Telemedicine / Telehealth

Visiting Nurse and Community Health, Inc., which provides services in Tewksbury and Wilmington, Mass., has been awarded a $3,000 grant in support of its telehealth program, which monitors the home healthcare agency’s CHF and COPD patients, significantly decreasing ER visits and hospitalizations.

Houston-based Emerging Healthcare Solutions, a development-stage investment company specializing in emerging medical technologies, has finalized its acquisition of the Disaster Relief and Emergency Medical Services, or DREAMS technology. DREAMS is a telemedicine system initially developed with an $18 million grant from the Defense Department, which allows clinicians to triage and treat patients remotely through the use of video and wireless technology.

While President Obama signed the healthcare reform bill into law on Tuesday, other segments of the federal government are in the midst of decision-making that could also influence a proliferation of new healthcare devices and services.

Earlier this month, the Virginia Legislature unanimously approved a bill (SB 675) that would require private health insurers, health care subscriptions plans and HMOs to cover for the cost of health care services provided through telemedicine technology.

Following the rollout of the National Broadband Plan earlier this month, Verizon Business has announced a partnership with Cisco aimed at boosting video conferencing.

UnitedHealth Group's recently announced partnership with Cisco will build a national telehealth network, which integrates leading health care and remote video technology systems to provide patients access to physicians and specialists when in-person visits are not possible.

The FCC’s National Broadband Plan makes 11 recommendations for using high-speed broadband networks to increase the use of electronic health records, health data exchange and telemedicine.

A wireless monitoring system that automatically sends information about an abnormal heart rhythm from a device in the patient’s chest to the cardiologist’s office significantly cuts the time between when a problem arises and a treatment decision is made, according to the CONNECT trial presented yesterday at the American College of Cardiology’s (ACC) 59th annual conference in Atlanta.

Although telehealth remains an emerging category for the consumer electronics industry, consumer-led telehealth services could prove to be the disruptive influence required for professional care authorities to drive telehealth forward, according to U.K.-based IMS Research.