Next week’s Med-e-Tel (9-11 April) conference announced their final day of advance registration (today, 5 April) but if you are interested in going, please contact them directly for onsite information. The Journal of the International Society for Telemedicine and eHealth (ISfTeH), the publication of the main organizer of the conference, has published presentation abstracts in advance of the conference here. Conference website. ISfTeh April newsletter. New (7 April) overview press release. TTA is a past (and still listed as a) media sponsor of the event. If you are attending and interested in contributing coverage from one item to a day, please contact Editor Donna about arrangements. Our gentle requirements are that you send a timely report (within 72 hours) from this event. Our standard is that you can be selective and interesting rather than comprehensive. Of course you will receive writing credit, but other expenses will not be covered.
Scanadu hitting the tech ‘glitch’ wall?
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Blog-04-04.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]Tricorder XPrize-qualifying Scanadu, which eventually raised a stunning $1.6 million on Indiegogo [TTA 23 May 13], has stopped delivery of units to its early backers which started on 31 March. According to its blog late this week, their readings were not working as expected for temperature, there were inconsistencies in reading scans between the Scanadu device (categorized as ‘investigational’) and the app (via the smartphone), and the manufacturing tool to make the devices broke. Scanadu CEO Walter De Brouwer stated that “We hope that this (the delay) will not be more than 8-12 weeks.” The Scanadu Scout was also submitted for FDA clearance but requires usability studies to gain approval. In this Editor’s experience, all tech devices eventually hit the ‘glitch wall’, either at or near the outset or when the system scales up. Better to fix now than later, and kudos for their C-level for being forthcoming–because most are not. Also MedCityNews.
ATA 2014: TTA is now a media sponsor
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/ata-2014-square.jpg” thumb_width=”180″ /]This publication is rarely a media sponsor of conferences, by choice. When we are, it’s because the conference and the organization is significant to the progress of healthcare technology in remote monitoring and related areas. The American Telemedicine Association (ATA) is one of those special organizations in their long-standing advocacy of global telemedicine and telehealth. We are pleased to announce we are joining their distinguished roster of 2014 media partners.
The 2014 conference is being held in Baltimore, just north of Washington DC, from Saturday 17 May (pm) through Tuesday 20 May. There is a very full schedule of pre-meetings, local chapter/co-located meetings, multiple education tracks,and several keynote speakers. Highlights:
- Industry executive sessions with major companies in telemedicine on Monday and Tuesday
- Sunday, the ATA Telemedicine Venture Summit with law firm Jones Day has leading industry stakeholders and policy makers speaking, in addition to structured networking and matchmaking opportunities (more details, release)
- The new Innovation Spotlight: Monday highlights interviews with telemedicine startups (release); Tuesday, ATA’s partnership with the XPrize Foundation (release).
- For those who cannot attend onsite, there are virtual assets including ePosters and ATA TV.
More information and registration here. Twitter: @ ATA2014. ATA 2014 on Facebook here.
Editor’s Note: This Editor hopes to be able to attend the Monday sessions. Prior commitments prevent her from attending the other days. If you are interested in contributing coverage from one item to a day, please contact Editor Donna about arrangements. Our gentle requirements are that you send a timely report (within 72 hours) from this event. Our standard is that you can be selective and interesting rather than comprehensive. Of course you will receive writing credit, but other expenses will not be covered.
A snapshot of telehealth and telemedicine in rural America
Telehealth and telemedicine (virtual consults) are moving forward in large and largely rural Nebraska and neighboring Iowa. The Nebraska Medical Center not only has an executive director for telehealth (not buried in an HIT department) but also no less than 13 initiatives in process from stroke to cancer care. Video networks connect rural hospitals with medical centers. The VA’s leadership in this geographic area has been crucial, with over 550 patients in home telehealth in Nebraska – Western Iowa and additional telemedicine programs for psychiatry, wound care, nutritional counseling and infectious diseases. Videoconferencing equipment in hospitals and public health centers, installed in a mid-2000s program, is being repurposed for video consults. Interestingly, its use in this region is not new. For 10 years, a University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) psychiatry associate professor has been having routine video psychiatric consults with elderly nursing home patients. Telemedicine’s first use in Nebraska was also psychiatric–55 years ago–by a University of Nebraska Medical Center dean using undoubtedly black-and-white two-way video. Doctor’s home visit is back — kind of — as telehealth flourishes nationwide (?–Ed.), Omaha World-Herald
A new analysis of telehealth implementation in the UK
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
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 
Emergency 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.
Biocompatible batteries for ‘sensors of the future’
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Dissolving-Battery.jpg” thumb_width=”300″ /] Pointer to the Future. Implantable medical sensors and devices have a main drawback–their power source. Current batteries are bulky and must be manually removed. External power transference means fairly bulky outside and inside devices.
What if the sensor and batteries could simply dissolve harmlessly in the body when no longer needed?
Research from John Rogers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his team first led to biodegradable (in the body) electronics in 2012, and now dissolving batteries (above). (more…)
Augmenting human performance in the USAF
A pointer to the future is how the US Air Force is taking a new look at what we call telehealth and they call Human Performance Monitoring. Current sensors are large and complex in measuring heart rate, blood pressure, blood oxygenation and skin temperature–critical data for pilots and other airmen. For instance, the USAF measures O2 in F-22 pilots to determine effects and compensate to keep both man and machine safe. Not only do they want to make sensors smaller–like skin patches–but also these are key to a new concept in aviation medicine called Human Performance Augmentation, which will measure human health status in real time. And both play into Human Systems Integration, which integrates man and machine. The implications here for civilian use are many: miniaturization of sensors into wearables, real time telehealth and machine assistance for human tasks. Performance-detecting Biosensors (Armed With Science)
Pilot testing of telehealth service in Philippines
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.
Apple-ologizing Healthbook
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/healthbook-book.jpg” thumb_width=”300″ /]With the same obsession that Kremlinologists had during the Cold War, the Apple-ologists at 9to5Mac observe emanations and permutations emitting from Cupertino. Based on their inside sources, they have the lowdown on how Apple will Go Big into healthcare monitoring and fitness tracking.
- ‘Cards’ in the Healthbook allowing entry for vital signs such as blood pressure, blood glucose, breathing rate, weight, hydration and oxygen saturation (O2). (photo at left above a ‘recreation of screenshots’ by 9to5Mac)
- Sleep tracking. Apple in February hired Roy J.E.M. Raymann, one of the world’s experts in sleep tracking including wearables and sensors, out of Philips.
- Emergency Card with customer’s name, birthdate, medication information, weight, eye color, blood type, organ donor status, and location.
The rumors tie it to the introduction of iOS 8, the iWatch or both. But beyond the sensors on the phone and/or the iWatch–there’s no information on how telehealth apps, devices or sensors would wirelessly transmit the information. “While Healthbook is capable of tracking, sorting, and managing various types of health and fitness-related data, it is currently uncertain where this data will actually be sourced from.” But Editor Toni noted in February (link below) that Apple just patented headphones which are capable of monitoring temperature, heart rate and perspiration levels. This is Healthbook, Apple’s major first step into health & fitness tracking (9to5Mac). And Wired thinks Apple’s Upcoming Health App Is the Start of Something Huge (Wonder if South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety will impound it as an unapproved medical device!)
Previously in TTA: Apple-ologists discern ‘new’ interest in health tech and telehealth [20 July 13], Apple’s tarnished luster, Round 2 [29 July 13], Apple purchasing 3D gesture control developer PrimeSense [19 Nov 13], Apple patents health monitoring headphones with ‘head gesture’ control [19 Feb]
University of Mississippi awarded telemedicine Emergency and Specialty Care grant
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
[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.
The King’s Fund: Self-Care in the Digital Age
24 June 2014, 11 – 13 Cavendish Square, London
Morning session: 9.00am – 12.30pm
Afternoon session: 1.00pm – 4.30pm
How can the UK manage its health and social care needs, now and in the future? How can new technology aid in the evolution of our perceptions of health and care? And how is self-care being adopted across the UK? Sponsors dallas (Delivering Assisted Living Lifestyles At Scale) and The King’s Fund will explore and expand that debate with an audience including government ministers, health care practitioners and patients themselves. This free half-day conference is running twice on the same day; once you register on Eventbrite, you will be asked whether you want to attend either the morning or the afternoon session. The organizers will then contact you to confirm your place (subject to availability). Registration, information.
Telehealth & telemetry to push US monitoring market to $5.1 bn by 2020
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.
A useful note on telehealth & telecare (UK)
If like me you are frequently asked for a summary of what has happened recently in the world of telehealth & telecare and are forced either to sit down and cut & paste/write one or politely turn down the request, you’ll be pleased to know of the recent four-page summary produced by the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST). Written by Peter Border, it is a competent summary of recent developments in remote monitoring in the UK, including 3millionlives & ALIP, extending to mention of the regulation of medical apps.
Of course there are bits I’d have written differently. For example (more…)
New market research on telehealth in US
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)
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