SACRAMENTO–On Feburary 22, 2012 the California Senate Select
Committee on Autism & Related Disorders will hold an
informational hearing. The focus of the hearing is “Adapting
‘Digital Age’ Innovations to Expand Access and to Improve
Services for Individuals with ASD.”
The hearing will be held at 10am in The State Capitol Building,
Room 3191.
When patients walk into a NowClinic at any one of nine
Detroit-area Rite Aid pharmacies, they can choose among multiple
physicians to see about what’s ailing them. Not see in person.
See on a computer monitor.
What’s going on at these Rite Aids is a merger of multiple trends
focused on providing more convenience to patients than,
presumably, a physician’s office can deliver. Neither
telemedicine nor retail clinics are new — but combining them is.
WASHINGTON–Sen. Tom Udall (D-Utah) anticipates introducing a
bill this spring to make it easier for physicians to practice
telemedicine in many states instead of applying for a separate
license for each state.
The bill, which is still being drafted, would streamline
licensure portability across state lines, according to Fern
Goodhart, Udall’s legislative assistant.
“Telemedicine is medicine, just practiced virtually,” she said at
a Jan. 31 Capitol Hill briefing sponsored by the American
Telemedicine Association (ATA), which advocates for use of remote
medical technologies.
NEW YORK and SAN FRANCISCO– Health Evolution Partners and
Verizon Enterprise Solutions have established a strategic
relationship to encourage innovation and adoption of connected
health information technologies that help drive patient care
improvements and better manage costs.
Washington, DC. – The American Telemedicine Association (ATA) has
developed a legislative proposal to expand the use of
telemedicine for Medicaid enrollees with high-risk pregnancies
and neonatal care needs. If adopted, the plan would improve
care delivery for an at-risk population and create significant
long term savings for the government and tax-payers.
Commissioned by ATA to appraise the proposal using Congressional
Budget Office style cost estimating, Avalere Health determined
that it could generate a savings of up to $186 million over the
next 10 years.
NEWTON, MA. – Atrius Health and the VNA Care Network &
Hospice (VNA Care) have signed a strategic agreement through
which VNA Care will be the preferred provider of visiting nurses,
home care and hospice care for patients of Atrius Health sites,
beginning with those served by Dedham Medical Associates, Reliant
Medical Group (formerly Fallon Clinic), Southboro Medical Group
and six of the Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates’ sites.
Beginning January 1, 2012, Medicare will cover smoking cessation
services (CPT codes 99406 and 99407 and HCPCS codes G0436 and
G0437) provided by video conferencing. CMS will also change
its process for covering other services by expanding the factors
it considers.
SACRAMENTO, CA, October 10, 2011—Governor Jerry Brown signed
Assembly Bill 415, the Telehealth Advancement Act of 2011, Friday
opening the door for far-reaching expansion of telehealth
services in California. Authored by Assembly Member Dan
Logue (R-Chico), who recognizes the importance of telehealth in
providing access to health care, this bill was supported by the
state’s telehealth stakeholders and leaders and passed with no
opposing votes in the legislature.
August 26, 2011BMC Health Services Research 2011, Richard Wootton , Kambiz Bahaadinbeigy and David Hailey
A major benefit offered by telemedicine is the avoidance of
travel, by patients, their carers and health care professionals.
Unfortunately, there is very little published information about
the extent of avoided travel.
For soldiers returning from combat, the decision to seek mental
help may be difficult. But now thanks to a partnership between
the VA’s National Center for PTSD and the DoD’s National Center
for Telehealth and Technology, there may be hope.
Grant to assist The Greater Rochester Health foundation has
awarded a more-than-$500,000 grant to Visiting Nurse Service of
Rochester and Monroe County Inc. to help VNS expand its
telemedicine program, GRHS officials said Wednesday.
Vidyo, Inc., a provider of “personal telepresence,” today
announced that the Ontario Telemedicine Network (OTN) will use
its platform to expand its current network and extend the reach
of its telehealth services to patient homes, according to a press
release posted at businesswire.com.
August 3, 2011NORTHJERSEY.COM:NEWS: HEALTH & HEALTH CARE
Jill Menell, MD, chief, Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Division,
St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital, and Leslie Figueroa, a patient
at the Children’s Hospital, enjoy the newly renovated infusion
room. The remodel has helped to enhance treatment of the ‘whole’
child, resulting in better outcomes.
Why do so many children from across New Jersey and around the
world land at St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital (SJCH), located at
St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center in Paterson?
A leading academic medical facility with board-certified
physicians representing virtually every specialty and
subspecialty under one roof, SJCH offers the highest level of
care, through a combination of expertise and convenience
unmatched by other hospitals in the region. The multidisciplinary
staff, capable of performing medical miracles when children are
facing life-threatening diseases or injuries, has but one goal -
to help patients achieve the best possible outcomes in order to
lead healthier lives in a friendly environment that feels more
like a home than a hospital.
The night before his fourth birthday, Rohan Giare of Rockville
rolled off his bed and gashed the bridge of his nose. Rohan’s
dad, not knowing whether he should focus on getting the bleeding
to stop or go immediately to the emergency room, snapped pictures
of the cut with his BlackBerry and sent them to his doctor
friend, Neal Sikka
FARGO – Rural residents face higher rates of chronic disease than
their city cousins yet must cope with fewer doctors and other
health providers.
That squeeze between an increased need to manage complex medical
conditions and a shortage of providers will grow over time,
according to a study released this week by UnitedHealth Center
for Health Reform & Modernization.
Shortage of Specialists Prompting Hospitals To Adopt eICU
Technology
A nationwide shortage of critical care specialists has prompted
more than three dozen U.S. hospital systems to implement
electronic intensive care units, or eICUs, which use telehealth
technology to connect remote doctors with critically ill
patients, the Arizona Republic reports.
The iPad may help electronic medical records (EMR, sometimes also
referred to as electronic health records, or EHR) finally gain
wide adoption, thanks in part to a new program that will see the
federal government dispersing grants to doctors who make use of a
free native EMR iPad app.
DENVER – An intensive care unit telemedicine intervention was
associated with lower hospital and ICU mortality and shorter
hospital and ICU lengths of stay in a prospective, unblinded
study conducted at one academic medical center over a 2-year
period.
The intervention also was associated with significantly higher
rates of adherence to critical care best practices and lower
rates of complications. More rapid responses to alerts for
physiologic instability and off-hours, off-site intensivist care
plan reviews were identified as critical care process elements
that may have contributed to the lower mortality and shorter
lengths of stay associated with the tele-ICU intervention, Dr.
Craig M. Lilly reported at an international conference of the
American Thoracic Society.
July 27, 2011by: Kevin O'Reilly, American Medical News, staff
Technology that helps physicians remotely track more patients in
intensive care units also improves care outcomes, according to a
Journal of the American Medical Association study published in
May that contradicts research finding no benefit.
