11/26/2009
Verizon has unveiled a new telehealth service that allows healthcare providers to see patients through video consultations. Verizon officials say the new offering, Telhealth Collaboration Services, allows healthcare providers to remotely consult with patients and other providers in real-time, allowing them to provide increased accessibility to specialty services, control costs of patient-provider encounters and more closely monitor patient health.
The service will also provide continuing medical education and training opportunities to medical professionals.
"Healthcare providers increasingly are tapping the power of IT, and our telehealth solutions offer an effective way to meet a wide range of challenges, including the expansion of access to care, speeding diagnoses and driving efficiency," said Rajeev Kapoor, global managing director of Verizon Connected Healthcare Solutions, the company's recently formed practice group.
According to experts, telehealth is gaining popularity in North America. Datamonitor, a provider of online database and analysis services, forecasts that annual spending on telehealth hardware, software and related services will nearly triple over the next three years, from the current $2.4 billion to $6.1 billion in 2012.
"These new IT capabilities will help hospitals, clinics and doctors' offices modernize the delivery of healthcare - a critical need throughout the U.S. healthcare system today," said Kapoor.
Verizon Business, a unit of Basking Ridge, N.J.-based Verizon Communications, has teamed up with San Jose Calif.-based Cisco to deliver the new service, which offers integrated audio, visual and video communication.
Source: Health IT News, November 23, 2009)11/26/2009
The market for telemedicine devices and services will generate $3.6 billion in annual revenue within five years, a new study claims. The study by the Silver Spring, Md.-based research firm Pike & Fischer, says mobile-services companies, such as AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and Nextel, will take a sizeable chunk of the business. It predicts that smaller software and device manufacturers likely will be targets for acquisition.
The need to control health care costs, as well as advances in wireless broadband networks, smart phones and data compression technologies, will fuel telemedicine growth, the report states. Funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act also will support a surge in broadband-enabled telemedicine services, such as remote patient monitoring and mobile access to electronic health records, it adds.
Wireless applications, devices and services will account for more than 70% of the telemedicine market within five years, according to the report.
(Source: Health Data Management, October 8th, 2009)11/26/2009
Healthcare services that offer online doctor visits are increasing. Earlier this year, the Hawaii Medical Service Association (HMSA) launched their online care program. The program offers patients online doctor visits which cost $10 for members and $45 for nonmembers The technology behind the HMSA program, created by American Well, a Boston company, is being picked up by other health insurance plans. Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Minnesota launched a pilot version this fall and plans to offer it to all members by mid-2010. A recent partnership between American Well and OptumHealth, a division of UnitedHealth Group, will take Online Care nationwide to all consumers, regardless of insurance provider. Then there is MDLiveCare, a national service with more than 100,000 members who may or may not be covered by a healthcare plan and who pay a flat $35 per online visit to consult with primary-care providers, specialists, and therapists in the network.
Some healthcare plans, such as Kaiser Permanente, already let members E-mail doctors, review lab tests, make appointments, and refill prescriptions online. But virtual doctor visits are in real time and don't have to adhere to office hours. In Hawaii, some of the most remote patients now have 24-7 access to basic healthcare.
About 10,000 individuals, most of them residents of the New York metropolitan area, can already get an online (or phone) emergency consultation with one of 34 ER physicians who have signed on with a company called SwiftMD.
Patients in Brooklyn, N.Y., who don't have health insurance (and physicians who don't want to deal with insurance claims) have the option of joining Hello Health. After an initial face-to-face visit, patients pay $100 to $200 an hour for each encounter, whether it's in person or online. In addition, the $35 monthly membership fee covers unlimited E-mail exchanges with Hello Health doctors. Online, patients can see their doctor's schedule and make their own appointments. If they run late, they can whip out a BlackBerry or iPhone and post a message on a Facebook-like "wall" on the physician's Web page. Hello Health internist Sean Khozin figures he spends as much as 40 percent of his time online - following up with chronic disease cases, for example, to coordinate care. Hello Health is in the process of rolling out nationally.
Such services offer more than convenience, however. An online encounter often is a substitute for an expensive trip to the ER. It's also likely to be cheaper than an office visit, plus it confers nearly instant access to a patient's choice of available doctors and - a boon for employers - may trim the number of workdays missed for minor maladies. Ninety-five percent of Harper's patients using the Hawaii service can be managed without a face-to-face visit, says the physician.
Many Americans are would-be prospects for online care. Half say they would be interested in using the Internet not only as an information source but to receive healthcare directly, according to a recent survey by an arm of PricewaterhouseCoopers. Consumers soon may be able to choose from a range of services.
(Source: US News and World Report, October 27, 2009)8/28/2009
People suffering from depression should get counseling online to avoid long waiting times to see a doctor, according to new research. A UK study of almost 300 patients found that those given online cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) were two-and-a-half times more likely to recover from their mental health problems that those who received standard care from a GP. One in six adults suffer from depression or chronic anxiety, and online CBT may offer an alternative to the growing problem.
Dr David Kessler, a senior primary care researcher at the University of Bristol and a part time GP, said: "The patients get up to ten one hour appointments which are carried out online by instant messenger.
"Maybe it is the writing things down that helps so much because you have to think more when you do this. It is like being in a chat room with your therapist.
"It would greatly improve access to therapists for people who are disabled, housebound or living in remote locations.
"And you don't have to be some whizzy computer geek to use it. Some of our patients were in their seventies although the average age of people with depression is surprisingly young � around the 30s and 40s mark."
In the study, patients aged from eighteen into their 70s were recruited from Bristol, London and Warwickshire and 149 were given online CBT along with the usual care while 148 got the customary GP sessions.
After a four month follow up completed by 113 patients in the intervention group and 97 in the control group, almost two fifths of those who got the online CBT recovered from depression compared with one in four of those who did not. After eight months the proportion grew further, according to the findings published in The Lancet.
"Cognitive behavioral therapy seems to be effective when delivered online in real time by a therapist, with benefits maintained over eight months. This method of delivery could broaden access to CBT in primary care," Dr Kessler said.
"The number of patients for whom online CBT is feasible and attractive will grow. It could be useful in areas where access to psychological treatment is scarce, and for patients whose first language is not English.
"It could make access to psychotherapies more equitable by providing a service to patients in areas or even countries where psychological treatment is not readily available."
(Source: The Telegraph, August 21, 2009)
8/28/2009
Two corporate giants are cooperating in what they call an effort to expand the availability of telemedicine in both rural and urban areas that are medically underserved. UnitedHealth Group, the country's largest health plan by revenue, and Cisco, the Silicon Valley networking corporation, recently announced that they will cooperate on equipping a national network of doctors to care for patients via high-definition cameras and remote monitoring devices.
The project, called Connected Care, is expected to connect clinics, physician offices, workplace-based clinics, mobile clinics and even patients' homes, said Jim Woodburn, MD, vice president and medical director of telehealth for United.
The project kicked off a pilot program in New Mexico in collaboration with the Washington-based nonprofit Project HOPE, which works to expand access to medical care and education across the world.
"From the perspective of Project HOPE, this is a huge deal," said Rand Walton, a spokesman for the nonprofit.
The Connected Care network, meanwhile, will set up in multiple locations, including work sites, doctors' offices and mobile clinics, Dr. Woodburn said. He said United likely would build the Connected Care network beginning with primary care physicians in an effort to address the shortage of primary care in underserved areas.
United will pay for the telemedicine visits and expects the claims and payments to work in basically the same way face-to-face visits work, Dr. Woodburn said.
For United, which said in its announcement it would spend "tens of millions of dollars" on the project, the opportunity for savings is a part of the motivation to invest in telehealth, Dr. Woodburn said.
(Source: American Medical News, August 14, 2009)
8/28/2009
Nearly 10 percent of U.S. hospital intensive care unit beds use advanced telemonitoring, yet no one has studied how it affects cost and quality of care, according to a new report. In a study recently published in Health Affairs, researchers from the Center for Studying Health System Change found hospital clinical leaders hold strong views about the use of telemonitoring – or eICU – but they have little information to go on.
"The rapid diffusion of eICUs in hospitals across the country, which remains largely unstudied, illustrates the need for comparative effectiveness initiatives to include innovations in how we care for patients – not just specific drugs, devices and services," said HSC Senior Consulting Researcher Robert A. Berenson, MD.
"Proponents and detractors of eICUs feel strongly that their assessments are correct," Berenson said. "But without a rigorous assessment, who knows which side is right?"
The Health Affairs article, titled "Does Telemonitoring of Patients – The eICU – Improve Intensive Care?" was a follow-up study from HSC's 2007 site visits to 12 communities – Boston, Cleveland, Greenville, S.C., Indianapolis, Lansing, Mich., Little Rock, Ark., Miami, northern New Jersey, Orange County, Calif., Phoenix, Seattle and Syracuse, N.Y. HSC has been tracking these markets since 1995.
During the visits, HSC researchers learned that hospital systems in Indianapolis, Little Rock, Miami, Phoenix and Seattle had adopted eICU systems. In a follow-up study, researchers interviewed clinicians in the five hospital systems with an eICU, as well as those in 19 non-eICU hospitals in the other 12 markets and national experts on ICU staffing, quality and ICU telemedicine.
An eICU system combines telemedicine with software applications to manage ICU patients from a central monitoring station, usually located off-site from the actual ICU and staffed with physicians with advanced training in critical care (known as intensivists), critical care nurses and administrative personnel.
HSC researchers found that hospitals adopting eICUs generally were motivated by the potential to improve clinical quality and patient safety rather than expectations of cost savings from reduced complications and lengths of stay.
Among hospitals not adopting eICUs, there was general agreement that the limited potential benefits did not justify significant upfront and ongoing operating costs – estimated at $3 million to $5 million in startup costs for 100 ICU beds, along with ongoing annual operating and staff costs of $1.3 million to $2.3 million per 100 beds. Virtually all of the hospitals without eICUs believed their current on-site ICU staffing was adequate and preferable to off-site staff.
The lack of third-party reimbursement also was seen as an argument against adopting eICUs.
Despite the lack of specific payments or other incentives, most hospitals in the study, with and without eICUs, were working to improve ICU performance, primarily by adding more intensivists and adopting ICU-specific quality improvement tools to help prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia and central-line infections, the study showed.
In all but one of the five eICU hospitals, poor interoperability between the eICU software and the hospitals' enterprise-wide information technology systems created barriers to using the eICU's advanced monitoring and outcome analysis features, according to the study.
(Source: Healthcare IT News, August 19, 2009)
8/28/2009
Twitter, the increasingly popular social networking tool that was at first merely a convenient way to stay in touch with friends and family, is emerging as a potentially valuable means of real-time, on-the-go communication of healthcare information and medical alerts, as described in latest issue of
Telemedicine and e-Health.
Physician groups, hospitals, and healthcare organizations are discovering a range of beneficial applications for using Twitter to communicate timely information both within the medical community and to patients and the public. Short messages, or "tweets," delivered through Twitter go out from a sender to a group of recipients simultaneously, providing a fast and easy way to reach a lot of people in a short time. This has obvious advantages for sharing time-critical information such as disaster alerts and drug safety warnings, tracking disease outbreaks, or disseminating healthcare information. Twitter applications are available to help patients find out about clinical trials, for example, or to link brief news alerts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to reliable websites that provide more detailed information.
The use of social media and Internet-based outlets such as Twitter to communicate medical information requires a high degree of caution, however, to preserve confidentiality and patient privacy in the clinical care setting, and to ensure that information sources are accurate, reliable, and current.
"One way to look at Twitter is as a method of mass communication," says Joseph C. Kvedar, MD, Director of the Center for Connected Health (Partners Healthcare System, Boston, MA), who is quoted in the article. Twitter is real-time and was designed for mobility, notes Dr. Kvedar. It allows people to "text 30 people or 50 or 100 people, whatever the number is who are following you."
(Source: Telemedicine and e-Health Press Release, August 26, 2009)
A new stretcher-mounted telemedicine system features a touch-screen PC, a remotely controlled camera, microphone and electronic stethoscope. The TransportAV system, from Scottsdale, Ariz.-based
GlobalMedia, is designed to link emergency responders in the field directly to a physician at a clinic or hospital where a patient is being transported. Hamilton Schwartz, M.D., director of emergency services at Cincinnati Children�s Hospital, invented the system. The hospital is the first user.
The 30-pound unit, which accommodates real-time audio and video connections, enables the remote doctor to control all aspects of the consult.
(Source: Health Data Management, August 25, 2009)
The
Cleveland Clinic has set plans to develop a line of business around at an eICU service--in which the Clinic will provide remote guidance to ICUs at other hospitals--and also in remote home healthcare services.
These two sectors are among the more mature of the telemedicine markets, according to Clinic research. About 17 percent of home health agencies use telemedicine, and about one-third plan to buy one within the next two years, according to a 2008 survey.
The market for eICUs, meanwhile, already boasts several players, including Baltimore's Visicu, which claims 200 hospitals and 40 health systems in 28 states.
(Source: Fierce Health IT, August 25, 2009)
Dozens of large and small companies are turning to
wireless technology to achieve a health-care system that keeps people healthier for less.
"Wireless applications have the potential to change every one of these areas," said Eric Topol, a cardiologist and genomics professor at Scripps Research Institute, at an industry event in San Diego last week.
Dr. Topol, who is also chief medical officer of the West Wireless Health Institute, a San Diego nonprofit research organization, cites a 2008 study that was distributed by a coalition of companies and organizations that support health-care reform. It put annual savings from remote monitoring at $10.1 billion for U.S. sufferers of congestive heart failure, $6.1 billion for diabetes and $4.9 billion for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
But claims about cost savings from new technology often don't pan out. There are "precious few" studies that back up such promises involving remote monitoring, says Mark Holland, managing director of System Research Services, an advisory firm focusing on health-care technology. And if reimbursements from Medicare or private insurers don't cover the cost of high-tech approaches, doctors and hospitals won't want to deploy them.
Using wireless technology has the potential to reduce costs in part because part of the infrastructure already is in place. With more than four billion cellphones sold to date, a large percentage of the world's population has access to devices and networks that can send medical data to doctors.
(Source: Wall Street Journal, August 4, 2009)
4/30/2009
Unable to send stroke specialists to every emergency room, a growing number of medical centers that specialize in stroke are bringing their expertise to patients through telemedicine.
"People who have strokes in isolated areas are pretty much dead in the water. You need to give them a lifeline to stroke centers," said Dr. L. Nelson Hopkins III, chief of neurosurgery at Kaleida Health and chairman of neurosurgery at the University at Buffalo.
Based at Millard Fillmore Hospital, Hopkins leads the most advanced stroke telemedicine system in New York State, with connections to 10 smaller hospitals in the region.
Telemedicine isn't new, but applying it to stroke is.
Early evidence from Buffalo and elsewhere suggests that telemedicine links improve the chances that patients will survive a stroke and avoid paralysis and other major problems.
Carney believes that the telemedicine link played a part in her getting treated quickly enough to avoid devastating brain damage.
"I was eventually able to walk out of the hospital and am still able to speak," said Carney, whose left arm remains paralyzed.
New York started a telemedicine initiative in 2006 to address the lack of neurologists and neurosurgeons in rural areas. The program is modeled after a system at the Medical College of Georgia that uses a technology called REACH, or Remote Evaluation of Acute Ischemic Stroke, to establish connections between hospitals and evaluate patients' risks.
"The technology gives smaller hospitals access to neurologists, and can be used for other services like psychiatry and trauma," said Dr. John Morley, medical director in the state's office of health systems management.
Millard Fillmore, a state-designated stroke center, acts like a hub to 10 spoke hospitals, including Niagara Falls Memorial, Brooks Memorial in Dunkirk, Olean General, Medina Memorial and Wyoming County Memorial.
Other REACH systems in New York operate in Syracuse, Rochester and Cooperstown. In addition, the Catholic Health System last year established a telemedicine link between its stroke center hospitals and Mount St. Mary's Hospital in Lewiston.
"Telemedicine allows us to provide a higher level of care wherever the patients show up," said Holly C. Bowser, vice president of neurosciences at the Catholic Health System.
In many instances, patients who might have suffered a stroke first show up in smaller hospitals and then often get transferred to stroke centers too late to be treated with tPA, a clot-busting drug that stops the progression of a stroke. The drug must be given within three hours after symptoms start.
The faster a patient receives treatment the less chance that brain cells will die.
Carney, an assistant women's basketball coach at Geneseo State College at the time of her stroke last year, arrived at Olean General's emergency room in time to get tPA. But the drug, which does not work in every patient, didn't solve her problem.
Based on the telemedicine evaluation, she was quickly transferred to Millard Fillmore, which specializes in procedures to reopen blocked blood vessels. Doctors there inserted a tiny tubelike device called a stent in her brain to restore blood flow through a damaged artery.
"I'm a poster child for telemedicine," said Carney, who hopes to return to coaching if she regains movement in her arm with therapy. "There are so few stroke specialists in [Cattaraugus County]. It's really important to be able to get rapid access to that level of care."
Telemedicine for stroke remains a work in progress. It costs hospitals here about $25,000 for a three-year contract with Millard Fillmore. That may seem like a relatively minor amount, but it is a challenge for smaller facilities that may question whether telemedicine is that much more valuable than having emergency room doctors consult with stroke specialists by phone.
There are no standard national guidelines yet for stroke telemedicine. There is little research on its effectiveness, although studies indicate that the technology is worth pursuing.
In addition, private health insurance companies have yet to create separate reimbursements for telemedicine that can cover the cost of equipment and technical support.
"We believe telemedicine is cost-effective for stroke, but we also need to do the research to show it. We see many more patients getting tPA, and that's more cost-effective than caring for people who've suffered a stroke," said Dr. Bart M. Demaerschalk, a Phoenix neurologist who reviewed the state of the field in a recent issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings.
Hopkins said that one of the biggest benefits of the program is that it is increasing awareness among patients and emergency room personnel about stroke and its treatments.
But he also argues for a reevaluation of the state's stroke center designation, which New York has given to 114 hospitals, saying the current practice of taking suspected stroke patients to the nearest stroke center doesn't always make sense. Instead, he advocates a higher designation for hospitals that can provide newer, interventions round-the-clock to restore blood flow in the brain.
With growing awareness of stroke, Hopkins said, there are more patients who are candidates for the interventions, and those patients should be transferred to hospitals that can provide the latest therapies in a timely manner.
(Source: Buffalo News, April 21, 2009)4/30/2009
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently announced the approval of $35.6 million in funding under its Rural Health Care Pilot Program (RHCPP) for the build-out of five broadband telehealth networks that will link hospitals regionally in Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. In addition, $10.4 million in funding has been approved for the design of a telehealth project in Alaska. Collectively, these projects are eligible to receive $46 million in reimbursement for the engineering and construction of their regional telehealth networks.
The FCC established the $417 million RHCPP to increase patient access to care via telemedicine and support the transfer of electronic medical records, which will improve the quality of care for patients. Nationwide, 67 projects are eligible to receive RHCPP funding for telehealth networks serving 6,000 health care facilities in 42 states and three U.S. territories, using broadband technology to bring state-of the-art medical practices to isolated rural communities. At this time, 29 of these projects have developed or posted requests for proposals to select vendors to build out their broadband networks, while the remaining projects are preparing their requests for proposals as part of the competitive bidding process.
"I am pleased with the progress that these rural health care initiatives are making to develop telemedicine programs, build highways for electronic medical records and, overall, increase patient access to health care in the regions they serve," Acting Chairman Michael J. Copps said. "There is great potential to improve health care for those communities that currently have limited access to primary, specialty and preventive care; as well as to enhance public safety by connecting health care providers, public health officials and first responders to these networks so that they can share crucial data during emergencies."
The following is an update on specific RHCPP projects:
- Health Information Exchange of Montana ($13.6 million) - In an area with no connections to Internet2 or National Lambda Rail - nationwide dedicated Internet backbones - a new fiber network will connect health care providers in Montana to enable distance consultation, electronic record keeping and exchange, disaster readiness, clinical research, and distance education services.
- Palmetto State Providers Network ($7.9 million) - This project will connect health care providers to a fiber optic backbone to enhance simulation training, remote intensive care unit monitoring, and medical education programs across South Carolina.
- Iowa Health System ($7.8 million) - This project will use new network connections to link health care providers in Iowa to an existing statewide, dedicated, broadband healthcare network, Internet2, and National LambdaRail.
- Heartland Unified Broadband Network ($4.7 million) - This project is expanding and enhancing an existing network to increase the use and quality of teleradiology and increase distance education activities throughout Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming.
- Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative ($1.6 million) - This project has augmented an existing shared electronic health records project that will provide health care providers in Wisconsin with access to redundant connectivity and data centers, as well as higher speeds that will range from 10 to 100 Mbps.
- Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium ($10.4 million) - The consortium's network, which will serve primarily rural health care practitioners, will unify and increase the capacity of disparate healthcare networks throughout Alaska, allowing them to connect with urban health centers and access services in the lower 48 states.
(Source: FCC Press Release, April 17, 2009)
4/30/2009
In a new study funded by NIH, educators overwhelmingly embrace
Behavior Imaging technology as a telemedicine tool for more effectively treating children with autism. Dr. Uwe Reischel, M.D., Ph.D, of Boise State University coordinated a study that examined not only the efficacy of "B.I. Capture" (a behavior imaging tool that captures and stores behavioral events via remote control video) in treating students with autism, but also looked at how easy it is for teachers and behavior specialists to use the technology.
"We are finding that autism educators are receptive to using telemedicine and specifically B.I. than we had originally expected," noted Reischl. "This is especially so for participants who not only want to use it for behavior analysis, but who also see it as a useful tool for assessing student skills, giving or receiving consultation, and for training students and staff."
Behavior Imaging was initially developed by the Georgia Institute of Technology and is now marketed by Caring Technologies/TalkAutism in Boise, ID. The system is able to capture on video, a child's behavioral episodes in educational, clinical, and home environments. Behavioral data is captured on video and then the video is used to characterize recognized aspects of behavior to assist in the diagnosis, treatment, and research of autism. The video can be viewed, annotated, and stored online, so that behavioral experts can guide students progress from anywhere in the world.
An earlier phase of the study demonstrated that the technology enabled a 43% reduction in errors when collecting data for the Functional Behavior Assessment program. Now in addition to more effective clinical diagnoses and treatment, behavior imaging can help qualified practitioners save time and money by not always observing autistic behavior in people in person.
"B.I Care" is another platform now used by professionals to diagnose, evaluate, treat, train, and provide remote consultation for autism, TBI, PTSD, and other conditions. The new system B.I. Care will be unveiled and exhibited at the ATA Annual Meeting in Las Vegas and complements B.I Capture.
For more information go to www.bicapture.
(Source: Federal Telemedicine News, April 22, 2009)
Wireless Cardiac telehealth systems are not only advancing care, they're turning into marketing tools that companies can use to sell surgeons on their pacemakers and other implanted cardiac devices (ICDs). The pitch? Home-monitored patients should have fewer health problems, but only those with compatible implants can sign up for each provider's service.
Medtronic dominates the cardiac telehealth market with its CareLink patient network. Launched in 2002, it boasts 350,000 patients in 20 countries, with 12,000 more enrolling each month. But the company's lead may narrow.
St. Jude Medical is now rolling out the latest update of its competing Merlin.net network. The new product should help St. Jude grab 5 to 7.5 percentage points of the global $6.5 billion ICD market over the next five years, projects UBS Securities (UBS) analyst Bruce Nudell.
Marketed as an all-in-one package, St. Jude's Merlin line includes several implanted devices that connect to Merlin.net, an Internet-based repository from which authorized doctors have access to patient information. The third version was approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration on Mar. 22.
The new software can combine hundreds of measurements taken from medical devices with other information stored in electronic health record databases such as Microsoft's Health Vault and Google Health to predict changes in a patient's health. St. Jude, based in St. Paul, Minn., says the system also has better doctor alerts and comes in more languages. The network is a free service to those with enabled devices.
St. Jude began selling the network across Western Europe in late April. Though Medtronic's CareLink is already on the market in Europe, St. Jude beat Boston Scientific (BSX). So far, the $4.36 billion company has signed on more than 40,000 patients and 1,200 clinics, with patient enrollment growing 17% month over month and clinic enrollment growing 19%. "St. Jude is continuing to advance toward the cutting edge of technology and should gain the most share in 2009," says Christopher Warren, an analyst at Caris & Co. in New York.
Medtronic, though, doesn't seem too worried about St. Jude's advance. The Minneapolis company had $13.52 billion in 2008 revenue and commands about 45% of the global ICD market, with the other 55% split almost evenly between St. Jude and Boston Scientific. Having Europe well covered, Medtronic plans to introduce CareLink to another 10 countries this year. (It's also free for patients with a Medtronic device.)
Medtronic says its head start and scale give CareLink an edge. Users have provided 4 trillion pieces of health data, enabling Medtronic to write better algorithms to keep watch on patient care. "There's always been someone coming after us, but we have been the leader and will continue to be," says Pat Mackin, Medtronic's senior vice-president of cardiac rhythm disease management.
(Source: Business Week, April 27, 2009
Tunstall Healthcare recently announced the launch of its RTX3371 telehealth monitor - an interactive telehealth device with in-built GSM/GPRS mobile phone technology that collects vital signs wirelessly from a range of external devices such as weight scales and blood pressure cuffs.
In addition, the RTX3371 telehealth monitor's spoken voice functionality allows it to collect subjective patient information from patient questionnaires, and to automatically transmit the data to a clinical backend software application based on an open architecture interface.
According to Anthony Taroni, Director of Sales at Tunstall: "The availability of GSM/GPRS cellular coverage in the USA and the rapid increase in the number of people replacing regular phone lines with wireless and mobile phones has set new standards for home hubs and the way they provide connectivity in order to ensure effective telehealth delivery. This wireless device offers service users the freedom to place the device anywhere in the home independent of phone plugs, increasing user satisfaction and acceptance."
SourceL Tunstall Press Release April 30, 2009
NuPhysicia recently launched their Medicine At Work service, which brings retained physician services to the workplace, using video telemedicine to connect board certified doctors and patients.
Medicine At Work delivers innovative medical instruments, telecommunications equipment, and, through its retained physicians, professional healthcare services directly to employees at their place of work. Using two-way video, the doctor providing services to Medicine At Work conducts examinations in real-time with the assistance of a specially trained on-site paramedic.
Melody Reid, NuPhysicia's Executive Director for Employee Health Services, said, " Industry research shows that on-site care enables employers to control healthcare costs, while giving employees convenient access to medical attention from physicians at work during business hours. Employees visit Medicine At Work clinics at the worksite for doctor visits, prescriptions when needed, one-on-one wellness coaching, and other healthcare needs, without the time away from work and expense normally associated with seeing a doctor."
Dr. Michael Davis, Senior Vice President of NuPhysicia, stated, "Through the physicians associated with this program, Medicine At Work(TM) offers a full-time medical presence in the workplace, blending high technology telemedicine and high touch. The doctors use innovative tools and equipment and secure electronic medical records (EMRs), and develop an old-fashioned doctor-patient relationship with the focus on improving employee health."
A Medicine At Work clinic is cost-effective and space-efficient to outfit, needing only a minimum of 12 X 12 feet of space, an electrical outlet, Internet connection and a door for privacy at the employer site. Medicine At Work provides all furnishings, equipment, clinic staff and medical care services for a fixed monthly cost per employee.
(Source: NuPhysicia Press Release, April 16, 2009)
