Telehealth
As IBM and Apple team up for a new "mobile first" platform, we could be seeing what happens when the power of Watson analytics is put into a smartphone to be queried like Siri at the point of care.
Despite the bad press the Department of Veterans Affairs has received in recent weeks, officials are seeing marked success from their telehealth programs, which have enabled the agency to treat more veterans, reduce hospital admissions and save some serious money.
Making telemedicine work is often no easy process, but officials from Boston-based Partners HealthCare, a longtime leader in connected health, believe they've done it. So what's their secret?
The face of telehealth is changing in ways that are becoming unrecognizable from just a few short years ago. No longer is it just a rudimentary communication between healthcare providers and patients. It is now a substantive encounter that reflects the intimacy and personal nature of a face-to-face visit, providers of new-generation technology say.
New guidelines issued by the Federation of State Medical Boards could have a chilling effect on the growth of telemedicine -- especially in rural areas and among low-income patients, say some patient advocates, healthcare providers and healthcare companies.
With consumers entranced by fast-evolving technologies and accustomed to price competition, healthcare is set to be transformed by innovations from other sectors of the economy such as retail and telecommunications, according to a new study by PwC's Health Research Institute.
New this year at the 2014 HIMSS Annual Conference & Exhibition, YourTurn has a democratic spirit. The slate of discussions on Tuesday -- from patient ID to EHR usability to telemedicine -- was drawn from ideas submitted by conference attendees.
"Rural is not a smaller version of urban," said Tom Morris, associate administrator for rural health policy at Health Resources and Services Administration, speaking Sunday at the pre-conference symposium, "Health IT and Rural Healthcare: Embracing Opportunities and Overcoming Challenges."
Onsite Occupational Health and Safety has tapped UPMC to provide second opinions and medical consultations in Afghanistan via telemedicine services.
Telemedicine, the exchange of medical information between sites via electronic communications, is being used not only by ICUs but also by other hospital departments, home health agencies and private doctors' offices. But skeptics suggest that small ICUs might be able to improve care with less expensive measures.