Telehealth Center establishes multi-state advisory council (US)

April 27, 2014 | by

We reported way back in 2006 that the US was to set up an Office for the Advancement of Telehealth [grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/UAMS.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /](OAT) within the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) (TTA Jan 23 2006). The same year the OAT initiated a regional Telehealth Resource Center (TRC) grant program to provide support and guidance to telehealth programs. The OAT promotes the use of telehealth technologies for health care delivery, education and health information services. The office is part of the Office of Rural Health Policy, located within the HRSA at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. HRSA’s mission is to assure quality health care for underserved, vulnerable and special needs populations.

Fast-forward 8 years to Arkansas and the South Central Telehealth Resource Center (SCTRC) which serves Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee. The SCTRC focuses on telehealth education and peer interactions online.  The SCTRC also conducts hands-on training in its training center or on-site and operates primarily out of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Last year HRSA renewed grant funding of $975k for the center for 3 years and the center has recently set up a cross-state advisory board.  Telehealth projects in these states should contact advisory board members to discuss what SCTRC can offer them. For details see the SCTRC website.

Number of older people to outstrip family carers by 2017 (UK)

April 24, 2014 | by

The number of people requiring care in the UK is expected to outstrip the number of adult children [grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/ippr_large_logo.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]and family members able to provide that care sometime in 2017 according to a new report released today.

“Generation Strain: collective solutions to care in an aging society” is the result of research by the respected Institute of Public Policy Research. The authors note that most care for older people in the UK is provided by family at a value estimated to be £55 billion.  But with the changing demographics the number of adult children able to care for aging parents is diminishing and is expected to reach a break point in the UK in three years, meaning more dependency on already stretched state and private agencies and more people, specially women,  having to give up work to look after their parents.

The central message of the report is the need to transform the understanding of what social care is in order to help people live decent lives in their old age. With insufficient adult children to provide care for parents and more older people themselves becoming carers, the needs of the carers needs to be taken very seriously – social isolation and loneliness, need for transport  and shopping, for example.

The report proposes new neighbourhood networks to help people stay active and healthy and help busy families balance work and care.

These are social problems which can be mitigated, if not solved, by some of the trendy new technologies that we use daily with hardly a second thought but are often not seen as a high priority for the well being of the older person.

Other recommendations are replacement of the current case management process provided by local council adult social services, giving the older people, their families and carers direct access to some of the budget and changing employment rights so more people can continue to work and care.

A highly recommended read. The full report can be downloaded as a pdf from the link above.

A new analysis of telehealth implementation in the UK

March 28, 2014 | by

A new report analysing the telehealth development in the UK and proposing improvements has been [grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Tackilng-telehealth-report.png” thumb_width=”150″ /]produced by Inside Commissioning. The report  Tackling Telehealth – how CCGs can commission successful telehealth services is written by a panel of authors led by Dr Ruth Chambers who co-chairs NHS England’s Task and Finish group for commissioning skills and capability for the delivery of Technology Enabled Care Services (TECS).

The UK has been experimenting with telehealth as much as any country in the world and has notably carried out the largest clinical trial of telehealth anywhere, the Whole System Demonstrator (WSD). WSD produced some valuable results with regard to telehealth benefits, including reduced mortality, and was instrumental in the launching of the key government telehealth programme, 3 Million Lives (3ML) in 2011.

Last year the GP magazine had carried out a major survey of telehealth implementation in the UK by making information requests from all 176 Clinical Commissioning Groups (or CCGs, a new administrative unit introduced by the current government) under the Freedom of Information Act (a common technique to gather official data).  A comprehensive analysis of the returned data (108 out of the 176 had responded) forms a major part of the Tackling Telehealth report.

The research results reported are mixed. Some of the results make painful reading. The 3ML target of 100,000 telehealth users in seven pioneering “pathfinder” areas by end of last year was dismally missed with the actual figure being below 3,000. In one pioneer area the local council had withdrawn a telehealth tender due to lack of a supplier able to meet the requirements. Another 3ML pioneer area had decided to decommission its telehealth services. Meanwhile other CCG areas have reported more than 1,000 telehealth users each and one had budgeted £1M for services this financial year.

The report looks at what needs to change for telehealth to be successful and follows this up with a case study.

This is a very well written and professionally presented report. I do have one reservation though. The case study deals with the selection of a supplier for telehealth products in Nottinghamshire and quite blatantly that selected supplier is noted as a co-producer of the report. I think this does bring the independence of the report into question and somewhat spoils the authority which it may otherwise have had.

The report is free to download so long as you register on the Inside Commissioning website here.

Excellent new report on using digital tech in health

March 27, 2014 | by

An excellent new report is out now on the use of digital technologies in health systems covering all the [grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/A-digitally-enabled-health-system.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]key areas of application. A digitally-enabled health system studies the Australian health system and how it is to be improved by the use of various digital technologies.

Published by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia’s national science agency, this is a well researched and written report with the underlying analysis applicable to most countries, not just Australia. With contributions from eight experts, and presented in clear language, this is well worth a read. A free download of the report and links to infographics are available on the CSIRO report page.

Australia, in common with many other countries, faces pressures on its health system: “Treasury estimates suggest that at current rates of growth, and without significant change, health expenditure will exceed the entire state and local government tax base by 2043, and require almost half of all government taxation revenue” says Sarah Dods in the introduction to the report. CSIRO suggests several developments to meet this challenge – no surprises here, but nevertheless useful to remind ourselves of these: reduce reliance on hospitals, better manage hospital resources, make in-home patient monitoring (telehealth) the norm and introduce rigorous data security and privacy.

On hospital admissions there is a discussion on managing CSIRO logoEmergency Departments and re-routing ambulances to hospitals with shorter queues, a practice that is already taking place in some parts of the country. There is a section on the use of RFID tags to manage both equipment and continuity of care in hospitals. Another section looks at telehealth and self-monitoring. Other sections look at video conferencing (“tele-presence”) and remote diagnosis.

Pilot testing of telehealth service in Philippines

March 24, 2014 | by

Filipino company Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC) plans to offer telehealth services in its hospitals allowing Filipinos in remote areas to avail themselves of healthcare services, reports Interaksyon, the online news portal of the Philippines TV network TV5.

In a briefing last week MPIC Hospital Group president Augusto Palisoc has said it is piloting a telehealth service involving two machines located in company-owned Asian Hospital and another in a government hospital in Batangas. This will allow patients in remote areas — with the assistance of a professional with medical training — to seek diagnosis or the advice of doctors in a base hospital, the article says.

Metro Pacific’s planned venture into telehealth is part of its efforts to look at other healthcare delivery processes in addition to its regular hospital investments. MPIC operates the largest private hospital group in the country with approximately 2,150 beds. Its network includes the Makati Medical Center, Cardinal Santos Medical Center, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Asian Hospital & Medical Center, De Los Santos Medical Center, Central Luzon Doctors’ Hospital in Tarlac, Riverside Medical Center in the Visayas and Davao Doctors Hospital in Mindanao.

Vodafone and AstraZeneca sign global m-health partnership

March 21, 2014 | by

Vodafone has signed a global partnership with AstraZeneca in order to develop m-health services to improve the outcome for patients with cardiovascular conditions. The collaboration will create new mobile and internet-based services to support patients through their treatment journey, improving medication adherence and giving patients confidence to manage their condition more effectively, according to the press release.

AstraZeneca’s Intelligent Pharmaceutical Group will lead the project with Vodafone charged with providing the technology, infrastructure and expertise for the new services.

The UK-based operator said it will also look to capture data from a variety of sources to improve overall engagement between patients and healthcare professionals. All the new services will be designed to work across geographies.

“Bringing together the best in connectivity with the best in treatment and education will create powerful and compelling outcomes for patients,” according to a comment attributed to Vodafone M2M Director Erik Brennais. But there is little in the way of details of what the two companies may develop or the timescales.

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…)

Sony to launch new telehealth camera at Australian Healthcare Week

March 21, 2014 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Sony-telehealth-camera.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]

Sony Australia and New Zealand today announced it will officially launch its new Patient Monitor telehealth camera system at Australian Healthcare Week. Sony’s IP Patient Monitor,  NCSRS46P, has been developed in Australia to meet the specific needs of regional healthcare, according to Sony.

The solution enables two-way audio and one-way video communication over IP, typically a broadband internet connection. It has been created in an environment where privacy, ease of installation, simplicity of use and reliability are key concerns. The camera has a powerful 36x optical zoom that allows the healthcare professional or specialist to easily and efficiently view the area of interest and effectively assist with diagnosis.

Although the official launch is next week, there are over 200 IP Patient Monitors in use across Australia, say Sony, including in New South Wales where they are used as part of the Greater Western Clinical Outreach Project.

The Australian Healthcare Week will be from 25-27 March at the Australian Technology Park in Eveleigh, New South Wales.

Telehealth & telemetry to push US monitoring market to $5.1 bn by 2020

March 20, 2014 | by

New market research predicts that the health monitoring market in the US will exceed $5 billion by 2020. The research by iData Research covers devices and equipment for both hospital based telemetry and home based telehealth markets.

According to the report, the US patient monitoring market was valued at over $3.5 billion in 2013 and will grow to over $5.1 billion by 2020 due most notably to the expansion of multi-parameter vital sign monitors, electroencephalograms (EEG), electromyograms (EMG), cerebral oximeters and pulse oximetry devices. The pulse oximetry monitoring market alone is expected to exceed a billion dollars by 2020.  Players leading this growth are Medtronic, Bosch Healthcare, St. Jude Medical, Honeywell, Boston Scientific, Philips Healthcare and Biotronik.

Interestingly, the report notes that the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) represents the largest example of telehealth success within the U.S. and that they serve over half a million patients who receive telehealth-based solutions.

New products which feature smartphone integration and Bluetooth capabilities entering the market will further drive sales, say iData; other remote monitoring devices such as modern pacemakers, implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) and hemodynamic monitors are paving the way for substantial growth in this market. So it is not all telehealth by any means.

New market research on telehealth in US

March 19, 2014 | by

A new market research report has been released on the telehealth market in the US. Telehealth services in the US is produced by IBIS World (not a market research firm I am familiar with) and, according to the press release, over the next five years, the industry will continue to benefit from the demographic and structural factors affecting the healthcare industry as telehealth will emerge as a cost-effective solution to meeting the medical needs of an expanding and aging population. That didn’t exactly knock my socks off. There is very little in the press release to tempt me to part with the $1600 needed to read the full text.

On the other hand if you are interested, visit IBIS World to purchase membership. (Also see this article in FierceHealthIT for a bit more, free)

US Goverment encouraged to allow more telehealth in Medicare

March 19, 2014 | by

For those unfamiliar with the US Medicare programme, which provides healthcare benefits for over-65s, it is a tale of two halves. The first, or original, half provides funding for hospitals directly through Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”). The second half of the tale is funding provided to insurance companies (known as Medicare Advantage Organisations or MAOs) to provide healthcare insurance cover. The details are complex and available on the official government site here.

Each year CMS sets the rates which the government will pay the MAOs and the proposed rates were published for consultation last month with the final decision being published next month. One of the respondents to the consultation was the Telecommunications Industry Association which strongly advised the CMS to support the use of telehealth within any MA plans as a means to reducing the cost of healthcare. While the TIA support is good news, and claims to be in the spirit of “long-time supporters of enhanced telehealth and remote monitoring services” I suspect the reasons are not entirely altruistic.

CMS says in its consultation document that some MAOs have asked CMS to include “remote access technology-furnished” services as part of MA plan basic benefits. However, as basic benefits can’t include anything not in the “original half”  (Parts A &B) CMS proposes to continue to include these as “mandatory supplemental services” in the coming year.

In this context remote access technologies are defined as Telemonitoring, Web- and Phone-based Technologies, Nurse Hotlines and other similar services. For 2015, CMS is also to allow MAOs to furnish medical services to beneficiaries via real-time interactive audio and video technologies as a mandatory supplemental benefit.

Age UK publishes its 3rd Care in Crisis report

March 14, 2014 | by | 2 Comments

“Care in Crisis 2014“, the third edition of their Care in Crisis report was published by Age UK last [grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Age-UK-logo.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]week.  This is the first update since the 2012 report and and contains the details of funding for social care in the UK.

Age UK say that the Care Bill which is currently progressing though Parliament and has just completed all its stages in the House of Commons, has addressed some of the concerns about the framework for care and support for older people. Also, the government’s commitment to transfer £3.8 billion from the NHS (Better Care Fund) for joint NHS and local council decisions about funding for health and care services from 2015 is seen as a positive move.

However this funding can only mitigate and not solve the huge reduction in the availability of services caused by a combination of the recent real term cuts in spending and the increase in demand due to demographics. Between 2005/6 and 2010/11 public funding for older people’s social care stagnated and from 2010/11 to 2013/14 public funding for older people’s social care (including transfers from the NHS to councils) decreased by 10 per cent in real terms according to the government’s Health and Social Care Information Centre. This reduction in spending in the face of increasing demand has meant that more and more councils are only providing care for those in substantial or critical need.
Without substantial growth in the overall funding envelope, says Age UK, the Government’s aspirations to “transform the social care system to focus on prevention and the needs and goals of people requiring care” cannot be achieved.

This well researched report has some excellent data and an analysis of future funding requirements which would be invaluable for anyone trying to understand the current state of the UK care scene.

Doro opens first store, in Paris

March 14, 2014 | by

Swedish firm Doro, best known for its easy-to-use mobile phones has announced the opening of its first [grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Doro-Secure-211.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]store. The company, which bought the small French telecare technology provider Birdy Technology in 2011, says that the store, in Paris, will enable them to “get closer to the end user”.

Doro say in their press release that the store will enable them to show the full range of their offerings which are listed as smart devices, mobile phones and telecare solutions. The Birdy Box telecare hub, from their acquisition of Birdy Technology, has now been fully rebranded as Doro Gateway, part of the Doro Care offering. In addition, according to a quote from CEO Jérôme Arnaud, the store will enable Doro to increase its direct sales.

“The store in Paris will be followed by a gradual launch of Doro’s own e-commerce, planned to be introduced in several key markets during 2014” concludes the release, but no information is available as to what Doro plans to offer in the e-commerce arena.

Scotland to invest additional £10m on telehealth

March 7, 2014 | by

The Scottish Health Secretary, Alex Neil, has announced the investment of an additional £10 million [grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Healthier-Scotland.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /](about US $ 15 million) to support home health monitoring solutions across Scotland, the BBC has reported. This additional funding for the NHS Boards will enable people to use technology such as tablet computers and smartphones to monitor conditions such as diabetes, heart problems and lung problems at home, the report added.

In 2011, Nicola Sturgeon MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Cities Strategy in Scotland set out her strategic vision for achieving sustainable quality in the delivery of healthcare services across Scotland, in the face of the significant challenges of Scotland’s public health record, changing demography and the economic environment. The Scottish Government’s 2020 Vision is that by 2020 everyone is able to live longer healthier lives at home, or in a homely setting and, that Scotland will have a healthcare system where, amongst other goals, there will be a focus on ensuring that people get back into their home or community environment as soon as appropriate, with minimal risk of re-admission.

Mr Neil’s announcement was made during a debate in the Scottish Parliament entitled ‘Update on Delivering the 2020 Vision in NHS Scotland’. Mr Neil claims past efforts in telecare and telemedicine have meant that £2.8 million has been “ploughed back” into Scottish frontline services and reduced emergency admissions to hospital by 70 per cent.

New industry group promoting telehealth in Australia

March 6, 2014 | by

A new group of industry stakeholders is asking the Australian Federal Government to adopt telehealth as a means to cut the growing national health budget. A whitepaper from the group was presented in Canberra on Wednesday to MP Steve Irons, chair of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Health by George Margelis (who has previously contributed here at TTA) representing MPT Innnovation Group.

Members of the One in Four Lives group include the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIC), BT Australasia, Anywhere Healthcare, Philips, MPT Innovation Group and the University of Western Sydney (according to Pulse IT) and is chaired by Lisa Altman, Health Practice Director at BT Australasia (part of BT Global Services). The name One in Four Lives reflects that 25% of Australians have chronic health conditions.

Australia has widespread use of telehealth as the many news items we have reported bear out. However majority of these are video link type schemes and the new group is advocating greater use of more sophisticated telehealth schemes using home-based connected sensors and dedicated monitoring clinicians.

If, like me, you thought One in Four Lives sounded familiar, that is probably because the words “Three Million Lives” may have flashed through your mind. Three Million Lives, or 3ML, is a programme that was launched by the UK Goverment in 2011 to get that many people using telehealth. Just to complete the comparison, BT also happens to be the lead company in 3ML.

See also Australian Aging Agenda

Telehealth awareness week in SW Victoria (Australia)

March 6, 2014 | by

Barwon South West is one of five regions in the most densely populated state in Australia, Victoria. [grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/THAW2014.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]Starting on Monday 17th March Barwon South West is holding a week of telehealth awareness activities to coincide with the Australian Telehealth Conference 2014 (ATC2014).

Organised by Barwon Health, the Telehealth Awareness Week 2014 (THAW2014)  will consist of thirteen face-to-face and online events spread across the week, but excluding the two days of the ATC2014 conference.

Rebecca Eastgate, Regional Telehealth Program Manager for Barwon Health tells me that their week of activities including the webinars, “are probably too specific to our region and our local audience to be useful to those beyond Australian shores”. However if you are reading this in Australia, then you may want to look up the THAW2014 events list on Eventbrite and register for any of the meetings or Webinars that are of interest.