Following an April 2009 announcement, in which GE Healthcare and Intel pledged to jointly develop innovative technologies for independent living and chronic disease management, the tech companies--along with Mayo Clinic--are investigating a new model of health care delivery for patients at increased risk of re-hospitalization. Read »

Healthcare tops the FCC's short list of priorities as the independent government agency gears up to deliver its National Broadband Report on March 17. Some are saying the news could be a boon to the telehealth industry, since, among other things, the FCC is calling for expanded reimbursement for e-care, increased pilot programs, revised credentialing requirements, and clarified regulations for converged communications and healthcare devices. Read »

Dunmore, Pa.-based Traditional Home Health and Hospice is beefing up its Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) patient management program with an in-home patient vital signs monitoring system. The agency, which provides home health and hospice services to patients, has implemented the Electronic House Call system from Berkeley Heights, N.J.-based ExpressMD Solutions. Read »

In the wake of news that Boston’s MassGeneral Hospital for Children has implemented a new video program that puts doctors at the patient’s bedside 24/7—and another article showing how California has saved its taxpayers $13 million by using telemedicine to offset inmate transportation costs within the state’s prison system—Nashville, Tenn.-based SunCrest Healthcare has chosen Philips to supply telehealth monitors for its home care patients. Read »

The year is off to a good start for Corventis, which just received FDA clearance to market its NUVANT Mobile Cardiac Telemetry (MCT) System for the detection of non-lethal arrhythmias. Equally important, the developer of wireless cardiovascular systems' Monitoring Center has been approved by CMS as an Independent Diagnostic Testing Facility (IDTF), and the company has received approval to bill for services provided to patients with Medicare and several commercial insurers, paving the way for the NUVANT MCT System to become available across the U.S. Read »

Telemedicine may be helping to boost the market for personalized medicine in the United States, but the technology's capacity for easing the intensivist shortage may be limited, according to a study published in the December issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, which finds the use of telemedicine in intensive care units does not improve patients' risk of death or length of stay. Read »

The Greater Regional Medical Center in Creston, Iowa, is stepping up its commitment to technology with the addition of a new dual wireless network that will offer public access to patients and visitors while granting physicians access through a secured network. Both networks will run over the same access points. Read »

The jury may think it's still out regarding the role virtual doctor visits will play in the future of patient care, but anyone who chooses to follow the money can see that telehealth initiatives are being positioned for widespread deployment. Read »

After spending the past year developing prototypes of products aimed at the home health care market, AT&T has announced it has big plans to establish a foothold in the telehealth industry. The telecommunications giant aims to make everyday household items "part of the network cloud," according to Robert Miller, executive director of technical research at AT&T and a 40-year veteran at the company’s Florham Park research labs. Read »

With over $27 billon invested each year in healthcare R&D globally, it's clear technology is playing an increasingly larger role in shaping the way we prevent, diagnose and treat patients. While much of the focus in the U.S. over the past 18 months has centered around EMRs and monitors within the operating room, developments in telemedicine, robotic surgery and wearable monitoring devices are rapidly defining the next stage of healthcare's evolution. Although wearable wireless sensors in healthcare are still in their early stages, IEEE, the world’s largest technical professional association, predicts the coming spike in the worldwide aging population over the next two decades will trigger a huge demand for technologies that will help enhance this population’s quality of life, in ways like allowing them to remain in their homes while still getting the care and monitoring they need. Read »