Richard Gilfillan, acting director of CMMI, headlines ATA's Policy Summit
American Telemedicine Association
The First Annual ATA Policy Summit (July 27 in Washington, D.C.) will address the key policy opportunities and barriers for telemedicine. Join ATA and the Continua Health Alliance for this joint conference on federal telehealth policy. Confirmed speakers include Richard Gilfillan, acting director of CMS' Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, Bakul Patel of the Food and Drug Administration and Adam Darkins of the Veterans Health Administration. Register now for this fast-paced one-day event and help shape the future of federal telemedicine policy!More

Medicare will expand coverage for telehealth
InformationWeek
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has proposed changing how it defines telehealth services that may be eligible for Medicare coverage. But it's unclear how far the agency will go in expanding such coverage. In its proposed rule on changes in physician payment, CMS said that it would consider the proven clinical benefits of a telehealth service in deciding whether to cover that service. Up to now, providers have had to show that a telehealth service is "equivalent when furnished in person or through telehealth" — a criterion that CMS calls the "comparability standard."More

Study supports use of robotic telemedicine in neonatal intensive care
InformationWeek
A team at the Children's Hospital Los Angeles that conducted a first-of–a-kind study that compared the findings of an on-site neonatologist at a neonatal intensive care unit to off-site neonatologists using remote robotic telemedicine technology found that the technology is not only feasible and safe, but can also help neonatologists at a different location accurately evaluate a neonate patient. "Aside from proving that the system is safe in the NICU, for the first time ever, the visual and audio accuracy and the ease of use of the system was an interesting finding," Dr. Istvan Seri, head of the USC Division of Neonatal Medicine at Children's Hospital Los Angeles and co-author of the report, told InformationWeek Healthcare.More

Aging baby boomers drawing attention to health monitoring tools
HealthyCal
Two generations of computer-savvy gamers and networkers have teased their parents and grandparents about a lack of technological skill, but the coming "silver tsunami" of aging Americans may claim ultimate victory by conjuring up the wizards of digital health. In what is being called "connected independence," more seniors are staying right where they want to be — at home — where they receive medical care assisted by technology that monitors chronic disease, provides early detection of illness, reminds seniors to take pills, coordinates care among providers, and may even improve cognitive function using "brain fitness" programs.More

Telemedicine improves stroke care at hospitals
The Tennessean
When a patient comes into the emergency room with symptoms of a stroke, access to a neurologist within minutes can make a big difference between whether they live, die or end up permanently disabled. Technology that hospital chain HCA's local TriStar Health System subsidiary plans to roll out next week at five of its Nashville-area hospitals aims to ensure there's a neurologist on hand instantly — albeit virtually — to make the right life-saving choices. TriStar's system can be used to determine whether the patient had a severe stroke and needs clot-dissolving drugs to prevent more damage.More

Utah Telehealth Network, University of Utah launch telehealth pilot
Healthcare IT News
The University of Utah is spearheading a pilot project designed to connect remote and underserved residents dealing with chronic conditions to needed health care services and providers through telemedicine. The federally funded Improving Healthcare One Patient at a Time remote monitoring project is being overseen by the university and the Utah Telehealth Network and will make use of Electronic House Call remote monitoring devices, kiosks and interactive voice response telehealth solutions supplied by Berkeley Heights, N.J.-based ExpressMD Solutions. The project will feature one centrally located care coordinator, four clinics monitoring 15-20 patients each and two locations using kiosks to monitor another 30 patients each. Funding is provided by a three-year grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration's Office for the Advancement of Telehealth.More

The therapist will see you now — via the Web
The New York Times
See a therapist without leaving your home? In an article in the American Journal of Psychiatry, Dr. Thomas F. Dwyer, a Massachusetts psychiatrist, says he has practiced telepsychiatry, via video teleconferencing, for five years. Its "adoption by psychiatrists and patients," he predicts, "will proceed quickly if the organizers cope with the irrational responses of some users." But wait: That article appeared almost 40 years ago. It told how microwave television signals were used to connect a satellite clinic to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Today, even with the rise of the Internet, virtual therapy hasn't been widely adopted. But several startup companies are trying to make Dwyer's decades-old vision a workaday reality.More

Therapy via the Web: What would Freud think?
Care2 Causes
Telepsychiatry — psychotherapy via video teleconferencing — has been around for 40 years, as a 1973 article in the American Journal of Psychiatry attests. Debates continue about its effectiveness versus traditional psychotherapy when a patient actually has to get dressed, get out of the house and get themselves into a therapist's office. On the other hand, telepsychiatry has its benefits, as patients who might be ashamed to be seen seeking psychotherapy — remember Tony Soprano's wary posture while sitting in waiting room at Dr. Melfi's office? — are able to get help in the privacy of their home. A 2009 study in The Lancet in Britain found that patients who receive cognitive-behavioral therapy via teleconferencing had benefits after eight months.More

CAHs fall short on care, but telemedicine could help
Healthcare IT News
Critical access hospitals in rural areas of the U.S. are behind on quality of care, patient outcomes and technology adoption when compared to other hospitals, according to a recent study. In the first national study to examine care at CAHs in rural areas of the U.S., Harvard School of Public Health researchers found that, despite more than a decade of policy efforts to improve rural health care, substantial challenges remain. In the study, which appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers found that patients admitted to a CAH for heart attack, congestive heart failure or pneumonia were at greater risk of dying within 30 days than those at other hospitals.More

Tricare, VA tout telehealth apps
Government Health IT
Tricare and the Department of Veterans Affairs each recently detailed a new mobile health offering. The telehealth and smartphone products join a growing collection of mobile health applications, some of which are provided by government health agencies — the VA and DoD included — or funded by federal government departments, such as HHS and ONC. And they fit into the VA's increasingly wireless strategy that includes a mobile PHR announced late last month and the declaration that, come Oct. 1, the VA will allow clinicians and other employees to use mobile devices inside its walls.More

American well gaining converts to telemedicine
Investor's Business Daily
It seems you can do everything online — book a vacation, watch a movie, chat with friends, find a date — so why is it still so hard to get hold of a doctor? The rise of the Internet brought new opportunities for telemedicine — the delivery of long-distance medical care, which once was restricted to phone lines. For more than a decade, the tech industry has promoted the idea of doing doctor-patient visits online. But doctors always have had a question: How do we get paid for it? They're getting answers, as some health care payers are jumping on the telemedicine bandwagon.More

Telehealth launches in Liverpool
Click Liverpool
Heart failure patients in Liverpool, U.K., are some of the first to test drive a new scheme where their health is monitored via a set-top box. The new technology sits on top of the television and patients make their own checks, such as blood pressure and weight, the results of which they send via broadband to the team at Liverpool Community Health NHS Trust. Called telehealth, the technology allows patients with long-term health conditions to be managed and monitored in their own homes, with clinicians able to decide when they need face to attention.More