‘eVisits’ save $5 billion globally this year–but are they more effective care?

August 14, 2014 | by

Deloitte and Towers Watson obviously disagree on the savings from eVisits (Deloitte) and telemedicine (Towers Watson). Deloitte’s study of eVisits projects a global savings of $5 billion in 2014. Towers Watson is estimating $6 billion in 2015 from US employers alone if there is full employee utilization of telemedicine. Deloitte is also more transparent in its estimating, for example on the $50-60 billion total addressable market for eVisits in ‘developed countries’. This Editor doesn’t see a major difference in definitions between the two; Deloitte defines eVisits as video consults plus the forms, questionnaires and photos that have become part of telehealth, but not the vital signs monitoring part.. Perhaps our readers, looking at both more closely, can discern, or confirm that Towers Watson has too rosy a picture? Deloitte‘s ’21st Century Housecall’ study (short paper) is also worth a read for presenting facts/figures on the global addressable market and for a surprising conclusion–that the ‘greater good (in developing countries) may come from saving tens of millions of lives’. Hat tip to reader Mike Clark. Clinical Innovation + Technology summary.

‘Virtual care is much more effective than brick-and-mortar care.” (Editor’s emphasis) A bold statement that Microsoft and the writer from Intel fail to back up with facts. The focus of this ‘In Health’ article is preventing readmissions. There are the usual Panglossian pointers  (more…)

Telemedicine may save employers $6 billion per year, increase 68% (US)

August 14, 2014 | by

Employers offering telemedicine projected to increase by 68 percent. Professional services advisory firm Towers Watson, in a survey of US employers with over 1,000 employees, has estimated that adoption of telemedicine by employees in benefit programs may save US companies up to $6 billion annually. This substantial number of course is projected on use by all employees and dependents. A reservation: it is $1 billion higher than the global eVisit savings cited by Deloitte‘s study. The definition of ‘telemedicine’ from the context of the TW release seems to be mainly virtual visits, (more…)

Verizon’s ‘white label’ telemedicine service debuts

June 30, 2014 | by | 2 Comments

Verizon is evidently sticking with its strategy of enterprise marketing when it comes to digital health. The Verizon Virtual Visits service released last week enables a video chat with a clinician via smartphone app (3G/4G OK as well as Wi-Fi; the full mobile enablement Verizon states as a key differentiator versus competitors such as American Well, MDLive and Teladoc) or alternatively, web portal. Prior to the average 30 minute chat, the service verifies eligibility and co-pay information, presents patients’ self-reported histories, symptoms, medication allergies and other information, then collects the co-pay; at the close if needed, an e-prescription via SureScripts is sent to the patient’s pharmacies. Verizon presents this as as a ‘white label’ service for groups such as health systems, insurers and health plans who will determine their unique co-pay and clinician mix. Clinicians can be contracted through Verizon’s provider network or, in a health system, their own or an in-house/contract mix. Neither clients nor third-party medical provider(s) have been announced yet, but VentureBeat states that the clients will be publicized in the next few months, which is deflating. Information Week, The IHCC. Verizon release.

Project ECHO using telemedicine to limit, treat hepatitis C virus

June 21, 2014 | by

Two US government agencies plus the American Medical Association (AMA) are piloting a program to better diagnose and treat the hepatitis C virus (HCV). The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is the lead in this Arizona and Utah-based project, with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONCHIT) and the AMA creating new clinical quality measures and clinical support tools. The objective is to identify what works to treat HCV infections and then develop a scalable methodology. The program will integrate telemedicine (video consults), public health data analysis and outreach  to primary care physicians, academic centers and public health officials. CDC/ONC release/blog posting,  iHealthBeat, Health Data Management. Hat tip to Editor Toni Bunting.

Grant funds telemedicine for brain aneurysm

June 1, 2014 | by

A grant of $150,000 has been awarded by a charitable foundation to fund a telemedicine [grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/The-Missy-Project-logo.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]programme to help patients with brain aneurysms. The grant from The Missy Project, a Texas non-profit founded in 1999 after the sudden death of 12-year old Marisa (Missy) Magel due to a brain aneurysm, is being awarded to the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Hospital Center for Telehealth.

The funding will enable brain aneurysm patients in northern New England to have rapid access to neurovascular specialists, according to Dartmouth-Hitchcock. This will be achieved through telemedicine platforms to access the specialists at Dartmouth-Hitchcock from local facilities and community hospitals in what will be virtual aneurysm clinics. Once a patient has had a CT scan they will be able to proceed to a specialist consultation faster and more conveniently under this programme. In addition to virtual aneurysm clinics, the Dartmouth-Hitchcock project will include a 24/7 emergency department telemedicine acute consult service for pediatric and adult patients with suspected subarachnoid hemorrhage (which accounts for half of all hemorrhagic strokes), and customized educational video content, according to the Dartmouth-Hitchcock.

The number of deaths each year in the United States due to brain aneurysms  is estimated to be 32,000, more than either AIDS or prostate cancer, according to The Missy Project and an estimated 1 in 50 people, or 6 million people in the US have an unruptured brain aneurysm according to the Brain Aneurysm Foundation, so this project brings telemedicine to an important area.

Dartmouth-Hitchcock Center for Telehealth was awarded nearly a $1M from the USDA in February this year (see USDA invests $16M in distance learning and telemedicine) to deploy telemedicine equipment and services in New Hampshire and Vermont.

A kudo for kiosks: HealthSpot Station adds $8 million funding

May 9, 2014 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/booth-Dr.-Jenkins-with-attendant-300dpi-website.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /] In a week of small funding announcements, HealthSpot announced an add of $8 million to its 2013 $10 million round, totaling $18.3 million of a $20 million offering (SEC filing). Investors are not disclosed. In three years, HealthSpot has raised an impressive total funding of $23 million (CrunchBase), although the company is still in pilot in a handful of locations around their Ohio HQ and reports minimal revenue. The company’s hosted, fully enclosed kiosks with both telehealth monitoring and virtual consult capabilities debuted at the end of 2012 at International CES New York. According to their website, their markets are facility waiting rooms, pharmacies, schools, military bases and prisons. Their partnerships have been notable: EHR Netsmart, telemedicine network Teladoc and a co-location arrangement with Canadian pharmacy kiosk MedAvail [TTA 23 Jan]. They are also on the board of the Alliance for Connected Care lobbying advocacy group [TTA 13 Feb], which will certainly aid their cause by plumping for increased telehealth coverage by Medicaid beyond the present 20 states and Medicare beyond rural special programs. Yes, they will be at ATA 2014, if you are attending. Mobihealthnews

They’re baaaaaack!

May 5, 2014 | by

When this editor was running the Whole System Demonstrator in LB Newham, he watched as a firm of management consultants that were assisting the DH steadily became ‘experts’ in telecare and telehealth delivery as they watched us struggling to deliver a new technology to demanding academic trial requirements. It was almost a caricature of the “lend me your watch; show me how to use it; now I’ll charge you for telling you the time” joke.

A different firm allied with the leading provider of telehealth equipment at the time to offer a kit + redesign care package that shifted many boxes (more…)

Two new health applications for Google Glass

April 12, 2014 | by

Beyond the surgical suite [TTA 24 Sept, 16 Nov], developers keep building platforms that enable telemedicine consults with Google Glass. An exciting one is Beam, developed by Remedy, which allows clinicians to securely share images, text, video and location through Glass. The consult can either be live streamed (synchronous) or store-and-forward (asynchronous) through Beam’s ‘expert interface’. Harvard and The University of Pennsylvania started pilots of Beam in March. The intriguing background is that one of the co-founders, Noor Siddiqui, is but 19–albeit one who has a Thiel Fellowship which gives young entrepreneurs the $100,000 opportunity to skip college and work on their project. Fast Company/Co.Exist, MedCityNews, press release via Telepresence Options. A bit more ‘out there’ is Personal Neuro Devices’ Introspect PND Wearable, a ‘passive brain monitor’ that based on the pictures, is an add-on to Glass that surrounds the head from back to front, with two sensors that extend between the ears and eyes. Ottawa, Canada-based PND claims it reads brain waves and the app then applies the changes to provide feedback, such as special content to modulate moods (their other business.) Release, PND page with video/pictures, ApplySci

‘Blue Blazes’ indeed: Wal-Mart’s clinic in a back room

April 7, 2014 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/blue-blazes.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /] The surprise here is not that Wal-Mart is teaming with Kaiser Permanente at two locations in California (Bakersfield, Palmdale) to trial a telemedicine/telehealth clinic. Nor is it that it’s confined to KP members and Wal-Mart employees–it is, after all, a pilot (albeit for two years). It’s that they’d let a photographer take a picture of the sheer crudity of the clinic setup (left, below, click to enlarge). It likely utilizes a disused storage area or back room, where the clinic, instead of soothing, clean white or blue, is institutional tan and crammed full of plug-ins–cameras, PC screens, equipment, exposed wires, plugs and outlets. Perfect for the claustrophobic! (s/o) The modish paint and signage at the entry area outside (see article photos) only serve to set up the potential user for disappointment. The question is, why didn’t they simply rent some ready-made kiosks from HealthSpot Station [TTA 29 Oct 13 + previous] or SoloHealth (already a Wal-Mart vendor)–or others? No wonder the nurse has to drag prospects off the floor. Truly a ‘What In Blue Blazes?’ moment that does not bode well for the success of this pilot–and a puzzle given the partners. Wal-Mart shoppers: The doctor will see you now (Bakersfield Californian)[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Wal-Mart-telemedicine.jpg” thumb_width=”180″ /]

 

Med-e-Tel 2014 Luxembourg

April 5, 2014 | by

Next week’s Med-e-Tel (9-11 April) conference announced their final day of advance registration (today, 5 April) but if you are interested in going, please contact them directly for onsite information. The Journal of the International Society for Telemedicine and eHealth (ISfTeH), the publication of the main organizer of the conference, has published presentation abstracts in advance of the conference here. Conference website. ISfTeh April newsletter. New (7 April) overview press release. TTA is a past (and still listed as a) media sponsor of the event. If you are attending and interested in contributing coverage from one item to a day, please contact Editor Donna about arrangements. Our gentle requirements are that you send a timely report (within 72 hours) from this event. Our standard is that you can be selective and interesting rather than comprehensive. Of course you will receive writing credit, but other expenses will not be covered.  

ATA 2014: TTA is now a media sponsor

March 31, 2014 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/ata-2014-square.jpg” thumb_width=”180″ /]This publication is rarely a media sponsor of conferences, by choice. When we are, it’s because the conference and the organization is significant to the progress of healthcare technology in remote monitoring and related areas. The American Telemedicine Association (ATA) is one of those special organizations in their long-standing advocacy of global telemedicine and telehealth. We are pleased to announce we are joining their distinguished roster of 2014 media partners.

The 2014 conference is being held in Baltimore, just north of Washington DC, from Saturday 17 May (pm) through Tuesday 20 May. There is a very full schedule of pre-meetings, local chapter/co-located meetings, multiple education tracks,and several keynote speakers. Highlights:

  • Industry executive sessions with major companies in telemedicine on Monday and Tuesday
  • Sunday, the ATA Telemedicine Venture Summit with law firm Jones Day has leading industry stakeholders and policy makers speaking, in addition to structured networking and matchmaking opportunities (more details, release)
  • The new Innovation Spotlight: Monday highlights interviews with telemedicine startups (release); Tuesday, ATA’s partnership with the XPrize Foundation (release).
  • For those who cannot attend onsite, there are virtual assets including ePosters and ATA TV.

More information and registration here. Twitter: @ ATA2014. ATA 2014 on Facebook here.

Editor’s Note: This Editor hopes to be able to attend the Monday sessions. Prior commitments prevent her from attending the other days. If you are interested in contributing coverage from one item to a day, please contact Editor Donna about arrangements. Our gentle requirements are that you send a timely report (within 72 hours) from this event. Our standard is that you can be selective and interesting rather than comprehensive. Of course you will receive writing credit, but other expenses will not be covered.  

A snapshot of telehealth and telemedicine in rural America

March 28, 2014 | by

Telehealth and telemedicine (virtual consults) are moving forward in large and largely rural Nebraska and neighboring Iowa. The Nebraska Medical Center not only has an executive director for telehealth (not buried in an HIT department) but also no less than 13 initiatives in process from stroke to cancer care. Video networks connect rural hospitals with medical centers. The VA’s leadership in this geographic area has been crucial, with over 550 patients in home telehealth in Nebraska – Western Iowa and additional telemedicine programs for psychiatry, wound care, nutritional counseling and infectious diseases. Videoconferencing equipment in hospitals and public health centers, installed in a mid-2000s program, is being repurposed for video consults. Interestingly, its use in this region is not new. For 10 years, a University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) psychiatry associate professor has been having routine video psychiatric consults with elderly nursing home patients. Telemedicine’s first use in Nebraska was also psychiatric–55 years ago–by a University of Nebraska Medical Center dean using undoubtedly black-and-white two-way video. Doctor’s home visit is back — kind of — as telehealth flourishes nationwide (?–Ed.), Omaha World-Herald

University of Mississippi awarded telemedicine Emergency and Specialty Care grant

March 21, 2014 | by

More details have emerged of one of the projects funded by the $16 million USDA investment announced in February (see TTA 7 February 2014).

The United States Department of Agriculture grant of $378,360 to the University of Mississippi Medical Center will be enhanced by $200,000 from Appalachian Regional Commission [grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/TESCAN_map.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /] providing $578,360 for a three-year distance-learning and telemedicine service project  “Telemedicine Emergency and Specialty Care for Appalachia in North Mississippi (TESCAN)”, according to UMMC. UMMC is also the primary site for the Diabetes Telehealth Network we reported in January.

The sites, considered “medically underserved areas” and “health-professional-shortage areas” by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, include:

• Calhoun County Medical Clinic, Calhoun City;
• Trace Regional Hospital, Houston;
• Kemper County Medical Center, De Kalb;
• Tishomingo Health Services, Inc., Iuka;
• Webster General Hospital, Eupora;
• Yalobusha General Hospital, Water Valley;
• North Mississippi Medical Center-Pontotoc, Pontotoc;
• Kilmichael Hospital, Kilmichael; and
• Holmes County Hospital, Lexington.

Representatives from the USDA and UMMC announced the grant agreement at a joint press conference at the UBS Building in Jackson.

The grant will expand the number of (more…)

A useful note on telehealth & telecare (UK)

March 20, 2014 | by

If like me you are frequently asked for a summary of what has happened recently in the world of telehealth & telecare and are forced either to sit down and cut & paste/write one or politely turn down the request, you’ll be pleased to know of the recent four-page summary produced by the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST). Written by Peter Border, it is a competent summary of recent developments in remote monitoring in the UK, including 3millionlives & ALIP, extending to mention of the regulation of medical apps.

Of course there are bits I’d have written differently. For example (more…)

The PROTECT Act for HIT doesn’t: mHealth Coalition

March 6, 2014 | by

The mHealth Regulatory Coalition, which is a four-year-old alliance of legal and software companies in the health IT/software area, and whose most vocal spokespersons are well-known industry legal counsels Brad Thompson and Kim Tyrrell-Knott of Epstein Becker Green, has come out against the PROTECT Act (S 2007). PROTECT, which was proposed by Senators Fischer and King, would limit FDA regulation of certain ‘low-risk’ clinical software in the interest of fostering innovation and reducing regulatory burden. Original reports indicated that this responsibility would be transferred to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) [TTA 28 Feb]. According to Mr. Thompson, “The rush to avoid expert reviews of complex technologies with far-reaching health ramifications ignores the fact that we cannot separate the high risk from the low risk apps using broad terms in legislation.” His example: a theoretical smartphone app designed to diagnose melanomas from photos. PROTECT is being supported by IBM, athenahealth, Software & Information Industry Association, Newborn Coalition and McKesson. The bill also would exempt certain health IT software from being charged a 2.3% medical device tax, which is perhaps the ‘long game’ being played here by the aforementioned companies, as most Washington watchers give the bill as it stands little chance of clearing both houses of Congress and a congressional committee, much less being signed into law. The question remains: how best to speed less clinically significant wellness software to market without logjamming FDA.  iHealthBeat summary, Clinical Innovation + Technology, MRC press release

Is *less* regulation the answer for mHealth? (US)

February 28, 2014 | by | 1 Comment

What if the solution to the mHealth/digital health logjam of approvals at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is to take clinical and health software completely out of their approval purview–and hand it to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which is not a regulatory body but a standards-development organization. That is the solution proposed by the PROTECT Act of 2014 (Preventing Regulatory Overreach to Enhance Care Technology), proposed by Senators Angus King (I-Maine) and Deb Fischer (R-Nebraska). It’s put some of the better known organizations into a swivet, along with high profile attorney and mHealth legal expert Bradley Merrill Thompson with Epstein, Becker & Green. Possibly little to no regulation would be applied to EMRs, clinical support software and wearables/fitness apps–which is promptly being conflated by the usual suspects to heavy-duty equipment such as CT scanners.  FDA also finalized its guidance last September on telehealth and telemedicine applications, which this would render irrelevant. The Washington betting is that this Senate bill will go exactly nowhere, but it’s indicative of the jockeying for position this Editor is seeing within the present government and now with advocates/lobbyists [TTA 13 Feb]. MedCityNews, FierceMobileHealthcare