Just about everyone agrees in the basic vision for telemedicine: When a person gets sick, instead of jumping in the car to drive to a doctor’s office or urgent care center, they can pick up a phone or tablet instead, and get in touch right away with a doctor.
The wireless system uses impulse radio ultra-wideband radar technology and can scan a room one million times per second. The system scans for slips and falls, including sliding falls, and also for when someone sits up quickly, which could alert hospital staff that a patient is about to get out of bed.
A group of US Senators introduced a new version of a bipartisan bill today seeking Medicare-covered expansion of telehealth and remote patient monitoring services nationwide. The bill was previously introduced by the six-Senator group, which is headed by Brian Schatz (D-HI), in February.
An Illinois-based law firm has filed a class action lawsuit against telemedicine company MDLive, alleging that the company takes screenshots of sensitive patient health information and sends them to TestFairy, an Israeli company that does quality control on apps, and that this is a violation of patient privacy. MDLive, for its part, denies that there’s anything improper about its procedures.
Wearables are at something of a crossroads right now. While companies might have previously differentiated new generations of wearables with new sensors and sleeker designs, now consumers are looking for something more: wearables that don’t just track their life, but help them improve it.
Federal standards for telemedicine reimbursement are becoming more of a reality. The newly reintroduced Senate Bill 870, called Creating High Quality Results and Outcomes Necessary to Improve Chronic Care Act of 2017 (also referred to as CHRONIC), aims to hone in on Medicare payment reform in order to expand telemedicine services for chronic disease management and at-home care coordination.
While there may be considerable variation in telemedicine policies and reimbursement models from state to state, standards in some specialized types of telemedicine should be consistent, according to new practice guidelines from the American Telemedicine Association.
The results are in for the Scripps Translational Science Institute’s Wired For Health study, and there’s no sugar-coating it: they’re disappointing for those working in digital health. The six-month randomized control trial found no short-term benefit in health costs or outcomes for patients monitoring their health with connected devices.
Apple HealthKit champion Ricky Bloomfield, MD, said that Apple is adding support for the Health Level 7 Continuity of Care Document to iOS 10.
Bloomfield, who made the remarks here at the MobiHealthNews 2016 event, also attended Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference earlier in the day, where Apple revealed that iOS 10 will be available this fall and showcased a range of new features from improved messaging to a new Home app and HomeKit and updates to maps, photos and Siri.
Israel-based medical device maker TytoCare has received FDA 510(k) clearance for its digital stethoscope, joining the company’s ecosystem of connected tools for remote medical examinations.
The company also offers several FDA Class 1 devices – a connected otoscope for ear examinations, a high-resolution camera, and a thermometer that uses the forehead to get a reading.