Michigan school telehealth programme wins award

June 27, 2015 | by

At the start of last year we reported the opening of a student telehealth programme in Michigan. [grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/15_ludwig_comm_ben_award.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]At the time two clinics were opened in Branch County with the aid of funding from the Michigan Department of Community Health. A school based nurse funded by the programme provides the initial assessment and where necessary a consultation takes place with a physician or nurse practitioner at the Community Health Centre. The school has special assessment equipment that links via Bluetooth to equipment in the paediatric clinic so that the provider can see and hear what the nurse sees and hears.

Eighteen months on, the programme is covering two thousand and seven hundred students in three school districts and has been awarded one of four annual Ludwig Community Benefit Awards from the Michigan Health and Hospital Association according to a WTVB report. The award is presented to healthcare organizations that demonstrate community benefit by improving the health and well-being of their communities through healthcare, economic or social initiatives.

The pileup of Federal ‘titanic serial IT disasters’ (US)

June 26, 2015 | by

[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/keep-calm-and-secure-your-data-4.png” thumb_width=”150″ /]Don’t feel bad, HIT execs–the Feds are even worse. Complementary to our coverage of the increased danger of hacked health IT systems and data breaches (the trail of tears is here and here) is the oddly muted press clamor around the 4 June hacking report of the Federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Chinese hackers roamed around two OPM databases–personnel and security clearances–for nearly a year, according to CNN’s Senate briefing coverage. The breach likely exceeded 18 million records, though the real number may never be known. Privacy Rights Clearinghouse summarizes it and provides an interesting link to a timeline by Brian Krebs, whose independent reporting beat is IT security. Megan McArdle, a reformed IT consultant writing for Bloomberg News and independently, points at the Federal lack of urgency around having adequate IT that doesn’t fail. Example–the much chronicled failure around Healthcare.gov and the so-called health exchanges, which appear to be functioning better, but reports say they are nearly porous and hackable as they were in 2013. She notes that it’s all about ‘scorched-earth determination’ and that the direction has to come from the top, meaning the President. And ‘voters have never held Obama responsible for his administration’s appalling IT record’. A thought that should give those in telehealth and telemedicine who are working with CMS value-based program ACOs a great deal of pause. NY Post editorial via Press Reader.

Call for app presenters at the ADASS Care Apps Showcase 2015 – Monday 19 October 2015

June 24, 2015 | by

This social care-oriented event takes place at the Carriageworks Theatre, 3 Millennium Square, Leeds, West Yorkshire LS2 3AD.

This is a unique opportunity to present to key decision-makers, funders and influencers in the adult social care sector. About 200 people in one room will be waiting to be impressed by your app to help people with social care needs and their carers. These people will be in a position to recommend or directly commission such apps (and related services). The core part of the day will be a series of 5 minute pop-up pitches to the plenary audience. Delegates will then vote with their feet to hear a more detailed presentation and take part in Q&A discussion in a break-out room.

In short, it’s a unique opportunity to sell your offer and get immediate feedback from a key audience.

There are slots for just 11 presenters and there are hundreds of apps out there being deployed and developed. Therefore, there is a selection process that is fair and transparent.

‘Care apps’ included in this event fall broadly into two types:

a) Council-managed self-service applications, e.g. citizen portals to existing case management systems, e-marketplaces, online information & advice / triage, self assessment of needs & finance.
b) Consumer apps, e.g. for: sharing tasks between informal carers promoting community sharing or time-banking for people with care needs telecare for staff to use with carers / clients special user interfaces for the elderly to easily Skype, email, etc management of care finances monitoring wellbeing.

Both types of “app” might be combined with a service of some kind by you as app provider, e.g. a telephone support service.
Excluded: apps primarily designed to diagnose or monitor specific health conditions or any app that could be designated a medical device.

For full details on how to apply and the selection process are here.
All applications are to be sent to tina.gallagher@techuk.org by close of play on Tuesday 30 June.

Alternatively if you would like to attend as a delegate you can book online at the tech_UK website.

Calling all medical app developers – please help with “Guidance and Advice Most Needed by App Developers”

June 24, 2015 | by

UK-based PatientView, and its sister organisation, myhealthapps.net, in conjunction with Germany-based Research2Guidance, and the App Quality Alliance, need your answers to a survey to help inform the creation of guidelines designed to improve the quality and focus of health, wellness, and disability apps. This will be be launched at the European Health Forum Gastein in October 2015, which is attended by hundreds of health policymakers as well healthcare industry representatives.

The survey opens with a handful of short, anonymous, profiling questions. It then moves quickly on to 14 questions about issues that are absolutely key to the developers of health, wellness, and disability apps.

The survey will probably take a maximum of 20 minutes to complete. The results will be anonymised. If you would like a copy of the collated survey results (which will include the views of respondents who are other healthcare stakeholders), please indicate your interest at the end of the survey.

To enter the survey, please do click on Guidance and Advice Most Needed by App Developers.

Many thanks, in anticipation.

Breaking news report: Charterhouse evaluating £700 m sale of Tunstall Healthcare (UPDATED)

June 24, 2015 | by

Breaking News

[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Big-T-thumb-480×294-55535.gif” thumb_width=”150″ /]Reuters reports as an exclusive that its sources indicate that UK private equity firm Charterhouse is considering a sale of Tunstall Healthcare Group for a possible valuation of £700 m ($1.1 bn) or more. According to this report, Charterhouse is working with JP Morgan on an exploration for a Tunstall sale in late 2015 or 2016. All three companies declined to comment.

Today, Tunstall also announced their Connected Healthcare 2020 strategy with a £100 m investment over the next five years, which we reported only a few hours ago.

Tunstall has gone through multiple hands in the past ten years. Charterhouse bought Tunstall Group in 2008 for £514m from Bridgepoint Capital, which acquired it from Hg Capital in 2005 for £225 m.

An exit for Charterhouse has long been rumored in UK healthcare circles. In the dark before the Christmas 2014 holiday, Tunstall reported disappointing results for 2014 (close 30 Sept): a YOY £6 m drop in revenue and a £9.7 m drop in EBITDA.  [TTA 24 Dec 14] According to CompanyCheck, which posts financial reports for UK companies, Tunstall Group’s net worth as of that date exceeded a negative £1 bn–a steadily declining position since 2010, though with stronger cash and reduced liabilities (see Accounts page).

We’ll post updates as they’re available.

Update 25 June with some quotes from a Tunstall spokesperson from their ‘hometown paper’, the Yorkshire Post.

Tunstall invests £100 m in ‘Connected Healthcare 2020’ strategy

June 23, 2015 | by

Tunstall Healthcare Group in UK outlined today their five-year public, global strategic vision, along with a fresh investment of £100 million during this timeframe (~£20 m per year) to transition their connected care systems over to IP and cloud technology. The initiative, dubbed Connected Healthcare 2020, is centered on:

  1. Leading the switch to IP infrastructure–transitioning away from analogue (analog) services and devices to connected digital and mobile (cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth)
  2. Extending managed services–offering a wide variety of services end-to-end including full outsourcing
  3. Developing new consumer propositions through innovation–tapping into demand, often private pay, for high quality home care not provided by carers (caregivers)
  4. Developing new models of care in the home through integration–coordination of social care and healthcare

The Yorkshire Post article also points out, through their separate comments with CEO Paul Stobart, that prospective markets include developing nations with aging populations such as Mexico, South Korea and Turkey. Tunstall claims market leadership in UK, Germany, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Australia, as well as fourth position in the US. The TECS (technology enabled care services) initiative will create about a dozen jobs per year at the Whitley HQ, adding to their present 650 there and their total globally of 3,500. Tunstall release

We wonder if in the US we will see more of Tunstall at events like the mHealth Summit. Tunstall Americas has a refreshed website and communications as ‘The voice of connected health’, is more strongly promoting their call/contact services and its HQ location in New York City. We’ve previously noted their recent home care acquisitions and partnership with QMedic.

Kickstarting the 1st week of summer: news from all over

June 23, 2015 | by

No deal yet between insurer giants. Cigna turned down a $53.8 billion bid from Anthem. According to Healthcare Finance, concerns ranged from corporate governance problems, their membership in the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, the probable chairman’s (from the Anthem side) qualifications and data security (ahem!). Given that Anthem’s 60 million record breach was an inadvertent inside job [TTA 11 Feb], the last is perfectly understandable. But the door appears to be open for the emollient of additional money (to mix a metaphor). Extra: a tart take on this from the WSJ…..Jaguar is looking to increase driving safety by reading your brain waves to detect if you are distracted or daydreaming, via sensors embedded into the steering wheel. It’s based on technology used by NASA and the US bobsled team. They are also working on mood enhancing lighting and a predictive system to speed your interactions with the dashboard to minimize eyes off the road. But will these detect if you feel good to be bad, as their adverts say? Gizmag….The FT gets into digital health via business, profiling startups such as Lyra Health, Genomics England and Heartflow, as well as 23andme and Google X (including the glucose-detecting contact lens we profiled 18 months ago. Hat tips to Eric Topol and David Doherty (mHealth Insight) via Twitter….The NY Times looks at the dark side of ‘senior independence’ with a group of NYC homebound seniors, but other than tut-tutting the desire of older mainly limited income New Yorkers to remain in familiar surroundings, our ‘national celebration of independence’ (!) and not to be institutionalized (their words), the article doesn’t offer much in the way of solutions. And solutions are badly needed for the nearly 2 million over 65 who rarely or never leave their homes, because not all of them will be in assisted living. Hat tip to Joseph Coughlin of MIT AgeLab via Twitter…. But in Australia, they’re exploring ‘future proofing’ and ‘dignity enabling’ homes for an aging population to make them more livable and accessible, via landscaped ramps, larger bathrooms, and sensor rich floors that connect to gait tracking and analysis. Smart Homes 2.0. Sydney Morning Herald…..Neil Versel over at his new MedCityNews stand reports on Doctor On Demand‘s test of tablet-based medical kiosks adjacent to the pharmacy department at four Wegman’s grocery stores here in the Northeast. Is Weis Market far behind?….And Fitbit has a bit part in ‘Law and Order’…well, not the TV show in perpetual reruns, but in a real-life case in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania which is not all Amish farms, black carriages and the so-called Amish Mafia. The police used Fitbit activity data to determine that a local resident (and Fitbit wearer), who claimed she was raped by a stranger, staged the crime scene with overturned furniture, a knife, and a bottle of vodka in her home. ABC27 News via David Lee Scher.

Guilt and money: the manipulative side of fitness tracking

June 23, 2015 | by

Show me the money! The bottom line of fitness apps can now be cash rewards, much like many credit cards. There’s FitCoins that exchange into bitcoins, the digital currency much in the news and recognized by some legitimate (and non legitimate) retailers; Pact which makes you invest in your goals with a pool of others, rewarding you if you make them, deducting from your account if you do not; GOODcoins which rewards you only with ‘positive things’ (no chocolate or anything that contributes to, say, global warming). But after all, you should only bask in the glow of doing GoodThings for yourself, eh? Getting paid to stay fit (Ozy)

But then there’s always guilt. Fitness tracking is on the way of becoming so omnipresent that it becomes a part of you. Beyond the wrist, fitness clothes, implants and digital tattoos or bandages will be tattling (via your smartphone or directly) on your vital signs, activity and weight gain from too much to eat at dinner. On one hand this can be a good thing in shaping behavior. A study by two researchers associated with University College London and Ashfield Business School, Berkhamsted found many positives in Fitbits shaping female wearers’ behaviors, with 76 percent self-reporting healthier eating habits (more…)

Breaking news confirmed: Bosch exiting healthcare and telehealth in US–UPDATED

June 19, 2015 | by

Breaking News–UPDATED with Bosch response

Bosch has confirmed they are closing their telehealth business in the US. Please see their statement at the end of this article.

A home care industry newsletter, along with our own reliable industry sources, have confirmed the recent industry discussion that Bosch Healthcare, since January a solely US operation, is winding down its business without a definite turnover to a buyer. This Editor, in calling various departments in their Palo Alto, California offices for confirmation on Thursday, was (when she reached a human being) forwarded to HR where she could leave only voice mail. An email to marketing also received no response. All sources indicate that staff layoffs took place last Monday.

Editor’s Note: Bosch’s official press response follows this article. We have also made certain corrections to this article (see in red).

  1. The Home Care Technology Report, published by industry consultant Tim Rowan, on Wednesday posted two articles stating that Bosch laid off nearly all of its staff on Monday (15 June) save for customer service and some key operating areas. His information indicated that Health Buddy sales–new and existing orders–have been terminated. This includes orders placed through its McKesson partnership. Non-VA service will be terminated in 60 to 90 days.
  2. Home Care Technology also reported that Bosch’s business with the Veterans Health Administration (VA) will be maintained through April 2016, which is near to the contract end in May, but no new units will be delivered. The original contract was with Health Buddy hub developer Health Hero Network, sold to Bosch in 2008. With the later acquisition of ViTel Net, Bosch developed into one of the two leading VA Home Telehealth remote monitoring hub suppliers–the other being Cardiocom. VA Home Telehealth is the largest telehealth program in the US with over 156,000 patients (Federal Year 2014) (Ed. Note: VA has a third authorized and active VA supplier, Viterion).

As Mr Rowan did, this Editor will speculate on the reasons why there is this reported exit without a sale or spinoff, despite the substantial VA and other healthcare placements of Health Buddy. Our take is somewhat different than his: (more…)

Fitbit and Teladoc: big IPOs, big questions

June 19, 2015 | by

This week’s big news (so far) of Fitbit’s $732 million initial public offering–the largest consumer electronics IPO ever–comes despite the Jawbone IP lawsuits [TTA 11 June]. Count us among those who question this ‘vote of confidence’ as raising unrealistic expectations for health tech by a fitness tracker not truly part of real digital health. Telemedicine provider Teladoc appears headed on the same track with an IPO estimated to come in at $137 million, probably by next week. This generous pricing (~$20/share) comes despite never being profitable in 13 years. Like Fitbit, Teladoc is facing lawsuits from its major competitor American Well on IP [TTA 9 June], with Teladoc asking the US Patent and Trademark Office to review the validity of several American Well patents. Both IPOs are on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). MedCityNews examines Fitbit and Teladoc.

Your Friday robot fix: the final DARPA Robotics Challenge

June 19, 2015 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Overrun-by-Robots1-183×108.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]They’re Still Puppets! The final DARPA Robotics Challenge took place last week at the Fairplex racetrack in Pomona, California. 10,000 spectators viewed 24 teams’ robots going through their disaster-response paces to win a share of $3.5 million in prize money in this final stage of the DARPA three-year program. Many of the robots were custom, but several teams fielded adaptations of the Boston Dynamics Atlas robot as a common platform. The engineering teams were sequestered in a ‘garage’ offsite and linked to their robot charges by a deliberately degraded communication system (to simulate field conditions). The robots had no cords (unlike 2013) and were given eight tasks: driving a car down a dirt road, getting out of the car, opening a door and entering a building, turning a valve, cutting a hole in a wall with a drill, completing a surprise task (flipping a switch or unplugging a tube and plugging it into another hole), navigating a pile of rubble, (more…)

3rings smart plug fundraising on Kickstarter

June 19, 2015 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/3rings.gif” thumb_width=”150″ /]A note from founder and chairman Steve Purdham brings the news that the 3rings smart plug [TTA 11 Mar], which tracks an older one’s activity through everyday actions such as turning on an electric tea kettle or TV and radio on, is raising funds on Kickstarter through 13 July. Their goal is $30,709 (£20,000) of which $10,306 (£6,712) has been raised with 24 days to go. With product design and testing complete, the funds will go towards facilitating production. Pledges start at £2 and go up to £5,000 for practically everything listed in the lower donation levels, a special evening in Oxford for two and an autographed, personalized picture and autobiography of Manchester United and Scotland legend Willie Morgan. Note: the 3rings plug and service is only available in the UK, but if the service is available later in your country, any subscription pledges will be honored. Best of luck to Steve and the 3rings team! Release.

A ‘Game of Thrones’ analogy to potential health insurer mergers

June 18, 2015 | by

The Wall Street Journal has likened the merger action pending among America’s largest insurers to the series ‘Game of Thrones’, said thrones occupied by Aetna, Cigna, Humana, UnitedHealthcare and Anthem. These more aptly remind this Editor of the final stages of airline deregulation, except that none are in a non-medieval bankruptcy court. Their actions reflects the payers’ urgent concerns that now is the time to reinforce a national presence, that revenues in a Obamacare environment (well, we’ll see the effect of that US Supreme Court subsidy decision due imminently) can do nothing but go down and that Medicare Advantage, commercial accounts, health system relationships (ACOs) and health IT systems are the place to be. What is missing: the fate of those independent, state and regional Blue Cross-Blue Shield (collectively, the ‘Blues’) which are not part of Anthem, many of which are ‘non-profit’ (note the quotes); the positive effect of competition on pricing and a fair consideration of the negative effects of monopoly. Ah, but there are no flung axes, regicide or poisonings to be found here. The real theme of ‘Game of Thrones’ is the effect of the powerful on the powerless (we the insured), which the WSJ writer doesn’t address…..Insurers Playing a Game of Thrones (if you hit a paywall, search on the title)

Telemedicine, telehealth follow up to reduce emergency room revisits

June 18, 2015 | by

A great deal of importance has been placed on reducing same-cause hospital readmissions, but what about emergency room (ER, Emergency Department=A&E in UK) revisits? Sometimes they are needed–for increased pain, further testing or medication checks when the staff is doubtful the patient will follow up on their own–but often not. Two telemedicine/telehealth programs in Pennsylvania aims to cut these high rates of return–up to 20 percent in a month. Thomas Jefferson University Hospital is piloting video call follow up plus a call center to phone patients at risk of revisit to help with needed appointments. A group of insurers and providers, the HealthShare Exchange of Southeastern Pennsylvania, will also share patient information among local ERs when the insurance number is entered, a measure that may prevent unneeded testing. Modern Healthcare Hat tip to our readers at Practice Unite

Tunstall Americas gets active with QMedic

June 18, 2015 | by | 1 Comment

[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Big-T-thumb-480×294-55535.gif” thumb_width=”150″ /]Tunstall Americas’ monitoring providers will have something new to distribute: the QMedic activity tracker. The QMedic bracelet (alternatively pendant) has an alert button and a base station like a conventional PERS, but also tracks sleep quality and activity levels. It has two way monitoring and also generates alerts and texts to loved ones if the bracelet isn’t worn or no wake-up is detected, plus recurring wellness reports on activity, sleep, and safety in the home. Fall detection presumably is inferred Tunstall’s reseller agreement includes all its local healthcare service providers. This Editor also observes that after a very long period of quiet, Tunstall in the US is demonstrating its own activity. Release. Earlier in TTA: Tunstall Goes Hawaiian with Kupuna Monitoring acquisition

London Health Technology Forum & the Cleveland Health challenge

June 12, 2015 | by

The London Health Technology Forum (HTF), run by this editor, has its last event before the summer break on 17th June – Baker Botts, who have been kindly hosting our forums for a long time now will be presenting on An introduction to securing, protecting and maintaining your IPR. We’ve also news of a prize-giving event in our November meeting, and an exciting competition run by the Cleveland Clinic.

Failure to manage IPR effectively has been the cause of very many entrepreneurial failures so this free event to learn about the topic should be of real interest to very many people. Therefore, especially in view of the expertise of the presenters, it is highly recommended. There will be three presentations:

1) Starting out – a brief look at IPR relevant to new businesses

  • what IPR are you generating?
  • who creates the IP and who owns it?
  • how and where can you protect your IP?
  • how are IPR maintained?

(more…)