Telemedicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch; world leaders in telemedicine and telehealth

The AT&T Center for Telehealth Research and Policy at UTMB

Daily FYI

April 17, 2009

FCC Earmarks $46 mil for Rural Telehealth

Source: The Wrap

The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday announced the approval of funding under its Rural Health Care Pilot Program for five broadband telehealth networks that will link hundreds of hospitals in Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Telemedicine Doctor Visits

Source: KFYR-TV North Dakota NBC News

City dwellers have a short ride to the hospital.

For those who live out in the country, it`s not so easy.

Some live hours away from their doctors, making a follow-up visit a day-long event.

For those who don`t have the time or the patience to drive to Bismarck, there`s another option St. Alexius offers to connect them with their doctors.

It`s another day at the office for certified diabetes educator Cindy Renner. Today she`s helping a patient understand why her blood sugar levels are fluctuating so much. But unlike most of her appointments that involve a handshake, this one involves a lot of high tech equipment.

ExpressMD(TM) Solutions' Remote Patient Health Monitoring Device Receives 510(K) Market Clearance Approval From FDA

Source: PRNewswire

ExpressMD(TM) Solutions, a joint venture formed by Authentidate Holding Corp. (Nasdaq: ADAT) and EncounterCare Solutions, Inc. (Pink Sheets: ECSL) to provide remote patient monitoring telehealth systems and services that improve care for patients with chronic conditions announced today that its remote patient health monitoring system has received 510(k) market clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). ExpressMD(TM) plans to initiate manufacturing and sales of its Electronic House Call(TM) monitoring devices and services immediately.

CosmoCom Showcases Telehealth at World Health Care Congress

Source: Business Wire

Healthcare providers are adopting telehealth to support high standards of care and cost reduction, because telehealth creates efficient, effective, consistent personal interactions between caregivers and the patients they serve. CosmoCom will demonstrate CosmoHealth™ -- its Unified Patient-Provider Communication (UPPC) system for inbound and outbound patient calls in booth 307 at the World Health Care Congress in Washington, D.C., April 14-16. UPPC supports intelligent queuing and routing of calls and interoperates with Electronic Health Records (EHR) to deliver timely, accurate information with every call. More information about the CosmoCom telehealth applications is available at http://www.cosmocom.com/UPPC.

Telemedicine Defies Slowdown

Source: Federal Telemedicine News

The American Telemedicine Association (ATA) is witnessing its strongest growth in history for their upcoming annual meeting in April despite the nationwide trend toward decreased attendance at meetings. With a record 20 percent increase in attendance and sold-out trade show with 200 exhibiting companies, ATA is experiencing the largest surge in interest since its creation in 1993.

New Medicare and Medicaid Reimbursement Policy is Expected to Benefit Many Telemedicine Facilities across the Country

Source: Center for Telehealth and e-Health Law

Changes to the current telemedicine Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement policies will go into effect this month. The proposed changes would permit facilities using telemedicine to offer patients more medical services.Under the current telemedicine Medicare and Medicaid policy, site locations within the office of a physician or practitioner, critical access hospitals, rural health clinics, federally qualified health clinics, hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, community mental health centers, and in-hospital dialysis centers are covered. The current policy also covers consultations, outpatient visits, psychiatric diagnostic interviews, pharmacologic management, and psychotherapy through telemedicine. However, the policy proposed will expand on the patient site locations covered, including state hospitals, schools and locations in rural areas. It will also provide all Medicare and Medicaid patients with eligibility to use the medical services previously listed.

Louisiana reaps health gains with telemedicine strategy

Source: Government Health IT

Although their state ranks lowest in the country in health indicators, leaders of the Louisiana Rural Hospital Coalition (LRHC) hope that the addition of telemedicine programs, a health information exchange, electronic health records and tools for managing chronic diseases will improve the health of Louisianans.

Telemedicine bill clears the Senate

Source: StatesmanJournal.com

bill that would expand opportunities for Oregonians and their doctors to take advantage of telemedicine passed the Senate on Tuesday.

Senate Bill 24 requires health insurers to cover telemedical health service if that service otherwise is covered by the plan.