With the rise of mobile technology and online communications, the hospital chain has been increasingly using technology to cut down on the need for patients to trek to their doctor’s office. Last year, in fact, more interactions between Kaiser’s patients and health care providers were done virtually than through an in-person visit, CEO Bernard J. Tyson said on Thursday.
Category Archives: TeleMedicine
telemedicine is the use of medical information exchanged from one site to another via electronic communications to improve a patient’s clinical health status
The Boom in Telemental Health
Telemental health seems to be emerging, even booming. Also referred to as telebehaviorial health, e-counseling, e-therapy, online therapy, cybercounseling, or online counseling, for purposes of this post, I will define telemental health as the provision of remote mental health care services (usually via an audio/video secure platform) by psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, counselors, and marriage and family therapists. Most services involve assessment, therapy, and/or diagnosis. Over the last few years, I have seen a wider variety of care models—from hospitals establishing telepsychiatric assessment programs in their emergency departments to virtual networks of mental health professionals providing telemental health services to underserved areas to remote substance abuse counseling being provided to inmates in state prisons.
Study finds patients often misuse wrist blood pressure monitors, leading to inaccurate readings
Not all blood pressure monitors are created equal, it seems. New research from Italy suggests that at-home, wrist blood pressure cuffs can be inaccurate if not done exactly right, leading to false reports of elevated blood pressure at home when compared to measurements taken in a doctor’s office.
MUSC launches e-visit program for nonemergency care
Sinus problems, urinary tract infections, allergies, back pain and sexually transmitted diseases are among the more than 30 conditions that patients can now be treated for using the Medical University of South Carolina’snew e-visit program.
Bosch shutters pioneering telehealth service Health Buddy, US-based unit
Even though telemedicine seems to be having its day in the sun, with Teladoc’s forthcoming IPO and major funding for MDLive, Doctor on Demand, and American Well, one of the oldest, earliest telemedicine companies is shutting down. Bosch has officially closed its US subsidiary Robert Bosch Healthcare, reducing the scope its healthcare operations to a 50-person team based in Germany.
Teladoc Secures Second Consecutive Win in Patent Dispute
Teladoc, Inc. (NYSE: TDOC), the nation’s first and largest telehealth provider, today announced the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has invalidated the major elements of a telemedicine patent held by American Well Corporation on the basis that they were not patentable because American Well did not invent them. The USPTO took this action at the request of Teladoc. At issue before the USPTO were the same elements of the American Well patent that a Massachusetts federal court declared invalid earlier this year on a separate basis.
9 in 10 large employers will offer telehealth next year
The group’s annual survey of 133 large employers, who altogether cover more than 15 million Americans, was conducted in May and June 2016. It indicated that telehealth availability, among other employee benefits, is on the rise as employers shift their priorities.
Apple’s Patent-Pending Invention Highlights Advancing work on a Tele-Medicine Sessions System
Earlier this month the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple revealing an invention that could one day play a part in Apple’s Health Platform through HealthKit. Today Apple’s Health app gives users an easy-to-read dashboard of your health and fitness data. But HealthKit is also behind new hospital systems like the one from Ochsner Health System, the largest not-for-profit academic medical center in the Gulf South which uses iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch to further its mission of innovation in healthcare
Health execs, IT leaders, docs differ on telehealth drivers
While telehealth has long been a growing sector of the health IT industry in the U.S., the massive surge of newly insured Americans under the Affordable Care Act has thrust the industry into the spotlight, and telehealth is now more of a “must have” than a “nice to have” for patients, hospitals, physicians and other providers.
How a Boston blizzard kickstarted telehealth at Massachusetts General
Most Bostonians look back on the blizzard of late 2014 less than fondly. But there was a silver lining for Massachusetts General Hospital, which found in the snowstorm the perfect test case for its then-fledgling telehealth program.