recently announced the company will begin a telemedicine program in Europe to track the remote monitoring of diabetic patients.
Paul D. Lisenby, CEO of XTend Medical, said, "Our presence here in the U.S. has attracted many companies from Europe that are interested on our telehealth programs. By having a presence in Europe, this will assist the company as we grow our brand globally over the next three years and on. We'll release further information regarding our European program as the results are monitored through the University that has asked us to maintain their privacy for now."
(Source: XTend Press Release, July 23, 2008)
The
Vodafone Group Foundation, along with other technology heavyweights, recently held a one-week mHealth and mobile telemedicine conference with the United Nations Foundation. The conference in Bellagio, Italy, was designed to harness the potential of mHealth (mobile health) to unlock access to health data and improve health care in the developing world.
Dubbed "Making the eHealth Connection: Global Partners, Local Solutions," the meeting was co-facilitated by the U.N. Foundation-Vodafone Group Foundation Partnership and the Telemedicine Society of India.
Participants included representatives of Cisco, Google, Microsoft, Nokia and Qualcomm, as well as the Earth Institute, Gates Foundation, MIT and the U.N. World Health Organization.
"There is a larger need for technological innovation to help strengthen international public health efforts," said Claire Thwaites, technology partnership head of the U.N. Foundation and the Vodafone Group Foundation.
As the mobile phone has proven its ability to transform lives in the developing world, the conference will examine the landscape of mHealth and mobile telemedicine, assess priority issues and identify potential next steps for a multi-sector partnership dedicated to advancing mHealth programs.
"Mobile phone use is exploding across the developing world, offering the opportunity to leapfrog other applications and services on both the health and technology fronts," said Mitul Shah, senior director of technology at the U.N. Foundation.
"Developments in the field of mHealth, in particular, are creating a remarkable opportunity to bring about a sea change in healthcare delivery, even in the most resource-poor environments," Thwaites noted.
(Source: IDG News Service, July 30, 2008)
The
market for telemedicine devices and services will exceed $1.8 billion within the next five years, with mobile services companies taking a sizeable chunk of that revenue, market research firm Pike & Fischer projects in a new report.
In addition, Pike & Fischer predicts that telecommunications companies that possess both wireline and wireless solutions will be best positioned to achieve competitive dominance in the telemedicine market.
"Companies such as AT&T and Verizon are capable of providing multifaceted, converged solutions and can form partnerships necessary to fill gaps in their organic offerings," says Tim Deal, Senior Analyst for Pike & Fischer's Broadband Advisory Services and author of the report, "Mobile Medical Applications and U.S. Telemedicine: Opportunities, Analysis and Insight."
New wired and wireless broadband networks are saving time and costs in the medical environment. They allow specialists to remotely triage, diagnose and monitor medical cases by viewing data and images conveyed wirelessly to their locations. They also enable specialists to access medical records and medical reference material that are germane to a specific patient's case.
The need to control costs, along with the development and expansion of faster wireless broadband networks, smartphones and data compression solutions, will drive the market growth, Deal says. AT&T will have the largest presence in this industry, followed closely by Verizon and Sprint Nextel, Deal predicts. Smaller software and device manufacturers will quickly find themselves targeted for acquisition, he says.
(Source: Pike and Fisher Press Release, July 24, 2008)
8/4/2008
As part of his infectious diseases practice, Dr. Javeed Siddiqui regularly sees
California State Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation prisoners as patients. It's just that he's never in the same room with them. The UC Davis physician is a part of the increasing role that telemedicine has been playing in inmate care in the past two years.
Between 1997 and 2006, about 50,000 corrections agency inmates were seen by doctors via telemedicine. In the year ending June 2008, the patients numbered more than 16,000.
Doctors who treat inmates say telemedicine is a win-win because it's easier on them and the patient, more cost-efficient for the prison system and provides a patient base for medical institutions.
Transporting prisoners for outpatient visits costs taxpayers a lot of money and is logistically difficult, said Dr. Thomas Nesbitt, head of the UC Davis telemedicine program.
Community providers near prisons can be backlogged, but with telemedicine, "patients don't have to wait," said Annie Brennan, who schedules telemedicine appointments for the prison system.
"I've never come across a situation where I feel I need to see the patient in person," Siddiqui said of his telemedicine experience.
Ricky Reeder, a prisoner at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, has had hepatitis B and C for at least 12 years. He's been a telemedicine patient for about one year.
"It's a lot easier than going to the yard to see the doctor," said Reeder, 54. He likes that he can get in and out of appointments quickly.
Reeder likes seeing the same doctor every time. His infectious diseases doctor also treats his other health needs, even prescribing him multi- vitamins, he said.
About 30 percent to 40 percent of UC Davis telemedicine consultations are with inmate patients, Nesbitt said.
"They needed specialty services," he said of the corrections agency. "We had specialty services. Our equipment talks to each other."
For UC Davis, prison telemedicine is a stable source of business that allows the medical center to have a program big enough to also serve smaller, rural hospitals, said Nesbitt.
Doctors in the prison system said patient feedback has been positive.
"I'm pleasantly surprised with their lack of concern about not seeing a live doc," said Dr. Dwight Winslow, prisons medical director. "Maybe they're getting attention they previously weren't given. Maybe they grew up with TVs and they accept it as the way business is done."
Winslow believes telemedicine is underutilized. All 33 state prisons have the technological capabilities, though some institutions don't use their equipment. He aims to use it in more prisons and to recruit more specialist partners.
Prison health care has changed dramatically, Winslow said, since it was put under federal receivership in 2001 after a federal judge found that the program violated the U.S. Constitution's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. The challenge is now figuring out how telemedicine fits into the delivery plan, he added.
According to Siddiqui, receiver J. Clark Kelso has demonstrated an increased commitment to telemedicine, having visited the UC Davis telemedicine offices several times.
"He looks at technology as real tools to solve (the prisons') problems. He's investing in these tools," Siddiqui said.
(Source: Sacramento Bee, August 3, 2008)
The telepsychiatry program at the
University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center recently received a significant grant at a ceremony on July 29.
The $767,192 grant will be used to research and develop telehealth services across the state that allow providers to use real-time video links to treat behavioral health patients in remote, underserved areas.
The money was appropriated by ValueOptions New Mexico, a private entity that manages the state's public behavioral health expenditures.
(Source: New Mexico Business Weekly, July 28, 2008)
The Davis Family Foundation of Falmouth,
Maine has awarded $25,000 to Maine's HomeHealth Visiting Nurses. The grant funds will bring new advancements in telehealth technology to patients at high risk for hospitalization.
HomeHealth Visiting Nurses' current telehealth project will install telehealth units in the homes of chronic disease patients who are at high risk for re-hospitalization following hospital discharge or recent disease exacerbation. This equipment allows for 24-hour monitoring of vital signs, patient education and medication compliance.
National studies show that telehealth services significantly reduce hospitalization and emergent care rates, improve medication management and enhance patient's health knowledge and self-care abilities. Using the new equipment, patients will learn to: search the electronic library for educational information about their illness; transmit data to nurses, such as vital signs and confirmation that they have taken their medication; reply to text questions from nurses; and transmit messages to tell nurses how they are feeling. Skilled nurses monitor patients remotely and contact them regularly via telephone to provide reassurance and coaching, clarify any changes in their condition (i.e. weight gain or shortness of breath), identify when medical intervention is necessary, and arrange for access to needed care. The equipment also includes patient education resources that will teach patients disease-specific self-management skills.
HomeHealth Visiting Nurses pioneered Home Telehealth in York County in 2002, bringing live, interactive video "visits" between clinicians and patients. The program was expanded in 2005 to Cumberland County.
(Source: Seacoast Online, July 24, 2008)
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Mike Leavitt recently visited southern
Alaska to see how telehealth is being used to improve access in rural parts of the state.
To better understand the challenges of access to care, Leavitt visited Native villages and two regional tribal health consortiums.
Leavitt will met with tribal leaders to discuss the healthcare goals of the Alaska Native people and viewed demonstrations of how telemedicine and telehealth are employed to increase access and quality of care to Alaska Native communities. The use of telemedicine and telehealth is making an important impact on improving access to healthcare in rural Alaska.
"While Alaska faces unique access to care challenges, the healthcare delivery systems in place serve as model of effective telehealth and telemedicine for other rural communities," Leavitt said. "I look forward to continuing my work with local, state and tribal leaders to address barriers and increase access to care."
(Source: Healthcare IT News, July 24, 2008)
Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell recently announced the award of a $75,000 grant to VNA Health at Home in Watertown, CT, to help implement a telehealth monitoring program.
VNA Health at Home provides home health care services to patients of all ages in the Greater Waterbury area. The telehealth program will allow patients to check their vital signs daily with an at-home monitoring system and send the information via computer to their home health nurses.
"This grant will help improve the care and quality of life for so many people who rely on home health care," Gov. Rell said. "The dedicated nurses of the VNA will have another important tool to help them carry out their mission."
The grant is from the Connecticut Health and Educational Facility Authority (CHEFA), a quasi-public agency that helps Connecticut nonprofit organizations enhance their programs and continue their ongoing health and education services for citizens of this state.
(Source: Town Times News, July 17, 2008)
Rochester General Hospital in
New York recently unveiled a new telehealth robot.
The technology allows physicians to connect remotely with patients without having to physically travel miles away. Conversely, patients may receive care or consultations with specialists not generally available in rural areas, in particular, without having to make a costly drive to, in this area's case, a Rochester hospital. While doctors say face-to-face interaction with patients is preferred, telehealth technology, such as using robots, may save time and gas money.
Urologist Dr. Ralph Madeb, medical director of the new Department of Telehealth at Rochester General, said the technology will also mean that patients may receive timelier treatment and avoid unnecessary transfers to Rochester hospitals from more rural facilities.
The program's first robot is up and running at Newark-Wayne Community Hospital, an RGH affiliate.
The goal, Madeb said, would be to eventually also have robots at other area hospitals, like Clifton Springs.
Using the new electronic communication, which includes both visual and audio components, physicians and surgeons based at Rochester General have already used the robot to provide more than 500 consultations and care to patients at Newark-Wayne. Specialists are available for consults in dermatology, bariatric surgery, cardiology, endocrinology, plastic and vascular surgery, urology and a number of other areas.
"It really extends the specialist's hands," Madeb said, and can be used anywhere there is Internet service. To communicate through the robot, doctors need only a laptop computer and joystick with which to remotely move the about four-foot-tall device.
Called Remote Presence Robotics, it is believed that the RGH-Newark telehealth network is the first of its kind in the northeast and one of only two in the nation.
"Patients and doctors are excited about it," said Diane Ewing of the RGH staff.
Using the new technology, Newark patients who have met with doctors via the robot talked with Madeb and others recently.
She could still meet one-on-one with a specialist, said one of the patients, who wasn't named, and not miss as much time off work or spend the money it would cost for gas to drive to Rochester.
"Not having to drive to Rochester is a positive," agreed another patient, who also wasn't named.
Plastic surgeon Dr. Ralph Pennino has been using the technology and predicts that it will become more common in the coming years.
"You can do an exam and pretty much everything you want through this (robot)," he said.
The video screen "head" of the robot has the ability to zoom in very closely to patients. It also has screen-in-screen technology, so that a doctor can see his patient and vice versa.
"The great thing is that a doctor can show up anywhere in the world," Madeb said.
There was some worry that doctor-patient interaction would be lost and patients wouldn't like the robot, he conceded, but that doesn't seem to be the case because it's not just a phone call.
The doctor and patient are still face-to-face and the doctor can see a problem area, if necessary. Both the robot and the video screen have the ability to rotate 360 degrees, and the robot can also move forward and back.
The robot also includes a telephone, if a more confidential consultation is needed, a printer, advanced head gear, and even a digital stethoscope. The unit can even upload X-rays, Madeb said.
The point is, he said, patients want to and should be able to be treated close to their homes ... and this robot facilitates just that.
(Source: Messenger Post, July 18, 2008)
8/4/2008
After more than four years in the mainstream in Florida and a few states, online doctor consultations are catching on, although not like many had hoped. Only a fraction of doctors offer the service, and a small number of their patients take advantage. However, proponents of e-consults said the number has jumped since Aetna, Cigna and other insurers began paying for them nationwide in January. They predict the practice will one day become a prime option for patients dealing with simple health issues.
"It's really convenient for the patients and great for the doctors, too," said Dr. Maureen Whelihan, a West Palm Beach obstetrician who has consulted online for 15 months.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida began offering online physician contacts in 2004 as a way to improve patient satisfaction, ease office burdens on doctors and save a little money, said Lynn Monson, the insurer's director of health information technology.
A few thousand of the insurer's 28,000 doctors belong to the various online systems, and the number is growing. From all those Florida doctors, Blue Cross pays for a dozen e-consults per month on average, although many more may be using the system for free contacts, Monson said.
"I would love to see it take off like hotcakes, but it hasn't," Monson said. "It's something that's going to come of age."
Surveys show patients like the idea of contacting doctors by e-mail. But in California, only 4 percent of people reported doing so last year.
"The reality is that most patients unfortunately are not tuning in yet," said Dr. Nigel Spier, a Hollywood OB/GYN who answers patient e-mails daily and late at night. "Younger patients are catching on. But certainly the reflex is that if people have a question, they pick up the phone, they don't go to their computer."
To contact a doctor online, patients go to a password-protected Web site to find forms requesting lab results, prescription refills, appointments and office matters. Typically these are free and fielded by the office staff.
To initiate an e-consult about medical issues, patients answer a series of questions about their illness and medical history. The system often asks different questions depending on the patient's answers, as a doctor would. The doctor gets notified of the inquiry and posts an answer online for the patient to look up.
"When they fill out the form, all the questions I would have asked [in person] are already answered," Whelihan said. "I can actually make a pretty good diagnosis."
E-consults cost $25 to $40, payable by credit card. If insurance covers it, the patient may only face a small co-pay.
"Once [patients] use it once or twice and realize how nice it is, they use it more and more," said Reyes, who started e-consults in April.
Some doctors and medical organizations are skeptical of e-consults, saying an online exchange cannot replace a face-to-face visit and increases the risk of a doctor misdiagnosing a serious problem.
"There's so much potential for miscommunication when you can't see someone's face or detect the tone of their words, or watch their body language," said Dr. David Hutchinson, president of the Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians.
Proponents of cyber-medicine dismiss such fears, saying doctors can use their judgment to restrict e-consults to simple health issues.
Reyes' hand-held wireless unit jangled with an online question from a man whose ulcer resumed bleeding one night. He said he quickly called and ordered him to the emergency room.
RelayHealth, a leading online consultation system, says about one-third of its e-consults end with the doctor asking to see the patient in person.
Doctors who like the approach tend to be younger and tech-savvy. They find that dealing online with routine illnesses and matters is faster and more efficient than taking phone calls, and produces better records.
The online systems also ease foot traffic at a time when office visits have surged by 20 percent in five years, federal figures show.
The fact that big insurers have started covering e-consults bodes well for growth, supporters say. Cigna and Aetna tested e-consults since 2006 in Florida and other states before going national. Insurance officials said the service fits the trend of having patients take more responsibility for their health and costs.
The number of Cigna doctors using the system jumped by one-third this year, spokesman Joe Mondy said, but still has reached only 12,000 of 500,000. At Aetna, not 5 percent of 490,000 doctors are signed up, spokesman Walt Cherniak said. Doctors may hold off unless many patients show interest, while patients may not even know their doctor has access.
RelayHealth, a California e-consult firm, has signed up 17,000 doctors since 1999, said Ken Tarkoff, vice president and general manager. Thousands more use Medem Inc., Medfusion and others.
One in 10 of Spier's 5,000 patients have signed up for his service. One in five of Whelihan's 5,000 patients have; she fields one e-consult daily.
"A lot of physicians say, 'You're so out there.' We're really not," Reyes said. "This is 2008, folks. This is a natural evolution."
(Source: Florida Sun-Sentinel, July 21, 2008)8/4/2008
Scottish stroke support workers have praised new research which shows video conferencing is more effective than telephones in treating patients who suspect they are having a stroke.
Treatment decisions in the first three hours after a stroke are vital in the patient's recovery process, and scientists have discovered that real-time face-to-face video conferencing resulted in the correct treatment decisions being made in 98 per cent of study cases.
Patients who suspected they were having stroke were only given the correct advice in 82 per cent of cases over the telephone.
Angela Macleod, of the Stroke Association in Scotland, said: "This research highlights what we have known for some time, that telemedicine can have a significant impact on stroke recovery.
"Facial weakness, difficulty in raising both arms and speech problems are all symptoms of stroke, so if you suspect a stroke you must act fast and call 999."
(Source: Edinburgh Evening News, August 4, 2008)
Some
Guam patients can save time and money with the recent signing into law of the Telemedicine Act of 2008 because they won't have to take off-island medical trips.
Acting Gov. Mike Cruz said the new law also will allow for better coordination with off-island medical experts when patients on Guam do need to travel for further medical care.
Dr. Nathaniel Berg, who was with the acting governor for the signing of the new law, said off-island medical experts now will have a better comfort level when they're in communication -- via online video, phone or both -- with a licensed Guam doctor.
Questions were raised a few months ago whether an off-island doctor with a specific expertise is legally allowed to help diagnose a patient on Guam without first acquiring a Guam medical license.
The new law outlines numerous requirements that must be met by non-resident physicians before they are allowed to provide consultations to local doctors and patients, according to a press release from Cruz's office.
"One of the guidelines ensures that non-resident, licensed consulting physicians cannot provide final written or documented final medical opinions concerning the diagnosis or treatment of Guam patients," Cruz's office stated in a news release.
Berg said licensed doctors on Guam can electronically consult with doctors licensed in the U.S. -- and who are experts in their respective fields -- to help a patient on Guam.
"One of the big things is it can lead to many, many patients who will not have to leave Guam," Berg said.
Berg said, in certain cases, expert doctors who aren't licensed in the U.S. also can participate in telemedicine with a licensed Guam doctor. He mentioned the example of a patient who's scheduled to see a medical expert at St. Luke's in Manila. To help better coordinate the patient's care when he or she arrives in Manila, the patient's doctor in the Philippines can consult electronically with the patient's Guam doctor, Berg said.
"It allows our people on Guam to be able to take advantage some of the emerging technologies in medicine," Berg said. "It allows people to access medical expertise that would otherwise not be available on Guam ... and they don't have to leave off island."
The law doesn't allow patients to go out on their own and get care through the Internet, Berg said.
The new law also forbids non-resident, licensed consulting physicians from providing final written or documented final medical opinions concerning the diagnosis or treatment of Guam patients.
"This is an example of what can happen when the medical and political communities collaborate," Dr. Berg said.
Cruz, who's also a medical doctor, said, "I look forward to using the technology to help keep our patients on island when possible and having them better served when they do have to go off-island."
(Source: Pacific Daily News, July 19, 2008)
The
Scottish government has issued $6 million USD funding for a three year pilot study on the effects of telephone and online-based cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT). General practitioners in the Western Isles, Shetland, Borders, Greater Glasgow and Clyde and Lothian regions will be able to refer patients to the telephone based CBT system.
They will then be able to call a dedicated number and be talked through a number of ways to help ease any mild anxiety and depression issues they are experiencing.
A team of qualified therapists and self-help coaches will be employed in the regions, should the patient need further professional help and support, and special CD-Roms will be made available to affected patients.
One-to-one self-help clinics, group sessions, workbooks and college courses are also being run to aid patients with their CBT and a website with self-help tips and other advice is being developed.
The Scottish Government has set a target to stop rising rates of antidepressant prescriptions in the coming years, and hope the use of CBT can help to reduce this.
(Source: E-Health Insider, July 21, 2008)
7/15/2008
New Home Telehealth Primer Available on the TIE
A new
Home Telehealth Primer has recently been published on the TIE's
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Get Published on the TIE
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6/20/2008
A study on the use of telemedicine in hospital emergency departments in
Australia has found that while specialists report being placed under greater stress, regional health professionals are reaping the benefits. The Medical Journal of Australia has reported the results of a study carried out between staff at a large metropolitan hospital and a small district hospital.
The co-author of the report, Professor Johanna Westbrook from the University of Sydney, says the system worked best when dealing with moderate trauma patients but the specialists found themselves under additional stress.
"We actually asked the clinicians how they felt about the system and what difference it makes to the way they worked," she said.
"One of the most interesting findings we found was that the specialist who were providing the advice actually sometimes indicated that it created additional stress for them.
"But what they actually said was that they can often now see and hear the patient and so it's like being in the room with a resuscitation going on but they actually don't have any power to take any action"
"So in some ways it can actually create a little more stress for those clinicians."
(Source: ABC News Australia, June 16, 2008)
A new report from the
European Health Telematics Association has issued a report detailing a series of recommendations for achieving sustainable telemedicine services in Europe by 2020.
The "Sustainable Telemedicine: paradigms for future-proof healthcare" report presents the current achievements and best practice examples drawn from a number of ongoing projects across Europe, as well as looking at the successes of some completed pilot projects.
EHTEL president, Martin Denz, said: "This emerging industry will not only have an enormous positive impact on the quality of chronically ill patients and elderly people but also alleviate pressure on national health systems and boost European economy by creating possibly millions of new jobs."
Recommendations made in the report include facilitating change in everyday operations for healthcare professionals and patients and using patient-centred telemedicine to involve and engage professionals and patients in the overall e-health strategy.
The association also calls for a European support framework to be established to coordinate progress and future deployments of sustainable telemedicine.
Denz added: "As part of a sustainable health and social care in an ageing European society, EHTEL believes that a new type of health service industry, composed mainly of public and private sector small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is emerging in Europe.
"This emerging industry and new innovative health service professionals should focus on high medical quality for premium health services with a special emphasis on quality of life for citizens and patients."
ETHEL says that SMEs should lead the change and establish a culture of interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral collaboration between different specialized medical fields.
Countries should formulate explicit national strategies, scenarios and business models for sustainable telemedicine, it adds.
Denz said:"I believe that SMEs have a major role to play in supporting the delivery of future health care through pro¬vision of care at home. This will not only directly contribute to the EU's Lisbon agenda goals of creating more jobs and growth, but also to the implementation of the block's Lead Market Initiative on creating innovative solutions for public services."
EHTEL says its report demonstrates a close relationship between traditional health professionals and the IT industry, who are seeking to combine high medical quality with entrepreneurship and sound business understanding.
One member, German mobile phone firm Vitaphone's chief medical officer. Harald Korb, said: "We are facing a dramatic increase of demand for our telemedicine services. In particular health insurance providers are seizing the occasion to support better and more efficient healthcare through embedding our integrated telemonitoring services for persons with cardiac risks and chronic diseases into their portfolios. Hence the usefulness and sustainability of our services is increasingly recognized."
(Source: E-Health Europe, May 28, 2008)
Several students from the University of Arizona College of Medicine are participating in an international videoconference with medical students from
Kosovo, the first such conference since the country declared its independence in February. The virtual conference marked collaboration between the Arizona Telemedicine Program and the Telemedicine Program of Kosovo, two top-ranking programs in the world of telemedicine, a form of telecommunication technology to serve patients, as well as bring information to health care providers across the globe.
Dr. Marlys H. Witte, UA professor of surgery and Dr. Rifat Latifi, director and founder of the Telemedicine Program in Kosovo, led the conference from the College of Medicine. The conference was broadcast in Prishtina, the capital of The Republic of Kosovo, where over 75 medical students and physicians looked on while five UA students presented projects carried out while in the Medical Student Research Program headed by Witte.
Witte's contribution to the conference was in the realm of what she called "ignoramics," a concept geared in promoting more questioning among those in the medical profession and in hospitals she finds "filled with ignorance as well as knowledge."
"Its all about questions instead of answers," Witte said. "When you think about medicine, you think of giving answers, but it's also about finding good questions and improving things."
Among the students participating in the conference was Drew Kurtzman, a UA 1st-year doctoral medical student. Kurtzman is no stranger to ground-breaking medical procedures. His work with translational research alongside Dr. Daruka Mehadavan resulted in finding a new combination of drugs that could be used to treat gastrointestinal stromal tumors with noticeably less side effects.
The conference gave Kurtzman the opportunity to appreciate the global appeal of the telemedicine program, something he was previously unfamiliar with, he said.
"They are using it to train students who have limited access to hospitals and don't have as many resources as us," Kurtzman said. "So it is good for sharing info and also for them to learn how to become a physician."
Latifi started the Telemedicine Program in Kosovo when he returned to his home country seeking a way to better transfer medical assistance to thousands of refugees and others he saw suffering in the war-torn Balkan states, Latifi said.
Following a series of presentations given by Latifi illustrating the aftermath of ethnic and political turmoil that left the area void of satisfactory health care professionals and institutions, his dream materialized with enough funding in line to start what he entitled the "International Virtual e-Hospital" in Kosovo.
While the experience was primarily an educational one for participating students, they also appreciate the historical significance of the program, said Nataliya Biskup, a 2nd-year doctoral medical student.
"It was kind of strange to be able to be communicating halfway around the world," Biskup said, "but the potential is really amazing."
Biskup presented her development of a rotary that can be used to remove plaque from arteries that block blood flow and cause coronary artery disease.
In the future, Latifi hopes to be able to interact more internationally, expanding the telemedicine program at the UA and making it more common for students and professionals to consult with clinicians worldwide on a regular basis.
"Students and faculty will have tremendous benefits with exposure," Latifi said. "It will build bridges with other schools around the world."
In Kosovo and other similar countries, students learn mostly by observation, something Latifi would like to see change with more integration.
Biskup said her participation in the teleconference played on her interests in international medicine and made it clear that telemedicine "makes communication easier with people we probably wouldn't have heard from or have been exposed to."
Witte said the example students set with Kosovo is significant, and in the future, both parties will be able to do research and ask questions with more of an interchange.
"This is just the beginning of an adventure to expand," Witte said. "This was set up as a prototype with other countries focusing on medical students and also having an exchange that's physical as well as intellectual."
(Source: Arizona Daily Wildcat, June 18, 2008)
Guam Memorial Hospital (GMH) recently unveiled its new telemedicine equipment. Lieutenant Governor Mike Cruz was on hand to witness the unveiling of the equipment which is expected to play a crucial role in saving lives on Guam.
Cruz said the equipment will ensure that residents will receive care without having to go off-island. The two telemedicine stations were donated to GMH by Dr Nathaniel Berg and The Guam Healthcare and Hospital Development Foundation. The equipment cost around $60,000.
Peter Sgro, chairman of the foundation, said the equipment will be positioned in the hospital's conference room and education conference room.
The equipment was tested by physicians from Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles.
While an agreement has been made with the hospital for the donation, Berg said it is not an exclusive agreement, and that the hospital may receive consultation from physicians anywhere in the world.
(Source: Pacific News Center, June 4, 2008)
6/20/2008
The Economist, in an article entitled
Telemedicine Comes Home explores embedding remote monitoring and smart technology into homes to promote prevention and wellness: "Taken to its technological conclusion, this would involve using wireless sensors and implants to screen entire populations for early signs of disease as they go about their daily lives. If it can be made to work, the days of making an appointment to see your doctor when you are not feeling well could be over. Instead, it may be your doctor who calls you."
Good Morning America, in a recent segment entitled
Does Telemedicine Work, recently evaluated three Web sites that offer online physician consultations for a fee. They concluded that such websites can be useful for routine problems but might lead to misleading diagnoses.
iHealth Beat, in a recent
audio report, examined a project in the Pecan Park area of Houston where people with chronic diseases are using inexpensive handheld wireless devices to monitor their health through an unusual wireless network using "mesh" technology.
5/24/2008
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5/24/2008
The home telehealth and remote patient monitoring market is currently close to a $5.6 billion level and will continue to grow at close to 70% for at least the next three to five years, according to a new strategic report published by Insight and Intelligence, a Mary Ann Liebert company. Insight and Intelligence interviewed industry leaders, conducted surveys, utilized government and other agency databases, as well as reviews of published literature to provide an in-depth look at the home telehealth and remote patient monitoring market segment of the telemedicine industry.
The healthcare provider market segment (companies that provide telemedicine services to health care providers) is represented by a number of small to medium-sized companies with average annual revenue of approximately $6.6 million. These companies' combined average revenue growth, however, is significant, approaching 72%. Consumer companies (defined as companies that provide services directly to the consumer) tend to be larger with combined average annual revenue of approximately $121.3 million. Their combined annual revenue growth is even more explosive than that of healthcare provider companies, with a combined average range of 118.5% to 193.5%.
The full report will be available in late June from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
(Source: Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. Press Release, May 22, 2008)5/24/2008
The
Canadian province of Saskatchewan's move to regulate telehealth could steer out-of-province doctors away from the practice, a national advocacy group says. The Canadian Society of Telehealth wrote to Health Minister Don McMorris earlier this month asking him not to approve a proposed bylaw that would require doctors to get a special license and pay a fee to treat and diagnose Saskatchewan patients by phone, videoconference, Internet and other technological means.
"The bylaw proposal put forward by (the) Saskatchewan College of Physicians and Surgeons will significantly reduce the willingness of non-Saskatchewan-based physicians to provide telehealth services to Saskatchewan residents," society president Laurie Poole wrote to McMorris. "By imposing this fee, the college is effectively transferring significant costs and inconvenience back to the patient."
But college associate registrar Bryan Salte said the group has it wrong. Current Saskatchewan law makes it illegal for doctors to see patients without being licensed in the province, and that is preventing some doctors from offering the service at all.
In fact, some doctors have even said they will stop offering telemedicine in Saskatchewan until they can do it legally, Salte said.
"I don't see how a bylaw deters people any more than this current hurdle does," Salte said.
Last month, the college's council passed a bylaw to create a new class of license for doctors who want to see Saskatchewan patients via telemedicine. Those treating 12 or fewer patients in a year would pay nothing; seeing between 13 and 52 patients would cost $250. Getting the license would require less paperwork than a full medical license. Anyone seeing 52 patients or more each year would need to shell out $1,430 for a regular Saskatchewan license.
Trevor Cradduck, vice-president of the Canadian Society of Telehealth's board, worries creating these bureaucratic hoops means doctors won't make the effort to jump through them.
"Even if it's for free, they're unlikely to send all of the paperwork to the College of Physicians in Saskatchewan," Cradduck said. "It's so much easier to say, 'Come and see my in my office.' "
When patients have to travel for such consultations, it's a burden on their finances and their time, Cradduck said. Gas, airfare, hotels and food aren't covered medical expenses, and a caregiver may need to take time off work -- all for what might amount to a 10-minute appointment with a specialist.
Cradduck said Quebec and B.C. have dodged the problem by defining telehealth as the practice of medicine where the doctor is located (and already has a license). The society would like to see a national system of permits that would allow doctors to do telemedicine across Canada without applying individually to each province and territory.
Salte said the new bylaw -- once it has the minister's approval -- is supposed to encourage doctors to do telemedicine in Saskatchewan, not push them away.
Salte said a national system of permits wouldn't be allowed under the Canadian constitution, which gives provinces the power to license doctors. Even then, physicians would still need to fill out paperwork to get a permit.
Furthermore, not charging doctors for telemedicine permits would mean the cost of keeping tabs on them would be offloaded onto doctors who live in Saskatchewan and pay to be licensed, Salte said. That would be unfair, since some out-of-province doctors want to do telemedicine to make money.
If anyone is to practice telemedicine legally, the government will either have to approve the college's proposed bylaw, he said, or amend the Medical Profession Act, potentially creating new problems about regulating offshore doctors.
McMorris said the ministry is currently mulling the issue over. He hasn't yet been briefed or made a decision about the college's proposed bylaw.
"It's always a balancing act," he said. "We want to ensure that the safety of the public is paramount. We also realize the benefits of telehealth."
(Source: The Saskatoon StarPhoenix, May 16, 2008)
The three three national eHealth and telemedicine associations of
Germany,
Austria and
Switzerland have recently joined forces and enforced their cooperation by a formal agreement.
Across Europe and worldwide, telemedicine and telehealth services respond to today's health and social demands, i.e. treatment of chronic patients, support for the quality of life of elderly people living at home and the empowerment of citizens/patients to make healthcare choices. With the evolving European-wide availability of eHealth infrastructures, new opportunities for highly interconnected telemedicine services emerge. Given the ubiquity of networks and the mobility of patients in Europe it is impossible to deploy sustainable telemedicine services without international, European and worldwide dimensions.
To accomplish this joint vision, the three National eHealth and Telemedicine Associations of Germany (DGG), Austria (ASSTeH) and Switzerland (SATMeH) have recently joined forces and enforced their cooperation by a formal agreement. The agreement was signed at the "1st D-A-CH Cooperation Meeting" held in Mannheim, Germany, in the premises of Vitaphone, one of the pioneers in the provision of telemedicine services supported by a highly professional Telemedicine Service Centre. The cooperation agreement foresees close, cross-border collaboration for various subjects of eHealth and telemedicine supported by regular consultations and joint meetings of the associations. Foreseen results are joint publications, conferences and exhibitions at medical and eHealth fairs. Even more important will be the development of agreed guidelines for various aspects of telemedicine, educational curricula and providing harmonised advice to model and pilot projects.
As G�nter Steyer, President of the DGG states "The significance of telemedicine in practice is vastly increasing throughout Europe. Following the introduction of health telematics infrastructures like e.g. the German eHealth card, clinical teleservices become increasingly important. Also the European Commission has prioritised telemedicine in its 2008 action planning. Especially for chronic diseases and patients at risk, telemedicine is an essential module to cope with the challenges of the European Healthcare systems, particularly those induced by the demographic changes. The cooperation of the European Associations for eHealth and telemedicine is hence of utmost importance to pave the way for a coherent European eHealth infrastructure, which has to be build on international standardisation while still recognising National developments and regulations."
(Source: eHealth News, May 11, 2008)
Monrovia has opened a new telemedicine center in the city of Ulaanbaatar in the Scientific Center for Mother and Infant. The center will allow Mongolians who must travel great distances to see a doctor to, instead, receive medical assistance via the telephone.
The system will cover all residents of eight provinces including Khovd, Khovsgol, Dornod, Ovorkhangai, Darkhan-Uul, Orkhon, Selenger, and Dornogobi.
Since the telemedicine program was launched in Mongolia in September 2007, some 700,000 Mongolians have taken advantage of the service.
(Source: Mongolia Web News, May 20, 2008)
On the surface, it seems quite ordinary - a medium-sized, silver box not much different than your average suitcase, but the equipment inside has changed the way patients recover from heart surgery. With the equipment, nurses at Saint John Hospital in New Brunswick,
Canada, are able to measure the vital signs, electrocardiogram, blood pressure and oxygen saturation of patients recovering from surgery in their home, and determine if they are recovering properly or need additional assistance.
Now in its 10th year, the telehealth's program coordinator Krisan Palmer was honored as "industry person of the year" at the knowledge industry award ceremony earlier this month. "It's nice to know we're finally being recognized by the IT sector, that telehealth is a viable industry," she says.
The telehealth center is a small operation, run by a staff of 10, including Palmer and a secretary, out of a small space on the first floor of the Saint John Regional Hospital.
The applications, says Palmer, are endless, and help serve patients from all over New Brunswick and beyond. But it's the post-cardiac surgery care program that began in 1998 that really sets Saint John's telehealth program apart.
The program has served 4,000 patients in and around New Brunswick, and this year Palmer expects to assist more than 700 through the program.
"It's the fact that psychologically these patients are going home but they don't feel like they're going home alone. They know they're talking to a nurse every day," said Marc Pelletier, head heart surgeon at the Saint John hospital.
Pelletier was born in Edmundston, but after studying at top schools across North America, he returned to New Brunswick last summer to take the top job, after James Parrott, who helped found the telehealth centre, retired.
"I was in California, at Stanford, the mecca as it relates to information technology - the school where the Google guys went, all that stuff - but something like this wasn't even on the radar," he says.
"I come here, kind of a have-not-province, but it's got a very good cardiac centre and one of the reasons it's good is things like (telehealth)."
When Palmer first made the switch from working as a nurse in intensive care to the telehealth department, she was hardly a technological wizard.
It took her an hour to figure out how to turn on her laptop when she first took it home, she says. But since then, she's become a pioneer in her field, won several awards, and called "one of the country's foremost experts on long distance applications for healthcare" by Time magazine.
Health care providers from around the globe - Nunavut, Virginia, Norway, Sweden, Cameroon, China - have since come knocking for help to set up similar programs.
Palmer says the technology is not just for people that live far from the regional hospital; it has also proven cost-effective for local patients.
"People say it's not for people in Saint John or Quispamsis," she says.
"But if you look at the example of a congestive heart failure patient with a low income who lives uptown, it's a cab here and a cab back. That's twenty dollars out of their pocket that they may not have."
Though the technology is not new, there still isn't a standard, marketed piece of equipment designed to serve patients recovering from heart surgery in their home.
Palmer and the telehealth team worked technology companies and health organizations in 1998 to develop their own machine that combined a video phone, with equipment to measure vitals, and other important information. All of it fits in the fire proof silver case patients or their caregiver can put back on a bus to Saint John when they're done.
Palmer says they are in the process of creating a more advanced version of the equipment.
The new units will allow people to hook the machine up to the internet (or phone jack), and will be adaptable to serve patients with other problems, such as congestive heart failure, diabetes, high-risk pregnancies.
"Once they finish the development of it they will take that to market and I'm sure that it'll be old news because everybody will be doing it."
(Source: New Brunswick Business Journal, May 19, 2008)
