Yes, it’s a bit of a trade puff for the Telecare EPG, and we don’t usually do ‘we-have-a-new-customer’ items, but it is good to note that 12 local authorities in the North East have signed a licence agreement so that they can access this source of independent, subscriber-funded device comparison information. Neil Revely of Sunderland City Council is reported as saying “…Matching the service user with the best technology is becoming an increasingly difficult task. The Telecare EPG will give prescribers the tools and knowledge to take advantage of new developments…” T-Cubed news item.
Sending the right message on mHealth (Africa)
Excellent update on mHealth issues for Africa in the United Nations’ Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) news website. “…the mobile phone seems to have morphed from communications device to essential life-saver. But is the evidence there yet that mHealth is an effective health delivery intervention for the developing world?” Analysis: Sending the right message on mHealth.
BT takes 3ML ‘down under’
Just when the UK’s 3millionlives (3ML) project seems to have hit the doldrums, BT has taken its model ‘down under’ to Australia. According to The Australian (part pay-walled) “BT is spearheading a multi-million-dollar push by more than 20 key private and public sector players in the healthcare industry to roll out telehealth services in Australia, mirroring a British e-health initiative to provide services to three million people within five years…BT is convening a meeting later this month of key players across the sector, including those in private, community and aged care, to sign off on bankrolling the initiative, expected to run for up to two years, to develop a framework to fast-track the rollout of telehealth services.”
It will be interesting to see if a private 3ML-type initiative without the dead hand of Ministerial blessing will fare better than the original. Of course, the connecting link between the Australian and UK initiatives is Angela Single, Chair of the UK’s 3ML Working Group who is Clinical Director of BT’s Global Telehealth and Telecare Managed Service Pratice [sic]. Will BT, with the benefit of the UK experience, be able to make a fresh start In Australia? More, is this development a sign that the UK’s 3ML investors are restless? Might it not be time for 3ML to be reinvigorated and regenerated Dr Who-like and moved to a new home?
The Australian item: BT leads big push to roll out national telehealth services.
…Meanwhile, also in Australia, a seemingly unrelated story: Telehealth projects get $20m funding boost ITNews.
The UK Government’s plans for the future funding of care home stays
If you or a family member are due to grow old in the UK after April 2016, you will find a fascinating answer to the question ‘When is a cost cap not a cost cap?’ in a thorough analysis of the current plans for the future funding of stays in care homes that comes in a blog item by BBC Money Box presenter Paul Lewis: Paying For Care – The Coalition Plans. Hat tip to Roy Lilley’s newsletter.
Telehealth can achieve 85% reduction in GP home visits (UK)
Newly re-branded Medvivo gets its publicity rolling with the announcement of headline findings from an 18-month study. The results indicate that the use of telehealth with COPD patients can help reduce:
- GP appointments by 67%
- GP home visits by 85%
- A&E attendance by 52%
- Unplanned hospital admissions by 57%
Press release: Telehealth can achieve 85% reduction in GP Home Visits.
£12m project to up the game on home sensor data for health and wellbeing (UK)
The University of Bristol has just released news of a new interdisciplinary research collaboration (IRC) led by the university, together with the Universities of Southampton and Reading. It has been awarded a £12 million grant by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). They will work in partnership with Bristol City Council, IBM, Toshiba and Knowle West Media Centre. The IRC, known as SPHERE (Sensor Platform for HEalthcare in a Residential Environment), will develop home sensor systems to monitor the health and wellbeing of the people living at home. [So far, so 2002.]
But the press release goes on to make it clear that they do not intend to develop new sensors but to improve ways of analysing data from existing systems. “The IRC’s vision is not to develop fundamentally-new sensor technologies for individual health conditions but rather to impact all these healthcare needs simultaneously through data-fusion and pattern-recognition from a common platform of non-medical/environmental sensors at home…The system will be general-purpose, low-cost and accessible. Sensors will be entirely passive, requiring no action by the user and suitable for all patients, including the most vulnerable. An example of SPHERE’s home sensor system could be to detect an overnight stroke or mini-stroke on waking, by detecting small changes in behaviour, expression and gait. It could also monitor a patient’s compliance with their prescribed drugs.” [So far, so 2005 but perhaps the available technology these days is more up to the job. Let’s hope so.]
NHS Choices Apps Library
If you Google ‘NHS Apps Library’ the early results that come back after those to the library itself are predominantly from US publications. Perhaps we in the UK under-appreciate the potential benefits. The reason I mention this is that while TTA has given the Apps Library a couple of passing mentions during the past month or two, we have not – as one sharp eyed reader pointed out – given it the attention it deserves. So, by way of amends, here are some relevant links:
- The NHS Apps Library itself.
- A helpful article from NHS England: Introducing the Health Apps Library.
Mysteriously, the 12 apps recommended in the following enthusiastic US article: UK NHS launches 12 patient decision support apps do not seem to be listed in the library. Perhaps the author mistakes the BMJ for the NHS, or perhaps they are published or endorsed by a different part of the NHS…
I’ll be happy to take recommendations for links to good articles on the Library. Ed. Steve.
Who’s exhibiting at ATA?
More from the American Telemedicine Association conference, by James Barlow.
A tour of the cavernous exhibition hall at the Austin Convention Center and a rigorous back of envelope analysis of the catalogue reveals where the corporate action is: of the 229 or so exhibitors, the runaway top health condition targeted by companies is (surprisingly?) mental health, with 34 exhibitors. Cardiology, diabetes and the other conditions forming the basis of remote care trials around the world all make an appearance, along with other familiar tele-applications.
The 2013 Exhibitors League Table:
Mental health and telepsychiatry (34 exhibitors)
Telecardiology (16)
Telestroke (16)
Paediatric telehealth (16)
Diabetes management (15)
Teleneurology (14)
Teledermatology (10)
Telerehabilitation (6)
Telehospice / palliative care (4)
Oncology (3)
Teledentistry (3)
‘Infectious disease management’ (2)
And by application? Home healthcare (63 exhibitors) beats mHealth (49) – well served with its own conference circuit – with ‘remote monitoring'(48) and ‘videoconferencing’ (36) hot on their heels.
Telemedicine advances in Latin America
Some welcome news out of the ATA 2013 meeting are the advances that telemedicine is making in Latin America and the Caribbean. Honored at ATA’s Sunday session were Jennifer Lopez and her eponymous family foundation for funding telemedicine outreach in Puerto Rico and Panama via the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles (CHLA). In Puerto Rico, the work is concentrating on pediatrics genetics, and a monthly clinic that counsels four families per session. In Panama, the emphasis is on extending pediatric care beyond Panama City to the low-serve country areas through Panama City’s three major hospitals. The point is that the Lopez Family Foundation is only the start in the region, and that other healthcare providers and funding entities should be joining in kicking off development (Telefónica should be noting) HealthcareITNews
HealthSpot, Netsmart ally for telemedicine kiosks
HealthSpot, which debuted its staffed telemedicine/telehealth Stations at CES 2013 (and this Editor previewed at CES New York in November), is partnering with behavioral health EHR/practice/clinical case management software provider Netsmart to add that capability to its kiosk consults. Announced at ATA yesterday, the MedCityNews article is sketchy on exactly how this will be integrated–will it be an option or will select kiosks be dedicated to behavioral health only–but this is likely a first for telementalhealth (another term in our lexicon!) Kiosk placements can be especially useful in rural areas which have a paucity of mental health/psychiatric providers (see TTA on Forefront TeleCare’s ATA announcement). It also follows this year’s ATA theme of telemedicine to more effectively serve rural US areas. HealthSpot also announced a pilot with Nationwide Children’s Hospital in its hometown of Columbus, Ohio; their CEO claims it has orders for 150 units in hand for its now three health system partners. Surprisingly, as of April they are already at Series C funding with a $10.4 million financing (of a $20 million offering) from giant Cardinal Health and other private investors.
The etiquette guide to Google Glass
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/gimlet-eye.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]Lo and behold, we are already anticipating the effects that Google Glass will have on our everyday social interactions! And the view is a bit jaundiced. The Wall Street Journal this weekend catalogued in a most amusing article all the ways wearers could offend, accompanied by 1890s-vintage illustrations (modified) of said gaffes, and what courtesies wearers should exercise whilst wearing in public:
- Always remember: You have a camera on your head (so easy to forget)
- Use voice commands only when you need to
- Don’t use Google Glass to make phone calls in public (what then, pray tell, is the point?)
- Give it a rest sometimes
- Don’t be creepy (a tall order)
- Let people try it on
Unfortunately, the writer reminded the Eye of the unfortunate time around 2004-6 when Bluetooth earleechespieces became the rage among Masters of the Universe and office tech nerds–the item you most wanted to rip off said ears and stomp sans merci into the ground, which fortunately dimmed its popularity. Of course, the article includes a Gallery of Previous Offenders just to show we naysayers how wrong we will be, how benign this all is….
Oh, but not so fast! Jason Perlow in ZDNet’s TechBroiler considers Glass as Cybernetic Headband, or Cyband, that in current design it is flawed in being too much in one device–and a massive security risk. Not much of a leap, because the ‘Explorer’ version has already been jailbroken, opening all sorts of nasty possibilities for stealthy surveillance by sociopaths. It’s Alice through the ‘Evil Glass’. Mr. Perlow also has a torturous view of the future, when we are Beyond Google Glass: 2034 into full-blown Augmented Reality implants. A dystopia that makes one scream. The Eye is now checking residency requirements and travel itineraries (boat and seaplane only) to the remotest parts of New Zealand or Tulabonga… [Editor Donna: We ask our readers to help keep The Gimlet Eye in civilization. Please help the Eye see that GG is not all bad! Your comments please!]
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/surveillance-ban.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]Update: And the revolt continues with locations from Vegas casinos to Seattle dive bars telling GG that they are No Wearing Zones–but the NY Times article spends 20 percent of its space on a long-dead Twitter/photo controversy. More to dine on about the jailbreak plus, courtesy of the worthy anti-GG blog Stop The Cyborgs and Jay Freeman’s blog Saurik. (Photo courtesy of Stop the Cyborgs)
Previously in TTA: The Gimlet Eye weighs The amazing lightness of Google’s Being There vs The Private Eye, and storms the barricades with The revolt against Google Glass
Qualcomm Life ‘circles’ to care coordination
Qualcomm Life, which to date has been more involved in device connectivity, interoperability and data management through its 2net Platform, has acquired care coordination platform HealthyCircles. Announced at ATA2013, the HealthyCircles service-as-a-software adds a front end to 2net’s biometric data that will aid in post-discharge and chronic care management from the hospital to home care providers to family caregivers. Qualcomm is clearly going after the hospital ACO (accountable care organization) market in areas such as reductions in 30-day same cause readmissions; the fit with WebMD in integrating 2net biometric data with the former’s reference information, as announced at mHIMSS, is a little less apparent [TTA 5 March]. MedCityNews, HealthcareITNews, Qualcomm’s (jargon-laden, nearly unreadable) release.
Reducing dementia patient anti-psychotic drug usage via telemedicine
A largely hidden problem in US skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) has been the inappropriate and over-use of multiple psychotropic drugs in dementia patients. A two-year old telemedicine (telepsychiatry) company, Forefront TeleCare, is targeting SNFs and clinics in rural counties across 18 states. Rural areas have sparse behavioral health coverage; medications to mitigate the effects of dementia and other mental illnesses are often prescribed by non-psychiatrists who have a limited knowledge of their effects over time, particularly in older adults. Forefront’s virtual consults weekly can keep track of these patients and reduce, adjust or update their medications. Video (from ATA). MedCityNews.
Microgripping and touching robots
Need that tissue sample, doctor? You may be laying aside your scalpel and forceps for a swarm of microgripping robots that you place and retrieve. David H. Gracias, PhD. and his Johns Hopkins team has developed star-shaped nickel metal discs of only 300 micrometers in size which snip bits of tissue. Using a magnetic catheter, the microgrippers are then gathered and removed–hopefully. Gizmag; study in Gastroenterology.
Last week, the TakkTile, this week, piezotronic transistors. Thousands of them arrayed, and designed to give robots–and touchscreens–that extra and almost human edge in touch sensitivity. The transistors in thin, flat material can sense changes in their own polarity when pressure is applied due to their zinc oxide composition. Initial use will probably be in touchscreens, but the Georgia Tech project’s supporters–the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), the US Air Force (USAF), the Department of Energy (DOE), and the Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences–are also considering its use in prosthetic skin or limbs. Gizmag.
Where the real remote care innovations are
Another report by James Barlow from the ATA Conference.
More evidence that the really innovative thinking in the remote care world is coming from lower income countries. Dr Sikder Zakir from the Telemedicine Reference Centre (TRC – www.trclcare.com) in Bangladesh reported on the use of mHealth to improve access to underserved populations. Usually this would involve telemedicine – in its m- or non-mHealth guises – bringing healthcare to remotely located rural populations. Bangladesh is no exception, with 40,000 doctors and 25,000 nurses for 160 million people. But as is only too obvious to anyone who has been to countries in the Gulf there is a huge population of migrant workers living there. The 5 million expats from Bangladesh have 20 million dependents back home dependent on remittances, but neither side is well served for healthcare. The TRC is using mHealth to provide expats with access to doctors in Bangladesh via SMS messaging and voice calls, and extends the service – free – to up to five of their family members. Funding is via a $3 a month subscription paid via the migrant worker’s mobile phone network. The scheme is being tried out with 80,000 migrant workers in Singapore, before moving to Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
We also heard from Dr Zakir about AMCARE (www.amcare24.com), an example of mHealth being used to extend diabetes care from hospitals to villages. This uses microinsurance payments (50 US cents / month) to cover the costs, a business model that is now gathering momentum in developing countries’ health systems.
Continua Alliance launches presence in Latin America
Brazil, to be precise. Wondered when they’d get round to it. Continua Alliance launches presence in Latin America (mHIMSS)
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