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IBM And UPMC Teaming Up

admin@nospam.com (Site Admin) — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 11:57:43 -0700

IBM and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) are teaming to bring “smarter” hospital rooms to patients nationwide and bring technology that will bring the right patient information to the bedside when the information is needed. The new high-tech Smart Room now features new capabilities such as a system for automatically organizing and prioritizing the work of nurses and other caregivers.

The SmartRoom solution tackles everyday problems such as simplifying the workflow and making the documentation easier so that nurses can have more quality time at the bedside,” said Michael Boroch, Chief Executive Officer of SmartRoom, a company wholly owned by UPMC and jointly funded by IBM. “It’s estimated that only 30 to 40 percent of a nurse’s time is spent on direct care and we believe that that number can be raised to benefit caregivers and their patients.”

IBM’s funding for the SmartRoom system comes from a $50 million co-development fund created by UPMC and IBM in 2005, when they entered into an eight year agreement to transform UPMC’s IT infrastructure while developing and commercializing clinical solutions.

SmartRoom capabilities are in use in 24 rooms at UPMC Montefiore in Pittsburgh. Using small ultrasound tags from Sonitor Technologies, the SmartRoom system identifies healthcare workers wearing the tags as they walk into a patient’s room displaying the person’s identity and role. This information is on a wall mounted monitor and easily visible to patients.

At the same time, the SmartRoom automatically provides the clinician with relevant, real-time patient information pulled from the electronic medical record, including allergies, vital signs, test results, and any medications that are due.

Software has been developed to help determine which tasks should be completed and in which order to most effectively and safely care for patients. Unexpected interruptions from new physician orders to lengthy discussions with a patient’s family are factored into the dynamically changing priority list.

The information shown on the caregiver’s monitor is tailored to the needs of the specific worker. A hostess who delivers meal trays, for example, will see only dietary orders and allergy information. A doctor will see different information than a nurse.

Using a simple touchscreen interface on a monitor in the patient’s room, a nurse or aide can document the completion of tasks in just a few seconds, rather than writing the information down and waiting to enter it into a computer later. SmartRoom technology provides real-time links to key clinical systems, including pharmacy and lab services. Patient email, testing schedules, education and other features, are also offered through the SmartRoom technology.

For more information, go to www.smartroomsolutions.com.

HIT Helps Small US Community

admin@nospam.com (Site Admin) — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 11:55:26 -0700

Frank Vozos, M.D., Executive Director of the Monmouth Medical Center located in Long Branch, New Jersey, appeared on July 27th before the House Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Health to highlight how the medical center’s use of HIT is helping in Long Branch, a small community on the Jersey shore.

He told the Committee that the Monmouth Medical Center (MMC) a 527 bed community teaching hospital provides a full spectrum of services from neonatology to geriatric care. The Center has more than 800 medical and dental staff members admits more than 22,000 adult and pediatric inpatient, as well as cares for over 120,000 outpatients annually.

He explained that the hospital is the leading healthcare provider in Long Branch, a multi-ethnic enclave of residents who are disproportionately poor, young, uninsured, and members of minority groups. More than 35% of the city’s population lives at or below the Federal Poverty Level. There are four census tracts within the city that have been federally designated as Low Income Medically Underserved Populations.

Although there are 40 primary healthcare providers located in the area, most do not accept Medicaid or offer charity care. As a result, the medically indigent population in Long Branch and the surrounding communities use low income clinics provided through a FQHC and the Emergency Department at MMC as their only source of healthcare.

However, the 150 acres that includes the Long Branch oceanfront has added more than 1,300 high end residential properties and 600,000 square feet of commercial space in the near vicinity of the medical center. Residents in the oceanfront area are mostly “empty nesters” and as they grow in both numbers and age, they will place an increased demand on both emergency and other health services in the area.

Dr. Vozos told the Committee that MMC installed their first electronic clinical information system in 1988. Since that time, the Emergency Department has invested significant resources and installed sophisticated IT components. For example, the hospital has a direct electronic interface between the ER clinical information system and hospital charts using the EDIMS computer framework. All records and tests link to the hospital EHR system.

MMC’s clinical information platform connects data from devices that comes from either local or remote workstations. The data goes to the EMR and to providers to enable telemedicine to be used so that better patient care can be delivered. This interconnectivity allows data to be sent and received as well as safely stored based on CCHIT HIE specifications. The medical center is very focused on CPOE and is trying to encourage the physicians to enter orders into a computer instead of handwriting them.

MMC is encouraging physicians to take advantage of EHR systems in their own practices and to be able to interface with MMC so that by 2011 there will be active physician connectivity. The medical center is looking into the costs associated with linking physicians to the medical center by examining what can be subsidized, what can be funded by the medical center, or funded by physicians to work towards connectivity.

According to Dr. Vozos, the Medical Center along with two other hospitals in N.J are beginning a CMS funded 21 month pilot project to test a model to be able to transition Medicaid patients who come to the Emergency Department with non-emergent care needs to the appropriate primary care setting through collaboration with the FQHC. This data driven pilot will integrate electronic referral systems and EHRs, improve the infrastructure, and coordinate the pilot in N.J and in 19 other states.

US/India To Develop Devices

admin@nospam.com (Site Admin) — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 11:47:57 -0700

The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) awarded funds to help the U.S. and India develop low-cost diagnostic and therapeutic medical technologies to use in underserved communities worldwide. The supplemental funding announced at the U.S. India Science and Technology Joint Commission Meeting held in June in Washington D.C. is an initiative between NIBIB and the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) of the Ministry of Science and Technology in India.

Some of the technology needed includes:

• Glucose monitoring for diabetes
• Low-cost platform technology for multiple diagnostic tests
• Point-of-care technologies especially to use to screen infants
• Diagnostic tests for early detection of cardiovascular disease
• Networked and mobile technology for diagnostic devices
• Non-invasive or minimally invasive screening technology
• Low-cost diagnostic imaging devices

Applications are now being accepted. Funding amounts will vary and are limited to 25 percent of the direct costs of an existing NIBIB grant. The funding opportunity closes on September 1, 2011. More information and examples of other potential low-cost technologies can be found at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-EB-10-002.html.

To provide for collaboration between U.S. and Indian researchers, NIBIB and DBT have established an online networking group at Linkedin.com. For more information, go to www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid+2949818&trk=anet_ug_hm. Scientists, engineers, and clinicians are encouraged to participate in the Indo-U.S Coalition for Low-Cost Medical Technologies LinkedIn group.

For more information, email John Haller, PhD at haller@mail.nih.gov.

Companies Seeking Partners

admin@nospam.com (Site Admin) — Tue, 25 May 2010 19:26:01 -0700

Nine New Zealand companies are in the U.S. in search of investors and partners to help commercialize innovative health technology. Hailing from the same country that developed the technological wizardry of Avatar and The Lord of the Rings, The Kiwi companies are showcasing everything from 3D virtual reality medical simulators to tissue regeneration patches for use in reconstructive surgeries.

New Zealand has a small dispersed population of 4 million people and as a result, the country has been an early adopter of healthcare technology. For example, 97 percent of the country’s general practitioners use EMR systems and 100 percent of the laboratories communicate via secure health data networks.

A “Focus on Health” business competition was developed by the New Zealand Trade and Enterprise—the government’s economic development agency. The competition was held to identify products and services with strong potential for the U.S. healthcare market.

Nine New Zealand finalists were chosen from 104 entries by an international panel of judges:

• Airway Skills: This bronchoscopy simulator is a 3-D virtual-reality training device that allows doctors and anesthesiologists to develop expert skills without practicing on a patient. The device is portable, affordable and runs off of a regular laptop. Go to www.airwayskills.com

• B2P: This portable device is used for testing food and water for E Coli and other dangerous bacteria and could help prevent more than 76 million cases of food poisoning each year in the U.S. alone. Go to www.b2ptesting.com

• Comprehensive Health Services: A new software Giving Asthma Support to Patients (GASP) helps patients and doctors manage asthma through the internet, thereby reducing costs, hospital admissions, and emergency room visits. www.harbourhealth.org.nz

• Emendo: A new CapPlan capacity planning software to help hospitals forecast demand. This helps manage doctor/nursing staffing and workflow in emergency rooms, operating rooms, and inpatient and outpatient centers. www.emendo.co.nz

• INROnline: This web-based program allows people on blood thinners to monitor and manage their condition through the web. Users use a standard finger prick test, enter their results online to get immediate treatment advice that includes dose management. www.inronline.com

• Matakina Technologies: The Company’s Volpara software helps clinicians analyze mammograms with greater accuracy, improving early detection, reducing false positives, and allowing for personalized screening plans. www.matakina.com

• Mesynthes: Endoform Infection Control is an easy-to-apply tissue regeneration patch that can be used inside or outside the body to promote faster healing and prevents infections. www.mesynthes.com

• Pictor: The Company’s PictArray test kits deliver diagnostic results for Rheumatoid Arthritis and Hepatitis B and C in just two minutes using only one drop of blood. The kits reduce the cost, time, equipment, and training needed to test blood so it is ideal for small, remote clinics as well as large sophisticated labs. www.pictordx.com

• Simtics: This web-based training program teaches medical students and doctors surgical and clinical procedures without practicing on patients. It uses 3D anatomy and virtual reality simulation to teach and update skills anytime anywhere with a standard PC connected to the internet. www.simtics.com

DEA rule seeks to make e-prescriptions more appealing to providers

admin@nospam.com (Site Admin) — Tue, 25 May 2010 19:23:05 -0700

eHealth SmartBrief

A new Drug Enforcement Agency rule set to take effect next month could spur health IT adoption among providers by eliminating the requirement that they still use a paper-based system for controlled substances. Under the new rule, they will be allowed to use e-prescriptions for controlled substances. "Physicians will adopt e-prescribing much more rapidly when there is a singular work flow -- whether it's Lipitor or Valium," said Dr. John Halamka, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center CIO and Health IT Standards Committee co-chairman

http://www.smartbrief.com/news/ehealth/storyComments.jsp?issueid=5BA1CCED-E0A6-4341-99DF-2D11DB73DDA8©id=EB8A1E0B-73E9-4FDC-ADE4-5CD1200A5E9E

US Navy launching telepharmacy project

admin@nospam.com (Site Admin) — Tue, 25 May 2010 19:19:55 -0700

By Pamela Lewis Dolan, amednews staff

A telepharmacy project under way at the U.S. Navy is being billed as the largest of its kind.The telepharmacy system, being deployed by ScriptPro, a Mission, Kan.-based pharmacy technology company, will allow the Navy to staff pharmacies remotely when there isn't a pharmacist on site.

Capt. Stephanie M. Simon, Navy pharmacy specialty leader and pharmacy consultant to the surgeon general of the Navy, said deployments for both military and humanitarian missions have created a great staffing need in the Navy's pharmacies.

The telepharmacy system will help bridge the gap and allow Navy health facilities to continue meeting their Joint Commission accreditation standards, Simon said.

At locations without a pharmacist on site, pharmacy technicians or nonpharmacy medical staff can dispense medications with real-time remote monitoring and checks done by a licensed pharmacist.

The person staffing the satellite location presses a call button that rings at all the other telepharmacy locations across the globe. An available pharmacist answers the call to provide assistance.

The system uses two-way video and audio connections that allow the pharmacist to review every step of the dispensing process. The technology also will allow pharmacists to conduct real-time consults with patients.

Although most prescriptions are sent electronically, the system also can create electronic images of paper prescriptions, which become part of the patients' records.

Mike Coughlin, president and CEO of ScriptPro, said that with approximately 110 sites around the world, this is considered to be the largest telepharmacy rollout in history.

The satellite pharmacies are at land-based medical facilities, but the company is studying the technology's effectiveness on ships.

The Veterans Health Administration has been using the technology for some time, Coughlin said. Other branches of the Military Health System also are looking at the technology. The Army has testing sites up and running, and testing sites are scheduled to be deployed with the Air Force.

Simon couldn't disclose details on the project's cost but said: "We are entrusted with taking care of the heroes of our nation and their families. They deserve high-quality care, and therefore the cost of equipment to ensure this standard of care does not outweigh the benefit."

http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2010/05/03/bisf0506.htm

Telemedicine brings doctors, patients together across any distance

admin@nospam.com (Site Admin) — Thu, 20 May 2010 11:24:39 -0700

By Brandon Bailey

Working at the health center on Cisco Systems' sprawling San Jose campus, Dr. Seema Sangwan examines dozens of Cisco employees a week -- sometimes as they sit in a room nearly 3,000 miles away.

Bill Boyne: Telemedicine can make big advances in health care

admin@nospam.com (Site Admin) — Thu, 20 May 2010 11:17:20 -0700

We live in an era of dramatic advances in health care.
First, President Obama and others succeeded in passing a national health care reform bill that will make health care available to millions of people for the first time and will provide improved health care for millions of others.

mHealth Monitoring Sector Set to Boom, Claims New Juniper Research Study

admin@nospam.com (Site Admin) — Thu, 20 May 2010 11:14:25 -0700

By Paul Rasmussen

With heart-based monitoring already accounting for the bulk of early mHealth monitoring rollouts, a new report claims that this particular sector of the burgeoning mobile health market could rise to almost US$1.9 billion globally by 2014.