The European Association of Healthcare IT Managers and the European Association of Hospital Managers is encouraging all IT managers, healthcare organizations, hospitals, and individuals worldwide to participate in the IT @ NETWORKING AWARDS 2012. This is the world’s only open competition of fully implemented operable healthcare IT and medical technology solutions. Hospitals, research institutes and companies from all over the world are invited to showcase their excellent solutions with the aim to win.
Have you recently implemented an innovative IT solution in your hospital or department? If yes, then reflect and build on your success. This is your opportunity to tell your story, and to show the global healthcare sector what your solution can do and why the technology deserves to win.
The IT @ NETWORKING AWARDS 2012 awards will take place on January 18-19 in Brussels, Belgium. On Day one, the MINDBYTE Session will take place by having each nominee for the award give a five minute presentation followed by a lively five minute Q&A. The audience will vote immediately after each presentation according to the voting criteria for each solution.
The WORKBENCH Session to take place on Day two will have eight top-rated nominees give a 25 minute in-depth presentation followed by a 15 minute Q&A discussion to provide the audience with a thorough understanding of the project.
IT @ 2012 is a real competition in which presenters are challenged by expert judges and participants. The competition is especially unique since each presentation is followed by a thorough questioning from the voters. CEOs, CIOs, CMIOs, hospital and IT managers will use the electronic voting system to support their preferred projects.
IT @ 2012 will identify some of the finest and most innovative departmental institutional local, regional, and national healthcare solutions. The top prize will be an Award Trophy plus a cash prize of 2,500 EUR around $3,615 in U.S. dollars. Additionally, the winning technology will be promoted in Europe’s leading healthcare management media which is valued at 47,500 EUR around $68,700 in U.S. dollars.
All entries must be implemented in at least one site and must be fully operable. Each submission must cover the importance of the technology, benefits, originality, difficulties, successes, and impact of the technology. Submissions need to be entered by September 16, 2011 so go to www.conftool.com/itawards2012 for more information.
Submissions without any commercial interest or any link to healthcare service providers are free. All other submissions are charged a one-time registration fee. For Federal Telemedicine News readers and subscribers, the rates are 160 Euros or around $225 in U.S dollars. When FTN readers are registering, choose group A. Then include the FTN blog website URL http://telemedicinenews.blogspot.com as your reference in the comments.
For more information, please visit www.itandnetworking.org or call +32/2/286-8501.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Sunday, August 21, 2011
HHS Awards $40 Million
Grants for $40 million will be used to identify and enroll children eligible for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The grants have been awarded to 39 state agencies, community health centers, school-based organizations, and non-profit groups in 23 states. Grants amounts range from $200,000 to $2.5 million with the largest grants going to the technology focus area.
The major focus area involving technology will use $20 million for 10 grants to develop systems capable of signing up children for health coverage. Some of the grants included in this focus area are going to:
• Fresno Health Communities Access Partners (CA) for $1,259,565 will use a web-based application called “One-e-App” to facilitate enrollment and renewal in Medicaid and CHIP
• Georgia Department of Community Health for $2,500,000 will use electronic data matching capacity to verify citizenship, provide portable scanners and laptop computers to facilitate off-site enrollment and verification, implement an on-line renewal module, and develop an electronic referral from Medicaid to “PeachCare for Kids”
• North Dakota Department of Human Services for $1,690,867 will adapt the “e-find” system so that multiple databases for wage unemployment insurance, child support enforcement, social security data, and other information can be electronically checked for the purpose of determining eligibility and renewing coverage for Medicaid and CHIP
The other organizations and states to receive funding under the technology focus area include Sacred Heart Health Systems Inc in Florida, State of Maine Department of Health and Human Services, Hudson River Healthcare Inc in New York, New Mexico Human Services Department, South Carolina State Office of Rural Health, South Dakota Department of Social Services, and the Washington Department of Social and Health Services in Washington state.
Other grant awards in other areas will focus on retention (4 grants), engaging schools in outreach, enrollment and renewal activities (7 grants), reaching out to groups likely to experience gaps in coverage (14 grants), and ensuring eligible teens are enrolled and stay covered (4 grants).
Go to http://www.insurekidsnow.gov/ and then go to the press release for a complete list and more information on the grantees.
The major focus area involving technology will use $20 million for 10 grants to develop systems capable of signing up children for health coverage. Some of the grants included in this focus area are going to:
• Fresno Health Communities Access Partners (CA) for $1,259,565 will use a web-based application called “One-e-App” to facilitate enrollment and renewal in Medicaid and CHIP
• Georgia Department of Community Health for $2,500,000 will use electronic data matching capacity to verify citizenship, provide portable scanners and laptop computers to facilitate off-site enrollment and verification, implement an on-line renewal module, and develop an electronic referral from Medicaid to “PeachCare for Kids”
• North Dakota Department of Human Services for $1,690,867 will adapt the “e-find” system so that multiple databases for wage unemployment insurance, child support enforcement, social security data, and other information can be electronically checked for the purpose of determining eligibility and renewing coverage for Medicaid and CHIP
The other organizations and states to receive funding under the technology focus area include Sacred Heart Health Systems Inc in Florida, State of Maine Department of Health and Human Services, Hudson River Healthcare Inc in New York, New Mexico Human Services Department, South Carolina State Office of Rural Health, South Dakota Department of Social Services, and the Washington Department of Social and Health Services in Washington state.
Other grant awards in other areas will focus on retention (4 grants), engaging schools in outreach, enrollment and renewal activities (7 grants), reaching out to groups likely to experience gaps in coverage (14 grants), and ensuring eligible teens are enrolled and stay covered (4 grants).
Go to http://www.insurekidsnow.gov/ and then go to the press release for a complete list and more information on the grantees.
DOD & VA Addressing Unseen Wounds
Both the Department of Defense and the Veterans Administration look at both PTSD and TBI as the unseen wounds of war and both conditions can share a complex relationship. For example, an explosive device that causes a TBI can also produce a trauma leading to PTSD. In addition, common symptoms can make it even more difficult to diagnose each condition.
DOD’s initiatives to address the problem:
• Center for Deployment Psychology (CDP) and the National Center for Telehealth & Technology (T2) are component centers of the Defense Center of Excellence for Psychological Health and TBI. CDP trains train military, civilian psychologists, and other behavioral health professionals while T2 develops communications and information technologies to address psychological health and TBIs
• Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center collaborates with organizations to advance research on TBIs. A major focus is to evaluate the quality and cost-effectiveness of treatments delivered to military personnel and veterans
• Deployment Health Clinical Center (DHCC) provides a gateway to information on deployment health and healthcare for providers, service members, veterans, and families. RESPECT.Mil is a treatment model designed by DHCC to screen, assess, and treat active duty soldiers with depression and/or PTSD
• National Intrepid Center of Excellence provides an interdisciplinary team assessment approach combined with high technology diagnostics to follow combat-related psychological health and TBI
The Department of Defense funded and developed virtual reality programs that allow soldiers with PTSD to revisit past wartime experiences and get past those events at their own pace. The virtual reality program helps a war fighter recognize their symptoms and find ways to obtain professional help.
Another Department of Defense product called “Mood Tracker” helps users monitor swings in moods, emotions, and behaviors resulting from therapy, medications, or other daily events. The application is designed for smart phone use and is able to record emotions for up to several months so that patient mental health can be documented over time.
TATRC developed and provides “Neurocognitive Baseline Testing” for troops prior to deployment. More than two million tests have been performed making it easier to detect changes and identify mild TBI later on if necessary.
The Army’s TriWest Healthcare Alliance takes care of all the active duty, retired military, and their families in 21 western states and is a leader in treating the unseen wounds of war. Stress related issues have increased dramatically in the past three years with repeated deployments. As a result, TriWest has increased their behavioral health professional staff from 7,000 to 25,000. TriWest’s ten year old behavioral health hot line is so successful that both the Army and Marine Corps asked TriWest to help them set up their own hotlines.
The Veterans Administration is also very active in serving the needs of veterans with PTSD through their National Center for PTSD. The Center has developed state-of-the-art assessment measures and treatments for clinicians to use to diagnose and treat patients with PTSD. Information is disseminated to clinicians through the Center’s web site, publications, and treatment manuals, also through assessment tools, nationwide training, and their in-person clinical training program.
Increased adrenergic activation among veterans with PTSD has led to clinical trials using anti-adrenergic medications. The Center is also working to identify a biomarker for PTSD that would help identify true cases with the disorder. This marker would be very useful for diagnostic purposes, for monitoring treatment responses, and for evaluating veterans seeking service-connected disability status for military-related PTSD.
The Center established the “Published International Literature on Traumatic Stress (PILOTS) electronic index to traumatic stress literature and other mental health issues. The PILOTS index includes all relevant publications regardless of their origin, linguistic, or geographic limitations.
A new initiative “Integrated Mental Health Strategy” highlights the most resourceful psychological health services available to assist the military and veterans available from not only from DOD and VA but also from other Federal agencies such as SAMHSA, Department of Labor, and HUD. All of these agencies have been involved in developing ways to provide the best resources in the field to help with psychological problems.
DOD’s initiatives to address the problem:
• Center for Deployment Psychology (CDP) and the National Center for Telehealth & Technology (T2) are component centers of the Defense Center of Excellence for Psychological Health and TBI. CDP trains train military, civilian psychologists, and other behavioral health professionals while T2 develops communications and information technologies to address psychological health and TBIs
• Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center collaborates with organizations to advance research on TBIs. A major focus is to evaluate the quality and cost-effectiveness of treatments delivered to military personnel and veterans
• Deployment Health Clinical Center (DHCC) provides a gateway to information on deployment health and healthcare for providers, service members, veterans, and families. RESPECT.Mil is a treatment model designed by DHCC to screen, assess, and treat active duty soldiers with depression and/or PTSD
• National Intrepid Center of Excellence provides an interdisciplinary team assessment approach combined with high technology diagnostics to follow combat-related psychological health and TBI
The Department of Defense funded and developed virtual reality programs that allow soldiers with PTSD to revisit past wartime experiences and get past those events at their own pace. The virtual reality program helps a war fighter recognize their symptoms and find ways to obtain professional help.
Another Department of Defense product called “Mood Tracker” helps users monitor swings in moods, emotions, and behaviors resulting from therapy, medications, or other daily events. The application is designed for smart phone use and is able to record emotions for up to several months so that patient mental health can be documented over time.
TATRC developed and provides “Neurocognitive Baseline Testing” for troops prior to deployment. More than two million tests have been performed making it easier to detect changes and identify mild TBI later on if necessary.
The Army’s TriWest Healthcare Alliance takes care of all the active duty, retired military, and their families in 21 western states and is a leader in treating the unseen wounds of war. Stress related issues have increased dramatically in the past three years with repeated deployments. As a result, TriWest has increased their behavioral health professional staff from 7,000 to 25,000. TriWest’s ten year old behavioral health hot line is so successful that both the Army and Marine Corps asked TriWest to help them set up their own hotlines.
The Veterans Administration is also very active in serving the needs of veterans with PTSD through their National Center for PTSD. The Center has developed state-of-the-art assessment measures and treatments for clinicians to use to diagnose and treat patients with PTSD. Information is disseminated to clinicians through the Center’s web site, publications, and treatment manuals, also through assessment tools, nationwide training, and their in-person clinical training program.
Increased adrenergic activation among veterans with PTSD has led to clinical trials using anti-adrenergic medications. The Center is also working to identify a biomarker for PTSD that would help identify true cases with the disorder. This marker would be very useful for diagnostic purposes, for monitoring treatment responses, and for evaluating veterans seeking service-connected disability status for military-related PTSD.
The Center established the “Published International Literature on Traumatic Stress (PILOTS) electronic index to traumatic stress literature and other mental health issues. The PILOTS index includes all relevant publications regardless of their origin, linguistic, or geographic limitations.
A new initiative “Integrated Mental Health Strategy” highlights the most resourceful psychological health services available to assist the military and veterans available from not only from DOD and VA but also from other Federal agencies such as SAMHSA, Department of Labor, and HUD. All of these agencies have been involved in developing ways to provide the best resources in the field to help with psychological problems.
LifeBot Acquires Exclusive Rights
LifeBot® has acquired exclusive worldwide rights to DREAMS™, the $14 million advanced EMS ambulance and hospital telemedicine system developed by Texas A&M, UTHealth, and the Department of the Army.
The Digital EMS is the first and only system providing interactive simultaneous live transmissions of critical patient data, audio, and video. The system brings hospital specialists to the scene, giving doctors and nurses a virtual tele-presence to collaborate in saving lives and managing disasters in real-time on the battlefield or at home or abroad.
“Most attempts at ambulance-based telemedicine systems have had extremely limited success but DREAMS has actually delivered on its promise to get the job done over a number of years,” says LifeBot CEO, R. Lee Heath best known as the inventor of the Automatic External Defibrillator.
DREAMS™ developed with funding from the Army’s Telemedicine and Technology Research Center (TATRC) has been deployed and has been in use for over six years in five prototype ambulances in Liberty County Texas.
The project was headed by renowned surgeon James “Red” Duke JR who used the system to triage and treat victims in New Orleans “live” during Hurricane Katrina in the Memorial Hermann emergency room at the Texas Medical Center in Houston. DREAMS family products were also used to support remote clinics during the Katrina and Rita disasters.
The Super Ambulance™ system is operated by using multiple remote controlled cameras to provide hospital-based emergency specialists with live intelligence in order to provide prompt and safe life-saving assessments.
The patient’s physiologic vital signs, data, and medical record reporting are accomplished by using either EHRs or e-PCRs to provide updates between the hospital and the scene. The system can treat cardiac, trauma, stroke victims, and can be vital to use in remote areas.
The DREAMS system is not solely for use in ambulances, but can be used to provide telecardiology, telestroke, teletrauma, can be used in intensive care, plus other hospital-to-hospital and physician-to-hospital applications. In addition, LifeBot mobile telemedicine carts and desktop systems use the DREAMS system.
The DREAMS system has been tested on the 1.5 pound portable LifeBot Tablet PC as well. This will enable intensivists, cardiologists, neurologists, trauma and emergency disaster specialists to login and achieve telepresence from almost any location and at any time.
Other LifeBot technology products include a stand-alone system called a “Deployable Telemedicine System” used by hospitals to expand their facilities during disasters or the system can even be dropped into the battlefield to deliver telemedicine as well. The Back-Pack Telemedicine System provides battlefield, mobile or tactical medics with wearable telemedicine systems enabling them to work in difficult access locations.
LifeBot is now involved in building full call centers or telemedicine hubs to provide the latest technology to coordinate care. These centers will be able to use triage solutions and telemedicine to intelligently coordinate and safely determine if patients need either emergent, non-emergent care. It will then be possible to send ambulances to only real emergencies and at the same time, match the needed medical expertise with each medical situation.
For more information, go to www.lifebot.us.com or call (877) 466-1422 or email info@lifebot.us.com.
The Digital EMS is the first and only system providing interactive simultaneous live transmissions of critical patient data, audio, and video. The system brings hospital specialists to the scene, giving doctors and nurses a virtual tele-presence to collaborate in saving lives and managing disasters in real-time on the battlefield or at home or abroad.
“Most attempts at ambulance-based telemedicine systems have had extremely limited success but DREAMS has actually delivered on its promise to get the job done over a number of years,” says LifeBot CEO, R. Lee Heath best known as the inventor of the Automatic External Defibrillator.
DREAMS™ developed with funding from the Army’s Telemedicine and Technology Research Center (TATRC) has been deployed and has been in use for over six years in five prototype ambulances in Liberty County Texas.
The project was headed by renowned surgeon James “Red” Duke JR who used the system to triage and treat victims in New Orleans “live” during Hurricane Katrina in the Memorial Hermann emergency room at the Texas Medical Center in Houston. DREAMS family products were also used to support remote clinics during the Katrina and Rita disasters.
The Super Ambulance™ system is operated by using multiple remote controlled cameras to provide hospital-based emergency specialists with live intelligence in order to provide prompt and safe life-saving assessments.
The patient’s physiologic vital signs, data, and medical record reporting are accomplished by using either EHRs or e-PCRs to provide updates between the hospital and the scene. The system can treat cardiac, trauma, stroke victims, and can be vital to use in remote areas.
The DREAMS system is not solely for use in ambulances, but can be used to provide telecardiology, telestroke, teletrauma, can be used in intensive care, plus other hospital-to-hospital and physician-to-hospital applications. In addition, LifeBot mobile telemedicine carts and desktop systems use the DREAMS system.
The DREAMS system has been tested on the 1.5 pound portable LifeBot Tablet PC as well. This will enable intensivists, cardiologists, neurologists, trauma and emergency disaster specialists to login and achieve telepresence from almost any location and at any time.
Other LifeBot technology products include a stand-alone system called a “Deployable Telemedicine System” used by hospitals to expand their facilities during disasters or the system can even be dropped into the battlefield to deliver telemedicine as well. The Back-Pack Telemedicine System provides battlefield, mobile or tactical medics with wearable telemedicine systems enabling them to work in difficult access locations.
LifeBot is now involved in building full call centers or telemedicine hubs to provide the latest technology to coordinate care. These centers will be able to use triage solutions and telemedicine to intelligently coordinate and safely determine if patients need either emergent, non-emergent care. It will then be possible to send ambulances to only real emergencies and at the same time, match the needed medical expertise with each medical situation.
For more information, go to www.lifebot.us.com or call (877) 466-1422 or email info@lifebot.us.com.
ONC to Fund AHA Survey
Since 2008, the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) has partnered with the American Hospital Association (AHA) through grants administered by NIH to track the use of health IT in U.S. hospitals. ONC now has its own grant management capability and is tasked through the HITECH Act to oversee federal efforts relating to health IT.
As a result, ONC wants to continue to track the status and adoption of electronic health records in hospitals, evaluate the impact of ONC programs, the impact of Medicare and Medicaid incentives in the U.S related ONC programs, and assess the effects of health IT adoption on all aspects of care such as quality and efficiency.
The grant notice (EP-NARRA-AHA-11-001) was published in www.grants.gov on August 16, 2011 to specify that ONC intends to continue the collaboration with AHA through a new sole source document to be submitted by AHA by August 22, 2011.
The estimated program funding is $204,000 and will be available for 16 months across Fiscal Years 2011, 2012, and 2013.
As a result, ONC wants to continue to track the status and adoption of electronic health records in hospitals, evaluate the impact of ONC programs, the impact of Medicare and Medicaid incentives in the U.S related ONC programs, and assess the effects of health IT adoption on all aspects of care such as quality and efficiency.
The grant notice (EP-NARRA-AHA-11-001) was published in www.grants.gov on August 16, 2011 to specify that ONC intends to continue the collaboration with AHA through a new sole source document to be submitted by AHA by August 22, 2011.
The estimated program funding is $204,000 and will be available for 16 months across Fiscal Years 2011, 2012, and 2013.
Partners Symposium: Over 1,200 to Attend
Partners Healthcare 2011 Connected Health Symposium promises to bring together the most up-to-date thinkers involved in the field of health and technology. This premier opportunity will enable healthcare executives and key thought leaders to have tough in-depth debates on how to handle this tumultuous new era of debt reduction politics, plus talk about healthcare issues that the U.S and other countries all over the world face in the 21st century. Register today for the Symposium to be held at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel on October 20-21, 2011.
The theme for the Symposium “Driving Quality Up and Costs Down: New Technologies for an Era of Accountability” will provide vital information to over 1,200 health technology leaders, community-based practitioners, health plan executives, large employers, government policy makers, and investors. Exchange ideas with tech entrepreneurs, business executives, academic researchers, and patients.
Joe Kvedar, MD, Director for Partner’s Center for Connected Health is looking forward to hearing new stimulating ideas from all of the health innovators and attendees at the Symposium as well as take part in the discussions and debates on how best to deliver quality care outside traditional medical settings in spite of the difficult healthcare environment.
Top keynote speaker Brent James M.D., Chief Quality Officer, Intermountain HealthCare will talk about his New York Times Sunday Magazine article “If Health Care is Going to Change, Dr. Brent James Ideas will Lead the Way”
To consider economic inequality’s impact on health, listen to Kate Pickett, PhD, Professor of Epidemiology, University of York in the UK and the author of “The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger” named a Top Ten book of the decade.
For a probing analysis come to hear keynoter Atul Gwande, M.D. Surgeon, Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, New Yorker Magazine healthcare writer, and Director for the World Health Organization’s Global Challenge for Safer Surgical Care.
Attendees will want to hear Janet Dillione GM for Healthcare, Nuance talk about how she developed healthcare uses for “Watson” IBM’s Artificial Intelligence System. “Watson “was the star computer system that beat two human champions on Jeopardy.
Using technologies to measure emotion will be addressed by Rosalind Picard, ScD, Director, Affective Computing Research Group, MIT Media Lab; a developer of software that recognizes and interprets facial expressions.
Also at MIT, Alex (Sandy) Pentland, PhD, Toshiba Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at MIT, Director, MIT Human Dynamics Lab, and Co-Founder of CogitolHealth” will talk about other pertinent ongoing research at the university.
Using virtual characters designed to sustain long term social and emotional relationships with people will be addressed by Timothy Bickmore, PhD, Associate Professor College of Computer and Information Science, Northeastern University and an expert on Relational Agents
To address the benefits of social media, William Shrank MD Principal Investigator, CVS Caremark Harvard Partnership for Improving Medication Adherence, has examined how Facebook can help diabetic patients.
Be sure to hear Clifford Nash, PhD, Thomas M Storke Professor at Stanford University, author of “The Media Equation”, “Wired for Speech”, and “The Man Who Lied to His Laptop” discuss his books plus his ideas from his publications on the psychology and design of interactive technologies.
On the business side, Robert S. Galvin, Chief Executive Officer, Equity Healthcare, and Executive Director, Corporate Private Equity, The Blackstone Group, an expert on the management of healthcare for firms owned by private equity companies will present his unique ideas.
Attendees will want to hear from Eileen Bartholomew, Senior Director for Life Sciences Prize Development for the X PRIZE Foundation on her experiences in building innovative programs.
Other prominent speakers just added to the list include:
• David Blumenthal, Professor of Medicine and Professor of Health Policy, Harvard Medical School and former National Coordinator for HIT
• George Church, Co-founder, and Chief Scientific Advisor for Knome
• Jonathan Gruber, Professor of Economics at MIT and high profile advisor on healthcare reform for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the Obama administration
• Jessica Haberer, Research Scientist at the MGH Center for Global Health
• Debra Lieberman, Director, the Health Games Research National Program at the University of California, Santa Barbara
• Halle Tecco, Founder and Managing Director of RockHealth.
Also on the agenda are many breakout sessions with vital information on accountable care organizations, innovative ways to provide wireless for poor communities, convergence of genomics, ongoing developments in gaming psychology, entrepreneurship, enhancing decision making skills, dealing effectively with the marketplace, meeting future goals, and working effectively using today’s expanding social media.
The Symposium will be filled with drill down interviews, cut-to the chase debates, and many other great opportunities and events to help attendees have easy conversations with experts in the field.
Meet all of the exhibitors and be the first to see rapid fire demonstrations of products and services to help you or your organization stand out and surge ahead to reach new heights in the healthcare field.
Be sure to make plans to stay for special inaugural event the “Boston Summit on Leadership: A Call for Action” to be held October 22, 2011 at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel. Distinguished faculty from different professions will discuss leadership principles in different domains.
Sanjiv Chopra, M.B.B.S., M.A.C.P. Professor of Medicine, Faulty Dean for Continuing Education, Harvard Medical School will speak on “The Ten Tenets of Leadership” a topic that he is passionate about and has presented to audiences world-wide.
Other speakers will include:
• Ambassador Swanee Hunt, Adjunct Lecturer at the Kennedy School of Government
• Alvaro Pascual-Leone, MD, Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School
• Charles Denham, MD, CEO and Founder HCC Corporation, Chairman and Founder TMIT
• Jim O’ Connell, MD, President, Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program
• Scott Snook, Senior Lecturer at the Harvard Business School
• Venkat Srinivasan, CEO, Rage Frameworks, Inc, Chairman and Founder of English Helper
• Zunaira Munir, Founder and Managing Director, Strategize Blue
Go to www.connected-health.org/events/symposium-2011.aspx for more information on sponsorships, exhibiting, and registering for this major Symposium along with registering for the Leadership Summit.
Federal Telemedicine News readers will receive a discount of $100 off the full price ($1095) to register for the Symposium. The code to use is “Telemed News”.
For further details, email Joe Ternullo Organizing Chair for the Symposium at jternullo@partners.org or email Margaret Spinale at mmspinale@partners.org.
The theme for the Symposium “Driving Quality Up and Costs Down: New Technologies for an Era of Accountability” will provide vital information to over 1,200 health technology leaders, community-based practitioners, health plan executives, large employers, government policy makers, and investors. Exchange ideas with tech entrepreneurs, business executives, academic researchers, and patients.
Joe Kvedar, MD, Director for Partner’s Center for Connected Health is looking forward to hearing new stimulating ideas from all of the health innovators and attendees at the Symposium as well as take part in the discussions and debates on how best to deliver quality care outside traditional medical settings in spite of the difficult healthcare environment.
Top keynote speaker Brent James M.D., Chief Quality Officer, Intermountain HealthCare will talk about his New York Times Sunday Magazine article “If Health Care is Going to Change, Dr. Brent James Ideas will Lead the Way”
To consider economic inequality’s impact on health, listen to Kate Pickett, PhD, Professor of Epidemiology, University of York in the UK and the author of “The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger” named a Top Ten book of the decade.
For a probing analysis come to hear keynoter Atul Gwande, M.D. Surgeon, Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, New Yorker Magazine healthcare writer, and Director for the World Health Organization’s Global Challenge for Safer Surgical Care.
Attendees will want to hear Janet Dillione GM for Healthcare, Nuance talk about how she developed healthcare uses for “Watson” IBM’s Artificial Intelligence System. “Watson “was the star computer system that beat two human champions on Jeopardy.
Using technologies to measure emotion will be addressed by Rosalind Picard, ScD, Director, Affective Computing Research Group, MIT Media Lab; a developer of software that recognizes and interprets facial expressions.
Also at MIT, Alex (Sandy) Pentland, PhD, Toshiba Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at MIT, Director, MIT Human Dynamics Lab, and Co-Founder of CogitolHealth” will talk about other pertinent ongoing research at the university.
Using virtual characters designed to sustain long term social and emotional relationships with people will be addressed by Timothy Bickmore, PhD, Associate Professor College of Computer and Information Science, Northeastern University and an expert on Relational Agents
To address the benefits of social media, William Shrank MD Principal Investigator, CVS Caremark Harvard Partnership for Improving Medication Adherence, has examined how Facebook can help diabetic patients.
Be sure to hear Clifford Nash, PhD, Thomas M Storke Professor at Stanford University, author of “The Media Equation”, “Wired for Speech”, and “The Man Who Lied to His Laptop” discuss his books plus his ideas from his publications on the psychology and design of interactive technologies.
On the business side, Robert S. Galvin, Chief Executive Officer, Equity Healthcare, and Executive Director, Corporate Private Equity, The Blackstone Group, an expert on the management of healthcare for firms owned by private equity companies will present his unique ideas.
Attendees will want to hear from Eileen Bartholomew, Senior Director for Life Sciences Prize Development for the X PRIZE Foundation on her experiences in building innovative programs.
Other prominent speakers just added to the list include:
• David Blumenthal, Professor of Medicine and Professor of Health Policy, Harvard Medical School and former National Coordinator for HIT
• George Church, Co-founder, and Chief Scientific Advisor for Knome
• Jonathan Gruber, Professor of Economics at MIT and high profile advisor on healthcare reform for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the Obama administration
• Jessica Haberer, Research Scientist at the MGH Center for Global Health
• Debra Lieberman, Director, the Health Games Research National Program at the University of California, Santa Barbara
• Halle Tecco, Founder and Managing Director of RockHealth.
Also on the agenda are many breakout sessions with vital information on accountable care organizations, innovative ways to provide wireless for poor communities, convergence of genomics, ongoing developments in gaming psychology, entrepreneurship, enhancing decision making skills, dealing effectively with the marketplace, meeting future goals, and working effectively using today’s expanding social media.
The Symposium will be filled with drill down interviews, cut-to the chase debates, and many other great opportunities and events to help attendees have easy conversations with experts in the field.
Meet all of the exhibitors and be the first to see rapid fire demonstrations of products and services to help you or your organization stand out and surge ahead to reach new heights in the healthcare field.
Be sure to make plans to stay for special inaugural event the “Boston Summit on Leadership: A Call for Action” to be held October 22, 2011 at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel. Distinguished faculty from different professions will discuss leadership principles in different domains.
Sanjiv Chopra, M.B.B.S., M.A.C.P. Professor of Medicine, Faulty Dean for Continuing Education, Harvard Medical School will speak on “The Ten Tenets of Leadership” a topic that he is passionate about and has presented to audiences world-wide.
Other speakers will include:
• Ambassador Swanee Hunt, Adjunct Lecturer at the Kennedy School of Government
• Alvaro Pascual-Leone, MD, Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School
• Charles Denham, MD, CEO and Founder HCC Corporation, Chairman and Founder TMIT
• Jim O’ Connell, MD, President, Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program
• Scott Snook, Senior Lecturer at the Harvard Business School
• Venkat Srinivasan, CEO, Rage Frameworks, Inc, Chairman and Founder of English Helper
• Zunaira Munir, Founder and Managing Director, Strategize Blue
Go to www.connected-health.org/events/symposium-2011.aspx for more information on sponsorships, exhibiting, and registering for this major Symposium along with registering for the Leadership Summit.
Federal Telemedicine News readers will receive a discount of $100 off the full price ($1095) to register for the Symposium. The code to use is “Telemed News”.
For further details, email Joe Ternullo Organizing Chair for the Symposium at jternullo@partners.org or email Margaret Spinale at mmspinale@partners.org.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Technology for the Disabled
The U.S. Department of Education’s National Institute on Disabilities and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) awarded 16 SBIR grants for $75,000 each to small businesses to develop technology to make life and learning easier for individuals with disabilities.
NIDRR’s SBIR program has two phases. Phase I determines the scientific or technical merit of the idea with awards made for up to six months for a maximum of $75,000 and Phase II projects awarded to expand on the previous results for up to two years and a maximum of $500,000.
“The projects awarded are designed to help people with disabilities maximize their job productivity and economic self-sufficiency,” said Alexa Posny, Assistant Secretary for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS).
Some of the awardees and projects are:
• AbleLink Technologies, Inc.— to develop a remote scheduling management and monitoring system to support personal scheduling by individuals with intellectual and cognitive disabilities plus develop a cloud-based activity support system
• CreateAbility Concepts, Inc.— to develop a talking Smartphone and tablet application to help people who are blind or visually impaired to fully be able to use devices with visual flat-panel displays
• Institute for Disabilities Research and Training, Inc.—to develop computer and online software providing ASL translation and publishing capabilities
• Assistech Systems LLC—to further develop “HealthChecker” an accessible web-based application for self-assessment of personal health and wellness by individuals with cognitive disabilities
In another program, NIDRR’s Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERC) conduct advanced research to apply advanced technology to solve rehabilitation problems and remove environmental barriers. Each center is affiliated with one or more institutions of higher education or nonprofit organizations to find the newest technologies, products, and methods that can help individuals maintain their independence in spite of living with disabilities.
The NIDRR “Wireless RERC” is funded to promote universal access and use of mobile wireless technologies and explore innovative applications for people with disabilities. The Wireless RERC works directly with consumers by assessing the usability of wireless products by users with disabilities, creating www.mywirelessreview.com an online forum, and promote awareness about accessible wireless options with consumers and providers.
Currently, the Wireless RERC has several projects under development:
• Prototype systems for location-based services in public places
• Next-generation, digital emergency alerts to ensure equitable access to emergency information by people with disabilities over wireless networks and devices
• Prototypes of universal interfaces that accommodate diverse user abilities
• Guidelines and tools for the design of wireless interfaces that will accommodate users with visual limitations
The Wireless RERC is also involved in regulatory activities. The RERC examines and analyzes accessibility policy issues related to the use of wireless communications and other information technologies. Key activities include regulatory filings, producing policy brief and timely advisories to stakeholders on municipal wireless networks, emergency communications. and related issues.
The RERC has developed a “Collaborative Policy Network” to bring together experts on various aspects of the policy process in the telecommunications and IT related fields. The plan is for the Network to provide support internally to the RERC and to other RERCs in the field.
The RERC also created “SUNspot” to share findings from the ongoing “Survey of User Needs (SUN). This survey focuses on the use and usability of wireless technology by people with disabilities. The information is shared with manufacturers and carriers, as well as with policymakers and SUN data is used in guiding industry and government initiatives.
For more information, go to www.wirelessrerc.org.
NIDRR’s SBIR program has two phases. Phase I determines the scientific or technical merit of the idea with awards made for up to six months for a maximum of $75,000 and Phase II projects awarded to expand on the previous results for up to two years and a maximum of $500,000.
“The projects awarded are designed to help people with disabilities maximize their job productivity and economic self-sufficiency,” said Alexa Posny, Assistant Secretary for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS).
Some of the awardees and projects are:
• AbleLink Technologies, Inc.— to develop a remote scheduling management and monitoring system to support personal scheduling by individuals with intellectual and cognitive disabilities plus develop a cloud-based activity support system
• CreateAbility Concepts, Inc.— to develop a talking Smartphone and tablet application to help people who are blind or visually impaired to fully be able to use devices with visual flat-panel displays
• Institute for Disabilities Research and Training, Inc.—to develop computer and online software providing ASL translation and publishing capabilities
• Assistech Systems LLC—to further develop “HealthChecker” an accessible web-based application for self-assessment of personal health and wellness by individuals with cognitive disabilities
In another program, NIDRR’s Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERC) conduct advanced research to apply advanced technology to solve rehabilitation problems and remove environmental barriers. Each center is affiliated with one or more institutions of higher education or nonprofit organizations to find the newest technologies, products, and methods that can help individuals maintain their independence in spite of living with disabilities.
The NIDRR “Wireless RERC” is funded to promote universal access and use of mobile wireless technologies and explore innovative applications for people with disabilities. The Wireless RERC works directly with consumers by assessing the usability of wireless products by users with disabilities, creating www.mywirelessreview.com an online forum, and promote awareness about accessible wireless options with consumers and providers.
Currently, the Wireless RERC has several projects under development:
• Prototype systems for location-based services in public places
• Next-generation, digital emergency alerts to ensure equitable access to emergency information by people with disabilities over wireless networks and devices
• Prototypes of universal interfaces that accommodate diverse user abilities
• Guidelines and tools for the design of wireless interfaces that will accommodate users with visual limitations
The Wireless RERC is also involved in regulatory activities. The RERC examines and analyzes accessibility policy issues related to the use of wireless communications and other information technologies. Key activities include regulatory filings, producing policy brief and timely advisories to stakeholders on municipal wireless networks, emergency communications. and related issues.
The RERC has developed a “Collaborative Policy Network” to bring together experts on various aspects of the policy process in the telecommunications and IT related fields. The plan is for the Network to provide support internally to the RERC and to other RERCs in the field.
The RERC also created “SUNspot” to share findings from the ongoing “Survey of User Needs (SUN). This survey focuses on the use and usability of wireless technology by people with disabilities. The information is shared with manufacturers and carriers, as well as with policymakers and SUN data is used in guiding industry and government initiatives.
For more information, go to www.wirelessrerc.org.
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