Health and Technology

Disruptive Technology: Wal-Mart to Market eMR solution

Just like when they introduced $4 prescriptions, Wal-Mart's offering of an Electronic Medical Record solution will change the game dramatically and rapidly. 

Wal-Mart Plans to Market System for Digital Health Records - NYTimes.com (full article)

The company plans to team its Sam’s Club division with Dell for computers and eClinicalWorks, a fast-growing private company, for software. Wal-Mart says its package deal of hardware, software, installation, maintenance and training will make the technology more accessible and affordable, undercutting rival health information technology suppliers by as much as half.

“We’re a high-volume, low-cost company,” said Marcus Osborne, senior director for health care business development at Wal-Mart. “And I would argue that mentality is sorely lacking in the health care industry.”

The Sam’s Club offering, to be made available this spring, will be under $25,000 for the first physician in a practice, and about $10,000 for each additional doctor. After the installation and training, continuing annual costs for maintenance and support will be $4,000 to $6,500 a year, the company estimates.

Federal Stimulus Allocates $32B for Research and Healthcare IT

Federal Stimulus Allocates $32B for Research and Healthcare IT - 19-Feb-09: article: contact TechWeek Editor.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the $787 billion economic stimulus bill, was signed into law this week. Provided within the plan is $32 billion which will be dedicated to research under the National Institutes of Health and to advancing healthcare IT and electronic medical records initiatives. At least $20 billion of the stimulus will go towards healthcare IT to encourage the adoption of electronic medical records which it is believed will reduce costs and increase quality care. Another $10 billion will go towards NIH research programs including $1 billion for cancer research. The stimulus also provides more than $1 billion for comparative-effectiveness research and nearly $1 billion for clinical and community-based prevention services.

To qualify for healthcare IT stimulus monies, healthcare systems, physicians and even payers will have to prove that they are using electronic medical records that comply with federal guidelines. Fred Richards, founder of Columbus-based HTP, which was acquired in 2008 by McKesson and is now part of RelayHealth, says that medical professionals and healthcare systems are still awaiting details on what they must do to be compliant with federal requirements. This he says will take most of 2009 and 2010 to implement programs in order to receive funds for hospitals.

U.S. stimulus bill pushes e-health records for all

U.S. stimulus bill pushes e-health records for all | Politics and Law - CNET News.

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday approved an $838 billion "stimulus" bill by a 61-37 vote, capping more than a week of political sparring between critics of the measure and President Obama, who claimed during a press conference that an "economic emergency" made it necessary.

What didn't come up during the president's first press conference was how one section of the convoluted legislation--it's approximately 800 pages total--is intended to radically reshape the nation's medical system by having the government establish computerized medical records that would follow each American from birth to death.

Billions will be handed to companies creating these databases. Billions will be handed to universities to incorporate patient databases "into the initial and ongoing training of health professionals." There's a mention of future "smart card functionality."

Lack of Standards Delay Electronic Medical Records

A provision in the economic-stimulus bill that allots about $20 billion for health IT could advance efforts to implement the widespread use of electronic medical records and bolster technology companies, but challenges remain. High implementation costs for providers and the lack of universal standards for data collection and sharing could delay progress

Lack of Standards Delay Electronic Medical Records - washingtonpost.com.

Google Health goes Mobile

Anvita Health Unveils Mobile Viewer for Google Health.

"The new Mobile Viewer from Anvita is a great example of how companies can innovate using Google's open platforms," said Google Health. "We are pleased to see one of our trusted partners use Android to help make personal health data more available to consumers. We think giving users options for how they access their health data is paramount to consumer-directed care. Anvita has created the first of many mobile health applications using Google Health."

The Anvita Mobile Viewer enables users of Google Health to view their Google Health profile data from Android-powered devices, which today only include the T-Mobile G1. This allows for on-demand and real-time view of their medical records anytime and anywhere and provides for more flexibility when visiting physicians, pharmacists, and other care providers. The Anvita Mobile Viewer is a free, downloadable application built for the Android platform.

Patient blogs provide comfort to families at OSU Hospital

The Ohio State University Medical Center is offering CarePages service to let patients stay in touch and receive support from friends and families.  (Great article, despite being a product placement for D E W.  Hopefully the patient & family will meet wtih a Nutrition Specialist too)

Patient blogs provide comfort to families at OSU Hospital.  Columbus Business First (subscription)

Hawaii first state to offer Webcam Medical Visits

Patients with a sore throat, high fever or mystery rash in Hawaii will now be able to bypass the waiting room and find a physician's care just a click away.

Doctors here plan to start making online house calls Thursday in the nation's first large-scale program of its kind that some believe could be a groundbreaking step in health care.

Dr. Roy Schoenberg, American Well's chief executive, calls the launch the "world premiere" of his technology that has been in the works for two years and is being offered around the clock, seven days a week. The service will soon be offered in several other states, and will become "very prevalent in 2009," he said.

The service is being provided in Hawaii by Hawaii Medical Service Association under a licensing agreement with Boston-based American Well. It is available for a fee to all Hawaii residents, including the uninsured and non-HMSA members. The Blue Cross/Blue Shield affiliate insures more than half the state's population. "This is changing the face of how medicine is delivered in a very positive, safe and efficient way," said Dr. Patricia Avila, medical director of HMSA's Online Care.

Links to articles:

The Associated Press: In Hawaii, the doctor is always in _ online.

Hawaii tries out online health care | Cutting Edge - CNET News.

Future Tense: A visit to the doctor via Webcam. (audio podcast)

PatientPlacement.com streamlines the insurance verification task

Patient Placement Systems Announces New Insurance Verification Service for Long-Term Care.

"The service is fast, simple and saves us a tremendous amount of time and effort on tasks that used to slow down our admissions process and responsiveness." Guitreau also noted several benefits of having insurance verification integrated with the PatientPlacement.com solution Belle Maison already uses to manage and track admissions and referrals. Belle Maison employees can run the instant check without having to log into another Web site or software package, or play phone tag with insurers. The feature also uses patient information that is already in the system, so there is no need to re-key information when submitting the request. The live response typically takes just 3-5 seconds. The results become part of online file for that patient, available for export or printing.

Leveraging the power of the McKesson® RelayHealth™ network, the Referral Management System integrated insurance verification feature provides an instant eligibility connection to more than 430 payors including Medicare, Medicaid, Aetna, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, CIGNA, Humana, TRICARE, and United Healthcare.

Obama promises an aggressive approach to health IT

Obama promises an aggressive approach to health IT.

Asked how he would fund his health initiatives, Obama said he and his team were studying their options. He said they are considering “how do we gain savings that we can then put into prevention and health IT and making sure that people who currently don’t have coverage get coverage."

But he also indicated he views health IT as a cost-cutting measure. He said his team is looking for approaches that will pay for themselves over a decade.

Cleveland Clinic sets a precedent in transparency

Cleveland Clinic Makes Physician Disclosures Available Online.

Recently, Cleveland Clinic posted on its website a current directory of all its physicians, listing their educational and professional backgrounds, their medical specializations and their relationships with industry. To find an example, access Cleveland Clinic's physician directory and search by a doctor's name. His or her biography will offer disclosure statements when they apply.

Cleveland Clinic physicians and researchers must submit for approval all industry relationships pursuant to Cleveland Clinic’s conflict of interest process and as part of Cleveland Clinic’s commitment to innovation through collaboration.

“We want our patients to have abundant information about our physicians and let them decide what’s relevant to their situations. As far as we are aware, Cleveland Clinic will be the first academic medical center in the U.S. to disclose to its patients and the public the industry ties of its physicians,” said Joseph Hahn, M.D., Chief of Staff, Cleveland Clinic.