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A new Secretary, but the same old process? New Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) Robert McDonald is quickly finding out that cleaning house at a government agency is not quite as straightforward as at Procter & Gamble, where he had been CEO. Since being confirmed by the Senate in late July, he has had to fight the fires of multiple scandals, beginning with the Phoenix VA ‘secret’ veterans care wait list leading to uncovering disastrous delays in care at VA regions across the nation. As of this week, and convincingly timed around Veterans Day, McDonald announced a reorganization of the VA to the Washington Post–a restructuring of the VA around the creation of:

A new customer service organization across the entire VA, headed by a “chief customer service officer” reporting to McDonald
A standardized regional framework meant to streamline partnering and coordination
Realignment of internal business processes into a shared services models to improve efficiency, reduce cost and increase productivity
Collaboration with partners to create a national network of Community Veteran Advisory Councils

Heads are rolling, but slowly. There are pending disciplinary actions affecting at least 35 employees and perhaps as many as 1,000 employees upcoming. (more…)

Short-shorts for an autumn Friday

As we in the US get our first, much too early blast of Polar Vortex this season with New York area temperatures dipping into the 30s F with a snow alert tonight, we should reminisce about what seems only a few weeks ago when the keyword was ‘short’….

Coming up short in the data breach this past Monday was Anthem Blue Cross of California with their TMI emailer–containing in the subject line specific targeting/sorting patient information that direct marketers love, but don’t want you to know they see, such as “Don’t miss out — call your doctor today; PlanState: CA; Segment: Individual; Age: Female Older; Language: EN; CervCancer3yr: N; CervCancer5yr: Y; Mammogram: N; Colonoscopy: N”. Ooops!…Another day, not quite another breakthrough for Mount Sinai Hospital here in NY, which had your typical laptop theft compromising over 10,000 records but fortunately not SSI or insurance information….More alarming were the malware/hacker attacks. In North Carolina, Central Dermatology of Chapel Hill was compromised by malware in a key server. And further south, Jessie Trice Community Health Center of Miami, Florida was hacked by a criminal identity theft operation accessing personal data of almost 8,000 patients. iHealthBeat, also Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, NY Times (Anthem)

A short opinion piece in HealthWorks Collective promisingly leads with:

What if we paid for patient recovery rather than just patient services? What if we paid to treat patients rather than just conditions? What if we paid to personalize care rather just population health quality measures? (more…)

Tunstall adopts new Tactio in patient management

Tunstall Healthcare is partnering with Canadian mHealth developer Tactio Health Group in what is a distinct first for them: creating a mobile care management system that is 1) smartphone-based for the patient and 2) prominently integrates non-Tunstall apps and devices. The patient uses the smartphone and the Tactio-developed mTrax app to collect a wide spectrum of data–everything from activity, sleep, pregnancy, body fat and mood tracking to the traditional constellation of vital signs. This uploads to the care provider’s tablet mPro Clinical App which overviews, details and reports the data for each patient and patient groups in care. The data comes from well-known mHealth apps outside the Tunstall world: BodyMedia, Fitbit, Fitbug, Garmin, Jawbone UP, Medisana and Wahoo Fitness, as well as connected (presumably Bluetooth) medical devices from A&D Medical, Mio, iHealth, Telcare, Withings and Nonin. Tunstall has also added two-way patient coaching and health journal features.

Tunstall’s positioning for what they call Active Health Management or AHM is “supported self-management” and “shift(ing) from reactive care to cost-effective active care.” (more…)

Follow up: Xerox invests in HealthSpot Station kiosks (US)

The day after this Editor posted on telehealth/virtual consult kiosk HealthSpot Station‘s new partnerships with Mayo Clinic and major drug retailer Rite Aid, Xerox announced their investment in the company. Xerox is not a business services organization one immediately associates with healthcare technology, but perhaps not anymore, based on this quote from Connie Harvey, Xerox’ chief operating officer of Commercial Healthcare: “HealthSpot is at the center of healthcare’s shift to a patient-centered model of care, and our investment in the company demonstrates Xerox’s commitment to transforming traditional healthcare into a high-value delivery system for patients, providers and payers.” Xerox will also be supplying BPO–business process outsourcing–services for cloud hosting, system integration, claims eligibility and claims submissions. But there’s more…. (more…)

Telehealth kiosk HealthSpot gains trials with Rite Aid, Mayo Clinic

November 11, 2014 | by Donna Cusano

[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Healthspot-stationbooth.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /] HealthSpot Station, which was one of the higher points of this past May’s ATA, in the past month has announced two significant pilots. The retail pilot is with Rite Aid, the US’ third largest drug store chain (4,600 stores), with telehealth/telemedicine kiosks located in select Rite Aid locations in Ohio–Akron/Canton, Cleveland and Dayton/Springfield areas. The usage of the kiosks will be limited to common health conditions, such as cold, earaches, sore throat, sinus infections, upper respiratory infections, rashes, skin and eye conditions. HealthSpot Station kiosks are enclosed, free-standing units which use both video consults and real-time interaction with telehealth devices for remote diagnosis. They connect to a network of board-certified medical professionals at Cleveland Clinic and other major health systems across Ohio. Start date and duration were not disclosed.

This follows the October announcement with Mayo Clinic of an in-house pilot in Austin and Albert Lea, Minnesota with approximately 2,000 Mayo Clinic Health System employees (more…)

NYeC Digital Health Conference is one week off

November 11, 2014 | by Donna Cusano

A reminder for those in the US that the two-day NYeC Digital Health Conference at New York City’s Chelsea Piers starts next Monday. Spaces are still available, and for Telehealth & Telecare Aware readers, there’s a bonus of 10 percent off registration using code TTA. Agenda for Monday and Tuesday 17-18 November is here including the Patient Shark Tank on Tuesday afternoon. TTA is a media partner of the 2014 Digital Health Conference.

Touch Surgery – the video

“How can you start doing anything with healthcare apps when there are over 40,000 of them out there?” I was asked at least ten times at EHI Live this week. My answer was that there are only some 0.5% of those that are what I call “medical apps”, that really deserve attention, now. These are apps that for example might either meet, or be close to meeting, the definition of a medical device in the Medical Devices Directive 93/42EC: that have the power to do great harm if in error, and great good if properly constructed and maintained. Or they might be apps that transform the way training is delivered.

And then beyond that small number, there are just one or two that really stand out as signposts as to how digital health will completely transform the way healthcare is taught and delivered.

One such is (more…)

“Events, dear boy, events” (UK)

Harold Macmillan probably never said that in response to the question “What is most likely to blow a government off course?”, however we thought we’d use the quote to highlight a few cracking events coming up.

The Wearable Technology event, is being hosted by the Digital Catapult Centre, on 18th November, in London. On the topic of wearables, the BBC’s “the Bottom Line” had a great programme on 30th October on the subject. In the UK (at least) you can download a podcast or listen on iPlayer. There’s also an update on new Jawbone releases which seem now to be going for different form factors to the original UP, whose unreliability resulted in this editor being on his fourth such device in some 15 months. Info on Microsoft’s Band is here. The recent PWC report on Wearables is here.

At the same place starting on Monday 8th December there is a whole week of incredibly valuable assistance in the Digital Health Pit Stop, which is free! Events include a design day (8th), a business day (9th), a health day (10th), a data day (11th) and on 12th December (more…)

Integrated care – how can technology help? (+ earn 12 CPD points)

There has been a recent rush to book for the Royal Society of Medicine’s two day conference entitled “Integrated Care- how can technology help” on 24th & 25th November, so we are featuring it one more time, especially as it looks to be only one of two health & care technology events this autumn that also offers CPD points (the other is the TSA conference next week).

With a wide range of speakers from across the world, including Adam Darkins (ex VHA, now Medtronics), Robert Wah (President, American Medical Association) as well the UK’s very own Cathy Hassell and Tim Kelsey, this conference will explore the many ways in which technology can assist in the effective delivery of integrated care to improve patient outcomes, at reduced cost.

The event will cover all the principal care disciplines which so often end up failing to work together to deliver holistic care: primary care, secondary care, mental health, social care and third sector engagement. Even within each of these areas, coordinating care can be challenging when people have to rely on paper and word of mouth to communicate. Technology offers a way of (more…)

mHealth vs Ebola – more

Following on from our previous item that included links on how mHealth is helping in the fight against the Ebola virus, and our subsequent item on a virus-killing robot, Prof Mike Short has kindly shared some more links with a GSMA healthcare focus.

The first of these items explains how the GSMA, the ITU and the Internet Society are joining forces to fight against Ebola. The three organizations will bring together the global telecommunications and Internet communities, to leverage their extensive reach, capacity and respective memberships to increase the effectiveness of information and communications technologies (ICTs), especially mobile communications and the Internet, for better preparedness, early warning and response.

The sharing of mobile phone data is particularly important as (more…)

Concise analysis of mHealth regulatory environment (US)

If you–like most rational people–have some confusion in deciphering the current FDA state of affairs as it applies to mHealth, this summary from major law firm Foley & Lardner will be helpful. Written by special counsel for healthcare/mobile health Monica R. Chmielewski, it defines in few words FDA’s classifications, which mHealth technologies are, and which are not, subject to FDA oversight. In particular, MDDS (medical device data systems) were recently downgraded from Class III (the greatest oversight with pre-market approval) to Class I. FDA has also recently finalized recommendations in a guidance document for medical device manufactures for managing cybersecurity risks. mHealth Technology – Development in an Uncertain Regulatory Climate (Health Care Law Today)

A Canadian view of ‘Healthcare Systems of the Future’

Do we wait for the interconnected, seamless future of consumer-driven healthcare, or work with what we have now? Michael Smit of Canadian virtual consult provider Medeo argues for the latter: “The component pieces for a connected healthcare system exist today. We simply haven’t connected them yet.” He argues that Medeo’s Equinoxe platform, because it uses simple PC equipment, retains patient records securely and creates a health record, is a step more advanced than what Canada has seen in fixed telemedicine settings. Mr Smit also draws a picture of health management, the “3 D’s”–Data, Device, and Decision, integration with telehealth and the increasingly mobile-driven patient group, advocating that the health record should not have to be actively managed by the patient, but be a byproduct of cumulative patient interactions with the healthcare system. The Catalysts Of Virtual Care

Now a (virus) killer robot

[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Xenex-robot.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]And it’s not a computer virus, either. The US Air Force’s 633rd Medical Group (MDG), based at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia has adopted Saul The Virus Killer Robot. Developed by Xenex Healthcare Services, it zaps viruses human cleaners can’t reach or disinfect. According to the article, Saul sweeps the room with “pulses of high-intensity, high-energy ultraviolet rays 25,000 times brighter than florescent lights to split open bacterial cell walls and kill dangerous pathogens commonly found in hospitals”. The pulses are verified in killing 22 microorganisms including single strand ribonucleic acid (RNA), like that of a virus similar to Ebola, at a range of two meters out in any direction, within five minutes, and at an efficiency rate of 99.9 percent. A useful fighter against more common and nasty MRSA, C.diff and other hospital-borne infections. Armed With Science

Australia’s med device ‘Fast Track’ changes–webinar