Posts Tagged ‘telemedicine’
Robotic Pancreas – Beyond Home Monitoring and the Quantified Self
April 19, 2010
Just as home monitoring using medical devices is beginning to gain traction and be reimbursed, e-visits as well and the movement toward the Quantified Self, implanted devices are now added to the mix. In a new article in Wired Magazine, The Robotic Pancreas, One man’s quest to put millions of diabetics on autopilot, implanted devices move into the popular press. After a successful trial of 17 teens at Yale, the next step is FDA approval. Medtronic is supporting the effort. There is already approval in some European countries and the devices does have an low glucose suspend feature to protect the patient. The FDA is accelerating the availability of an artificial pancreas; will it really take the predicted 5 years for approval and broadened use? What will be the next device which combines the quantified self with a medical device?
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Remote Health TelePresence Demo
March 30, 2010
At the Gigabit Breakfast Club at Case Western Reserve University, there was a demo by a professor of medicine. How does Telepresence differ from traditional telehealth? Watch and see.
Other presentations included:
- The Transformation Potential of Fiber for Smart and Connected Communities
- Remote Demonstration STEM class and Lab on campus
- video of endoscopic hydrocephalus surgery
Microsoft’s Vision for Healthcare
April 4, 2008
A cool video I found at Chris Paton’s Health Informatics Blog from Microsoft. This futuristic view of healthcare from the consumer and provider perspectives shows a variety of thin hand-helds, screen -walls which are touch screens and countertop smart screens which provide a range of health care solutions.
How far are we from this? Most of the technology exists today – the main barriers are cost, interoperability and the vision to communicate at these levels between patient and provider.
Share this:A Business Model for Telehealth?
August 3, 2007
In iHealthbeat, a feature on the Idaho telehealth program explores the issue of creating sustainable models for telehealth. They wisely point out that even academic programs like this one with a broad network of connectivity throughout the state can be in trouble we grant funding runs out. What better place to experiment that a rural state like Idaho. But where is the business model. Will Medicare provide the ongoing reimbursement? What about major insurors within the state? Business partnerships?
Sustainable business models are sorely needed now that the technology is readily available. But as in other studies, the cost of home monitoring and telemedicine needs to come down. Here is a chicken and egg dilemma – should the price come down to sustain the business or will more business drive down the cost?
Share this:Telephone vs. Web Interaction in Improving Health Outcomes
May 8, 2007
Government Health IT blog points to an article in the Journal of Managed Care which concluded that: “diabetic patients were much more likely to adhere to suggested testing procedures when someone got on the phone and prodded them compared to people who didn’t get this kind of contact.” He concludes: “The challenge for the crop of new Web 2.0 technologies is not in carving out new ways of providing healthcare, at least not yet. It’s finding a way to be relevant in the current hierarchy of healthcare delivery.” Fortunately, there are some studies from groups like CHESS at the University of Wisconsin showing similar results for web interactions.
Share this:Home Monitoring for the Elderly – NY Times
February 6, 2007
A report in the New York Times features the growing market for home monitoring tools for the elderly. Some can monitor every move of an elderly person living at home and allow concerned adult children to monitor their activities. Others are oriented toward warning alarms for non-compliance with medication or symptoms like high blood pressure. Others are more passive and focused on prevention. Wisely, due diligence in purchasing these systems is encouraged. It is still a young (sic) market but the demand is growing from the “sandwich generation” of the middle aged trying to care for the elderly parents and their own children and juggle careers. The ability to monitor one’s parent even from out of state is a plus for those whose parents may have moved south for retirement. The article does cite privacy concerns but with consenting parties and the opportunity for the elderly to remain in their own homes or living independently, it appears to be a trade-off worth taking.
Share this:Trivergence
November 25, 2006
On Future HIT, I found a post about trivegence. Trivergence is a new concept defined by Accenture as the meeting of devices, controls and data. They argue that because architecture now supports multiple devices, that the integration of controls and data into devices now enables unique opportunities. While convergence refers to “the unification of voice, data and video on the network level”, “Trivergence is an architecture that brings a new organization to devices, networks and controls. The conceptual breakthrough is that if a device is on the network, its controls can be located somewhere other than on the device itself. As a result, devices that used to be stand-alone entities are now cogs within a much larger system—a system that enables new user experiences through the interaction of its components.”
What about trivergence in healthcare? Certainly as more devices in clinical settings become connected to networks, the implications can be huge. Perhaps the greatest implications will be in telemedicine.
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