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.
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
Short Tuesday takes
Alere, Optum, Wyss, Proteus, Soreon Research, Baywater Healthcare
Alere Health to be acquired by Optum. Alere is selling its condition, wellness and case management group for $600 million to the health services subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group. The surprise is that Alere Health, which presently serves 22 million patients in 29 states, includes two service lines considered hot: analytics and connected health. Alere Connect, the former MedApps, is included in this sale. Alere (the parent company) will be concentrating on rapid diagnostics. Alere Health release, fact sheet….Vibrating insoles may help to guide the balance-impaired, eventually. Research on stochastic resonance as an aid to balance and gait has been researched for nearly ten years–our earliest article on it was written by former EIC Steve in 2006. The current study tested ‘white noise’ to help lower the level of buzzing needed to generate stimulus in the feet. Conducted by the Institute for Aging Research (IFAR) at Hebrew SeniorLife, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Harvard Medical School, and Merck Sharpe and Dohme (MSD) Consumer Care. (more…)
Tunstall Americas finds a Mountain Home
Gold in dem der hills? Tunstall Americas, Tunstall Healthcare Group’s US subsidiary, on Monday announced the acquisition of Mountain Home Medical, a Denver, Colorado-based telehealth provider of medical alarm and medication manager systems for the home market. In its announcement, Tunstall Americas gave the reason as “The acquisition demonstrates Tunstall’s commitment to expand its service footprint across the United States through acquiring or partnering with highly regarded regional, state, and local providers… ” Mountain Home is certainly the latter with business only in the state’s 53 counties, serving Medicaid eligible and private pay customers. Industry estimates put their subscriber base at under 5,000 customers.
A change in US strategy? Unlike Tunstall in the UK and Europe, the Americas subsidiary has maintained a low profile since the 2011 acquisition of AMAC, which at time of sale (more…)
TSA chair selection critiqued
Today’s Must Read Published today in Roy Lilley’s influential NHSManagers.net newsletter (by free subscription, click on link) is Paul Harper’s commentary on the appointment of TSA Chair Andrew Gardner. Mr Harper’s view is informed by considerable experience in the UK health services concentrating on telehealth and telemedicine. His key point is that an ‘independent chair’ should be exactly that. Moreover, standards of public governance should apply (the Nolan Principles of Public Life), as these private companies are largely doing public sector business. Your Editor will let Mr Harper state the rest; a PDF of his article is attached.
In the US, where your Editor is from, it is commonplace to have an association chair from ‘inside the industry’ whether healthcare or in other areas where I’ve worked, (more…)
Health apps presently of little use, says Australian telehealth expert
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Margelis.jpg” thumb_width=”120″ /]”Immature” and “focused on low-lying fruit such as fitness tracking and not focused on the big issues of management of disease” are also two of the compliments that Dr George Margelis of the University of Western Sydney’s TeleHealth Research & Innovation Laboratory (THRIL) has bestowed on the current state of health apps. Until the collected data ‘plugs into other digital platforms’–he mentions the Australian government’s PHR, eHealth–apps will not help those who need it the most. “Unfortunately, managing these diseases, in particular the chronic diseases that are a major part of the current burden, requires more than just tracking a few physical parameters which is what the app world is up to.” Dr Margelis called for collaboration between app developers and healthcare professionals; while he scores Apple’s HealthKit, that may be the means to make his vision come true. It should be noted that Dr Margelis (more…)
Panasonic enters telehealth, debuts On4Today
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Panasonic-on4today.jpg” thumb_width=”175″ /]Panasonic’s new Health and Wellness Solutions group has tossed their cap into the socialization ring with tablet-based On4Today. The Wi-Fi connected tablet is targeted to senior housing communities to assist residents, especially those with cognitive impairment, in staying connected and managing their daily activities. Launched this week at the LeadingAge annual meeting of non-profit housing and long-term care providers in Nashville (IAHSA internationally), the tablet features a calendar, provides reminders, receives messages and lets the user view photos, videos and video chat. It does not, at present, do any clinical monitoring. This Editor received a preview at the Aging 2.0/New York meeting in New York earlier this month showcasing Jewish Home Lifecare and Panasonic. (more…)
Home telehealth projected to outpace ‘telehospital’ by 2019
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/sales_profit.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]2019 share of the market 55 percent for telehome versus 45 percent for telehospital. If it’s October, there’s some new research for sale out there. BCC Research of Massachusetts is projecting a global $43.4 billion total market for both by 2019. Home telehealth, or what they call ‘telehome’, would lead the way with growth from $6.5 billion in 2013 to nearly $24 billion in 2019 with a 24 percent CAGR. ‘Telehospital’ clinical services, defined by the study as those provided within or between hospitals, clinics or other healthcare providers–which would include telemedicine and clinical monitoring–would grow at a 12 percent CAGR to $19.5 billion in 2019. Even allowing for differing ‘what is telehealth’ definitions, this is far more expansive than earlier estimates, and is interesting more for the trend than for the hard numbers. (more…)
Telehealth for Motor Neurone Disease
In a recent article (Wearables and mHealth: a few observations, TTA July 13, 2014) editor Charles Lowe reported on the [grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/sitranlogo.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]successful uses of telehealth to manage those with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) in Australia. Now we have a report from the Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN), part of the University of Sheffield, of a trial in the UK of a patient monitoring system to ensure that aids and assistance can get to patients at the right time.
According to the news release from SITraN the system consists of an App on a tablet and a website. The App provides weekly updates on mobility and general well-being to the patient’s specialist MND care team. The website provides guidance on the use of breathing support for people with MND.
SITraN has received funding from the National Institute for Health Research for a trial of 40 patients to assess how well the telehealth system works.
Life expectancy up, but so is death from falls (US)
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/gimlet-eye.jpg” thumb_width=”175″ /]The Gimlet Eye falls outside the box, and is writing this from recovery. Our companion in curmudgeonliness, Laurie Orlov, whacks us upside the head with first the good news then the bad. US life expectancy is up: if you are 65 today, on average you will live to 83 (men) and 86 (women), even with the rise in chronic conditions that affect quality of life, such as diabetes and heart disease. But the bad is that death from falls is also up. This is despite all the systems and gizmos the Digital Health Industry has concocted to detect falls beyond 1970s PERS technology. Once upon a rose-colored Telecare Time we thought we could infer falls purely by sensors detecting lack of activity (the basis of QuietCare, GrandCare, Healthsense, the late WellAWARE). Then with accelerometers, fall detection would be automatic, (more…)
12 percent of US veterans now using VA telehealth services
The US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has some good news (for a change)–that during the just-closed Federal FY 2014, 690,000 veterans, or 12 percent, used telehealth services. This was a 13.3 percent increase over FY 2013 (608,900). While this report is preliminary (beware!), we see a slowing of growth in the number of veterans accessing telehealth and a concentration–not dispersal–of telehealth services in rural areas (+ 10 points). This chart compares the numbers:
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/VA-2014-vs-2013.jpg” thumb_width=”350″ /]Chart: EIC Donna. Please note that percentage of telehealth users add up to over 100 percent due to usage (one patient could access two or three forms of telehealth. FY14 telehealth user breakout is estimate based on FY13 percentage, to be eventually compared to official figures.)
Telehealth as defined by VA: (more…)
4 year telehealth study charts ~40 percent CHF readmissions reduction
Finally an encouraging long-term, large N study on telehealth reducing same-cause hospital readmissions. Pennsylvania’s Geisinger Health Plan, the managed care arm of integrated health system Geisinger Health, has released findings from a four-year (2008-2012) study of 541 GHP Medicare Advantage beneficiaries with congestive heart failure. Hospital readmissions after 30 days were 44 percent lower and after 90 days 38 percent lower. Return on investment: “for every $1 spent to implement this program, there was approximately $3.30 return on this investment in terms of the cost savings accrued to GHP.”
Patients were assigned case managers and provided with a relatively simple program combining Bluetooth-connected weight scales and interactive voice response (IVR) calls to answer questions such as shortness of breath, swelling, appetite and on prescription medication management. The case managers used a platform to aggregate the data (more…)
Philips enters hospital readmissions reduction fray
Perhaps this Editor has attended too many new-company pitches of late, but there is another US ‘gold rush’ similar to EHRs (2009-12). This time, the gold glinting in the stream is reducing same-cause (disease) readmissions after the patient departs through the hospital doors. The latest prospector with pan, pick and shovel, quite amazingly, is Philips USA with the Transition to Ambulatory Care (eTrAC) (!) post-discharge program. Their first two applications, eCareCoordinator and eCareCompanion, just received FDA 510(k) clearance. (more…)
TSA’s annual International Telecare and Telehealth Conference
17 – 18 November 2014, Celtic Manor Resort, South Wales
“Solutions for 21st Century Care” is the theme of the TSA’s annual two-day interactive conference which will look closely at these five key areas: Service Integration, Standards, Innovation and Technology, Business Modeling and Leadership, Education and Training. There will be industry-focused breakout sessions as well as exhibition and showcase zones featuring the latest technology innovations. The chair for the conference will be Nick Goodwin, CEO, International Foundation for Integrated Care (IFIC). Confirmed speakers include: Mark Drakeford AM, Minister for Health and Social Services, Welsh Government; Esther Rantzen CBE, Founder of The Silver Line; Helena Herklots, Chief Executive, Carers UK; – Professor George Crooks OBE, Medical Director, NHS 24; Trevor Single, Chief Executive, Telecare Services Association; Michael Seres, Patient Entrepreneur and special guest speaker Colin Jackson CBE, Olympic Medalist. For more information, see the TSA Conference website here and register online here (booking forms are also downloadable on the earlier page).
Cigna, Care Innovations expand Tennessee CHF care management pilot
Healthcare payer Cigna’s Healthspring Medicare plan unit has been piloting a congestive heart failure (CHF) care management program with Intel-GE Care Innovations in Tennessee to reduce same-cause hospital readmissions. The initial year-long 50-patient program is being expanded to 250 patients who have had a CHF diagnosis plus a previous ER visit or hospital admission. Patients are supplied at no cost a blood pressure cuff, a scale and the Care Innovations Guide on a tablet platform. Daily biometrics are sent to Cigna-HealthSpring nurse practitioners, and also complete an educational program to help them manage their CHF at home. After a 90-day minimum, once certain goals (e.g. weight loss, blood pressure and heart rate) are met, the patients stay in the program, the tablet is withdrawn but they continue to monitor and log their vitals with a case manager. What is curious about this seemingly anodyne (more…)
Tunstall secures additional £20 million from Charterhouse: implications?
Breaking News Tunstall Healthcare Group quietly announced on 25 September an additional investment of £20 million from its private equity owner, Charterhouse Capital Partners. Our readers know from our May and July articles the business challenges Tunstall has faced. We have particularly focused on–as have Bloomberg in May, this Editor and our Founder/EIC Emeritus Steve Hards over the years–on the heavy burden of Tunstall’s debt service, multiple management changes on both sides of the Atlantic, and a decided ‘failure to launch’ in the US market.
Readers of the Sunday Times woke up to this headline and lede (what news writers use to introduce the topic and entice you to read on):
Headline: £20m to steady ship at Tunstall
Lede: CHARTERHOUSE Capital Partners, one of the City’s oldest and most secretive private equity firms, has been forced to provide a multimillion-pound lifeline to another of its investments. A fortnight ago, Charterhouse ploughed £20m into Tunstall, a healthcare technology company that makes equipment to monitor the elderly and sick at home.
Insider Media Limited (business news review) had a more measured take in its ‘Yorkshire News’ section:
Headline: BACKERS PUMP £20M INTO HEALTHCARE FIRM (more…)
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