remote monitoring

AL employers offer remote monitoring for diabetes

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 06:59:55 -0400

An Alabama-based employer coalition has set plans to offer remote monitoring capabilities to allow member companies to track their employees and dependents with diabetes. The coalition, Employers Coalition for Healthcare Options (ECHO), includes 35 companies in Alabama representing more than 90,000 employees. To roll out the program, ECHO is using ALRT's Constant Health Companion and it's Health ALRT Diabetes Management System. The two help healthcare workers to monitor diabetic patients' blood sugar testing and medication compliance, as well as allow them to intervene as needed to avoid complications. The program also includes the cost of diabetes supplies.

To learn more about the program:
- read this Healthcare IT News piece

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Case study:TX city creates diabetes monitoring program

Mon, 19 May 2008 06:59:54 -0400

San Antonio (TX) Metropolitan Health District (SAMHD) has established a city registry to monitor the city's diabetics and improve their care. The District's officials plan to use the data to map the incidence of hyperglycemia, monitor diabetes cases and improve medical care to to diabetics. Apparently, there's some room for improvement in diabetes care there; In 2004, the death rate was 49.8 for every 100,000 people, double the national rate of 24.4. San Antonio's diabetes death rate is the second-highest of the 54 largest U.S. cities, behind only New Orleans, according to the National Association of County and City Health Officials.

SAMHD will create the monitoring program using technology known as the Vermedx Diabetes Information System from Vermont Clinical Decision Support. Vermedx was developed during the course of a five-year clinical trial funded by the NIH. Vermedx will capture lab test from multiple labs and produce population summaries and report cards for regions, communities, providers and practice levels.

The pilot program, which began this month, will last 18 months. It will involve at least 50,000 active diabetic patients and four major labs. At the conclusion of the program, SAMHD will offer a summary or program results to the Texas legislature.

To learn more about the program:
- read this Healthcare IT News piece

SPOTLIGHT: Remote care to drive healthcare wireless market

Mon, 19 May 2008 06:59:52 -0400

A new report from a UK-based research firm suggests that telehealth technologies for seniors, including remote care and remote monitoring will drive the market for wireless-based medical devices and applications in coming years. The firm, Wireless Healthcare, sees the remote health and fitness market growing to more than $4 billion per year over the next 10 years. Article

Study: Remote monitoring improves heart failure outcomes

Mon, 05 May 2008 06:59:55 -0400

A new study has concluded that remote monitoring can improve the condition of some heart failure patients, and may also reduce hospital readmissions. The pilot study, which included 150 patients admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, randomly selected patients to get either standard heart failure treatment or remote monitoring. Researchers from the Partners HealthCare Center for Connected Health gave patients in the remote monitoring group equipment to track their vital signs and transmit results. The patients also weighed themselves every day, as well as answering questions on their symptoms. A nurse would call weekly (or more often) if the patients' vital signs were not normal. Within three months, remotely-monitored patients had lower average hospital readmission rates than those with standard care.

To learn more about the study:
- read this HealthDay News piece

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Challenges face remote monitoring technology
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Health IT standards development likely to speed up

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 06:59:57 -0400

With some core data already defined, it's looking like the pace of health IT standards development is likely to pick up. According to John Halamka, chairman of the Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel (HITSP), with standards in place for some areas--including biosurveillance, consumer empowerment and electronic health record exchange of lab data--moving ahead is going to be easier than it has been in the past. Halamka, CIO of Harvard Medical School, says that this year, HITSP will focus on patient-provider secure messaging, personalized healthcare, public health case reporting, remote monitoring/consultations and care transfers. As soon as 2009, vendors should begin to incorporate HITSP standards into their products, he predicts.

To learn more about health IT standards development progress:
- read this Healthcare IT News piece

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Connected health tech helps patients manage care

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 06:59:55 -0400

Evidence is growing that giving patients the ability to connect remotely with providers--and do some of their own health monitoring--is useful and often very effective. The most recent study to suggest this came out last week, from Partners Health Care's Center for Connected Health. A group of 11 studies conducted at Partners-affiliated hospitals, including Mass General and Brigham and Women's, found that patients can significantly improve their health if given telemonitoring technology. For example, one study of non-homebound heart failure patients found that when the patients were given home telemonitoring equipment, and transmitted daily vital signs and symptoms to a telemonitoring nurse, 100 percent of patients said that this technology had helped them stay out of the hospital. In another example, remote blood sugar monitoring technology was found to be helpful to patients who were newly diagnosed or trying to regain control of diabetes.

To learn more about the study:
- read this Healthcare IT News article

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Report: Gov't should remove telemedicine barriers

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 07:59:55 -0400

A new paper issued by a think tank promoting HIT use suggests that for telemedicine to come into wider U.S. use, the government will have to lend a hand. The paper, by the Center for Health Transformation, argues that telephone-based medical consults alone can make a big difference in promoting affordable healthcare access. The research contained within the paper focused consults provided by TelaDoc Medical Services, which has an estimated 1.2 million members.

Having studied what worked in that population, researchers concluded that the key features of successful telemedical consulting included rapid access to a primary care doctor by phone, cross-coverage via phone to handle acute illness, portable EMRs for patients and doctors and a standardized data structure. While the paper didn't specify what the government needs to do to foster these conditions, it emphasized that officials, as well as corporate policymakers, should bear these principles in mind in their health purchasing and reform efforts.

To learn more about the report:
- read this Healthcare IT News piece
- read the CHT paper (.pdf)

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Case study: Iowa provider creates eICU

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 06:59:54 -0500

A few months ago, we told you about an emerging solution addressing the shortage of physicians to staff ICU beds. The solution, known as an eICU, is a care monitoring system that lets one physician monitor critical data on patients in multiple hospitals while remaining in one remote location. Now, here's some more examples of a hospital that's decided to go the eICU route.

Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines has rolled out its own eICU, which monitors not only 54 patients on four ICUs within its main campus, but also 80 patients at a satellite location some 200 miles away in Sioux City. The eICU at Mercy is staffed by intensivist doctors and critical care nurses who monitor the patients' vitals 24/7. Not only does the eICU extend the capabilities of specialists across more units, it also brings specialized expertise to rural hospitals, Mercy execs noted. While patients pay nothing extra for the added monitoring, the hospitals are paying user fees for the eICU service.

To learn more about the new eICU:
- read this Des Moines Register article

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HiMSS '08: Navigating the vendor maze

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 06:59:59 -0500

So, HiMSS '08 is upon us. You know, it seems like only yesterday that my feet were recovering from the blisters I got walking the giant show floor in New Orleans last year! This HiMSS, which takes place in magical reality land of Orlando, isn't likely to be easy on the shoe leather, either. In fact, it promises to be a blockbuster--a spectacle worth of Disney.

For one thing, there's a brain-boggling list of more than 900 exhibitors competing for your attention with booth babes, gear, demos and lots of giveaway toys. And of course, there's a smörgåsbord of brain food available at the 200-odd educational sessions taking place throughout the show's run, user groups, innumerable vendor-sponsored events, games and parties and God knows what else in the way of entertainment. (I like Citrix's booth game "Are you Smarter Than an IT Geek?"--a bit arch, but hey, I'm ready to play.)

So, where's should the smart but weary health IT exec spend their limited HiMSS time? Here's a few ideas on how to navigate the vendor maze:

* It never hurts to play with an EMR--or any other technology that has to be accessible to non-geeks--since an awkward design can make an otherwise clever product useless to your docs.

* By all means, fire tough questions at the security vendors, many of whom just seem to be getting the idea that healthcare-specific products are a Good Thing. But don't be fooled: a lot of them seem to be talking security without really "getting" healthcare realities.

* Anyone who claims they can make your pay-for-performance program's documentation and management easier deserves a listen. As with EMRs, the wrong technology here can actually make things worse.

* If a vendor has ready-to-roll technology available which can support remote patient monitoring, I'd love to see it--and you might want to as well.

By the way, while the most noise always comes from the billion-dollar vendors with the gigantic booths, dazzling light shows and models in short skirts, smaller vendors are staking their claim there too, and you should check some of them out. Actually, you're likely to encounter vendors at HiMSS that you won't run into any other way, as they probably don't have the marketing budget to reach you otherwise.

Don't underestimate these small, scrappy players. Even if you don't end up buying their products, talking with emerging vendors can be quite a source of ideas. And after all, aren't ideas why you come to shows like HiMSS in the first place?

Now, read on to get more detail on topics that should prove to be some of the hottest and most interesting at the show. I hope they're helpful. Meanwhile, with any luck, I hope to meet some of you there. If you see me, feel free to say hello! - Anne

IBM, Mayo Clinic partner on imaging research

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 06:59:54 -0500

A chip that's mostly known for powering the Playstation 3 console will soon be put to use in new medical imaging applications. Under a new partnership, IBM is working with the Mayo Clinic to find new ways to use the Cell chip in advanced medical imaging systems. Researchers are looking at how the Cell, which was jointly developed by Sony, IBM and Toshiba, could use its raw computational power to make imaging systems work far more quickly than existing technologies. The new Medical Imaging Informatics Innovation Center, based in Rochester, MN, doesn't expect to have any practical designs available anytime soon--participants are at the early idea generation stage. But they're optimistic that they can produce next-gen technology that could turn scans that take minutes into seconds-long processes.

To find out more about the project:
- read this Computerworld article

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