Federal News

The White House Announces $795 in Grants for Broadband Projects that will help fund Telemedicine Services in Rural Communities
Earlier this month, the Obama administration announced $795 in grants that will fund 66 new broadband projects across the United States, HealthBeat reports. The funding is part of the $7.2 billion that Congress has allotted in the federal economic stimulus package for the expansion of broadband access. According to a statement made by the White House, the grants will focus on “middle mile connections” and “last mile awards” to link together the homes, hospitals, and schools in rural communities that do not have centralized broadband connections. The White House expects the projects to bring broadband services to almost 900 health care facilities, and enable rural communities to employ telemedicine services and will allow physicians to offer cost-effective, remote diagnoses and care.
http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2010/7/2/white-house-announces-795m-for-broadband-telemedicine.aspx

State News

Statewide Health Information Exchange Underway in Kansas
Four healthcare organizations in Kansas—the Kansas Hospital Association, the Kansas Medical Society, the Kansas City Bi-State Health Information Exchange, and the Wichita Health Information Exchange—are working together to develop a statewide health information exchange, the Kansas City Business Journal reports. The Kansas Health Information Exchange Inc. will take responsibility for overseeing the exchange. The four organizations are already collaborating efforts to help Kansas raise $9 million in stimulus money to help fund the exchange. Officials said that they expect to submit a proposal for the statewide health information exchange to the federal government in late August.
http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/2010/07/12/daily9.html

Industry News

Healthcare Providers will be Required to Digitalize Medical Records in order to receive Government Incentives
According to U.S. health officials, doctors and hospitals will be required to digitalize medical records and meet specific criteria in order to take advantage of $27 billion in government incentives, Reuters reports. The requirements to qualify for the funding however, are more flexible than what health officials had thought initially. To receive funding, hospitals will need to meet 14 core “meaningful use” requirements, while doctors will need to meet 15. Healthcare providers will be expected to setup systems in order to both prescribe medications and maintain patient medication lists. They will also be expected to provide their patients with copies of their digital medical records. In addition to these requirements, providers will need to choose five supplementary criteria from a list of 10 to receive the funding. Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, stated, “If you want to improve the quality of care, you need to be able to accurately measure what<s going on.” She said, “You want to promote greater coordination among doctors. You need to quickly move health information to wherever it<s needed at the appropriate time.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1325594220100713

New Kaiser Study Found that E-mailing with Physicians Improves Disease Control
According to a new Kaiser Permanente study, Improved Quality at Kaiser Permanente Through E-mail Between Physicians and Patients, found that the use of secure “patient-physician e-mail communications” significantly improved several disease control measures of diabetic and hypertensive patients in Southern California, Modern Healthcare<s Daily IT e-Newsletter reports. The study, which is part of Kaiser<s personal health record portal, included roughly 35,500 diabetic and hypertensive patients. Patients who used the e-mail feature reported between a 2% and 6.5% improvement rating in both the screening and control of their glycemic levels, cholesterol, and blood pressure.
http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20100708/NEWS/100709948#

International News

First Trial of Intel<s Health Guide Set to take place in England
NHS Central Lancashire is piloting Intel<s Health Guide in collaboration with COPD Patient in Preston to monitor their conditions, E-Health Insider reports. The first pilot will be implemented in England, and will monitor 40 patients over a 12 month span of time. Health Guide, is a device provided by GE Healthcare, which enables patients to measure their vital signs and submit their responses to questions about their conditions to a central source on a regular basis. NHS Central Lancashire<s community matron locality lead, Anne Walton stated, “This new technology allows patients to take a more active role in their own care and to learn more about their own condition. This will hopefully teach them how to spot signs of symptoms so they can act sooner to avoid being admitted to the hospital.”
http://www.e-health-insider.com/news/6055/health_guide_gets_first_english_trial

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