Molly Merrill
Given that texting is the most widely used mobile data service and healthcare workers are among the biggest users of mobile technology, it may seem natural for its use to be extended into the physician-patient relationship. But it is more complex than sending and responding to 160 character messages, experts told Healthcare IT News in April.
With the release of the iPad in April, many healthcare experts predicted that it could be a "game changer" for the industry by spurring physician's adoption of electronic medical records. Connecticut physician Steven A. R. Murphy proposed that every doctor should use one. "The iPad is going to crush laptops in this healthcare space," he told Healthcare IT News in May.
In the year 2010 doctors should be looking at technologies that could help boost their communication with their patients, experts told Healthcare IT News in January. Thomas J. Handler, MD, research director at Stamford, Conn.-based research firm Gartner Inc., predicted that the patient centered medical home was set to heat up in 2010. He said this would bring a focus on improving physician and patient communication, or as he put it "customer relationship management" for lack of a better word.
Three in five Americans with chronic disease say using a home medical device would improve their health, according to a new survey. The poll was conducted by GfK Roper on behalf of San Francisco-based EHR provider, Practice Fusion.Almost half of Americans currently live with at least one chronic condition, and more than ninety percent of Americans age 65 or older are living with some form of chronic illness, according to the CDC.
The Rural Nebraska Healthcare Network (RNHN), a consortium of nine rural hospitals and related clinics in western Nebraska, launched construction of an $18M fiber optic medical network that aims at improving care throughout the Nebraska panhandle.The proposed 750-mile fiber network spans 12 counties in western Nebraska, and will connect to national research networks such as National Lambda Rail and Internet 2 in Denver.
Projections for the mobile health industry show that by 2015 there will be 500 million people using mobile health applications on their smartphones, according to a new report by a Berlin-based market research company.
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Indian Health Service (IHS) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to improve the health status of American Indian and Alaska Native veterans, officials announced Tuesday. The MOU includes improving care though the development of health information technology. Officials said the IHS-VA MOU outlines a new plan for enhanced coordination, collaboration and resource-sharing that will draw on the strengths and expertise of the two agencies.
The healthcare sector is among the top three industries seeing the heaviest adoption of the iPad for business use, according to data from Good Technology, a Redwood City-based provider of multiplatform enterprise mobility.The data comes from an analysis of Good Technology's user base, which includes more than 4,000 enterprise customers, whose iPad deployments range from one to more than 1,000 iPads.
The Medical Society of Delaware is making web-based tools available to its members to boost doctor-patient communication and is also providing free personal health records to all state residents.Officials said the society will provide these new tools to its members and residents through a partnership with Atlanta-based RelayHealth.
IDC Health Insights announced Tuesday the launch of a new research advisory service that examines the evolving connected health market. Officials said the service aims at helping organizations develop strategies to monetize telemedicine services.