Healthcare Reform

UnitedHealth Group and Cisco are teaming up to build a national telehealth network that will grant patients access to physicians and specialists when in-person visits are not possible.

The National eHealth Collaborative (NeHC) is creating "NHIN University," a program designed to engage healthcare IT stakeholders in efforts to develop the Nationwide Health Information Network.

The Federal Communications Commission has announced $145 million in grants to 16 telehealth projects for engineering, constructing and implementing regional high-speed broadband networks in 17 states.

Five research teams will receive $2.4 million in grants to study how patient-recorded observations of daily life can be used to treat chronic conditions. According to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the projects involve mobile phone applications, remote patient monitoring tools and personal health record systems.

Susan DeVore, president and CEO of the Premier healthcare alliance, says the biggest challenge to healthcare delivery is the fragmentation of the system and the clinical information gaps that result.

Raleigh, N.C.-based TeleHealth Services has rolled out its updated TIGR version 7 system. The new interactive education system will provide hospital patients with on-demand access to condition-specific patient education care plans.

Results from a survey released Tuesday at HIMSS10 indicate that fifty-eight percent of physicians who currently do not use electronic health records plan to introduce new systems within the next two years.

The Veterans Administration of Central California Health Care System plans to use the Health Buddy remote patient monitoring system from Robert Bosch Healthcare, Inc. to promote better medication adherence in chronically ill veterans.