Videos from the Medweb HP telemedicine clinic demo at #ATA2012

Here are short videos showing how telemedicine technologies are being used in places like Afghanistan. Medweb and HP sponsoring the telemedicine clinic here at the American Telemedicine Association (ATA) 2012 conference.






ATA12 coverage is sponsored by HP. HP’s extensive portfolio of products, solutions, services and relationships can help your healthcare organization achieve quality business practices and provide quality patient care.

Discussing the international telemedicine market #ATA2012

Here at the American Telemedicine Association (ATA) 2012 annual conference, there are a number of discussions revolving around the international application of telemedicine. This afternoon, I attended the Industry Executive Panel 5: International Markets. What does the globalization of telemedicine mean for the industry? Participants included: AMD Global Telemedicine, Sun Pa, IBM Global Business Services, and Chorus Call.

A growing number of countries are using telemedicine to delivery care in areas that currently lack access. Hence, telemedicine is bridging a crucial gap to access, but there are regulatory challenges that telemedicine  companies must understand that are unique to each country. Also, cultural factors must be addressed when telemedicine programs are being developed. Developing nations have needs and opportunities that are being addressed through the use of low-cost strategies that leverage mobile devices and ubiquitous wireless networks. As telemedicine solutions integrate with various electronic health records (EHRs), the issue of interoperability becomes another challenge that we must be ready to address. Right now, there are no international standards that are universally being applied to health information. So, global health information exchange is a significant challenge right now. Another major challenge surrounds the issue of sustainability. Who is paying for the telemedicine services in different countries? Does the government cover these types of health care costs? Or, are individual patients paying?

What is the Telemedicine Market? Industry Executive Panel Discussion at #ATA2012

This morning, I am at the American Telemedicine Association 2012 annual conference and I'm listening to the Industry Executive Panel 1 titled, "The Telemedicine Market." Whose numbers are right? What are the growth sectors and who are our customers? Panel members were from Cisco, Bosch, Vidyo, and HP.

The world of telemedicine is very broad and it includes direct patient care (consultations, referrals) to even the delivery of medical education though the use of telecommunications technologies. There are many ways to define/segment the telemedicine market because of the wide breath of applications. We can conservatively view telemedicine as a $10 billion market. The problems right now surround technology adoption and sustainable business models.

We are in a major transition period right now and we are seeing some major challenges with adoption. Plus, the rules, regulations, and opportunities in every country varies around the application of telemedicine. You have to select the right patients who will benefit from telemedicine/telehealth. Providers and patients need to be comfortable interacting in a "virtual" environment. This will bring about improved analytics, engagement, and patient care. Telecommunications tools must get integrated into the standard clinical workflow so that they become a natural extension of health care delivery.

Here in the United States, consumer trends are also significantly impacting the telemedicine market. Patients are becoming more empowered to participate in their own health care. They are effectively "shopping around" for medical services. In many other parts of the world, the delivery of health care is so different that the application of telemedicine is a different discussion. Here in the US, roughly 20 to 40% of our medical encounters with patients could be delivered through telemedicine. Imagine what would happen to office visits if we switched the encounter to webcam + computer screen.

See you at #ATA2012

See you at American Telemedicine Association (ATA) 2012! It's going to be exciting to see the latest innovations in telemedicine. More physicians are looking for ways to leverage telemedicine technologies to extend their services to patients.

This year, the education program has been built around 5 macro focus areas: Business, Finance & Economics, Model Programs & Best Practices, Scientific Research, Outcomes & Evidence, Innovative Applications and Public Policy.

Like no other event, ATA 2012 brings the entire spectrum of telehealth professionals together in one place. Network with 4500 clinicians, researchers, administrators, entrepreneurs, IT specialists, engineers and more.

ATA12 coverage is sponsored by HP. HP’s extensive portfolio of products, solutions, services and relationships can help your healthcare organization achieve quality business practices and provide quality patient care.

Curēus: the physician-centric medical publishing revolution

Cureus.com is a broadly based internet journal that addresses the shortcomings of traditional peer reviewed medical journals. With Cureus.com, for the first time the door is open for all authors to publish and share their work worldwide.

Curēus is the physician-centric medical publishing revolution. Visit: http://www.cureus.com

HIMSS12 Conference Sets World Record for Tweets

HIMSS12 set the world record for Tweet volume at a health conference! To celebrate this milestone & analyze the social media activity at HIMSS12 – which had 36,000+ attendees – HIMSS has created its first infographic!

Some highlights of the visual include:

· HIMSS12 averaged 167 tweets per hour
· Biz Stone’s keynote alone generated 7,595 tweets – with Farzad Mostashari not far behind at 7,047 tweets
· 26.5% of all HIMSS12 attendees were senior execs – 20.9% were IT professionals
· Patients, cloud computing and ONC (oh, Meaningful Use) were hot topics of mention in tweets

Click the image to view it larger:

Hackers at MIT playing Tetris on the Green Building

Back when I was at MIT, students used to pull hacks (practical pranks) all the time. They set a police car on the dome of MIT in 1994. They dressed the dome up to be R2-D2 from Star Wars in 1999. Now, they are playing Tetris (in color) on the Green Building.

iHT2 Health IT Summits

Don't miss an upcoming iHT2 Health IT Summit in your region.

iHT2 Health IT Summit in Atlanta
April 24-25, 2012, Atlanta, GA

iHT2 Health IT Summit in Fort Lauderdale
June 12-13, 2012, Fort Lauderdale, FL

iHT2 Health IT Summit in Denver
July 24-25, 2012, Denver, CO

iHT2 Health IT Summit in Seattle
August 22-23, 2012, Seattle, WA

iHT2 Health IT Summit in New York City
September 19-20, 2012, New York City, NY

iHT2 Health IT Summit in Beverly Hills
November 7-8, 2012, Beverly Hills, CA

iHT2 Health IT Summit in Austin
December 5-6, 2012, Austin, TX

Learn more about these iHT2 events here.

Your Virtual Doctors (YVD) provides free medical care to uninsured patients in NJ

If you know any uninsured patients living in New Jersey, make sure to tell them about Your Virtual Doctors (YVD).

Your Virtual Doctors (YVD), which began in October, 2010 is a member of the New Beginnings Nonprofit Incubator program of Resources for Human Development (RHD).

Your Virtual Doctors is designed to provide free medical care for uninsured New Jersey residents diagnosed with chronic diseases such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension (high blood pressure) and hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol). The mission of Your Virtual Doctors (YVD) is improve the health of medically underserved individuals in NJ by providing care for common illnesses, often poorly managed ,which frequently lead to an impaired quality of life and early death. Your Virtual Doctors provides a new model of care which delivers medical care using primarily phone and virtual technologies, thus removing many of the barriers currently in place for the underserved.

To learn more, visit: http://www.yourvirtualdoctors.org

Health IT Certification

What does it mean to achieve a level of "health IT certification?" There are currently several organizations that offer such certifications in health IT. Here is a recent press release describing developments from the group "Health IT Certification."

WASHINGTON DC, USA -- APRIL 16, 2012: Health IT Certification (www.healthitcertification.com) announces a new training and professional certification program for those responsible for implementing the Affordable Care Act Operating Rules to improve efficiency, patient and beneficiary satisfaction, and achieving cost savings. These operating rules provide the enhanced requirements to the HIPAA transactions and code sets to achieve interoperability with a higher degree of automation for business processes.

The Certified Professional for Operating Rules Administration (CPORA) consists of an eight-course curriculum and certification examination evidencing expertise in implementation of the Affordable Care Act Operating Rules. Health IT Certification announces the launch of the new CPORA in three stages:

Practice Fusion Launches Social Media-Style Messaging for Doctors

The following is a press release that caught my attention today:

Practice Fusion Launches Social Media-Style Messaging for Doctors

HIPAA-compliant messaging designed to improve continuity of patient care across medical practices

SAN FRANCISCO - April 18, 2012 – Practice Fusion, the fastest growing Electronic Medical Record (EMR) community in the US, launched a HIPAA-compliant messaging feature today within its EMR to enable physicians, nurses and medical providers to communicate with colleagues outside their practices. The service replicates intuitive social media-style messaging to improve medical collaboration and ensure the continuity of patient care.

Alzheimer's Challenge 2012 Finalists Announced

The Alzheimer’s Immunotherapy Program (AIP) of Janssen Alzheimer Immunotherapy and Pfizer, Inc., together with the Geoffrey Beene Gives Back® Alzheimer’s Initiative, is proud to announce the five finalists of the Alzheimer’s Challenge 2012. The Alzheimer’s Challenge 2012 provides an entrepreneurial springboard to harness new thinking and approaches to improve Alzheimer’s care. The finalists are awarded $25,000 each to further develop their methods to assess and track changes in memory, mood, thinking and activity level over time to help improve diagnosis and monitoring of people with Alzheimer’s disease.

Each finalist will be eligible to participate in a Design & Behavior Boot Camp hosted by Luminary Labs in which they will receive mentorship and hands-on experience to refine their concepts into market offerings that may improve the care of those living with Alzheimer’s. Then the finalists will present a prototype of their idea to a panel of judges in June 2012 at a Finalist Event being led by InnoCentive, the open innovation and crowdsourcing pioneer that assisted with development of the judging criteria and screened submissions to help judges to identify the five finalists. The judges represent a diverse group of professionals who collectively bring extensive expertise and knowledge to this effort.

HIMSS Virtual Conference & Expo - Pursuing Healthcare Transformation through IT

Make sure to mark your calendars for this upcoming event:

HIMSS Virtual Conference & Expo - Pursuing Healthcare Transformation through IT
June 6-7, 2012

HIMSS Health IT Virtual Events are a year-round series offering education across today’s hottest health IT topics like ICD-10, mobile health, meaningful use, ACOs, privacy and security, and much more. Access industry experts and nationally recognized speakers through real-time chat, topic-relevant and future focused networking opportunities, and discussions with product experts in the exhibit hall—all delivered in an online format that offers convenience and flexibility.

http://www.himssvirtual.org/2012_jun_VCE/index.asp

Hope to see you at ATA (American Telemedicine Association) 2012

The American Telemedicine Association (ATA) 2012 conference is coming up at the end of this month and I hope to see you there!  There are many new and exciting developments occurring in the world of telemedicine and I'm looking forward to a great conference.

ATA 2012: 17th Annual International Meeting & Exposition
April 29 - May 1, 2012
San Jose, CA

The ATA Annual Meeting is the largest telehealth event of the year, with over 450 peer reviewed presentations and the world’s largest tradeshow focusing exclusively on telemedicine, telehealth and mHealth technologies. Join 4000+ telemedicine professionals and discover the technologies that are revolutionizing healthcare.

Doximity in the News!

Congratulations to Dr. Lauren Stegman who appeared on this Fox Phoenix segment about "social networking" and he did an excellent job explaining how physicians are leveraging secure, protected social networks to improve patient care. Make sure to watch this short video:

Moving Toward Success and Sustainability in a Large and Diverse Multi-State HIE

You won't want to miss this upcoming webinar:

Moving Toward Success and Sustainability in a Large and Diverse Multi-State HIE
Thursday, May 10, 2012 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM EDT

Early in 2011, Kansas Health Information Network (KHIN) implemented a statewide health information exchange (HIE) to connect a broad geographic region that covers large urban and rural areas in Kansas. KHIN’s original goal was to connect 80% of all health care providers by 2016, and has far exceeded its 2011 goal of 400 providers by connecting over 1000 providers in 2011. KHIN covers a broad territory that includes all of Kansas encompassing 130 hospitals, 4500 physicians, 75 rural health and safety net clinics, 100 public health departments, 22 community mental health centers, 400 post acute care facilities, 600 pharmacies and 125 labs.

CMS Innovation Center Update: Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative

The following is an update from the CMS Innovation Center:

The CMS Innovation Center has selected seven geographic markets to carry out the Comprehensive Primary Care initiative, a new multi-payer approach that aims to strengthen the primary care system while achieving better health care and lower costs through improvement. These markets were selected based on a pool of applicants, which include private health plans, state Medicaid agencies, and employers, that proposed to pay for and support comprehensive primary care coordination in partnership with Medicare.

The markets represent a diverse range of regions spanning both coasts, the midwest and south, and rural and urban communities. The selected markets are:

• Arkansas: Statewide
• Colorado: Statewide
• New Jersey: Statewide
• New York: Capital District-Hudson Valley Region
• Ohio: Cincinnati-Dayton Region
• Oklahoma: Greater Tulsa Region
• Oregon: Statewide

Once the participating payers in each market have agreed to the terms and conditions to participate in the initiative by entering into a Memorandum of Understanding with CMS, the Innovation Center will release the application for primary care practices to participate in each market. Approximately 75 primary care practices will be selected to participate in the initiative in each designated market.

Health Tech: Next Generation

Health Tech:Next Generation will host it’s second annual Conference and Expo bringing together leaders & professionals in Healthcare & Information Technology under one roof. It will showcase up-and-coming strategies and technologies to tackle today’s healthcare delivery obstacles, shape and advance the healthcare industry forward into tomorrow’s paradigm of patient controlled environments.

Health Tech: Next Generation
May 24 - 25 2012
Grand Hyatt Hotel
San Francisco, CA

Agenda Includes

• PATIENT HEALTHCARE THROUGH HIE
• EMR POLICIES & REFORMS
• INTEGRATION & INTEROPERABILITY
• HIT INNOVATIONS
• MOBILE
• APPS
• PRIVACY & SECURITY
• FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
• FUTURE OF HEALTHCARE DELIVERY
• SEMANTICS IN ANALYTICS
• SOCIAL MEDIA
• CLOUD COMPUTING CHALLENGES & BARRIERS
• MOBILE TECHNOLOGY AND RURAL HEALTH
• AND MORE.....

www.HealthTechNextGen.com

National Autism Awareness Month

In order to highlight the growing need for concern and awareness about autism, the Autism Society has been celebrating National Autism Awareness Month since the 1970s. The United States recognizes April as a special opportunity for everyone to educate the public about autism and issues within the autism community.

Put on the Puzzle! The Autism Awareness Puzzle Ribbon is the most recognized symbol of the autism community in the world. Autism prevalence is now one in every 88 children in America. To learn more about the Autism Awareness Puzzle Ribbon visit http://www.autism-society.org/about-us/puzzle-ribbon.html.

Hacking Medicine at MIT

There are many days when I wish I could be back in Boston. There is a very interesting movement at MIT called "Hacking Medicine at MIT" and they have an event coming up on April 10th with the Chief Administrative Officer from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

The time is right to hack healthcare, but as entrepreneurs we often are setback because we can’t get to the people that are making the decisions in healthcare settings, government, and industry. To help fix this, Bob Higgins, Richard Foster, Jim Dougherty and Hacking Medicine have teamed up to bring you Eric Buehrens, the former Chief Administrative Officer from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), one of the largest and most prestigious academic medical centers in the world. If you ever want to sell or partner with a hospital, Eric is the ideal person to speak to because he is the one who makes the decisions at the top. Prior to his current role, he served as Interim President and Chief Executive Officer of BIDMC. The goal of this event is to help connect entrepreneurs to the marketplace and give you open access to Eric Buehrens and ask him those questions you can’t find the answer to on any website.

Open Mic Session with Eric Buehrens, Chief Administrative Officer, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Date: Tuesday, April 10th
Time: 7 – 9PM
Location: Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship, One Amherst Street, E40-160, Cambridge, MA

About Hacking Medicine:
Hacking Medicine’s mission is to create an ecosystem at MIT and beyond for the Boston medical community, tech entrepreneurs and clinicians to arm them with the skills necessary to launch disruptive healthcare businesses. For more information, visit: http://hackingmedicine.mit.edu/.

STARTUPALOOZA NJ AT NJIT

If you're looking to explore the digital health world of startup companies and entrepreneurs, then you may want to consider this upcoming event in NJ:

STARTUPALOOZA NJ AT NJIT
Wednesday, May 9, 2012 from 2:30 PM to 6:00 PM (ET)
Newark, NJ

If you’re a digital or mhealth startup looking for access to capital and support, this NJIT marketplace for startups is the place to be. We are giving every firm direct exposure to investors and an opportunity to pitch!

More information here.