If you’re more excited than this editor, to read of Japanese multinational Sharp’s ‘futuristic’ chair (you can sit on it while your vital signs are measured and sent to a doctor!), then check out this link via Ubergizmo. I think I preferred it pre-makeover, when it was a luxury/techy chair with Bose headphones (though minus the $21,500 price tag). But on the bright side, we now get to wonder at its new clothes!
Wanted: Launch Event correspondent 19 Nov-Sheffield
TTA is asking for one (or two) of our readers to be a volunteer correspondent for the launch 19 November of the Centre for Assistive Technology and Connected Healthcare (CATCH) at the Millennium Galleries in Sheffield from 12.30pm until 4.00pm. CATCH is being established at the University of Sheffield as a strategic research centre and interdisciplinary research hub to study and develop new user-friendly technologies which enable independent living and improve healthcare for older and disabled people. Unfortunately none of the Editors will be in the area to take up their kind invitation to view their exhibition, presentations and demos. If you are willing to write up an article within 48 hours of the event, please email EIC Donna here (donna.cusano@telecareaware.com) as I must authorize this with the Sheffield group. You will be credited of course but expenses and article will not be covered.
Update 14 October: We have two volunteers! Thanks to Drs. Kenneth Law and Mutaz Aldawoud of the Hillside Bridge Health Centre in Bradford for offering to attend and write their observations.
Turning an iPhone into an endoscope
The interestingly named ‘Endockscope’ is a docking device which connects an iPhone 4S to an endoscope. The Endockscope acquired images of the same resolution and acceptable color resolution. An evaluation team of twelve expert endoscopists evaluated the image quality compared to the Storz HD camera standard, and concluded that they were equivalent for flexible ureteroscopy and somewhat inferior, but still acceptable for flexible cystoscopy. Savings? $46,469–$154 compared with $46,623 for the Storz HD. The device is yet to go to human trials. FierceMobileHealthcare. iMedicalApps (abstract) The Endockscope was also commented on by Dr. Eric Topol in his Medscape article on genomic medicine, decision support tools such as IBM Watson possibly replacing doctors, a robot administering anesthesia, the Theranos fast blood testing system possibly disrupting lab testing…Topol on ‘Taboo Genetics,’ a Frugal App, and Magic Supplements
Big data in heart failure detection gets $2 million grant
One part of the US government that hasn’t gone silent is the National Institutes of Health (NIH) which announced yesterday a $2 million research grant to IBM, Sutter Health and Geisinger Health System to jointly develop data analytics tools to help primary care physicians detect heart failure sooner. This will analyze EHR data to determine the patterns that may be indicative of a person at high risk–and investigate more effective early intervention. Big data sets sights on heart disease (HealthcareITNews)
HSJ Telehealth 2013
20 November 2013, London, UK (location to be confirmed)
The HSJ Telehealth summit will assess the progress made so far and the longer-term trajectory for the adoption of the technology in Britain and the NHS. Re-focused for 2013, the one-day conference will bring you practical, relevant debate, grounded in the present and tackle the challenges posed by the lack of a national overarching strategy and the many barriers that hinder adoption and development of services locally and nationally. Key issues examined include:
Achieving the impossible – real cost efficiencies from the outset
Introducing local services – what help and funding is out there?
Adoption of telehealth across the NHS – what must change?
Adding weight to the argument – the added value of big data
Patient empowerment and engagement – how technology is changing behaviour
Engaging commissioners and changing culture – breaking out of survival mode.
Another change at Care Innovations
Louis Burns, CEO of Care Innovations since its founding in 2011, announced his retirement at the end of this year. His immediate successor starting 7 October as CEO (on his LinkedIn profile, but not on the CI website) is Sean Slovenski, formerly VP for Health and Productivity Solutions at Humana and founder of Hummingbird Coaching Services, a provider of online wellness coaching and behavior management services purchased by Humana in 2010. This follows the retirement earlier this year of Intel-er Doug Busch, formerly COO. Neil Versel interviews Mr. Slovenski for Mobihealthnews, but what strikes this Editor in the interview are three things: his background and demeanor could not be more different than Mr. Burns; his expertise in population health and consumer-directed wellness may indicate a significant directional change for long-term-care focused Care Innovations–certainly away from the Intel/GE mindset; and the outlook continues to be ‘mañana’ for telehealth and telecare. Care Innovations release.
Designing housing for the cognitively impaired–where’s the telecare?
Steve Moran’s Senior Housing Forum is hosting a lively discussion on designing communities for what this Editor would term the cognitively impaired, euphemistically called ‘memory care’ here in the States, then often bluntly categorized as dementia care. This concentrates on one CEO’s journey in designing a new memory care community, The Cottages at Cedar Run (Wisconsin) and how he utilized ideas developed in the US (Eden Alternative, Green Houses — Bill Thomas’ work, TTA 30 July) as well as the Dutch Dementia Village [TA 22 Dec 12] The architect’s video still strikes this Editor as full of nice touches (the courtyard a la the Dutch, but not as spacious or a center of activity; the padded window seats) but still institutional feeling (the cottages have a nice look but need more individualization to aid resident identification; how a resident/family can personalize the cottage); all in the right direction. The comments expand upon many points, but what is really missing here is the integration of technology— (more…)
ABI Research surveys…telecare
It is refreshing to note a commercial research study that concentrates on straightforward home monitoring for the senior care market, a segment that doesn’t get the cocktail party chatter or anything resembling buzz. ABI Research looks at eight home monitoring companies–BeClose, Care Innovations, GrandCare Systems, Healthsense, independa, Philips, pomDevices (Sonamba) and Tunstall Healthcare–and judges them on several analyses. On the Competitive Assessment, measuring product innovation as well as implementation, the three leaders were (in rank order) Healthsense, pomdevices (Sonamba), and GrandCare Systems. Both Healthsense and GrandCare are prominent ‘grizzled pioneers’ evolving their model considerably over the years; Sonamba is a tablet-based relative newcomer so low profile that we haven’t heard about them since their 2011 debut at CES. Whither Philips and Tunstall? (more…)
Bosch Update (UK)
Further to our previous post on the topic, we have now heard from Bill Broderick, Acting Divisional Head of Bosch Healthcare in the UK, clarifying Bosch’s position re the UK market:
1. Bosch Healthcare is not exiting the UK market. Telecare is business as usual and we will continue to sell our entire line of telecare products in the foreseeable future. We have placed all new telehealth activities on hold for now as we spend the next few months re-evaluating the business strategy based on current market dynamics in the UK.
2. We are not exiting the Health Buddy device business. We will continue to offer Health Buddys to patients who need them. The Remedy partnership press release announced an expansion of our patient interface portfolio to more mobile and internet-based solutions, not a replacement of existing Health Buddy devices.
Health IT serving population health
From the iHT2 Health IT Summit this Editor attended two weeks ago is this presentation by Jonathan Weiner, DrPH, Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management, Director of the Center for Population Health IT (CPHIT), Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland. Telehealth is (or should be) implicit in the data feedback loop outlined in slide 3; in the population health assessment and performance loop on slide 5; the ‘digital health milieu’ on slide 9.
Harnessing EHRs and Health IT to Achieve Population Health Interview with Dr. Weiner
Another diagnostic for Alzheimers with impact on telehealth gains $2MM funding
Will a market of hundreds of millions be able to access these needed technologies?
Neurotrack, a computer-based cognitive program designed to pick up changes three to six years in advance of an official diagnosis of Alzheimer’s or dementia, gained Series A funding led by Founders’ Fund (Peter Thiel) and joined by Social+Capital Partnership plus several angel investors. Developed initially at Emory University with the technology part of a five year National Institutes of Health (NIH) study, it tests subjects on preference for repeat images versus novel images; a preference for repeat images may indicate a disturbance in the hippocampus area of the brain in completely asymptomatic subjects. However, you will not find it at a doctor’s office or a pharmacy kiosk near you soon. Its initial use will be in clinical trials for pharma companies developing drugs targeting early-stage dementias. The meaning for telehealth and telecare (more…)
Telecare Soapbox: Predicting the telequake
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/earthquake.jpg” thumb_width=”175″ /]Predicting earthquakes is notoriously unreliable but TTA’s ex-Editor in Chief Steve Hards says that one is on its way for the telecare and telehealth industry.
Earthquakes are hard to predict because, depending on the local geology and where you are in relation to the future epicentre, they vary in speed, intensity and effect. However, there are four generally recognised stages:
- a long period of between quakes when straining deep beneath the surface that goes unnoticed
- a build up of intense pressure along the fault which may be noticed as slippage
- the release of the pressure which causes the well-known effects of tremors, liquefaction and damage as the two sides of the fault realign
- the new resting position of the land each side of the fault
O2 and Bosch realising that systems which do not use smartphone-based technology are now dead in the water and therefore exiting from the UK telecare market was not the quake; they are just signs of stage two slippage. We will see more strains and cracks appear (more…)
Telehealth Soapbox: Medical device tax finally under fire; implications many (US)
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/gizmodo-the-top-10-rube-goldberg-machines-featured-on-film-rube-goldberg.jpg” thumb_width=”180″ /]A key part of the Rube Goldberg (or Heath Robinson)-esque funding of the Accountable Care Act (ACA, a/k/a Obamacare) is a punitive medical device tax of 2.3 percent levied on gross sales (not profits) of hip, knee, cardiac implants, many dental materials, diagnostics such as scanners, radiotherapy machines, catheters and more. Since it went into effect on 1 January, it has raised $1 billion according to the Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance, the Advanced Medical Technology Association and the Medical Device Manufacturers Association in July–for a program that does not start till 2014. According to The Hill, senior Senators Orrin Hatch, Barrasso and Hoeven are pushing for a repeal amendment to be attached to the stopgap spending bill. The reasons why the tax deserves to be tossed out on its ear are: (more…)
Apps World
22-23 October 2013, Earls Court 2, London
While this event is all about the apps and M2M in every area, the organizers are reaching out to the health tech area in both the exhibition and with speakers such as Subir Mondal, Deputy Director IS, NHS – Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, myHealthPal and BleepBleeps. Parts are free with registration, others are paid. Keynote speakers include Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple at the free Developer World. The free part also includes the 250-exhibitor expo along with 3 keynote talks within the 5 free-to-attend workshops (registration here). The Enterprise World speaker track on both days is free and includes the NHS speaker on security. M2M and Automotive is a paid track and includes content (Health & Wearables, Connected Car) relating to telehealth with myHealthPal and BleepBleeps. Passes range from £250 (networking) to £995 (2 day Gold). According to a posting on LinkedIn, there is a 25 percent savings when you use this code for registration: LINKEDIN25. More information here.
An encouraging Australian RCT combining self-care and telemonitoring
A paper just published in the Journal of Telemedicine & eHealth (Volume: 19 Issue 9) entitled “Telehealth Remote Monitoring for Community-Dwelling Older Adults with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease” makes refreshing reading for those of us who still believe that a well-designed implementation of telehealth brings immense health benefit to those with chronic long-term conditions.
The authors, Kristen De San Miguel, Joanna Smith, and Gill Lewin, all from Western Australia describe a small RCT using Docobo kit that involved (more…)
Bosch to can Health Buddy, withdraw from telehealth in UK – temporarily?
On September 6th, Bosch announced a tie up with Remedy Health Media [TTA 10 Sep] “to launch remote patient monitoring products designed for tablets and smartphones”, which suggested that it would not be long before they stopped selling their purpose-built telehealth hardware.
Now TTA has heard from a reliable source that they are telling their customer organisations that they are going to withdraw (more…)
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