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News: Newsletter 45

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June 28, 2007

In this newsletter:

  • Med-e-Tel 2007: a resounding success
  • Med-e-Tel 2007 proceedings
  • Shaping tomorrow's health system to improve patient care
  • Alcatel-Lucent and Impact announce first successful WiMAX trial for telemedicine and elderly care applications
  • Department of Health chooses t+ Medical in Newham
  • Optimizing collaboration among ehealth projects in low resource settings
  • Aerotel Medical Systems reveals innovative mobile monitoring solutions at Med-e-Tel 2007
  • Vitaphone shows top of the line tele-ECG product line at Med-e-Tel
  • A&D Medical receives award for its advanced blood pressure monitoring solutions
  • News from ISfTeH
  • News from the Med-e-Tel media partners
  • Newsbriefs


On 18-20 April 2007, the Luxexpo exhibition and congress center in Luxembourg was once again host to the international Med-e-Tel exhibition & conference. In its 5th edition this year, Med-e-Tel attracted over 400 participants from some 50 countries in Europe and other parts of the world. Med-e-Tel offers a wide choice of conference topics and sessions, an exhibition providing a view on diverse telemedicine and ehealth products and services, and plenty of opportunities for networking and establishing valuable business contacts. Or as one attendee put it: "We have made some contacts here that may well determine the future direction of our business."

In the opening conference session, Dr. Mark Blatt, Director Health Industry Solutions of the Digital Health Group at Intel Corporation (USA), provided an overview of how the emergence of new technologies and policies like PHR expansion, standardized remote monitoring use cases, WiMAX, and mobile technologies might effect the telemedicine and ehealth environment in the near future. He showed how a paradigm shift is taking place within the healthcare ecosystem, empowering the end users (the citizen, the patient) to take control of their own health and highlighted Intel's involvement in the new Continua Health Alliance, a global consortium of medical and ICT companies and healthcare providers, who are aiming to develop and market interoperable health and wellness monitoring devices. He introduced Dossia, an employer led initiative to develop the needed shared infrastructure for life-long independent health records for individuals. He encouraged the adoption of wide area communication technologies - as they become available - to spread the reach of healthcare professionals, and he encouraged the use of mobile computing platforms to enable enhanced Point of Care delivery capabilities (such as the Mobile Clinical Assistant (MCA) platform developed by Intel and "Phones for Health", a global public-private partnership to deliver practical information solutions to strengthen health in the developing world).
eHealth Coordinator at the World Health Organization, Dr. Yunkap Kwankam, gave an update on WHO's current ehealth strategy and an overview of implementations around the world. After the WHO passed its eHealth Resolution in 2005, ehealth has been put firmly and permanently on the agenda of national governments and the WHO itself. The resolution urged member states to draw up a long-term strategic plan for developing and implementing ehealth services in the various areas of health sectors, including health administration.
In his presentation during the opening session, Prof. Dr. Michael Nerlich, President of the International Society for Telemedicine & eHealth (ISfTeH) and dean of the Medical Faculty at the University of Regensburg (Germany), presented the eHCC (eHealth Competence Center), a newly created ehealth research group, which aims to be part of ehealth standardization and he uncovered plans for an international ehealth master program.
Prof. Krishnan Ganapathy, Head of the Apollo Telemedicine Foundation in India commented on the evolution, growth and development of the Apollo Foundation, including a demo of the world's first vSAT enabled village hospital.
Rolien de Jong, Head of Innovative Services at Dutch homecare provider Meavita, talked about their positive experiences with a telehealth platform that enables them to provide self-management services for their chronic care patients (elderly patients, patients with diabetes, etc.). The patient is considered to be responsible and capable to change his/her behaviour via the Meavita self-management program. Step-by-step knowledge and experience are built up by the interpretation of the data which are gathered from the patient on a daily basis through the telehealth platform. The presentation actually showed how Dr. Blatt's vision of the paradigm shift within the healthcare ecosystem is already taking place and empowering patients to take control of their own health.

The themes of ageing and maintaining quality of life for the elderly, disabled and people with special needs through the use of telemedicine and ehealth tools and services, were high on the agenda at Med-e-Tel. With the rise in chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart failure or asthma, to name but a few, telemonitoring technologies offer tremendous opportunities to keep track of one's health and physical wellbeing, allowing for timely interventions when things start deteriorating. Med-e-Tel partner organizations such as the International Association of Homes and Services for the Ageing, and also the European Telecommunications Standards Institute provided an insight into how the use of technology can be a possible solution to the challenges facing patients/citizens, caregivers and governments in our ageing society.

Besides the repercussions that telemedicine and ehealth will have on a personal health level, there are obviously many applications that are situated at the institutional level as well, and that can help hospitals, clinicians and general practitioners to conduct their activities more effectively and efficiently. Some of this was highlighted in a regional symposium that was conducted, as in the previous years, by the Luxembourg CRP-Santé (Centre de Recherche Public) within the frame of Med-e-Tel. The symposium focused this year on the topic of "How Information Technology can Improve Performance and Quality" and provided an overview of IT solutions offered by the industry with presentations from a.o. Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, Hippocad, IBM, IRIS, and real-life experiences from hospitals in the region on subjects like datawarehousing, electronic archiving of patient records, nurse planning, emergency services, mobile solutions for home healthcare services, secure wireless networks and more.

One of the best attended sessions at Med-e-Tel 2007 was the one on "Mobile eHealth Solutions", in which a.o. the World Health Organization's strategy for "mHealth" was discussed. The WHO is currently indeed looking at what various donors, policy makers, and implementing partners are doing to support mobile ehealth activities throughout the world with a special focus on low resource settings and developing countries. This includes but is not limited to the use of mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDA), microcomputers, remote diagnostic and monitoring devices, and GPS/GIS mapping equipment to enhance the achievement of health care objectives. Uses may be formal or informal and range from remote treatment and care and support of people suffering from both infectious as well as chronic diseases (mobile telemedicine), health service delivery and coordination, mLearning, and public awareness raising.

Other sessions at Med-e-Tel included Successes in Telecardiology, eHealth for Diabetes Management, Advanced Systems Strategies for eHospitals, eHealth for Developing Countries, Efficiency in eHealth, eHealth Support to Surgery and Traumatology, eHealth in Daily Practice, eLearning, Best Practices in European eHealth Expertise, Telepaediatrics, Homecare Applications, Mobile IT Solutions in Emergency Medicine, Optimizing Collaboration among eHealth Projects in Low Resource Settings.

Med-e-Tel also featured an exhibition which provided a look at some of the practical developments that have been made in this area and the products and technologies that are available from companies such as A&D Medical, Aerotel Medical Systems, Alcatel-Lucent, AMD Telemedicine, Card Guard, Cisco, Honeywell HomMed, IBM, Impact Care, ISIS, Omron, Robosoft, RTX Healthcare, t+ Medical, Vitaphone, Viterion TeleHealthcare as well as many others.

RTX Healthcare (Denmark) presented their new RTX3370 Telehealth Monitor at Med-e-Tel. It is an interactive and simple to use device, designed specifically to improve the way of providing healthcare to patients outside hospitals suffering from chronic diseases such as heart failure, COPD, diabetes and other chronic diseases. "The RTX3370 Telehealth Monitor is targeting the disease management and home healthcare industry to monitor chronically ill patients at home," said Bjarne Flou, Managing Director of RTX Healthcare. "The uniqueness of our product is that it is offered as a system device which interoperates directly with our clients Clinical Information Systems. Our business model is based on hardware sales, compared to most other competing solutions in the industry, where the devices are tied up to a proprietary infrastructure and the business model are based on a monthly fee, fee per user and likewise."
Another new introduction at Med-e-Tel was Estele, a robotics system for tele-echography, by French Company Robosoft. Estele is a tele-operated robotic system allowing any expert clinician to perform remotely ultrasound diagnosis as if he were "on site". The system is based, on a light 4-axis ultrasound Probe Holder Robot (positioned on the patient by any medical assistant), and remotely controlled by a specialist. A bi-directional videoconferencing system allows the patient and the specialist to communicate as if they were in the same room, while the specialist can visualize both the ultrasound images and see and talk with the patient. Estele is a reliable turn-key system, easily usable worldwide, and allowing any clinician expert to overcome space and time constraints.
Impact Care (The Netherlands) presented its telehealth platform with embedded video telephony over the TVscreen, which currently already allows elderly care organizations in The Netherlands to significantly reduce the number of home visits and to provide self-management services for chronic care patients. The same platform also allows for tele-education services among healthcare professionals.

In short, Med-e-Tel offered unique opportunities to discover telemedicine and ehealth products, services and innovative technologies, to gather updated information through the extensive conference programs, to network with contacts from around the world, and to establish new partnerships. Details and information about the conference sessions, companies and organizations that were featured at this year's Med-e-Tel are still available at www.medetel.lu.
Med-e-Tel 2008 is scheduled for 16-18 April 2008. For more details, contact .


The Med-e-Tel 2007 Proceedings bring together the papers that were presented at the Med-e-Tel 2007 Exhibition and Conference by experts, users, researchers and industry representatives from around the world, and aim to assist those who are planning to introduce ehealth/telemedicine applications in their regions or countries and to allow them to rely on experiences of others in order to avoid mistakes or to have to reinvent the wheel.
To view the contents of the Med-e-Tel 2007 Proceedings, for some sample pages, and to download the order form, go to www.medetel.lu/index.php?rub=proceedings&page=info.


When seconds can literally mean the difference between life and death, healthcare organizations depend on communication networks to seamlessly and reliably connect medical staff to deliver quality patient care. Disparate communication networks compromise response, collaboration and clinical accessibility contributing to increased costs and decreased quality of patient care. To combat these problems, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), one of the leading non-profit health systems in the U.S., has teamed up with Alcatel-Lucent to lead an IP network transformation project that will upgrade its data infrastructure, enteprise telephony system and contact center platforms and applications aver a next-genration converged network. Beyond delivering this integrated network, the two organizations are creating a joint venture focused on developing applications for the healthcare industry - allowing patients, first responders and health care providers to benefit from continued research and innovation delivered through this powerful partnership.
With quality patient care at the center of its philosophy, UPMC seeks to realize a vision that provides quality care that is unconfined in its appraoch. By seamlessly connecting clinicians with patients, peers and medical records, irrespective of location, UPMC strives to deliver "unbound health care" and transform its business in the process.
"The mission of UPMC is to provide outstanding patient care and to shape tomorrow's health system through through clinical innovation and research. This dictates a state-of-the-art, reliable, scalable communications system. Alcatel-Lucent's innovative products will allow for seamless communication by integrating voice and data networks. Access to information for clinical and administrative needs will be available through the most appropriate channels. We believe this initiative will expand to meet UPMC's needs regionally, nationally and internationally," says Dan Drawbaug, CIO at UPMC.
Over the next 48 months, UPMC and Alcatel-Lucent will lead the way in building one of the most advanced and all-encompassing communications networks in the health care industry. In so doing, the two proven leaders will continue to raise the bar on health care innovation while improving patient care in the process.
At Med-e-Tel 2007, Alcatel-Lucent also presented their breakthrough experience in the area of cross-institutional elderly care projects, as well as its engagement in innovative and promising telecare platforms in Europe and North America, enabling the sharing of knowledge in real time, and a rapid access to potentially life-saving information - anytime anywhere. The presentations are available at Alcatel-Lucent_Solutions.pdf and Comment_ameliorer_l'experience_du_patient.pdf.


Alcatel-Lucent and Impact, the European leading application services provider for telemedicine and elderly care at home, have announced that they have successfully completed the verification testing of Impact's telemedicine platform for diabetes with Alcatel-Lucent's most advanced version of WiMAX Universal 802.16e-2005. This verification test was done in partnership with Casema, one of the largest cable-operators in the Netherlands with more than 1.4 million subscribers.
For more information, contact Dirk Devos, CEO Impact, at , or call +31 622 565 138.


t+ Medical is delighted to be chosen as a partner in the successful demonstrator bid for telehealth in Newham, East London, UK. t+ Diabetes will be used to monitor over one thousand patients following the Department of Health's announcement.
Newham was one of only three sites in England chosen to look at how telehealth and telemedicine can be best utilised on wide scale. The DOH has awarded £12 million to teams from Newham, Kent and Cornwall.
The t+ Medical system can be used in a number of different long term conditions and allows healthcare professionals to more effectively manage diseases such as diabetes. The easy to use system harnesses the power of the modern mobile phone turning it into a health computer in your pocket and delivers real time vital signs monitoring. Intelligent algorithms prioritise patients according to their needs which allow healthcare professionals to spend time on those who need help the most. This is key to delivering one of the main DOH objectives in reducing emergency hospital bed days and admissions.
Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt said: "Improving patient care with new scientific advances and innovation is vital if the NHS is to continue to offer the very best services.....Remote devices mean greater choice and independence for patients, with more people able to monitor and look after their own health. So a person with diabetes can have their blood sugar monitored from home - meaning less unexpected or emergency trips to hospital."
According to t+ Medical CEO Tim Clover: "Our partnership with Newham represents a significant development for telemedicine in the UK. Clinical trials show that the t+ (think positive) system offers real clinical benefits to the patient while saving the healthcare systems many times the roll-out investment. We are delighted with the opportunity to prove the benefits of our technology on such a public stage."
For more details, go to www.tplusmedical.com.


A day-long workshop at Med-e-Tel 2007 on the subject of 'Optimizing collaboration among ehealth projects in low resource settings', brought together diverse project representatives seeking ways to optimize the sharing of common resource requirements, e.g. communication facilities.
The opening presentations from Healthspan International (USA), Aga Khan Health Network, IICD (the Netherlands), and ITM (Belgium) focused on current own project experience in Tanzania, offering a common local context to note perspectives of the do's and don'ts of project implementation.
Among others, two common challenges were identified:
1) a need to broaden inter-project contact within a local environment, to encourage local initiative to identify local collaboration opportunities. This would facilitate acceptance of local responsibility for optimal employment through sharing of otherwise scarce resources;
2) the desirability of adopting proven e-learning techniques, using an existent communications infrastructure while planning for future growth to benefit from continuing technology development.
Following the Tanzanian projects summaries, attention was drawn to two currently successful international ICT eHealth projects both focusing on distance consultation and professional training. The Aga Khan Health Network initiative presented focused on diagnostic consultation connecting two 'in-house' facilities in Arizona, USA and Tanzania. In contrast, the University of Basel, Switzerland demonstration of their widely deployed iPath / iTeach capabilities offered an example of a common platform for utilization by otherwise unrelated projects, the intention being to minimize duplication of software development and infrastructure employment. Dr. Pramod Gaur of the USA generously shared his experience of the Community-Commercial partnership.
A most interesting review of a comparable large intra-national project was outlined by Ana Haddad from the Ministry of Health in Brazil. Yet again, this presentation highlighted the advantages realized through collaboration of mutually beneficial practices formerly hindered by cultural, linguistic, or distance realities.
In closing, Dr. Yunkap Kwankam, eHealth Coordinator at WHO, effectively summarized the utility of this 'Optimizing Collaboration...' session, encouraging its future repetition. His summation was confirmed by both a generous attendance at this optional Med-e-Tel session on collaboration, and a perceptible agreement with its purpose as judged by the quality of the solicited questions and comments from the participants.
For more information, or to contribute to the next workshop planned at Med-e-Tel 2008, contact .


Aerotel Medical Systems presented its portfolio of telemedicine solutions at the Med-e-Tel 2007 conference and exhibition. Among these solutions was the HeartOne which is a hand-held single lead mobile trans-telephonic ECG monitor. A new service targeted specifically for children (from newborn to adolescents) was presented as part of the Med-e-Tel conference program (see Aerotel's.pdf). The service enables children and their parents to easily conduct ECG tests when in need, transmit them via phone lines to the monitoring center, from which they are transmitted directly to a specialist. The specialist receives alerts of any new reading received, interprets the reading and sends his advice to the child’s personal doctor. This way the children and their parents enjoy peace of mind, save unnecessary hospital visits, and receive immediate care in case of an emergency.
Another new product that was presented, was the SKeeper which is a wearable emergency alarm and cellular communicator device developed by Israeli company Tadiran LifeCare, which was recently acquired by Aerotel. SKeeper enables elderly people, children or lone workers to be in close contact with their parents or caregivers and get immediate human response in case of need, either from their relatives or from a tele-assistance center with 24X7 human response. A peace of mind device, SKeeper is attracting interest from both tele-assistance providers and cellular service providers around the world. Later this year, Aerotel plans to launch a GPS-enabled model of SKeeper for tracking and locating of users in case of an emergency.
Furthermore, the Mobile-CliniQ was presented (see Aerotel's_New_Mobile_Telemedicine_Solutions.pdf. It is a software-less solution that turns practically any Bluetooth enabled cellular phone into a medical data acquisition and transmission hub. It can connect to various home monitoring devices, such as Aerotel's HeartView Personal hand-held 12-lead ECG monitor via Bluetooth. The solution enables easy and effective transmission of clinical information to a remote monitoring center for interpretation and immediate care. It enables mobile people to get assistance and care from anywhere at anytime, save costs and travel time and reduces anxiety.
"By offering innovative mobile and wireless monitoring solutions we are enabling people on the move to get all the benefits of telemedicine and telecare technologies, enjoy their lives and save costs," explained David Rubin, Aerotel CEO. "Aerotel's mobile solutions offer significant clinical and economical benefits for patients, families, physicians and administrators. With wireless technologies playing a greater role in future remote monitoring solutions, Aerotel is determined to strengthen its position as the mobile care market leader."
Aerotel were also presented a Med-e-Tel award during the Med-e-Tel 2007 Welcome Reception. The award was given in appreciation for five consecutive participations at Med-e-Tel and for their dedication to International Business Development in the field of telemedicine and ehealth. David Rubin accepted the award on behalf of his company and his colleagues and distributors who were also attending the reception. David said he enjoyed the five times at Med-e-Tel so far, and that he is looking forward to many more to come.
Aerotel also reaped yet another award recently when it was recognized by Frost & Sullivan with the 2007 European Innovation and Growth Strategy Leadership of the Year Award for developing a comprehensive portfolio of technologically innovative, user-friendly and affordable products as well as structuring and implementing an effective marketing strategy.


Vitaphone, German-based provider of complementary services and devices for trendsetting health care solutions in telemedicine and disease management, presented several of its groundbreaking concepts at Med-e-Tel, that offer patients, physicians, and insurance providers a platform and effective tools for disease management.
With its possibility for automatic triggered ECG recording and the automatic ECG transmission by means of Bluetooth wireless technology, Vitaphone's the 1-Lead ECG-Loop Recorder Vitaphone 3100 BT is a leading edge product in ambulatory cardiac monitoring. The 3-Lead Loop-Recorder Vitaphone 3300 BT is the flagship of Vitaphone's Tele-ECG product line. It is the only 3-lead loop recorder worldwide and it needs only three disposable electrodes, to make the replacement of the electrodes as simple as possible for the patient. The devices are capable of recording and transmitting asymptomatic and symptomatic arrhythmias. They detect Bradycardia, Tachycardia, Atrial Fibrillation and Pause automatically.
Another product on show was the Event Recording Card Vitaphone 100 IR, a small, reliable und simple to use device for mobile recording and transmission of symptomatic arrhythmias. This credit card sized ECG recorder is available since 2002. With a weight of 37 grams it is one of the smallest ECG devices in the world.
Vitaphone's well proven technology ensures time and cost saving. The Vitaphone product line supports the minimization of up-front investments and ongoing operative costs and the products provide evaluation of the ECG without the need of special software or peripherals. For more information go to www.vitaphone.de.


A&D Medical, one of the exhibitors at this year's Med-e-Tel, have recently been presented with the Frost & Sullivan 2007 North American Blood Pressure Monitoring Excellence in Technology of the Year Award, for developing advanced, innovative blood pressure monitoring solutions. The development and integration of these innovative technologies in specific blood pressure monitoring and personal health systems exemplifies the continuous progress being made toward elevating the standards of blood pressure measurement to the level of 'intelligent' blood pressure monitoring.
In the age of increasingly stressful lifestyles, stress-induced blood pressure has been viewed by the WHO as the health hazard of the 21st century. Cardiac disorders such as atherosclerosis and arteriosclerosis have been reported to affect over 20% of the global population. In the wake of such alarming numbers, there has been a spate of developments in the home blood pressure monitoring arena for effective blood pressure diagnosis and management. However, automated blood pressure monitoring has posed a challenge on two counts. While, on the one hand, there is a need to ensure the accuracy of readings taken in digital blood pressure monitors, on the other hand, the values must be readily accessible for continuous patient monitoring. Keeping in view such needs, A&D Medical has developed blood pressure monitoring technologies that overcome such challenges and set a new paradigm in blood pressure monitoring. The scope of these technologies is made practical through their seamless integration into a wide range of digital blood pressure monitors and weight scales being developed by A&D Medical.
A&D Medical's blood pressure monitoring technology is advantageous over current state of the art blood pressure monitors in that it facilitates effective patient management by enabling the clinician to monitor the readings taken at different times of the day and prescribe medication according to a pattern of blood pressure values observed at set times of the day. A&D Medical is also first to market with enabling the Blood Pressure Monitor UA-767PBT and the Personal Weight Scale UC-321PBT with Bluetooth wireless technology to facilitate remote patient management and telemedicine.
The integration of the wireless platform in the blood pressure monitoring systems provides seamless integration of blood pressure readings and transmission of data to an access point such as a remote computer, modem, cell phone or PDA.
A&D Medical has strategically advanced this innovative health monitoring technology in a number of ways. The company is a Founding Promoter of the Continua Health Alliance, a consortium of leading healthcare and technology companies. By connecting technology and people, the Continua Health Alliance facilitates interoperable solutions and information exchange that can lead to better health, well being and quality of life. A&D has also formed collaborations with a number of other organizations and successfully completed several clinical trials.
For more information about the A&D product lines, go to www.aandd.jp.


In this section of the Med-e-Tel newsletter, we report news from the ISfTeH (International Society for Telemedicine & eHealth), supporting partner of the Med-e-Tel event.
- Presentations from the successful ISfTeH conference session at Med-e-Tel 2007 are now available online at http://www.medetel.lu/index.php?rub=educational_program&page=program#Fri.
- ForgeAhead, together with healthcare stakeholders internationally and in Africa, are conducting research on the African Continent into the status and application of eHealth, culminating in a "Telemedicine & eHealth for Africa" event which will take place annually in October, the first of which will take place on October 14-16, 2007 in Durban, South Africa. A vibrant program of interaction and debate has been compiled to allow attendees to bedate eHealth in Africa, define milestones to be achieved and find mechanisms to champion these outcomes. More details will become available soon.
- On November 2-3, 2007, the 12th ISfTeH International Conference will be held in conjunction with the 3rd National Conference of the Telemedicine Society of India in Chennai, India. Abstracts for the conference program can be submitted until August 31st. For more information and registration, go to www.tsi.org.in.
- On December 2-5, 2007, the eHealth Competence Center Regensburg (Germany) supported by several national, European and international partners, organises an International Conference on eHealth thereby uniquely combining Health Telematics, Telemedicine, Biomedical Engineering and Bioinformatics to the edge. In its international part from December 2nd to 4th, the conference offers invited English speeches from internationally leading experts representing all domains involved in eHealth. The sessions contain presentations on eHealth, telematics and telemedicine projects, initiatives, standardisation, research and development, data protection and data security, modelling, system architecture, applications, communication and much more. For more information, go to www.cehr.de.
- And after that, the next big ISfTeH supported event is of course again Med-e-Tel 2008, which is scheduled for April 16-18, 2008 in Luxembourg. An ISfTeH exhibition stand, conference session, networking event and more are again on the agenda. For more information or to join ISfTeH at Med-e-Tel, contact .
- To become an ISfTeH member and get connected with the international telemedicine/ehealth community, see www.isft.net or send an e-mail to .


For information on publications, journals, magazines, reports and on-line information services that will help you to stay abreast of what is going on in the field of ehealth and to make better informed decisions in your daily business or healthcare practice, check out the list of Media Partners on www.medetel.lu. To follow is a review of just some of the publications that were featured at Med-e-Tel 2007:

- IHE (International Hospital Equipment & Solutions) is Med-e-Tel's main international media partner. To learn more about IHE as well as about the markets and areas served by IHE with its regular 27,000+ high quality BPA audited circulation, check out the IHE website at www.ihe-online.com.

- Arab Health World magazine, published by Chatila Publishing House (CPH) is a specialized business magazine that delivers information about the latest advancements and technologies in the Medical, Laboratory, Pharmaceutical, and Nutrition sectors. AHW is used by professionals such as contractors, importers / exporters, distributors, manufacturers and suppliers as a reference tool in their projects in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to gain knowledge of up-to-date equipment and services provided by other international health companies. For more information, see www.ahwmag.net.

- E-HEALTH-COM is the independent magazine for health telematics and telemedicine. It features current developments in the eHealth sector as well as technical specifications. Furthermore, E-HEALTH-COM presents the protagonists of the scene. Acknowledged experts among the authors, the editorial staff and the advisory board, assure highest competence. E-HEALTH-COM keeps you up-to-date and covers important issues of the future. E-HEALTH-COM offers an essential communications-platform for the eHealth-Community. For more information, contact , go to www.e-health-com.eu.

- Healthcare IT News Europe provides comprehensive, breaking news coverage of European healthcare IT developments. You will find updated daily news from an award-winning editorial team of U.S. and European-based correspondents at www.HealthcareITNews.eu, as well as headlines from other top IT Web sites. Sign up to receive Healthcare IT News Europe, a weekly e-newsletter delivered across the European continent to healthcare IT professionals at hospitals, medical practices, healthcare payers, vendors, regional and national policymakers, and consultants.


To follow are links to some interesting and recently published articles, studies and reports (if you would like to suggest an article for inclusion into a following newsletter, feel free to send details to ):
- New technologies for chronic disease management and control: a systematic review (Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare)
- Initiatives and Barriers to Adopting Health Information Technology: A US Perspective (Disease Management & Health Outcomes)
- Telemonitoring or structured telephone support programmes for patients with chronic heart failure: systematic review and meta-analysis (British Medical Journal)
- Analysis of the suitability of 'video-visits' for palliative home care: implications for practice (Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare)
- 'Smart House' uses new technology to promote independent living (24dash.com)
- E-Care: A Telecommunications Technology Intervention for Family Caregivers of Dementia Patients (American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry)
- Telehealth Videoconferencing: Improving Home Parenteral Nutrition Patient Care to Rural Areas of Ontario, Canada (Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition)
- Mobile phone that monitors health developed (E-Health Insider)
- Decision aid software programs in telenursing: not used as intended? Experiences of Swedish telenurses (Nursing and Health Sciences)
- Pioneering Supported Housing scheme for people with autism (PublicTechnology.net)
- eHealth Research from the User's Perspective (American Journal of Preventive Medicine)
- Robotics could ease care burden of ageing UK population (ComputerWeekly.com)
- eHealth Evaluation and Dissemination Research (American Journal of Preventive Medicine)
- Project melds health-care, banking info; Backers say idea could slash costs of medical care (tennessean.com)
- Systematic Review of Home Telemonitoring for Chronic Diseases: The Evidence Base (Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association)
- Japan To Track Elderly Health Via Wireless Test Zone (iHealthBeat)
- IBM backs effort to 'revolutionize' healthcare system (Health Imaging News)
- Microsoft's Bill Crounse Says the U.S Needs to Catch Up (Digital HealthCare & Productivity)
- Sensing the future: Gerontologist foresees technology's possibilities (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
- Telemedicine: the gift of time (BBC News)
- Use of videoconferencing in Norwegian psychiatry (Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare)
- Videoconferencing in child and adolescent psychiatry in Finland - an inadequately exploited resource (Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare)
- Chip Makers Seek To Enter Personalized Health Care Market (iHealthBeat)
- A randomized trial of telepsychiatry for post-traumatic stress disorder (Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare)
- Hi-Tech Home Healthcare (eGov monitor)
- Robots And Telecare Mean 21st Century Care (StaffNurse.com)
- £12m awarded to three home telecare sites (E-Health Insider)
- Fulfilling the Promise of Wireless Patient Monitors - New Study Research Analyzes Market and Technology Factors (Medical News Today)
- 'When I'm 64...' Boomers expected to demand healthcare IT (Healthcare IT News)
- Medical Board chief touts role of technology; Sees future care by telecommute (San Diego Union Tribune)
- The Healthcare Industry is Waking up to the Potential of Telemedicine in Solving Critical Issues in Rural America (Business Wire)
- Credible Scientific Evidence and Cost Benefits Must Be Put Forth To Encourage Virtual Hospital Technology (Business Wire)
- Cardiac telemedicine "could save the NHS £250m" (Healthcare Equipment and Supplies)
- Wireless Technology Speeds Heart Care (Wireless Healthcare)
- Validation of Remote Cardiopulmonary Examination in Patients With Heart Failure With a Videophone-Based System (Journal of Cardiac Failure)
- A telephone-delivered empowerment intervention with patients diagnosed with heart failure (Heart & Lung: The Journal of Acute and Critical Care)
- Hypertension Intervention Nurse Telemedicine Study (HINTS): Testing a multifactorial tailored behavioral/educational and a medication management intervention for blood pressure control (American Heart Journal)
- Telemedicine NHS trial shows possible national savings of 46 million (PublicTechnology.net)
- New Windows and Doors Sir? Telephone outreach is more than a sales pitch. Dr Ian Banks discusses how we can use the telephone to the patient’s health advantage. (E-Health Insider)
- Virtual Health Coach Encourages Physical Activity, Health Awareness (NurseZone.com)
- The Baby Boomers' Massive Impact on Health Care (NurseZone.com)
- What does the future hold for aging baby boomers? (The Southern.com)
- Taking care of elderly -- by remote control (The Detroit News)
- Technology lets seniors stay at home, save money (Orlando Sentinel)
- Investing: What's the Flavor of the Month? Medical Devices (New York Times)
- Telemedicine goes 'mobile' (The Siasat Daily)
- Can Motion Sensors Predict Dementia? (AP/Washington Post)
- Home Telehealth Business Case Report (Canada Health Infoway)
- Roshan announces launch of Afghanistan's first telemedicine project; Roshan, Cisco, Aga Khan University Hospital and the French Medical Institute for Children Team up to Expand Healthcare Access by Linking Afghan Hospitals to International Medical Institutions (PR Newswire)

 
 

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