Eric Wicklund
Hospital patients aren't always confined to their beds - nor are those beds always in the same place. To ensure those patients are always being monitored, Royal Philips Electronics has developed a wearable device designed to transmit real-time data to clinicians.
Sony's innovative MD2GO is going to new places.The mobile telemedicine station, a collaboration between Sony and Microsoft that features a remote HD IP camera system and a Windows 7 touch-based user interface on Sony's Silverlight platform, made an appearance this month at the annual meeting of the Association for Medical Imaging Management (AHRA) in Dallas.Company executives are touting the MD2GO as a necessary tool in radiology departments and stand-alone teleradiology practices of the future.
When all is said and done, the advancement of telehealth and mobile health in the United States will be accomplished through the percolation of innovation.
In Doug Cassidy's opinion, non-profit organizations looking to provide healthcare services to disadvantaged people around the world don't need to be saddled with expensive EMR systems - but they do need some of that technology.
Ontario's fast-growing telemedicine network is getting help from its neighbors to the south.Next month, the Ontario Telemedicine Network, which links roughly 3,000 healthcare professionals at 1,200 hospitals and medical clinics throughout the Canadian province with 2,200 videoconferencing stations, will make it possible for physicians and other caregivers to participate from their PCs. The go-live, involving 50 health professionals, will use software provided by Vidyo, based in Hackensack, N.J.
CAMBRIDGE, MA - Busy physicians may not always have every answer at their fingertips, but if they have a smartphone, help isn't that far away. Sermo, a Cambridge, Mass.-based online physician network, is giving clinical decision support a mobile platform with the launch of Sermo Mobile, an application designed to give its members immediate access to the company's so-called "virtual water cooler" that connects more than 120,000 physicians in 68 specialties in all 50 states.
FALLS CHURCH, VA - A Virginia-based, seven-hospital healthcare system with ties to Washington D.C. is getting some financial help for its fledgling telehealth program.
Any mass casualty event, from a traffic accident to a plane crash to a structure fire, usually causes chaos among patients and responders. Two healthcare IT companies are looking to ease that confusion with a joint tracking solution designed to guide patient and provider from triage through hospital admission and discharge.
Hennepin County Medical Center, a 477-bed hospital in downtown Minneapolis, is ready to display its meaningful use readiness to the world. And Chief Medical Information Officer Kevin Larson says the hospital wouldn't be ready if it hadn't embraced mobile health."We have to break through this tyranny of everyone has to come to our door to get care," he said, pointing out that the hospital is deploying laptops with full-function electronic health records and will soon be deploying its own smartphone apps for physicians and other staff.
The questions and comments are pouring in over the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's draft guidance on mobile medical apps, making it obvious that the government's first attempt to clarify its regulatory authority over this fast-growing field won't be the last.While the 30-page draft establishes three categories of devices that would fall under FDA perusal, it leaves out - either specifically or by omission - several other uses. Among them: App sellers (like Apple), telecommunications providers and handset manufacturers, to name a few.