VitalHealth and Mayo Medical Laboratories team to create iPad-based EHR geared to the workflows of PCPs. The SaaS service is accessible over 3G or wireless and will be available early next year.
Congratulations to our sponsor PatientKeeper for being selected as “Best Innovation in Mobile Health Technology for Patient Safety” at the Mobile Health Expo last week.
More on PatientKeeper: its Mobile Clinical Results app, which gives providers mobile access to patient records, is now available on Android devices, extending the reach beyond Apple and BlackBerry.
Cleveland Clinic creates Let’s Move It app (free) for iPhone and Android. The fitness app, built as part of Cleveland Clinic’s larger wellness program, has mileage challenges, tips, videos, tracking of activities, and personalized themes based on Cleveland sports teams.
Quest Diagnostics releases the Gazelle app (free) for the iPhone and Blackberry. Users can retrieve test results from Quest, store emergency information (with optional wallet card instructions for EMS), store medication information, and even connect to third parties like Keas for care plans. The app also allows users to send information to providers.
Healthcare revenue cycle management solutions company ZirMed launches an iPad app (free to existing customers). It’s meant to replace the clipboard and paper forms used for patient check-in.
Mayo Clinic (AR) telestroke neurologists use ResolutionMD for iPhones and Android devices to remotely view images and conduct consults.
Apple-based practice management and EHR vendor MacPractice releases MedPractice iPad with ePrescribe. It provides access to MacPractice EHR, practice management, and specialty offerings in dentistry, chiropractics, and ophthalmology.
University of Wisconsin Hospital installs wireless scanners that identify patients based on vessel patterns on their palms. The devices verify the patient and link to medical records and insurance information.
CIGNA Mobile provides smart phone users with access to list of over 1 million CIGNA network providers as well as drug pricing at 60,000 pharmacies nationwide.
The Department of Defense launches the T2 Mood Tracker (free) mobile app to track military personnel moods and behaviors. It’s available for Android and coming soon to the iPhone.
University of Miami Miller School of Medicine is awarded a $100,000 grant for 12-week randomized trial of GenerationOne’s Mobile Health Solution for heart failure patients. The wireless remote monitoring system will be compared against the current standard of care.
St. Joseph Mercy Port Heron (MI) uses a telestroke robot for tele-oncology consults.
The iPad EMR Nimble replaces a laptop on a cart for this solo practitioner. Unfortunately, the doc still needs a laptop to print.
Campbelltown Hospital (Australia) unveils its social networking site, called Livewire Online Community, to help connect and provide support for kids with serious illnesses and disabilities.
A new Frost & Sullivan report finds a need for fundamental change in the current healthcare model. This change, which the report found to be dependent on technology, points to three core tech markets, including remote patient monitoring and telehealth. The report found remote patient monitoring could save the system $197 billion over 25 years and that the telehealth market will grow by 10% per year to $9 billion by the end of this year.
Todd Park, CTO of HHS, joins Francis Collins, Director of NIH, for opening keynote at mHealth Summit.
A recent NEJM piece by a Cleveland Clinic geriatrician predicts that healthcare will be moving out of hospitals and back into patients’ homes. The driving forces behind this change: “the aging of the US population, epidemics of chronic diseases, technological advances, health care consumerism, and rapidly escalating health care costs.”
An iDataResearch report predicts the patient monitoring market to reach $4 billion by 2017. Multi-parameter monitors are the largest segment, followed by pulse oximetry.
A new Pew Internet study finds that only 9% of mobile device owners use mobile apps to track or manage health. African Americans are more likely users (15%) than Latinos (11%) or Caucasians (7%).
East Tennessee Children’s Hospital releases an iPhone app with facility information, health tips, and the ability to enter pertinent medical history for kids. It would be nice if they offered Blue Button-like functionality to populate the app with medical history info based on some secure identifier, though this would be a very different level of effort to develop.
HP releases the Slate 500 ($799) tablet built on Windows 7. The tablet has front and rear facing cameras. but this review does not find it to be very user friendly. The target market is business execs and enterprise users.
Researchers find that users of Australia’s online assessment tool for patients with mental illness are more willing to answer certain questions online than in a personal encounter. Providers do not see their answers, but get a report based on responses.
Vancouver providers use portable ultrasound devices to assess patients at the point of care as part of the physical exam. The devices are already in use by paramedics in Europe, extending the reach of the imaging modality beyond the ED and trauma unit.
John Halamka’s most recent Cool Technology Post is about patientsafe, which is building the newest iPod into a full-spectrum healthcare device that nurses and other hospital workers can use for just about anything they do on the job.
Minnesota non-profit HealthPartners launches virtuwell for MN visitors and residents. Virtuwell is an online service in which consumers or patients answer questions about symptoms and are given a diagnosis by a nurse practitioner within 30 minutes. The service costs “up to $40,” though HealthPartners hopes to partner with insurers for reimbursement.
Clinical communications company Voalte partners with Meru Networks to enable Voalte communication over Meru’s virtualized wireless LAN for more consistent coverage.
A patent is awarded to new a telehealth scale, coming in both wired and Bluetooth editions, that turns itself on and off as users weight themselves. This system is different from most telehealth scales that require a tap to turn on, which can be a challenge for somebody homebound that needs a telehealth scale in the first place.
Ericsson releases the IPTV Two Screen Remote to centralize control of digital devices as part of the Connected Home. Currently targeting TV services, the company says future application integration could include healthcare, presumably remote monitoring devices.
Mobile patient monitoring app maker Airstrip teams with Sprint to offer bundled remote monitoring solutions to facilities and enterprise customers over Sprint’s 4G network.
Researches in Pittsburgh and Australia find the iPhone to be an effective tool for ophthalmologists to remotely evaluate ophthalmic images for rural hospitals and EDs.
University Medical Center (MS) TelEmergency program has delivered remote emergency care to rural facilities for over 150,000 patients since 2003, becoming a program cited by CMS for its success.
Home healthcare provider ParaMed jointly develops a blackBerry-based home heathcare app with CellTrak to enable home nurses to capture data at the point of care.
Walgreens partners with Epocrates to provide mobile Epocrates users with Walgreens Prescription Savings Club (PSC) formulary information, enabling prescribers to make informed decisions about meds based on out-of-pocket costs to patients. Most surprising to me was that a recent survey found 80% of physicians changed prescribing based on information in Epocrates.
Chicago areas hospitals are integrating iPads into practice across multiple specialties and for multiple functions. The University of Chicago will be providing iPads to all internal medicine residents within the next month.
A 55% projected growth in heath monitoring market has lots of big players are trying to get into the game. Honeywell HomMed leads the pack with 15.4%, but other large vendors like Bosch and Phillips are moving up quickly.
Mobile application innovations in the UK will empower patients and improve outcomes for the NHS.
It’s been a while since we reported on telemedicine services for incarcerated patients. The University of Illinois at Chicago just got a $7 million grant to treat inmates with HIV.
Floyd Valley Hospital (IA) uses well@home home monitoring devices to allow patients in specific acute settings to monitor vitals from home.
Cisco claims that the iPad’s success is not dampening interest in and potential demand for the new Cisco Cius Tablet. From a price perspective, I can’t really figure out how Cisco is going to be successful with a price of $1,000 compared to the iPad or other competitors like Dell.
United Arab Emirates telcom carrier Etisalat announces its new “Value SMS” service for subscribers, which allows users to get customized health advice for preventative care as well as acute care consultations.
PharmaTrust launches version 3.0 of its pharmacy dispensing machine called MedCentre. Features include multi-language video consultation and menus, rapid dispensing, and capacity for over 2,000 medications.
A recent report from the UK finds that an automated pharmacy dispensing system installed and accessed by iPads used by pharmacists and clinicians have resulted in estimated savings of ~$1 million.
A Berlin telemedicine center partners with Alcatel-Lucentis to provide “preclinical emergency care and home care for chronically ill patients”.
Vodafone and mHealth Alliance jointly announce the Vodafone Americas Foundation Wireless Innovation Project and mHealth Alliance Award. Winners will get $300,000, $200,000, and $100,000. Last year’s third-place winner was Sana, the Android-based mobile platform.
The final lineup of speakers is announced for the Mobile Health Expo in Las Vegas this week.
The HelloDoctor service launches in Turkey to connect mobile phone users with call center doctors. The subscription service is $4/month and $0.15/minute.
More about the Qualcomm-sponsored wireless diabetes monitoring trial in Tijuana, which we reported on last week. The most interesting part is how Scripps in San Diego is waiting to see if the results are promising so they can then move the program across the border to San Diego.
VA and West Wireless Health Institute announce a $10,000 contest for wireless innovations geared towards addressing the health needs of veterans.
The VA is looking to extend telehealth offerings and “extend the electronic health record into the home”.
Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA) Ventures announces Happtique, a mobile app store specifically for health professionals. Happtique will offer healthcare entities group discounts of products.
Hospitals in MA are competing with each other on ED wait times posted on websites, via text messages, and mobile apps.
The AMA has an article outlining the marketing benefits of posting ED wait times, while also presenting the potential downsides of not seeking care when appropriate, based on wait times, as well having hospitals and patients focus on the wrong outcomes.
Wirelessly connected villages in Nepal, as part of the E-village program, allow remotely located people in Nepal to access health and telemedicine services.
The Georgia Tech College of Computing presents a study of 12 patients that finds that using the OrderUP! mobile app improves food choices after only three weeks of use.
The myHalo remote monitoring system detects falls and measures temperature and heart rate, allowing loved ones and caregivers to track activity.
Patients in rural Minnesota with movement disorders now have access to specialty care via telemedicine.
AT&T partners with WellDoc to market and sell WellDoc’s FDA-approved mobile diabetes management solution. The initial deployment will be internal to AT&T’s employees.
The British Medical Journal (BMJ) has an interesting post about a physician’s experience as part of a telestroke program. The most interesting part to me was the physician’s sense of joining a wider network, and feeling like a part of a broader community of providers.
The Chilean miners wore wireless pulse oximeters from Nonin Medical on their ascents so that physicians on the surface could monitor them. Nonin will donate pulse oximeters to the miners for use at home.
CME provider Dime launches MS Patient Resources, an iPhone app that provides clinicians with relevant information and resources for treating multiple sclerosis patients. Information can be forwarded to patients via e-mail.
Lucid, the maker of the FDA approved VivaScope and VivaNet system for teledermatology, appoints Matthew Cox, VP of teleradiology firm vRad, to its board.
WebMD shows off the addition of PHR access for the its enhanced mobile app at the Health 2.0 Conference in San Francisco. The photo above is of the older version.
iPads are increasingly being used to help kids with speech problems We’ve reported before about the iPad’s use with children diagnosed on the autism spectrum.
Facebook is being informally used as a platform for collecting useful health related information on patients, especially those aged 16-20.
Nokia to will provide its machine-to-machine (M2M) platform to the city of Zhenjiang, China. The resulting wireless “Internet of Things (IoT)” will hopefully stimulate innovation in remote healthcare.
BlueCross BlueShield of NC launches an iPhone app (free) that helps find in-network providers and compare meds.
Eighty-eight healthcare facilities in IL will benefit from a $21 million FCC telemedicine grant.
The founders of Epocrates release the Doximity app for the iPhone, which enables physicians to locate colleagues and send HIPAA-compliant SMS messages.
Ottawa Hospital plans to have 1,000 iPads in use by the end of the year to enable mobile access to medical records.
MedHelp and GE launch the “Sleep on It” iPhone app (free), which helps monitor quality and length of sleep.
CVS/Caremark extends the functionality of its free iPhone app to allow users to schedule flu shots.
Frisbie Memorial Hospital (NH) selects Voalte’s iPhone application for integrated clinical communication.
I found this story amusing. An iPhone app, CUPetHealth ($3.99), helps track the dietary intake and exercise of dogs and cats to determine if feeding is too much, too little, or just right.
