Telehealth

Robert Jarrin, senior director of government affairs at Qualcomm Incorporated -- like most people involved in the mHealth world -- is waiting with bated breath for the Food and Drug Administration to finalize its mobile medical apps guidance.

Hundreds of thousands of Medicare beneficiaries in almost 100 counties across the United States and its territories will be losing coverage for telehealth services because they no longer live in federally designated rural areas. As a result of the 2010 Census, 97 counties in 36 states and territories are being redefined as metropolitan, rather than rural.

The five most recent CIOs of the Year look into the future and imagine what healthcare IT will look like in 10 years. What they see ahead, they say, is both challenging and exciting.

While their colleagues in Washington are starting to take interest in the promises of digital health, lawmakers in several states are forging ahead with their own legislative ideas. According to the American Telemedicine Association, seven states and the District of Columbia have seen bills introduced in the past four weeks that address coverage and reimbursement for telemedicine services.

A new House bill introduced on Dec. 30 that would expand telehealth services in Medicare and Medicaid programs has garnered the support of the American Telemedicine Association.

Mobile health is one of the more transformative developments in healthcare, according to Patricia Abbott, associate professor of nursing at the University of Michigan, School of Nursing, Division of Nursing Business and Health Systems. "The real winners will be the ones who grab on in the front end, and don't wait," she says.

There's a new app that can help caregivers and clinicians monitor the heart rate and respiratory activity of a patient; it's called SecuraFone, powered by Hermosa Beach, Calif.-based SecuraTrac.

Some fear mobile healthcare could replace the need for doctors in some cases, but according to Patricia Mechael, executive director of the mHealth Alliance, mHealth will only help doctors make better decisions. It won't replace them.

The Federal Communications Commission will make $400 million available annually to healthcare providers to expand the development of broadband telehealth networks from a pilot to a permanent program. The pilot program has supported 50 provider healthcare networks in 38 states.

Telehealth used to be something few people knew about, or understood. Today, it is fast taking its place as a major aspect of healthcare, according to experts at the National eHealth Collaborative's Technology Crossroads Conference in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 27.