New paper in the Practical aspects of Telehealth series

February 24, 2014 | by

Establishing Telehealth in an institution, published this month in the Internal Medicine Journal, is the title of the fifth and latest in the Practical aspects of telehealth series of papers. According to the abstract the paper describes the development of a large teleoncology network over a vast geographical area in North Queensland, Australia.

The authors propose that the workforce, funding and infrastructure at rural sites, as well as the traditional mindset of healthcare professionals are key barriers to successful implementation of telehealth programmes. In the case of the Queensland teleoncology network, the rural hospital at Mt Isa, 900 km away from the central site, has been continually enhanced over a 5- to 6-year period. The success of the scheme is credited to these helping to overcome usual barriers.

Previous papers in this series are Practical aspects of telehealth: doctor patient relationship and communication, Practical aspects of telehealth: financial considerations (Journal in Internal Medicine), Practical aspects of telehealth: Are my patients suited to telehealth? and Practical aspects of telehealth: set-up and preparation for video consultations

 

National Health Summit Ireland–Special Report

February 21, 2014 | by

Reader Andrew Macfarlane, Commercialisation & Centre Manager, CASALA at The Netwell Centre of the Dundalk Institute of Technology, stepped forward to report on this past Wednesday’s Summit. (Please note the excellent cross-references for those who may not be familiar with Ireland-specific programs.) Many thanks Andrew from Editors Toni and Donna!

From an Industrial Age to Information Age Healthcare – National Health Summit, Ireland

The 10th National Health Summit, which took place in Dublin, Ireland, saw a good attendance and an impressive range of speakers. The event is primarily targeted at decision-makers involved in leading and managing the delivery of healthcare services in Ireland.

The morning session outlined the changing landscapes of healthcare delivery both in an Irish and International context. Next up, separate tracks covering Health Insurance (as the Irish government seeks to introduce Universal Health Insurance), Hospital Management & Digital Healthcare (the primary topic covered by this post). The final session covered helping patients stay healthy at home and an insightful panel discussion on reform of the health service.

Tony O’Brien, Director General of the Health Services Executive (HSE) provided the opening address, entitled “Choices for our health service”. The HSE is a large organisation of over 100,000 people, whose job is to run all of the public health services in Ireland. He highlighted that like most health care systems, they are facing rising demand and costs (current budget €13.6bn), and that at the same time has endured significant health budget cuts, 26% since 2008, with €600+m planned savings in 2014. The annual National Service Plan sets out key priorities.

Key takeaway from a digital health point of view is the policy aim of A New Model of Care Treatment at the Lowest Level of Complexity that is Safe, Timely, Efficient and as Close to Home As Possible. The HSE envisages transforming from an industrial age healthcare to information age healthcare, with cost-effective use of ICT. Challenging perhaps with a historical under-investment in ICT at 0.85% of budget vs EU average of 2-3%, a number of speakers referenced the “Ghost of PPARS” as reason for under investment.

Professor Aidan Halligan, Director of Education, University College London & Principal, NHS Staff College, England in a lively storytelling highlighted that the Cathedrals to Disease  (more…)

The GET Project to grow EU startups/SMEs

February 21, 2014 | by

Associated with the international Health 2.0 organization, the GET Project provides four services to promote the growth of eHealth start-ups and SMEs (small and medium enterprises) in four different phases: opportunity identification, business model definition, fundraising and internationalization. Health 2.0 is managing the “GET Funded” service, which provides SMEs looking for Series B or follow up investment (between € 0.5-2M) with training, resources and networking opportunities with VCs and investors at the European level. (Perhaps a way around the Series B crunch?) More information. Contact Pascal Lardier, International Director at Pascal@health2con.com. Editor Donna notes that the focus here does not appear to be UK, though one of the five Advisory Board members listed is from Scotland (and interestingly, two are from the US): Jan Rutherford, Partner, Scottish Equity Partners (SEP); Sandra Bates, Founder and CEO Innovation Partners; Dave Whitlinger, Executive Director, New York eHealth Collaborative (NYeC); Ron Michael Liebkind, Founder and CMO, Laastari Retail Clinics; Rajendre Khargi, Chair, OneWorld International Foundation.

Telefónica buys strategic stake in Saluspot

February 21, 2014 | by

Telefónica Digital today announced a strategic agreement with and a financial stake in information/medical community website Saluspot to extend the latter’s content and network in Spain and Latin America. Saluspot is an interesting cross between health information (WebMD) and physician locators (in the US, ZocDoc and Vitals) in that it provides free, anonymous contact with registered (on their site) physicians via the website to answer consumer questions in areas where healthcare access is limited; through this matching it also provides visibility for doctors as well as a professional exchange and purchasing collective. The benefit for Saluspot is to increase their coverage beyond Spain and Chile, and for Telefónica to add health tech services in major markets such as Brazil, where they acquired chronic care management company Axismed last year. Telefónica’s eHealth reach, according to the release, is over two million eHealth service customers in Latin America and its media networks include Eleven Paths, giffgaff, Media Networks Latin America and Terra.

Tunstall welcomes you to ‘my world’

February 21, 2014 | by
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Tunstall-tab.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]Tunstall unveiled its tablet-based integrated system for supported housing at this week’s Housing LIN Extra Care Housing Annual Conference in London. ‘my world’ groups applications for residents in an easy-to-use way for communication (email/messages), scheduling care visits, booking meals, home maintenance, finding out about community events, weather and the like. These features are all somewhat reminiscent of other systems such as GrandCare and the original concept behind Waldo Health. It appears to this Editor that Tunstall has designed my world/my clinic as Tunstall’s World–a fully proprietary ecosystem, as seen in their model installation with Herefordshire Housing. The release notes that it is integrated with Tunstall’s ‘my clinic‘ multi-user telehealth system and the Communicall Vi reporting system, as well as Contour Homes. Certainly when a system is complex, having it ‘closed’ is assurance that everything works together. But is a closed system the best quality, most economic and effective arrangement for individual, a community’s or a council’s needs? Press release, brochure

International Digital Health Congress (UK): call for papers

February 18, 2014 | by

Call for papers due 31 March

The King’s Fund’s International Digital Health and Care Congress has opened their call for speaker papers which showcase new ideas in telehealth and telecare. This year the Congress has widened its focus to include ehealth, mobile health and digital health innovations. Abstracts for oral and poster presentations should be targeted to one of the main topics below:

Sustaining independence as people age.
Preventing and managing chronic illness effectively.
Supporting people with mental health issues.
Digitally enabling service transformation.
Innovations in technology.

Formats for presentations (including PDF) are available at the Congress’ page. More information for the Congress on 10-12 September is available here.

Pulse of Telehealth 2013

February 16, 2014 | by

A study analysing survey data taken at the 2013 American Telemedicine Association conference has been published this month by the market research company Frost & Sullivan. Pulse of Telehealth 2013 presents drivers and restraints, 5 and 10 year areas of opportunity, environmental points (e.g., gamification), accountable care organisations (ACOs), and predictions.

The surveyed markets include home and disease management monitoring, personal emergency response systems (PERS), video diagnostic consultation, remote doctor/specialist services, tele-imaging, activity monitoring, wellness programs, remote cardiac ECG, and tele-mental health.

The report is available for purchase at the Frost and Sullivan website (link above).

$1.2 million in digital health funding from Aetna Foundation

February 14, 2014 | by

The Aetna Foundation has earmarked $1.2 million to fund digital health, including mobile health, specifically to support public health in “vulnerable and minority populations.” The grants will go to 23 organizations in 13 states, including regional hospitals and grassroots efforts. Cited in the release (reprinted in HITECH Answers) as an example was the Institute for eHealth Equity (IEHE) and Text4Wellness. The $1.2 million grant is part of a three-year, $4 million commitment to technology innovation in public health. Aetna is also supporting a call for papers to be published in the American Journal of Public Health. Deadline is 1 March, so get your skates on!

Inexpensive reusable portable sensors for diabetes, UTI

February 13, 2014 | by

Responsive holograms that change colour in the presence of certain compounds are being developed into portable medical tests and devices, which could be used to monitor conditions such as diabetes, cardiac function, infections, electrolyte or hormone imbalance easily and inexpensively, according to the University of Cambridge. It is claimed that the technique can be used to test blood, breath, urine, saliva or tears for glucose, alcohol, drugs, bacteria or hormones. Clinical trials are said to be underway to test glucose and urinary tract infections (UTI) in diabetics at Addenbrooke’s Hospital.

It is estimated that the reusable sensors could cost as little as UK £ 0.1 (about US 15 cents) to produce, making them affordable for use in developing countries. A prototype smartphone-based test suitable for both clinical and home testing of diabetes and clinically relevant conditions is under development.

If this is a commercial success this could form the basis of a multi-purpose portable tester suitable for telehealth use.

A research paper, Light-Directed Writing of Chemically Tunable Narrow-Band Holographic Sensors, has been published in Advanced Optical Materials.

CUHTec courses in March–updated (UK)

February 13, 2014 | by

CUHTec has announced two additional telecare strategy courses for March, adding two at Coventry University in addition to the two previously scheduled at University of Newcastle. Topics are Learning Disability Services, Fall Prevention and Digital and Mobile Telecare. These strategy courses are for commissioners, service development managers, trainers and others with responsibility for telecare and AT service planning and delivery.

CUHTec telecare strategy course: Learning Disability Services, HDTI, Coventry University, Thursday, 6 March 2014

CUHTec telecare strategy course: Learning Disability Services. Culture Lab, University of Newcastle, Thursday 20 March 2014

CUHTec telecare strategy course: Moving to digital and mobile telecare. Culture Lab, University of Newcastle, Friday 21 March 2014

CUHTec telecare strategy course: Fall Prevention and Management, HDTI, Coventry University, Tuesday 25 March 2014

To find out more and to book a place, please visit CUHTec’s website. Thanks to reader Prof. Andrew Monk, director of The Centre for Usable Home Technology (CUHTec), for the update.

Telehealth in South Australia – Medicare Locals

February 12, 2014 | by

In 2011 the Australian Government established new organisations called Medicare Locals to plan and fund [grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Medicare-Local-Logo.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]extra health services in communities across Australia. Country South South Australia Medicare Local (CSSAML), one such Medicare Local, has been very active in promoting telehealth/telemedicine in its region covering just over 7% of South Australia.

Health areas to which telehealth has been directed by CSSAML include psychiatry, psychology, gastroenterology and cardiology. Videophones in GP practices and non-hospital settings provide telepsychology, telepsychiatry and other specialist services to support GP’s in rural communities via the State Government’s Digital Telehealth Network; (more…)

TSA: opening up or losing the plot?

February 11, 2014 | by | 1 Comment
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/gimlet-eye.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /](Editor Donna is posting for The Gimlet Eye, who is filing from an undisclosed tropical location.)

Hats off to Alyson Bell, the TSA’s Managing director, for publishing the results of an independent review carried out in September 2013 in the Winter 2013-14 edition of TSA’s publication, The Link (sent to members, one of whom kindly passed it to The Gimlet Eye, although not currently accessible to non-members on their website). It makes interesting reading – there are compliments about the speakers and facilities at the annual conference, however there are many areas identified for improvement, such as the comment about TSA Forums that “London Telecare Market Place events are better”. (London Telecare has now of course become UK Telehealthcare). Of particular interest to The Gimlet Eye is the feedback on training which begins with the observation that “Current satisfaction rate was 50%” and goes on to explain that members wanted it delivered more ‘hands on’, with ‘how to’ topics and at lower cost.

It is then quite surprising that Lancashire Social Services, presumably still reeling from the abrupt cancellation of the pricey One Connect deal last November, are said to have awarded their recent tender for telecare awareness training for hundreds of staff (which presumably should be ‘hands on’ and ‘how to’ focused) to the TSA. Was the key factor in selecting the TSA raising the low satisfaction rate with training, or was the lead consideration a lower or lowest cost compared to other bidders? (In this respect, had Lancashire Social Services read the feedback in The Link’s review, The Eye wonders?)

Other factors: the TSA is not a large organization, so given the evident size of the training requirement, will this mean even fewer people available to deliver courses to members? Will it mean contracting in people to deliver courses who perhaps, as TSA members, were competing against the TSA for the Lancashire work?

Is this what member organizations should be doing? Comments please!

National Health Summit (Ireland)–reporter wanted

February 11, 2014 | by

Unfortunately Editor Toni will not be able to cover this conference taking place 19 February in Dublin as originally planned, due to an overriding business commitment. If there is an interested reader who would like to attend in her stead, and who can prepare a timely report (within 72 hours) from this event, please contact Editor Donna ASAP as the event is next Wednesday. We will make arrangements with the organizers to provide free press admission and of course you will receive writing credit, but other expenses will not be covered. (For the article, our standard is that you can be selective and interesting rather than comprehensive.)

AliveCor ECG gains FDA over-the-counter approval

February 11, 2014 | by

[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/s4_case.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]AliveCor Inc., the developer of the AliveCor mobile heart monitor, announced today the granting of over-the-counter (OTC) clearance for the device.  It is a single-channel ECG ‘case’ that snaps on to iPhones and Android phones to record, display, store and transfer data into the AliveCor application where it can be transmitted to doctors or in the US, to a US-based board-certified cardiologist or cardiac technician in a new analysis program called AliveInsights. US residents can pre-order now with shipments starting in March for $199. It is already available for the UK and Ireland through AmazonUK at £169. Release PDF

Three conferences coming up soon

February 10, 2014 | by

There are three telehealth conferences coming up in March and April which are noteworthy.

The Australian Telehealth Conference 2014 is on the 19th and 20th March in Melbourne. It is brought together by a set of key organisations in the field: the Health Informatics Society of Australia (HISA), the Allied Health Professions Australia, the Australasian Telehealth Society, the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine, the Australian Medicare Local Alliance, the Health Information Management Association of Australia and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. Keynote presentations cover mHealth, Integreated Care, Rural Medicine, Law and others. More info is on the ATC 2014 website.

Next up, from 30 March to 1 April the Mid-Atlantic Telehealth Resource Summit 2014, in Fredericksburg, VA (USA) will examine ways in which telehealth adds value to patients, practitioners, hospitals etc. Participants will explore the concept of value-add through an interactive program. More on this is on the MATRC 2014 website.

Finally we have the California Telehealth Network 2014 Summit on April 28 and 29 in Newport, CA. Subtitled Growing California’s Connections, this is the second annual event and will build upon information, ideas and practice with even more presentations, educational sessions and networking opportunities. More on CTN 2014 Summit website.