Frost & Sullivan’s recently published whitepaper, “Mobile Devices & Healthcare: What’s New, What Fits, and How Do You Decide?” examines the strengths and drawbacks of four major mobile device types including smartphones, tablets, push-to-talk communication devices, and machine-to-machine (M2M) remote medical monitoring devices. Each device category is evaluated for application in three unique environments such as hospitals, physician’s offices, and the patient’s home.
“Mobile technology promises to transform healthcare. It all begins with the mobile device, and vendors are working hard to tempt healthcare providers with a broad, and often bewildering, set of choices. Different types of medical staff will have different information and communications needs. The whitepaper offers Sprint as an example of an end-to-end mobile solution provider that has done due diligence and assembled a top-tier portfolio of solutions and partners”, reports Jeanine Sterling, Frost & Sullivan Senior Industry Analyst.
Smartphone penetration among U.S. healthcare providers continues to surge as devices become more powerful and convenient along with the growth of medical software applications. Caregivers now use their smartphones to access medical reference libraries, view laboratory results, monitor patient vitals, and to access EHRs.
A second device category that includes next-generation tablets is taking these capabilities and magnifying their usefulness with the aid of larger screens, high resolution displays, and dual cameras.
Even push-to-talk devices are augmenting their instant voice communications with an array of new capabilities providing help in multiple scenarios, including the emergency room and in natural disaster situations.
Lastly, M2M remote monitoring devices are starting to bridge the geographic gap between healthcare providers and patients who are unable to make in-person office visits. In addition to supporting patients with chronic conditions, M2M technology is being used for personal wellness monitoring and for helping elderly or at-risk individuals to live independently.
Go to www.mysprinthealthcare.com/c/front/frontThankYouPage.jsp to download the white paper.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Gathering Data for Study
The National Children’s Study is changing its approach to information gathering. The new approach termed facilitated decentralization will move away from proprietary informational systems to publicly available non-proprietary systems. The plan is to test a variety of different yet compatible information systems to identify the systems that best meet the needs of the study.
“The idea is also to identify and develop systems that can be adapted, upgraded, easily expanded to meet the changing needs of the study as it proceeds through the 21 year span,” said Capt. Steven Hirschfeld, M.D. U.S. Public Health Service and Acting Director for the National Children’s Study and Director of Clinical Research.
The National Children’s Study is going to examine the effects of the environment and genetics on the growth, development, and health of children across the U.S from pre-conception to age 21. The Study will be led by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development part of NIH in collaboration with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Environmental Protection Agency.
The study will be data-driven, evidence-based, and will provide information to help communities. Because of the study’s size, length, and complexity, the study will be conducted as two separate but related studies to include a pilot and a main study. The new components for the study’s informatics systems will be tested in the pilot study and will be used to help design the main study planned to begin mid 2012.
NIH Researchers are invited to learn more about opportunities to collaborate on the study and further details at a one day event on August 24, 2011 to be held at the NIH campus. Go to www.nationalchildrensstudy.gov/newsandevents/events/Pages/ncsresearchday.aspx for more information. Go to www.nationalchildrensstudy.gov/Pages/default.aspx for additional information on the National Children’s Study.
“The idea is also to identify and develop systems that can be adapted, upgraded, easily expanded to meet the changing needs of the study as it proceeds through the 21 year span,” said Capt. Steven Hirschfeld, M.D. U.S. Public Health Service and Acting Director for the National Children’s Study and Director of Clinical Research.
The National Children’s Study is going to examine the effects of the environment and genetics on the growth, development, and health of children across the U.S from pre-conception to age 21. The Study will be led by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development part of NIH in collaboration with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Environmental Protection Agency.
The study will be data-driven, evidence-based, and will provide information to help communities. Because of the study’s size, length, and complexity, the study will be conducted as two separate but related studies to include a pilot and a main study. The new components for the study’s informatics systems will be tested in the pilot study and will be used to help design the main study planned to begin mid 2012.
NIH Researchers are invited to learn more about opportunities to collaborate on the study and further details at a one day event on August 24, 2011 to be held at the NIH campus. Go to www.nationalchildrensstudy.gov/newsandevents/events/Pages/ncsresearchday.aspx for more information. Go to www.nationalchildrensstudy.gov/Pages/default.aspx for additional information on the National Children’s Study.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
SUNY Establishes Tech Projects
Empire State Development (ESD) and the State University of New York (SUNY) Research Foundation on behalf of SUNY Plattsburgh launched the “Adirondack-Champlain Telemedicine Information Network” (ACTION) in the North Country.
Congressman Bill Owns, New York State Senator Betty Little, New York State Assemblywoman, Teresa Sayward, Assemblywoman, Janet Duprey, New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal, and Essex County Industrial Development Agency were key players in developing the ACTION project.
The Fort Drum Regional Health Planning Organization (FDRHPO) a cooperative health partnership of hospitals, physicians, and military medical leadership provided technical assistance for the project. FDRHPO already operates a successful telemedical fiber optic network under the FCC Rural Health Care Pilot Program.
The $9.8 million project will develop a long-term leased 239 mile telemedicine network linking 48 medical facilities in an eight county region. ESD provided $550,000 to SUNY Research Foundation to sponsor the project.
The SUNY Research Foundation selected the Development Authority of the North Country to construct the ACTION Network. The Development Authority partnered with several local telecommunications companies including ION, Primelink, SLIC Network Communications, Tech Valley Communications, and Westelcom.
Eight hospitals and clinics are participating with typical telemedicine applications that will include telepsychiatry, telestroke, telecardiology, and teledermatology. This project will prove to be invaluable in the Adirondack Region since there are long distances between hospitals and traveling in the snowbound winter months can be difficult. In addition, it is not easy to attract healthcare specialists to the North Country region.
In another innovative project, SUNY and the Research Foundation jointly launched the SUNY Technology Accelerator Fund (TAF) to support innovation across the SUNY research community and to accelerate the commercialization of inventions.
A significant obstacle to the development and transfer of university technology is the lack of funding for promising discoveries after government-sponsored support ends and before licensing or venture capital support is identified and secured.
Funding at this stage is needed to bring promising technology to market. TAF offers a means to assist the SUNY community by providing research funds for select technologies so that they can be developed and commercialized.
Proposals seeking TAF funding were submitted to SUNY’s Regional IP Commercialization Hubs for initial review. Nineteen proposals were presented to the Research Foundation where they were evaluated according to TAF’s guidelines. The Research Foundation announced that five diverse proposals were selected to receive a total of $250,000 in funding for the first round of TAF awards.
The recent award funding will help researchers develop a test to identify birth defect risks, a screening test for early detection of ovarian cancer, a new microphone design to improve hearing aids, a test for cells to create novel diagnostic tools, and a method to harvest vehicle vibrations into usable energy.
SUNY has also signed a new international agreement with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology in South Korea to establish SUNY Korea. The venture funded by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy will offer graduate degrees with a strong focus on research in computer science, information systems, and technology systems management. The academic program will begin March 2012 with a target enrollment of 200 students in the first year.
In addition, the SUNY Korea partnership under a Ministry of Knowledge Economy grant is providing approximately $50 million for 10 years to work with the Pohang University of Science and Technology on a program to foster premium IT professionals.
Congressman Bill Owns, New York State Senator Betty Little, New York State Assemblywoman, Teresa Sayward, Assemblywoman, Janet Duprey, New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal, and Essex County Industrial Development Agency were key players in developing the ACTION project.
The Fort Drum Regional Health Planning Organization (FDRHPO) a cooperative health partnership of hospitals, physicians, and military medical leadership provided technical assistance for the project. FDRHPO already operates a successful telemedical fiber optic network under the FCC Rural Health Care Pilot Program.
The $9.8 million project will develop a long-term leased 239 mile telemedicine network linking 48 medical facilities in an eight county region. ESD provided $550,000 to SUNY Research Foundation to sponsor the project.
The SUNY Research Foundation selected the Development Authority of the North Country to construct the ACTION Network. The Development Authority partnered with several local telecommunications companies including ION, Primelink, SLIC Network Communications, Tech Valley Communications, and Westelcom.
Eight hospitals and clinics are participating with typical telemedicine applications that will include telepsychiatry, telestroke, telecardiology, and teledermatology. This project will prove to be invaluable in the Adirondack Region since there are long distances between hospitals and traveling in the snowbound winter months can be difficult. In addition, it is not easy to attract healthcare specialists to the North Country region.
In another innovative project, SUNY and the Research Foundation jointly launched the SUNY Technology Accelerator Fund (TAF) to support innovation across the SUNY research community and to accelerate the commercialization of inventions.
A significant obstacle to the development and transfer of university technology is the lack of funding for promising discoveries after government-sponsored support ends and before licensing or venture capital support is identified and secured.
Funding at this stage is needed to bring promising technology to market. TAF offers a means to assist the SUNY community by providing research funds for select technologies so that they can be developed and commercialized.
Proposals seeking TAF funding were submitted to SUNY’s Regional IP Commercialization Hubs for initial review. Nineteen proposals were presented to the Research Foundation where they were evaluated according to TAF’s guidelines. The Research Foundation announced that five diverse proposals were selected to receive a total of $250,000 in funding for the first round of TAF awards.
The recent award funding will help researchers develop a test to identify birth defect risks, a screening test for early detection of ovarian cancer, a new microphone design to improve hearing aids, a test for cells to create novel diagnostic tools, and a method to harvest vehicle vibrations into usable energy.
SUNY has also signed a new international agreement with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology in South Korea to establish SUNY Korea. The venture funded by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy will offer graduate degrees with a strong focus on research in computer science, information systems, and technology systems management. The academic program will begin March 2012 with a target enrollment of 200 students in the first year.
In addition, the SUNY Korea partnership under a Ministry of Knowledge Economy grant is providing approximately $50 million for 10 years to work with the Pohang University of Science and Technology on a program to foster premium IT professionals.
eMERGE Funding to Expand
Patient’s genetic information along with descriptions of their diseases will eventually be linked to EMRs so that doctors will be able to customize their patients’ treatments and outcomes. The Electronic Medical Records and Genomics or referred to as the eMERGE network which was formed by NIH’s National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) with support from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences to address this need.
The first phase of eMERGE wrapping up this year, demonstrates that genetic information from EMRs can be used to study patients disease traits, including those associated with dementia, cataracts, HDL-cholesterol, peripheral arterial disease, type 2 diabetes, and cardiac conduction defects.
Some doctors are already using genetic information to identify patients who face potentially lethal side effects from the drug Warfarin and for breast cancer patients with a genetic mutation that causes them to overproduce the HER2 protein.
Teri Manolio, M.D., PhD, Director of NHGRI’s Office of Population Genomics administering the eMERGE network, said “Scientists can take a genome-wide association study that might initially involve 1000 to 2000 people and by using clinical descriptions in the EMRs suddenly multiply that by 10 to 12 thousand people at very little additional cost.”
NHGRI will incorporate the methods and knowledge learned in the first phase to expand eMERGE this year. In the near future, NHGRI plans to award $22 million to up to eight investigators for four-year studies focusing on adults and about $3.5 million to a single coordinating center.
In spring of 2012, NHGRI also plans to award up to $1.6 million to as many as three investigators to conduct three-year pediatric studies. Both adult and pediatric eMERGE investigators will conduct studies to validate the link between certain genes and at least 40 disease traits. Another NIH institute, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development plans to fund these grants.
eMERGE will include a consent and consultation group to explore privacy concerns. The group will study participants and community advisory groups and their concerns about genomic research and EMRs. eMERGE participant surveys already show that patients are willing to share their genetic and EMR information when it enhances the value of a research study. The surveys also show that patients want results of their own genetic tests returned to them regardless of whether the results affected their clinical care.
The first phase of eMERGE wrapping up this year, demonstrates that genetic information from EMRs can be used to study patients disease traits, including those associated with dementia, cataracts, HDL-cholesterol, peripheral arterial disease, type 2 diabetes, and cardiac conduction defects.
Some doctors are already using genetic information to identify patients who face potentially lethal side effects from the drug Warfarin and for breast cancer patients with a genetic mutation that causes them to overproduce the HER2 protein.
Teri Manolio, M.D., PhD, Director of NHGRI’s Office of Population Genomics administering the eMERGE network, said “Scientists can take a genome-wide association study that might initially involve 1000 to 2000 people and by using clinical descriptions in the EMRs suddenly multiply that by 10 to 12 thousand people at very little additional cost.”
NHGRI will incorporate the methods and knowledge learned in the first phase to expand eMERGE this year. In the near future, NHGRI plans to award $22 million to up to eight investigators for four-year studies focusing on adults and about $3.5 million to a single coordinating center.
In spring of 2012, NHGRI also plans to award up to $1.6 million to as many as three investigators to conduct three-year pediatric studies. Both adult and pediatric eMERGE investigators will conduct studies to validate the link between certain genes and at least 40 disease traits. Another NIH institute, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development plans to fund these grants.
eMERGE will include a consent and consultation group to explore privacy concerns. The group will study participants and community advisory groups and their concerns about genomic research and EMRs. eMERGE participant surveys already show that patients are willing to share their genetic and EMR information when it enhances the value of a research study. The surveys also show that patients want results of their own genetic tests returned to them regardless of whether the results affected their clinical care.
Responding to Biological Threats
Laboratories play a critical role in identifying biological threats and have been actively developing complex integrated diagnostic systems to use in threatening situations. However, since threats are more complicated today, identification systems need to become even more sophisticated to improve laboratory detection reliability and to shape medical treatments.
The Army has been actively involved. For example, scientists at the U.S Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) have developed a ground-breaking method to identify biological agents.
Sage-N Research a computational pyrometrics company signed an exclusive license agreement with ECBC July 14, 2011. This agreement enables the integration of ECBC’s “Agents of Biological Origins Identification” (ABOID) into Sage-N Research’s existing SORCERER system, a proteomics platform that enables rapid and cost effective method to be used to identify microorganisms.
This will make it possible for ABOID to detect and identify microorganisms in minutes rather than hours by having access to a database of 4,500 unique genomes of bacteria, viruses, and fungi. This advanced method to detect biological threats has potential applications in military, medical, pharmaceutical, food, and public safety areas.
The Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRID) researches vaccines and drugs using Level 3 and Level 4 laboratories. The Army works with CDC and the World Health Organization, Department of Homeland Security, and industry partners to develop medical countermeasures to protect the military and civilians. As a reference laboratory for DOD, USAMRID sets the standard for identifying biological agents and has produced some 20 candidate medical products over the past decade.
The National Library of Medicine (NLM) is also protecting the public with “Chemical Hazards Emergency Medical Management” (CHEMM) available at http://chemm.nlm.nih.gov. This system is a web-based resource to help first responders and other healthcare providers plan for, respond to, and recover from chemical emergencies that may involve terrorist chemical releases but also may be the result of mass-casualty incidents.
The system provides evidence-based information on quick chemical identification, acute patient care guidelines, and initial event activities. It is also downloadable in advance so that it is available during an event if the internet is not accessible.
In addition, NLM has made the 4.4 “Wireless Information System for Emergency Responders” (WISER) available. WISER is a system to assist first responders when faced with hazardous material incidents and provides a wide range of information on hazardous substances. The information is available for download as a standalone application on windows, mobile devices, PDAs, Apple iPhone and iPod touch, BlackBerry devices, Microsoft Windows PCs, and via the web.
The Army has been actively involved. For example, scientists at the U.S Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) have developed a ground-breaking method to identify biological agents.
Sage-N Research a computational pyrometrics company signed an exclusive license agreement with ECBC July 14, 2011. This agreement enables the integration of ECBC’s “Agents of Biological Origins Identification” (ABOID) into Sage-N Research’s existing SORCERER system, a proteomics platform that enables rapid and cost effective method to be used to identify microorganisms.
This will make it possible for ABOID to detect and identify microorganisms in minutes rather than hours by having access to a database of 4,500 unique genomes of bacteria, viruses, and fungi. This advanced method to detect biological threats has potential applications in military, medical, pharmaceutical, food, and public safety areas.
The Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRID) researches vaccines and drugs using Level 3 and Level 4 laboratories. The Army works with CDC and the World Health Organization, Department of Homeland Security, and industry partners to develop medical countermeasures to protect the military and civilians. As a reference laboratory for DOD, USAMRID sets the standard for identifying biological agents and has produced some 20 candidate medical products over the past decade.
The National Library of Medicine (NLM) is also protecting the public with “Chemical Hazards Emergency Medical Management” (CHEMM) available at http://chemm.nlm.nih.gov. This system is a web-based resource to help first responders and other healthcare providers plan for, respond to, and recover from chemical emergencies that may involve terrorist chemical releases but also may be the result of mass-casualty incidents.
The system provides evidence-based information on quick chemical identification, acute patient care guidelines, and initial event activities. It is also downloadable in advance so that it is available during an event if the internet is not accessible.
In addition, NLM has made the 4.4 “Wireless Information System for Emergency Responders” (WISER) available. WISER is a system to assist first responders when faced with hazardous material incidents and provides a wide range of information on hazardous substances. The information is available for download as a standalone application on windows, mobile devices, PDAs, Apple iPhone and iPod touch, BlackBerry devices, Microsoft Windows PCs, and via the web.
Device to Monitor Eye Disease
Degenerative eye diseases affect more than 13 million people in the U.S. Experts estimate that as the population ages, up to a fourth of Americans will be affected with degenerative eye diseases by 2020. An ophthalmologist at UT Southwestern Medical Center has helped create a convenient device that lets patients who have a degenerative eye disease better track vision changes.
“With the hand-held digital device, called “myVisionTrack”, patients can do an accurate self-test in less than 90 seconds”, said Dr. Yu-Guang He, Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at the university. The “myVisionTrack’s” shape discrimination tests are twice as sensitive as the paper eye chart in detecting small changes in vision.
Supplied as an app on an iPhone or iPod touch, the prototype device displays three circles on a screen, one of which is markedly different from the others. Patients cover one eye and then touch what they perceive to be the odd-shaped circle on the screen. With each click the differentiation becomes more subtle. The test is then repeated with the other eye. Results are stored in the device so patients do not have to memorize scores. If a significant vision change is detected, patients are instructed to see their doctor.
The eye device was produced by Vital Art and Science Inc. a Richardson Texas-based biotech firm that recently received approval for up to $1 million from the Texas Emerging Technology fund to develop the product.
Researchers at UT Southwestern and the Retina Foundation of the Southwest tested the prototype device in an eight month clinical study funded by NIH’s National Eye Institute. Forty diabetic patients diagnosed with retinopathy used the monitoring device at home each week. Their test results showed a high correlation with an ophthalmologist’s reading of their retinal images, taken at the beginning, midpoint, and at the end of the study.
“With the hand-held digital device, called “myVisionTrack”, patients can do an accurate self-test in less than 90 seconds”, said Dr. Yu-Guang He, Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at the university. The “myVisionTrack’s” shape discrimination tests are twice as sensitive as the paper eye chart in detecting small changes in vision.
Supplied as an app on an iPhone or iPod touch, the prototype device displays three circles on a screen, one of which is markedly different from the others. Patients cover one eye and then touch what they perceive to be the odd-shaped circle on the screen. With each click the differentiation becomes more subtle. The test is then repeated with the other eye. Results are stored in the device so patients do not have to memorize scores. If a significant vision change is detected, patients are instructed to see their doctor.
The eye device was produced by Vital Art and Science Inc. a Richardson Texas-based biotech firm that recently received approval for up to $1 million from the Texas Emerging Technology fund to develop the product.
Researchers at UT Southwestern and the Retina Foundation of the Southwest tested the prototype device in an eight month clinical study funded by NIH’s National Eye Institute. Forty diabetic patients diagnosed with retinopathy used the monitoring device at home each week. Their test results showed a high correlation with an ophthalmologist’s reading of their retinal images, taken at the beginning, midpoint, and at the end of the study.
T&F Registry Needed
Breast cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death and although black women are less likely than white women to develop early stage breast cancer, they are more likely to die of the disease. In New York City, black and Hispanic women who accessed care and underwent surgical treatment for their breast cancer were twice as likely as whites to experience underuse of additional treatments.
Some of this discrepancy may be due to the underuse of additional therapies, but the reality is that breast cancer treatments require coordination among surgeons, pathologists, primary care physicians, and medical and radiation oncologists. Coordinating medical care in the case of breast cancer does not always occur with minority women.
It is also disturbing that in one-third of these cases, surgeons recommended further treatments and although the patients did not refuse, further care did not take place simply due to the lack of coordination of information. What is needed is an effective Tracking and Feedback (T&F) registry to provide the coordination needed so that more oncology consultations will be completed to reduce the underuse of additional therapy.
The Department of Health Evidence and Policy at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, in a five year study, is conducting a randomized controlled trial with support from the National Cancer Institute. The goal is to test the effectiveness of a T&F registry to examine how care can be coordinated to increase the rates of completed oncology consultations.
So far, eleven hospitals serving a large proportion of minority women have been recruited for the study. The plan is to recruit 540 women at these hospitals diagnosed with new breast cancer to participate in the study and take part in the T&F registry.
For more information on the study “Implementing a Tracking and Feedback Registry to Allay Cancer Therapy Disparities”, contact Investigator Nina Bickell at (212) 659-8551 or email nina.bickell@mountsinai.org.
Some of this discrepancy may be due to the underuse of additional therapies, but the reality is that breast cancer treatments require coordination among surgeons, pathologists, primary care physicians, and medical and radiation oncologists. Coordinating medical care in the case of breast cancer does not always occur with minority women.
It is also disturbing that in one-third of these cases, surgeons recommended further treatments and although the patients did not refuse, further care did not take place simply due to the lack of coordination of information. What is needed is an effective Tracking and Feedback (T&F) registry to provide the coordination needed so that more oncology consultations will be completed to reduce the underuse of additional therapy.
The Department of Health Evidence and Policy at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, in a five year study, is conducting a randomized controlled trial with support from the National Cancer Institute. The goal is to test the effectiveness of a T&F registry to examine how care can be coordinated to increase the rates of completed oncology consultations.
So far, eleven hospitals serving a large proportion of minority women have been recruited for the study. The plan is to recruit 540 women at these hospitals diagnosed with new breast cancer to participate in the study and take part in the T&F registry.
For more information on the study “Implementing a Tracking and Feedback Registry to Allay Cancer Therapy Disparities”, contact Investigator Nina Bickell at (212) 659-8551 or email nina.bickell@mountsinai.org.
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