A new Virtual Tumor Board, based at Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center (TX), provides teleconsultations for veterans suffering from cancer.
Apple News Daily has a post on mHealth and the role of Apple mobile devices in medicine. The conclusion: it’s not a mainstream tool yet and still has obstacles to overcome. I agree, but I think the author misses the point on some of the key areas of value around remote clinical data access and order entry.
Health services management company Alere Health teams with Airstrip Technologies to offer Airstrip OB to Alere’s vast network of providers and hospitals. The move, which is essentially a marketing deal, signals the entry of Aistrip into the homecare arena through existing Alere homecare services.
A trial of cell phone-based malaria treatment monitoring finds it to be an effective tool, especially in remote areas.
EMR vendor iSALUS launhces an iPhone application to provide clinicians and practice managers access to iSALUS on the go.
No-contract mobile provider GreatCall adds two new services: Medication Reminder ($10/month) and Check in Call ($5/month). The med reminder services calls users at predefined times and records responses so that compliance can be tracked.
West Wireless Health’s CEO Don Casey talks about the power of integrating wireless and healthcare, focusing on the assistance the Institute can provide to launch and commercialize new products.
Mega insurer Humana extends its mobile offerings which now include doctor/facility search, claims, SMS, and games.
Southeast Missouri Hospital partners with Healthagen for mobile access to facility and provider information via the iTriage mobile app.
Potomac Photonics announces the successful completion of SBIR Phase I from the NSF. The grant was used to miniaturize wireless sensors to 1/10th current size and include “high density energy storage”.
UC Irvine School of Medicine partners with Elsevier to provide students with digital textbooks, including the med student anatomy bible Netter, on newly issued iPads.
Speaking of free e-books for students, Kaplan is offering free versions of all of its test prep books until August 30. Any readers considering going back to school (GRE, GMAT, MCAT) or taking medical board exams (Step 1-3), now’s your chance to get free test prep. Access to free content is only available through the Kaplan iBookstore (kaplanpublishing.com/iTunes).
Despite all the hype, a new study finds no improvement in birth control compliance with SMS reminders. The study used pill top monitors to track compliance, as opposed to self reporting, which is typically used for these types of studies.
Alt12 Apps launches the Pink Pad ($1.99) women’s health app for the iPhone. The app is specifically geared towards the health tracking needs of women while also connecting women to a global community of users.
Canon USA, having received FDA approval, unveils its first wireless digital radiography system. The portable device weighs 7.5 pounds and has a 14×17 inch viewing area.
RTLS vendor Awarepoint has a music video contest with the theme “where the heck is my equipment?” The winning hospital gets $2,500 for the charity of its choice and winning individual gets an iPad.
The UK is taking patient tracking to a new level with satellite-enabled tracking of violent offenders suffering from psychiatric disorders.
Intelligent Mobile Support platform assists healthcare companies in disseminating timely information to sales representatives in the field.
The tablet market is heating up with HP (now on Palm OS), RIM, and Cisco all gearing up for releases.
Scott and White Healthcare (TX) launches an iPhone app with more functionality than most we’ve seen lately from healthcare organizations. The app does symptom checking and location/provider lookup, but goes further by allowing users to fill prescriptions and request appointments, amongst other things.
mHealth and wireless health are booming as big players (Qualcomm, AT&T, GE, Intel, Best Buy) jump into the game and reform provides hope of reimbursement.
Amednews has a good synthesis of recent research of smart phone use by clinicians and the strain it is putting on hospitals to integrate the devices.
AmeriDoc, the telemedicine company we reported on recently because of its staggering growth, launches videoconferencing to its list of available virtual visit types. The addition was made to meet reimbursement requirements. We recently reported on InteracticeMD’s addition of video to its virtual visit offerings.
Gates Foundation announces a new round of Grand Challenges Explorations Grants, with one topic being "Create Low-Cost Cell Phone-Based Applications for Priority Global Health Conditions.” Grants are $100,000 for the first year and up to $1 million after that. Applications are due November 2.
Greystone Associates releases a new report titled “Wireless In-Patient Monitors and Monitoring Systems: Devices, Deployment, Connectivity, Portability and Prospect”, which analyzes the market and demand. Cost for the electronic version: $2,850.
Novo Nordisk announces its NovoDose iPhone app, which provides insulin dosing and blood glucose guidance to physicians.
Clairvia (NC) launches three mobile applications to assist facilities and providers more efficiently manage and communicate scheduling.
iPads use is growing on the business side, including healthcare (Kaiser in this article). I know of four large healthcare organizations that have executive retreats to Apple HQ planned or completed, but I’m sure there are many more.
Secretary Sebelius announces $32 million to increase rural access to care. In these crazy HITECH / ARRA times, am I the only one that reads this and thinks that $32 million isn’t even news?
mPedigree rolls out in several African countries, allowing patients to verify the authenticity of malaria drugs via SMS. According to the article, more than 30% of the malaria drugs in Africa are fake.
Arkansas Children’s Hospital is awarded a $220,000 grant to evaluate mobile PICU use with pediatric transport teams.
On the heels of our report about the launch of an African continent-wide network to link African institutions with Indian institutions, this story highlights the battle between Japan and India for dominance of the African telemedicine market.
We recently reported a story on the potential of the iPad in the diagnosis and treatment of autism. Georgia Tech is now hoping to “substitute technology for experience” to create a technology-based solution that would monitor facial movements and physiologic parameters to assist in the diagnosis of autism.
Now that medical schools are issuing iPads to incoming students (Stanford and UC Irvine), here’s a nice list of 10 iPad apps for medical students.
IBM teams with Beijing Goodwill Information and Technology in China to build centralized storage for EKGs with analytics and mobile access.
HTH Worldwide launches six more mPassport destination-specific iPhone apps to help travelers fid healthcare services in East and Southeast Asia. The destinations include Tokyo, Shanghai, Manila, Singapore, Bangkok, and Ho Chi Minh City.
Here is a good post on why iPads are taking off in hospitals.
Highmark, a Pennsylvania-based health insurer, and A.D.A.M Inc create an iPhone app, Health@Hand, to provide first aid information, health articles, and information about local healthcare providers and facilities.
Wave Technology Group and University of Chicago Hospital’s Pediatric Epilepsy Center collaborate to create a small prototype device and complex software that can monitor brainwaves of people with epilepsy and then send them from a patient’s smart phone to a monitoring center for analysis.
The iPhone case “Pulse” is designed to slip over the hand to help perform CPR in conjunction with the pocketCPR app.
The Louisiana Poison Center uses an iPad to help manage patients poisoned by the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It uses the LogMeIn app to connect to the center’s data collection application, which forwards all reports of oil-related poisoning to the US Health Department.
MD Magazinebecomes one of the first all-digital publications designed exclusively for the Apple iPad, covering subjects that are important to the personal and professional lives of physicians, including “travel, finance, profiles of physicians, technology, dining, and entertainment.”
Mind Commerce LLC releases a report, iPad in Healthcare: Challenges and Opportunities. Priced at $307, it’s supposed to help identify target healthcare applications for the iPad and to explain barriers and strengths, driving forces, opportunities, and challenges. Or, you could follow HIStalk Mobile for free!
M is an anonymous contributor to HIStalk Mobile, focusing on new mobile applications and iPhone/iPad news.
A new study finds promising results for store-and-forward telepsychiatry. Video segments of 20-30 minutes were recorded and assessed later by psychiatrists, with only one patient requiring a face-to-face meeting. (Yellowless PM, Odor A, Parish MB, et al. A feasibility study of the use of asynchronous telepsychiatry for psychiatric consultations. Psychatr Serv 2010;61:838-40)
A pro-life coalition plans a news conference ahead of Iowa Board of Medicine meeting Friday. The board may be reviewing a complaint filed again Planned Parenthood in Iowa for “telemed abortions.” This story has been developing for a while and we first reported about it back in June.
CNN Money has video on a trial of home monitoring using in-home solutions from MedApps.
Palomar Pomerado Health (CA), with Cisco as a partner, is rolling out a tablet-based system for providers. The article claims Palomar will be the “first American hospital network to use tablet-based systems,” though this claim seems a little farfetched.
Wave Technologies and University of Chicago are developing a remote monitoring system for epileptics. The system continuously monitors brain waves, transmitting readings via Bluetooth to phone and then on to providers, EMS, or family. They hope to get FDA approval next year.
The video above outlines a study of HIV-positive women in Botswana, which found that camera-enabled cell phones can be reliably used for cervical cancer screening.
Researchers in Northern Island are developing an intelligent computer system that can recognize movement patterns of a fetus and alert physicians to impending problems. The ultimate goal is essentially a wireless home monitoring device for pregnant women.
The H’andy Sana 210 phone records and transmits EKG readings. It will be available in the UK later this year. The Sana 210 looks curiously similar, as in identical, to the EPI Life EKG phone from Singapore we reported on several months ago.
Denver Health (CO) implements CareConnect from Magpie Healthcare for clinician communications.
Orlando Health (FL) and Advocate Good Shepherd (IL) select PerfectServe for clinical communications.
NPR has a very favorable story on the role of telemedicine, and the FCC funding, in improving access to care and ultimately, clinical outcomes. The highlight of the story for me is the comments, which are not quite as favorable. My favorite comment was the complaint that telemedicine does not allow physicians to smell patients.
On a related note, Arkansas alone is getting $102 million, plus another $26.5 million in matching funds, for broadband and telemedicine expansion.
Healthsense, the maker of home monitoring solution suite eNeighbor, files with the SEC to raise $6.8 million.
A continent-wide initiative is launched in Africa to connect hospitals and universities with counterparts in India. The focus seems to be on telemedicine for distance learning.
Phillips joins the Glide Healthcare III venture fund. The fund, which has a target size of $250 million, will focus on patient-centric healthcare to include home health and sleep improvements, amongst others.
NGO in Zimbabwe uses SMS messaging to educate and inform college students about HIV prevention.
More oil rig-related telemedicine news. This commentary touts oil rigs as the ideal environment for telemedicine, as they have “a captive population of workers engaging in dangerous work in isolation, and yet they are surrounded with state-of-the-art communication”.
Nuance releases Dragon Medical Mobile Search, which allows medical professional to use voice to search online. Searches include IMO, Medline, Drugs.mobi, Medscape, and Google. The app requires registration for use, but is free for a limited time.
Spectrum Health (MI) implements Skytron’s RTLS collaborative solution, based on technologies from Awarepoint and Intelligent Insites.
West Wireless Health Institute issues a $10K challenge to “Design a secure, standardizable mechanism that will integrate personalized information from an established social network interface (such as OpenSocial) with health data derived by wireless health sensors. For clarity, a “mechanism” may include some or all of the following: networking and transport layers, protocols, interfaces, data presentation, and API.”
Mobile data services (SMS, email and mobile apps) for healthcare are projected to reach 10% of global market, or $7.7 billion, by 2014.
The Proteus Raisin smart chip, implanted in medications, transmits signals to a patch adhered to skin. Data and reminders about medication adherence are tied to physiologic parameters measured by the skin patch, linking clinical data with medical compliance.
Baptist Hospital East (KY) launches a mobile Web site with symptom checker, facility/provider/visitor information, and donation links.
A California coalition that includes the University of California launches the California Telehealth Network, which will connect 300 healthcare facilities and 800 provider offices. Its $22.5 million in funding will come from both public and private sources.
VisualDx is released for the iPad, bringing a searchable, high quality database of dermatologic images onto the larger Apple mobile device (the iPhone version is already available). VisualDx requires a subscription and is geared towards clinicians.
A telemedicine service in Flagstaff, AZ, which transmitted EKG and cardiac images ahead of a patient’s arrival, is credited in part with saving a seven-year-old boy’s life.
Evia, the worlds smallest pacemaker by about 20%, is implanted in a patient at South Nassau Communities Hospital (NY). The device provides remote monitoring of the health of both the patient and the device.
KevinMD blog has a nice interview with Henry Feldman, MD, as a follow-up of his recently posted experience with the iPad in the hospital environment.
Atlantic General Hospital (NJ) releases an app for iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android that includes ED, lab, and X-ray wait times.
Sleep Group Solutions (FL) releases an iPhone app to assist in diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). The app asks screening questions and even records segments of sleep, transmitting results to local sleep professionals based on the location of the patient.
The RoamAlert RFID wander-prevention system from Stanley Healthcare is iPad enabled.
VisitOR1, a $200K+ robot from California, will travel to Haiti with a team of doctors and nurses to assist with procedures. The robot has multiple cameras, X-ray, and a laser pointer to point out areas of interest.
The MagIC wearable home remote monitoring t-shirt from Italy monitors cardiac and pulmonary function up to 200 times per second. The device has been tested on over 200 subjects.
Sun Life Family Health Center (AZ) gets a $297K HHS grant for EHR and telemedicine infrastructure.
Wireless Medcare’s (VA) Vivitrack, a sensor which can monitor and alert staff when patients are turned in bed or get out of bed unassisted, earns FDA approval and will be brought to market if the company can raise the additional $500K it needs.
