AT4 wireless completes testing of first device worldwide for Continua Health Alliance Certification
AT4 wireless, a wireless certification and testing laboratory, has successfully completed certification testing of the Nonin 2500 PalmSAT handheld pulse oximeter with USB, the first product worldwide which demonstrates compliance to Continua Health Alliance certification requirements.

AT4 wireless was selected at the end of 2008 by Continua Health Alliance, an open industry consortium of technology, healthcare and fitness market leader companies, to provide certification testing services for the first wave of new personal monitoring products based on Continua Health Alliance guidelines. AT4 wireless was also selected to develop a fully automated Test System that will be used for the Continua Health Alliance certification program.

eHealth has been one of AT4 wireless’ focus areas in recent years, and the company has also contributed to the development of new technologies in this field. Some examples of this work are collaborative projects with hospitals to design and integrate solutions based on RFID, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and wireless sensor networks, among other technologies. These solutions have been successfully used to improve efficiency and patient safety and security in hospitals. In addition, AT4 wireless has been accredited by Spanish Ministry of Health to carry out required testing for medical devices applying Directive 93/42/EEC.

101 Wireless Healthcare Applications Go Online
Steinkrug Publications Ltd has put the publication 101 Things to Do With A Mobile Phone In Healthcare online and is using it as a basis for a collaborative wireless ehealth development platform called theMobileHealthCrowd.com.

The 101 applications include diabetes management, hospital based RFID and the use of technologies such as Bluetooth and ZigBee in health and fitness monitoring. Also listed are a number of SMS messaging and Health 2.0 based medical applications.

Wireless Healthcare is closely involved with IT vendors who are members of conventional special interest groups and forums and theMobileHealthCrowd.com Web site has been designed as an efficient tool for exchanging ideas and gaining market intelligence. The site also enables Wireless Healthcare to link articles in its weekly industry newsletter to any one of 101 mobile healthcare applications.

As well as browsing and contributing to the 101 mobile ehealth applications, visitors to theMobileHealthCrowd.com site can download, for free, Wireless Healthcare's research into 'New eHealth Models'. This report examines the impact of wireless and other technologies - such as genetic testing - on the way healthcare is delivered. It also describes scenarios within which new entrants into the healthcare market could build potentially disruptive business models that support the delivery of low cost online healthcare services to consumers who are currently underserved by incumbent healthcare providers.

SkyTerra Establishes Nationwide Public Health Satellite Talkgroups
SkyTerra, formerly Mobile Satellite Ventures, has partnered with the Commonwealth of Kentucky's Department for Public Health (DPH) to form two satellite mutual aid talkgroups (SMART) designed to supplement existing interoperable communications for public health and medical facilities throughout all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.

These two new Satellite Mutual Aid Radio Talkgroups (SMART), named National Public Health Satellite Talkgroups (NPHST), join SkyTerra's family of nationwide and regionally-focused talkgroups, administered by SkyTerra and managed and controlled by the organizing federal, state, local or tribal agency.

The NPHST talkgroups will enable critical and interoperable communications at all levels of public health and medical agencies. These talkgroups represent a major step forward in public health and medical interoperability, particularly when terrestrial networks are damaged or congested.

The Kentucky DPH has designated NPHST-1 to be available exclusively to state/territorial health departments and is limited to two SkyTerra devices in each jurisdiction in order to efficiently communicate with the nation's public health command and control system. Additionally, a second nationwide talkgroup, NPHST-2, is available to all SkyTerra devices operated by state and county health departments, public health agencies or medical facilities in all 50 states, DC, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.

Both of these talkgroups are managed by the Communications Coordinator of the Commonwealth of Kentucky's Department for Public Health in Frankfort, Ky. and will be used primarily for communications interoperability when SkyTerra users from various public health and medical organizations find themselves working together on a national or localized event or emergency.

All public health organizations with active accounts on the SkyTerra network are eligible and encouraged to join these talkgroups at no charge by way of application to the Kentucky DPH. A copy of the Standard Operating Procedures and application are available at nphst@ky.gov or by calling (502) 330-9682.

Share Your Knowledge about the Industry in Web-Broadcasted Seminars
TeleHealth World now offers relevant, insightful Web-based discussions on the latest technical advancements, best practices, products and services, as well as training courses and mini-bootcamps for the industries we serve.

What are the advantages to attendees? Attend technical presentations and training sessions and stay up to date with the latest industry best practices, as well as network with business colleagues without leaving your office.

For vendors, market analysts and consultants, with the new webinar capability, you will be able to produce your own webinar. You will have the ability to reach and engage targeted attendees from organizations worldwide. Our extensive range of industry publications and databases enable us to market to your defined audience.

For more information, e-mail Joanna Larez at joannal@infowebcom.com.

Philips and Immunetrics Join Forces to Research Advanced Solutions for Infectious Disease in Critical Care
Royal Philips Electronics and Immunetrics, Inc. have entered into a joint development agreement to explore future-generation approaches to the problem of infectious disease in critical care. Philips currently owns a 29-percent stake in Immunetrics, a biosimulation company based in Pittsburgh, Pa.

The partnership unites Philips’ strength in patient monitoring and the design and implementation of applications to help clinicians make more informed care decisions and Immunetrics’ strengths in the dynamic modeling and simulation of complex biological systems. Under the joint development agreement, Philips Research and Immunetrics will study the combination of advanced bioinformatics and computer modeling to identify opportunities to reduce the incidence and improve the management of systemic infection, a major complicating factor among many critically ill patients.

Critical care is a branch of medicine that involves the specialized treatment of patients with acute, life-threatening illness or injury. It is an area of persistent unmet need and significant consumption of healthcare resources. For example, critical care expense in the USA represents the equivalent of nearly one percent of its gross domestic product.

Sepsis, a life-threatening, systemic inflammatory response to infection, is an example of a key medical challenge for which Philips Research and Immunetrics seek to develop new mechanisms for early and effective intervention. In the USA and Europe sepsis afflicts more than 2 million people each year and incidence of the condition is growing. Despite the best currently available treatment, approximately one in every three patients with severe sepsis will die.

Honeywell Acquires Exclusive Access to VNA First’s Clinical Pathways and Tools for Telehealth
HomMed has entered an exclusive partnership with VNA First, a network of home health care agencies, to enhance Honeywell HomMed’s telehealth solutions. This partnership gives the Honeywell HomMed LifeStream Remote Patient Care System exclusive access to VNA First’s entire library of evidence-based clinical pathways and patient-centric education portfolio for telehealth applications.

For the past 18 years, VNA First has been developing the template for evidence-based disease management principles in remote patient care. The disease-specific content provides proactive, preventive steps and interventions that comply with all current industry standards, helping Honeywell HomMed lead with home health care standardization while also enhancing patient and financial outcomes.

The majority of patients in telehealth programs suffer from chronic conditions, such as congestive heart failure, hypertension, diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Patients using the LifeStream system normally measure information such as weight, blood pressure and any other daily changes in health conditions.

REACH Call and Genentech Provide Stroke Education to Telestroke Customers
REACH Call, a provider of 100 percent Web-based solutions for the remote treatment of medical conditions such as stroke, has entered an educational collaboration with Genentech, the manufacturer of Activase (Alteplase), a tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) approved for treating acute ischemic stroke in adults.

As part of the educational agreement, Genentech will conduct a presentation for REACH Call telestroke customers about the proper use of Activase. The presentation will educate ER and ICU staff members on how to reconstitute and administer Activase. It will also review the FDA labeling, provide details on how the drug is administered and explain who is and is not a proper candidate for the drug.

The REACH telestroke service makes it possible for neurologists to deliver urgent, specialized stroke consultations to physicians and nurses caring for acute stroke patients in rural emergency departments near a stroke specialty center known as a hub.

These rural sites often receive stroke patients, but don’t have neurologists or sufficient coverage to create a stroke team capable of 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week rapid evaluation of patients for the intravenous tPA. TPA can dissolve clots and reverse the symptoms if given within three hours after stroke symptoms begin.

Union Hospital Health Group Selects eICU Program to Extend Critical Care Expertise to Patients throughout the Community
Advanced ICU Care and Union Hospital Health Group plan to implement Advanced ICU Care’s eICU program to enhance patient care and safety in the intensive care units. The program will use remote computer monitoring to connect Union Hospital and West Central Community Hospital ICU patients 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to critical care physicians (intensivists) and nurses from Advanced ICU Care’s Monitoring Center. This eICU technology, in collaboration with Union and West Central’s local medical and nursing staff, provides an extra level of care to patients and has been proven to help save lives and shorten the length of ICU and hospital stays.  

Union and West Central will begin using Advanced ICU Care’s program in the spring of 2009 in their 34 ICU beds. Remote care tools, such as real-time video feeds, allows the bedside and Advanced ICU Care remote physicians and nurses to work as one team in caring for patients. Around-the-clock monitoring of patient data – such as vital signs, medications and lab results – along with technology that identifies early warning signs of downward trends, allows physicians to intervene earlier to prevent complications. 

Studies show that care by intensivists, either at the bedside or through telemedicine technology, greatly improves the quality of care in the ICU. Yet there is a shortage of intensivists, with less than 20 percent of US hospital ICUs with dedicated intensivist staffing. This shortfall is expected to worsen as the US population ages.

Number of Telehealth Subscribers Worldwide to Exceed 55 Million by 2016
Opportunities in Telehealth: A Long Term View (2006 to 2016), a new report from InMedica, forecasts growth in the number of telehealth subscribers over the next decade because of the increased use of telehealth services for chronic disease management in professional care in tandem with growth in the consumer driven market for telehealth services. The report, predicts the total number of telehealth subscribers worldwide will increase to 55.5 million by 2016, representing a forecast CAGR of almost 72 percent.

The combined factors of ageing global population, increasing prevalence of chronic diseases and the increasing public expectation for higher standards of care are all making telehealth services more attractive to patients as well as the healthcare providers. Through regular monitoring and shifting of the treatment of many chronic conditions from medical institutions into patients’ homes, telehealth will help doctors manage patient care more efficiently.

While the latest telehealth trials have demonstrated that a well-thought-out telehealth system can both save costs and improve patient recovery, currently the number of telehealth subscribers is small. According to InMedica, the number stood at well under 1 million in 2008. There are several market barriers that have, to date, prevented the more widespread use of telehealth, such as the limited choice of telehealth products, the lack of data standards, doubts about data security and the integrity of data transmission and the limited reimbursement for telehealth. However, many of these barriers are now being overcome. For example, recent data standards, such as the Bluetooth SIG Health Device Profile (HDP), USB Personal Healthcare Device Class and the ISO/IEEE 11073, will reduce development costs and speed time to market for manufacturers of wireless home use medical devices. The first implementations of the Bluetooth SIG’s HDP are expected to hit the market in 2009.

Telehealth’s Role in Health Care Reform Webinar
March 26 at 12-1 p.m. Mountain Standard Time

It is universally accepted that the US health care systems is in dire need of reform. Telehealth can make a variety of positive contributions to improving the delivery of heath care today, like making medical care more readily available in rural areas, controlling costs for employers and employees and empowering patients with choice and convenience. Now more than ever before, policy makers and legislators at the federal, state and local levels have the opportunity to implement technologies and systems that will address the many of facets of the systems failures. This panel will explore the role that telehealth can and should play in health care reform and the areas where it can make the most impact for doctors and patients alike.  

Panelists: Dr. Elliot Justin, President & CEO SwiftMD, Tom Keefe, Senior Director, State Government Relations, HIMSS and Diana Newhart, Senior Health Policy Analyst, Net New Growth, LLC.

If you are a telehealth providers and or have technologies that enable telehealth services, this is a must-attend event. 
Attendees Will Learn

• What trends are emerging in the health care reform debate and what that means for telehealth
• What obstacles exist to the further adoption of telehealth from a policy perspective
• How the market is responding to the crisis with innovative programs and services, and what positive contributions have already been made
• The areas of most promise for telehealth providers

Click here to register today!