Telehealth

Keeping nursing home patients out of hospital

A significant number of hospitalizations among nursing home patients are potentially avoidable, several studies in recent years have shown. What’s more, skilled care patients do better overall when they don’t have to be moved … READ MORE

Aging caregivers of children with disabilities pushed to the breaking point

Carlo is in a wheelchair thanks to a condition called myositis. Now that he’s nearing 50 and “almost non-mobile,” he receives home care and lives with his parents who help take care of him. But that’s becoming more difficult: … READ MORE

Most people’s medical records are fragmented

Full ‘Medical Records’ for Trump and Clinton? That’s Fiction. Casey Quinlan is a patient advocate who has a tattoo of a QR code — a type of bar code to store and track data — for her medical records. Credit Chet Strange for … READ MORE

Gaming camera could aid MS treatment

Kinect 3D camera used to assess walking of MS patients. In a recent issue of IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics, researchers from McGill University in Canada describe the development of a gait assessment system based … READ MORE

OpenNotes reaches 10 million

The OpenNotes movement is excited to share a milestone — 10 million Americans can now read their medical notes securely online. Overwhelmingly, patients agree that reading their notes helps them feel more in control of their health … READ MORE

Akira and the rise of telemedicine in Canada

“…an international health policy study in 2010… showed that Canada had the lowest rate for availability of same-day appointments at 45 per cent and the highest rate of people who had to wait six days or more for an … READ MORE

Telemedicine sucks as much as in-person care

Telemedicine proponents have argued for years that virtual care is at least as effective as in-person care delivered in a traditional clinical setting. Based on new research, they may be more right than they had thought. Neil Versel, … READ MORE

Workplace mHealth program shows improved step count, weight loss

A new study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, JACC has shown that a team-based workplace mHealth challenge using pedometers and online tools can get people moving more and help them lose weight. Satish … READ MORE

Can your fitness tracker save your life in the ER?

Doctors provided strategic treatment after the man suffered a seizure. A 42-year-old man presented to the emergency department (ED) with newly diagnosed atrial fibrillation of unknown duration. Interrogation of the patient’s … READ MORE

AliveCor releases Apple Watch EKG band Kardia

Alivecor this week introduced an Apple Watch EKG band, Kardia, that will let users obtain a single-lead EKG just by touching the Watch band. Satish Misra MD, iMedical Apps March 17, 2016 AliveCor is best known for its smartphone EKG … READ MORE

Empowering orthopaedic patients: Digital fitness devices monitor health and activity, improve outcomes

Apps allow patients to share data with their doctor. Many orthopaedic patients are eager to track and improve their health and progress before, during and after treatment. A digital fitness device, technology already owned by 1 in 10 … READ MORE

59% of digital health users have chronic condition, only 7% use management tool

Fifty-nine percent of consumers who use digital health apps and tools suffer from a chronic condition, according to a March HealthMine survey of 500 insured consumers. Fifty-two percent of these individuals are enrolled in a wellness … READ MORE

Us and Them: Why patient-defined health teams don’t communicate well

Patients and their families have many people who contribute to their care – different types of providers in different departments and institutions. Yet, despite sharing the goal of improving the same patient’s health, providers … READ MORE

Digital fitness devices monitor health and activity, improve outcomes

“If we can get people more involved in their care and help them get in better shape, then everyone wins – patients, physicians, and the entire health care system.” Claudette Lajam MD. Apps allow patients to share data … READ MORE

Remote orthopaedic care successful with common conditions

In new study, nearly 80 percent of rural fracture patients avoided travel to an urban medical center, saving $3.7 million in transportation costs. “These results show that you don’t need an expensive, elaborate system to … READ MORE

Telemedicine popular with the young and chronically ill

“In 5 to 10 years, we’re not going to talk about telehealth, it’s just going to be health.” – John Kornak LAS VEGAS — Barriers to telemedicine are persistent, but physician groups are looking for ways … READ MORE

Telehealth services increasingly popular with consumers and insurers

Telemedicine has been more widely offered over the last five years, promoted by health plans such as Cigna Inc and New York-based insurance startup Oscar Health. As many as 15 million people used the services this year, up 50% from … READ MORE

Why can’t you email your doctor?

Email may be the preferred communication method with clients in many industries, but many health care clinics are still relying on phone and fax to connect with patients. Only about 11% of Canadian primary care doctors communicate … READ MORE

Saskatchewan program allows online look at personal medical records

REGINA – A pilot program is being launched in Saskatchewan that will allow up to 1,000 people to view their personal health-care information online. Called the Citizen Health Information Portal, or CHIP, the six-month program … READ MORE

Doctors’ reminders keep people more engaged in their health care

Research led by UCLA professor on ‘OpenNotes’ model finds that follow-up emails are critical to keeping patients in the know. Enrique Rivero, UCLA Newsroom February 11, 2016 A study led by Dr. John Mafi, a professor at the David … READ MORE

Digital health can serve the safety net, but only if done right

Still, it’s important to understand the needs of safety-net populations, according to a new report from the California HealthCare Foundation. Michigan’s Health Care Safety Net: Catching the uninsured when they fall. Blue Cross … READ MORE

Letting patients read the doctor’s notes

The patient, a wiry businessman in his 50s, needed a copy of his medical records to bring to a specialist for a second opinion. He assumed that getting the copies would be straightforward; the records were, after all, his. By Pauline … READ MORE

Doctors urged to ditch pagers in favour of smartphones

When Ann Marie McKenna uses her iPhone to communicate with colleagues at work, she’s upsetting the long reign of another device – one that is virtually obsolete outside her industry. Physician Jonathan Ailon uses a smartphone at … READ MORE

Stanford launches its HealthKit and Epic connected MyHealth app

Many large hospitals in the U.S. are evaluating or developing pilot projects around Apple’s HealthKit platform. Stanford Health Care is among the first to actually offer a working app that exchanges data between the Epic patient … READ MORE

How doctors use smartphones in hospitals

Findings suggest that medical residents are looking for quicker forms of medical confirmation and information, rather than multimedia formats that may be more time consuming to process during clinic. This is consistent with another … READ MORE

In-home tele-rehabilitation following total knee replacement

Patients who received rehabilitation instruction via video tele-conference, or tele-rehabilitation, following total knee replacement (TKR) surgery, had comparable outcomes to patients who received in-person physical therapy, … READ MORE

20 ways to see the heart

Our ability to see the human heart – its intricate valves, vessels and chambers – can mean less invasive procedures for patients. Better care for daughters, moms, dads, grandpas and more. A look inside the technology and … READ MORE

SeamlessMD: helping patients prep for surgery and recover faster

New tech from alumni startup at hospital in Toronto. A mobile app and web platform from U of T medical and engineering grads is improving readiness and recovery for surgery patients at Toronto East General Hospital. By Brianna … READ MORE

Mind controlled robot helps disabled visit family and friends

Severely disabled people these days are often completely dependent on their caretakers to do even the simplest tasks. But thanks to a team of researchers from the Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, EPFL, in Switzerland, even … READ MORE

Calgary Scientific launches ResolutionMD with new intuitive interface

New functionality builds upon a recent release that included voice and video collaboration capability, image sharing between facilities and providers, Integration capability to EMR systems, XDS integration, precision measurements and … READ MORE

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