Scientific survey of telehealth/telemedicine in the US

November 14, 2015 | by | 2 Comments

The Robert Graham Center for Policy Studies in Family Medicine and Primary Care sent [grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Robert-Graham-Center-logo.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]surveys to more than 5,000 randomly selected phyicians, intentionally oversampling rural ones, and received a high 31% response (1,557 respondents). Fifteen percent of the respondents indicated that they used telehealth  according to the report  on the analysis the data (the terms telehealth and telemedicine are used interchangeably in this report), “Family Physicians and Telehealth: Findings from a National Survey”, co-written by six authors, which is available now.

Compared with non-users, family physicians who use telehealth  are more likely to practice in a rural location, be younger, have practiced for 10 or fewer years, and employ an electronic health record (EHR), says the report. Almost half (49 percent) of telehealth users practice as part of an organization that is not physician owned (e.g., an integrated health or hospital system). More than half of telehealth users reported using telehealth one to five times in the past year, while more than 23 percent reported using telehealth on more than 20 occasions during the same period. Almost half of telehealth users stated they had used real-time video consultations in the past 12 months. In addition, 55 percent of surveyed telehealth users had used telehealth services for diagnosis or treatment in the past 12 months, and one-fourth of surveyed telehealth users reported using telehealth services for chronic disease management. (more…)

‘Tis the season of mellow fruitfulness..and consultations

November 13, 2015 | by

Suddenly it seems there are consultations all over the place that are important to the digital health world. If you can spare some time, you will be doing society a great turn by responding to as many as possible. They include:

The Accelerated Access Review (disclosure, which is editor is very involved with) is holding a consultation on pricing & reimbursement schemes. This is important because in the area of digital health (one of three areas covered by the AAR, the other two being medicines and medtech), selling at scale almost always involves a competitive tender (either at the time or previously in establishing framework contracts, or sometimes at both stages). We therefore have much to learn from the pharma sector in particular who have established a wide range of price-setting, and thus tender-avoiding, mechanisms. We are very keen for the digital health and medical technology voices to be heard.

Deadline for submissions is Friday 20th November.

Next we have an EC consultation with a characteristically long-winded title Public consultation on the preliminary opinion on ‘Disruptive Innovation. Considerations for health and health care in Europe’. For this, the EC is partnering with an organisation previously unknown to this editor: the Expert Panel on Effective Ways of Investing in Health (EXPH). Having learned about disruptive innovation at the feet of the man himself, Clayton Christensen, this editor gets just a little uncomfortable when experts seek to impose order on the process (especially ‘taxonomies’), as by definition it is chaotic and opportunistic. However the four areas that the survey seeks views on are:

1. New models of person-centred community-based health delivery that allow a decentralisation from traditional health care venues like hospitals to integrated care models (e.g. transfer of records to patients);

2. New technologies that allow early diagnostics, personalised medicine, health promotion, community-based therapy and care and the empowerment of patients/citizens, as well as potential curative technologies (e.g. regenerative medicine, immunotherapy for cancer);

3. Person-oriented approaches for the treatment of patients with multiple chronic diseases, situations of frailty and/or of loss of functionalities in a multi-cultural context;

4. Education of the health workforce and transfer of skills and tasks from highly trained, high cost personnel to personnel that have less specialised trained and are more affordable; (e.g. from specialists to generalists, from generalists to nurses, from nurses to health care assistants and to other care providers such as pharmacists, and ultimately to citizens themselves.)

The preliminary opinion is just 95 pages long, and here. The consultation closes on 16th December.

Closer to home and potentially of more immediate significance is the consultation on the draft EU Code of Conduct on data privacy for medical apps which is now being opened up for general consultation prior to a meeting in Brussels of the group producing the Code (of which this editor is a member) on December 7th. Please send your comments directly to charles.lowe@DHACA.org.uk and I will pass them on.

Finally, London’s Southbank University is planning to establish a set of qualifications for digital health-related topics and is keen to understand the likely willingness to pay for them. They are currently in discussion with the Royal Society of Medicine regarding use of educational material. They have produced this short survey which they would appreciate as many TTA readers as possible completing.

Hat tip to Dee O’Sullivan for alerting me to the disruptive innovation consultation.

 

mHealth Grand Tour: ‘magical’ for cyclists, clinical level information for diabetes

November 13, 2015 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/1111150945.jpg” thumb_width=”200″ /]

From the HIMSS Connected Health Conference (CHC)/mHealth Summit

The last Executive Spotlight/keynote on Wednesday morning stepped outside most of this year’s CHC content, first for presenting a European mHealth program and diabetes patients not as overweight, inactive and co-morbid but as athletes. Presented by Benjamin Sarda, Head of Marketing for Orange Healthcare, the mHealth Grand Tour has developed in three years from a fully organized, challenging 2,100 km Brussels-Barcelona ride primarily (but not exclusively) for cyclists with Stage I and II diabetes as a test bed for blood glucose monitoring under extreme exercise, to a 1,500 km Brussels-Geneva three-stage tour with even greater ascent, extreme monitoring and also a full spectrum of vital signs feedback via smartphone to the riders. This past September, 24 riders accumulated 7 million measurements. The cyclists used these measurements (left) [grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/1111150950.jpg” thumb_width=”200″ /][grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Orange-phone-grand-tour.jpg” thumb_width=”200″ /]to help manage their food intake, blood glucose, performance and overall wellness. The data is currently being analyzed by France’s Society of Diabetes (SFD), but an early result is that medication compliance was 97 percent. Some had difficulty (with a 22,000 meter climb, who wouldn’t?) but the app helped them manage their ride and what they can do that day. Orange’s interest as a telecom is obviously data but their work with multiple research and mHealth partners (including the Personal Connected Health Alliance which is part of the CHC) and with organizations like the JDRF are part of their big scale. It also represents a ‘jump shift’ in thinking about what is possible in living with diabetes.

What happened in between? Plenty! (More coverage to come.)

GE Healthcare acquires health consultancy

November 12, 2015 | by

GE Healthcare announced on Monday that it has acquired a US healthcare consultancy firm, The Camden Group. [grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/GE-Healthcare-logo.png” thumb_width=”150″ /]Founded in 1970, The Camden Group advices US healthcare organisations such hospitals, health plan providers, medical groups and ACOs and will become the US business unit of GE Healthcare’s international consultancy GE Healthcare Partners.

The Camden Group has been expanding for some time and acquired Health Directions LLC in January of this year for an undisclosed price. By acquiring The Camden Group GE Healthcare will get access to a range of ongoing customers. The $18bn GE Healthcare business announced a $300M commitment two months ago to create a Sustainable Healthcare Solutions unit covering emerging health markets in Asia and Africa.

The price paid for the acquisition of The Camden Group has not been disclosed.

90% of industries have had PHI data breach: Verizon (HIMSS Connected Health)

November 10, 2015 | by

Reporting from the HIMSS Connected Health Conference (CHC)

Cybersecurity is one of the three central themes of this year’s HIMSS CHC, and excellent timing for releasing the highlights of Verizon’s first ever PHI (Protected Health Information) Data Breach Report. This is a spinoff of their extensive, eight years running international Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR). 

It’s not just your doctor’s office, hospital or payer. It will be no surprise to our Readers that the healthcare sector is #7 in breaches–but that a PHI breach may come from non-healthcare (in US, HIPAA-covered) sources. This Editor spoke with Suzanne Widup, the lead author of the PHI Report and an info security/forensics expert, and included in that 90 percent are workers’ compensation programs, self-insured companies, the public sector, financial/insurance companies and–as a damper on this highly competitive (but hard to gauge results) area–wellness programs. Most organizations, according to Ms Widup, aren’t even conscious that they are holding this information and need to specially protect it from intrusion, as “PHI is like gold for today’s cybercriminal.”

Consistent with other authoritative tracking studies like Ponemon Institute’s and ID Experts’, the threat is from within: physical theft and loss, insider misuse and ‘miscellaneous’ account for 77 percent of theft. And as Bryan Sartin, managing director of Verizon’s RISK team noted in his keynote today, attacks take over a seven-month period on average to even be noticed. The breaches are long term, start small and sneaky. 2/3 of organizations don’t find out on their own, only when it starts to affect other partners. (Surprise!) Despite the proven Chinese and Black Vine involvement in several high profile, high-volume data hacks (Anthem), and ‘brute force’ hacks that make headlines (iCloud last year), the average breach is an inside job where “assets grow legs and walk off” in Dr Widup’s words, or privilege misuse.

When I asked Ms Widup about the Internet of Things (which is moving high on the hype curve, from what your Editor has experienced to the nth degree at this conference), she confirmed that this is an area that needs extra cybersecurity protection. (more…)

Fancy six months in Dubai becoming an entrepreneur all expenses paid, with no strings?

November 10, 2015 | by

Evangelia Balanou has drawn this editor’s attention to an extraordinarily attractive-looking offer. Dubai 100 is:

“an intensive six months cross-disciplinary pre-accelerator programme designed to develop the growth of young talent through industry awareness, entrepreneurship mentorship and business opportunities. The programme is free of charge and does not require any equity stake in graduating startups. We fully cover visas, flights, accommodation and office spaces for accepted applicants for the duration of the programme.”

The principal selection criteria are:

  • 15 international recent graduates in teams of up to 3 members. Between the ages of 20-30 years old
  • Teams should apply with an innovative early stage idea in the med-tech and digital health space
  • Teams that have 3 cofounders willing to spend the entire 6 months duration in Dubai and working with full commitment on their start-up will be given priority over others
  • Teams should not have participated in any accelerator programmes, received any investments or experienced significant traction yet.

Here is the full Dubai 100 programme overview, or email arshia.yadav@falconandassociates.ae if there is anything more you want to know. To apply click here.

NOTE: the application deadline is 15th November.

Good luck…and do let us know if you applied as a result of this blog, and were accepted!

A diagnosis of why digital health startups die–an old (and new) story

November 6, 2015 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/upside-down-duck.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]For years now, your Editors have championed integration of data and system interoperability–search on these terms and you’ll find a wealth of articles and views. This Editor also included how data is integrated in patient records as the Fifth Big Question (FBQ) in 2012 [TTA 8 Aug 13]. Many digital health companies, not just startups, have failed at the data integration (and security) tasks, whether with EHRs, hubs, billing and practice management systems or with other devices. (Let us not forget that the initial impetus for Continua back in 2007, the US state/regional HIXs and for HL7 now, was to have common data and interchange standards.)

So there’s no real element of surprise here by John Sung Kim’s pleading in TechCrunch re ‘integrating into legacy systems’ and the troubles his own startup DoctorBase encountered in what he tactfully puts ‘political and technical hurdles’ encountered. But then the velvet gloves come off about EHRs and their less-than-scrupulous idea of ‘partnerships’. (more…)

Reaching the lemonade point with Jawbone

November 6, 2015 | by

This editor’s recent blogs on Jawbone’s UPs do not make pleasant reading so now I’ve reached my “lemonade point” – ie I am on my 7UP (or should that be seventh UP?) – it seemed only fair to advise readers that I have had my second UP3 for over a month and it still works! As I took my previous one in the shower – as is recommended – and it packed up very quickly, for this one I’m avoiding all water contact. Perhaps that’s the secret?

I was reminded of this by this recent piece in ZD-net grumbling about tracker data loss – Jawbone, alongside Misfit, were the two quoted. That is an experience I have yet to have, although at present if anything I have the reverse with my sleep times being doubled resulting in 14+ hour daily sleeps.

Apart from this relatively minor glitch (compared to previous rather more terminal ones), I am almost at the point of being impressed. The new software automatically detects sleep, so no need to remember to tell it when you are going to bed, and the heart rate monitor produces some very interesting results. Once you work out how to put it on so it doesn’t keep falling off, it’s much less obtrusive that the original UP open bracelet, too. If it keeps going like this for another eleven months, I fear I might even start recommending it!

Important dates for your diary – many free! (UK)

November 6, 2015 | by

The must-do free digital health event of the next few weeks has to be to go to one of the four final dallas events, in which attendees will get to hear of all the important things that the programme has learned over the past three years. Surely that’s unmissable, or as the flier says, “free but priceless”!

The events are at:

  • Manchester – 12th November
  • Cardiff – 17th November
  • Belfast – 25th November
  • Glasgow – 8th December

Bookings for the first three of these can be made here, for Glasgow, here.

The Cardiff event is being run alongside the TSA International Technology Enabled Care Conference on 16th & 17th November, (and see our recent blog on this too), so you can combine the two.

The Glasgow event is part of the Scottish Digital Health & Care Week, that we also featured in a recent blog.

Another free-to-attend event with a particular focus on SMEs takes place on the evening of the 3rd December in City Hall, London: 21st Century London MedTech. Bookings, and more details, here.

Moving to paid events, albeit very cheaply priced because the Royal Society of Medicine is a charity, the Telemedicine Section of the RSM has four events now open to book:

Both the February and April events are now into their fourth years – and both are regular sellouts, so worth booking soon.

You might also want to hold the 19th May in your diaries for when the RSM & IET jointly run another conference that was previously a sellout: “the future of medicine; the doctor’s role in 2025”. This will be opened by George Freeman, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Life Sciences,and features a glittering array of experts who will be suggesting what we need to do now to deliver the health & care systems of the future. Bookings will open soon.

The 2nd UCL Festival for Digital Health is now set for 22 February to 4 March 2016 – more details here.

Planning ahead, the search for the best eHealth solution in 2016 developed by an EU SME has begun with the unveiling of the competition’s website and the ability to get mailed information as it emerges.

Good luck if you apply!

HCF Catalyst’s first startup/scaleup accelerators–apply by 27 Nov (Australia)

November 6, 2015 | by

HCF, Australia’s largest non-profit healthcare fund, has started Australia’s first true accelerator for health tech, HCF Catalyst. While accelerators have been around now for the better part of 10 years in the US and UK, they are new Down Under. Both startup and scaleup programs are on offer.

  • Startup: a three-month education/support program with a following three-month incubation program; initial investment of AU$50,000 and a next-round opportunity for up to AU$100,000 from the Slingshot Venture Fund. Qualifying teams should have, to quote their page, an idea that aligns to one of the HCF Catalyst themes, a fantastic team, able to deliver an MVP within three months of starting and global aspirations. See information and apply here.
  • Scaleup: for early-stage companies with business which are in growth mode, this is an access program that includes mentoring and coaching–no funding but access to investors, mentoring, coaching and a ‘demo day’. More information and to apply here.

Partners include Sparke Helmore, PWC, University of Newcastle, Artesian Capital Management and IBM SoftLayer. Hat tip to George Margelis via Twitter and Shawn Larkin, HCF Managing Director on LinkedIn.

TSA’s International Technology Enabled Care Conference (Wales)

November 6, 2015 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/TSA-Event-Site-03_031.png” thumb_width=”150″ /]16-17 November, Celtic Manor Resort Hotel, Newport, South Wales

This Editor notes that the Telecare Services Association will be ‘Inspiring Change and Progress’ in its second annual International TEC conference at the Celtic Manor. The website mentions a host of high profile speakers to give the ‘need to know’ sector picture, with a two day programme packed with stimulating presentations, challenging debates, informative parallel sessions that will include masterclasses and interactive workshops. More information and registration. Chubb Community Care has noted to us that it’s Europe’s largest TEC conference. They will also be featuring at the conference their jewelry-like alert pendant, Onyx, was developed by CAIR of West Yorkshire. It’s also fitted to work with Chubb’s new Care System and CareUnity® assisted living solutions

Chubb also will exhibit its new Chubb Care System, an assisted living solution where Chubb is a single-service provider for installation, service and monitoring, tailoring system features and functionality to the specific requirements of residents. They are at Booth 19.

Drive to ACOs and value-based care may make 2016 The Year of Telehealth (US)

November 6, 2015 | by

An encouraging prediction? Two Foley & Lardner attorneys with evidently a great interest in healthcare predict that 2016 may very well be The Year of Telehealth. Why? They cite accountable care organizations (ACOs) and the coordinated care at the heart of their model as a protected activity under the Medicare fraud and abuse waivers. “Coordinating care, such as through the use of telehealth, remote patient monitoring, and other enabling technologies”is “an activity reasonably related to the purposes of the Medicare Shared Savings Program and therefore is eligible for protection under one or more of the fraud and abuse waivers”. National Law Review, mHealth News. While from the legal point of view this may be significant, there’s been a concatenation of other factors.

What are the drivers for telemedicine and telehealth in ACOs? In the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP), which is one model, ACOs must leverage savings, and perhaps the largest is avoiding unnecessary hospitalization costs among ‘high-risk’ patients–those with chronic disease–and usually more than one. They are also over half of high ER/ED utilizers. The Federal agency behind Medicare, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has since 2011 been signing up ACOs in risk and value-based payment models that offer incentives such as shared savings. In 2014, only 28 percent of ACOs in the MSSP program earned shared savings bonuses. (more…)

HIMSS Connected Health Conference/mHealth Summit starts Sunday–save $100

November 6, 2015 | by

Time is short! This Editor will be attending the HIMSS Connected Health Conference this November 8-11 in Washington, DC (actually outside The Puzzle Palace in National Harbor, Maryland). Telehealth & Telecare Aware has been a media partner (disclosure) since the 2009 mHealth Summit. Changes this year include that it is three conferences in one: the original mHealth Summit with the Global mHealth Forum, the new PopHealth Summit (concentrating on health improvement on the community, regional and national level) and the much needed new CyberSecurity Summit.

Attend all three for one registration, including a large Exposition floor and three pavilions for Population Health, Cybersecurity and Games for Health. Also, there are extra co-located and add on events, mainly on Sunday the 8th. The Global mHealth Forum focuses on mobile and connected health in low and middle income countries (LMICs) and is on Wednesday.

The Summit organizers have been kind enough to offer an excellent discount to our readers of $100. When registering, click on the advert (above, right hand side) and use the promotional code TELEHEALTH100 to receive it. (more…)

AdhereTech claims boost of 20 percent in med adherence

November 3, 2015 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/AdhereTech-pill-bottle-e1436497826583.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /] Back in June at CEWeek this Editor viewed the newly redesigned, retro-looking AdhereTech medication bottle [TTA 10 July] and thought it a substantial step in appearance and feel in the hand above 1.0. It dispenses normally, lights are brighter, sounds are louder, it communicates wirelessly to track consumption and reminders, works internationally and has a three-time greater battery life.

Compliance is a huge US business with pharma companies baying at the moon for it as a raison D’être of digital health. AdhereTech is working with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Weill Cornell Medical Center, and Walter Reed Army Medical Center on clinical trials. AdhereTech’s studies now indicate that users get about a 20 percent lift in adherence versus a standard bottle, and 80 percent of patients given the option of using AdhereTech or a normal bottle opted into the smart bottle. Like Medisafe [TTA 30 Oct], their market is millions who have one or more chronic diseases, but they sub-target those who take more and more expensive medications which can justify this pill dispenser’s cost. Mobihealthnews, FT interview with team early last month

Wing: a device that warns prior to asthma attacks

November 3, 2015 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/wing-device-964×644.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]A St Louis, Missouri startup, Sparo Labs, has developed what they term an ‘early warning device’ for asthma attacks. The Wing pocket-size sensor which connects to a smartphone app (iPhone 5 and later, Android soon) measure both peak flow (how fast you can blow out air) and FEV1 (how much air you blow out in 1 second). The app measures it against personal levels (80-100 percent of best is fine, 50-80 percent is caution and below 50 percent is red zone) so that a person (or caregiver) receives an accurate reading of their breathing level; if something is wrong, the person can take their medication and/or seek assistance. For the 10 percent of Americans who have difficulty breathing, not just from asthma but living with COPD, cystic and pulmonary fibrosis, bronchitis and other respiratory conditions, the Wing’s compact design and under-$200 price point won’t leave them breathless. Wing is financing/testing on Indiegogo with a 20 Nov goal of $50,000 ($32,000 to date), awaiting 510(k) FDA clearance with an in-market date of August 2016. PSFK blog, Gizmag,Hat tip to Toni Bunting, our former N. Ireland Editor. 

Scottish Digital Health and Care Week

November 3, 2015 | by

7-11 December, Strathclyde University’s Technology & Innovation Centre, Glasgow

[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/digiweek15eps-_2.jpg” thumb_width=”120″ /]This year’s conference theme is “Using innovative technology to enable more integrated, sustainable & person-centered health and care”. It offers the opportunity to learn from across Scotland, the UK and beyond, with a mix of workshops and plenary sessions. Topics include the critical lessons learned when deploying technology enabled services at scale, drawing experiences from telecare, telehealth and eHealth; learning crucial lessons from the experience implementing the UK wide DALLAS programme. Delegates are encouraged to discuss current knowledge base on a range of topics; network with colleagues from across the relevant sectors; and actively consider application to their own practice. There are also multiple events during the week; more information at SCTT’s website. Registration. Hat tip to Mike Clark via Twitter