Panasonic to unveil new helper robots

gizmag:
With the aging of populations in many countries around the world, particularly Japan, there are ever increasing numbers of elderly to care for, but relatively fewer younger people to do the job. Robots have long been seen as a means of filling the gap and Panasonic is set to unveil its latest technology designed to do just that. The three robotic devices set to make their debut at the upcoming 38th International Home Care & Rehabilitation Exhibition (H.C.R.2011) in Tokyo include a communication assistance robot and new models of the company's Hair-Washing Robot and RoboticBed.

Fulltext at:
http://www.gizmag.com/panasonic-service-robots/19960/

Patient-centered healthcare homes 'here to stay'

FierceHealthcare:

The patient-centered healthcare home, otherwise known as the patient-centered medical home, is on the rise, according to Christine G. Leyden, general manager of client services and chief accreditation officer at URAC, a nonprofit that promotes healthcare quality.

With the baby boomer generation aging, "the patient-centered healthcare home is here to stay," Leyden said at Opal Events' Medicare Advantage Strategic Business Symposium on Tuesday in Arlington, Va. Most likely targeting the long-term care arena in the future, more practices are seeking the patient-centered model.

Fulltext at:
http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/patient-centered-healthcare-homes-here-stay/2011-09-27

Telemonitoring babies at home

Research Minute:
Pediatric Cardiology Home Telehealth Project.

Calling and locating caregiver

This video shows the functions developed in the MIDAS project based on Kompaï robot and Geomobile RFID tags. The primary goal of MIDAS is to develop complete and intelligent solutions, making use of different types of sensors, actuators, and connectivity technologies.

Smart shirt monitors your breathing while you sleep

smartplanet: To help track your sleep wellbeing, a nightshirt embedded with sensors monitors your breathing patterns, while a small chip in the pocket processes the data.

It determines your phase of sleep – REM ‘dream’ sleep, light sleep, or deep sleep. And these sleep diagnostics can help track how various things like alcohol or stress affect how well you sleep.

Fulltext at:
http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/rethinking-healthcare/smart-shirt-monitors-your-breathing-while-you-sleep/4699?tag=nl.e550

AT&T's play into health IT builds momentum

FierceMobileHealthcare: 
AT&T took another big leap ahead of its competitors in the mHealth market this past week, helping to launch a group to assist in developing accountable care organizations and hiring its first-ever chief medical information officer. Oh, and it soon may be selling mobile medical devices in its retail stores.


Fulltext at:
http://www.fiercemobilehealthcare.com/story/atts-health-it-play-continues-build-momentum/2011-09-18?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal

Better Care for people with Long Term Conditions

Good Governance Institute: 
Better care for people with long term conditions: the quality and good governance of telehealth services

This report is about telehealth services, and our recommendations for how telehealth should be implemented.We describe how telehealth provides the potential to help health services address the main focus of the new health reforms: the known expansion in care needs for the future. It is a ‘White Paper’ in style, taking the reader through the challenges for all Western healthcare services and then explaining the role that telehealth will have in providing a realistic means of meeting future care needs within a sustainable financial envelope; and how those implementing new services will need to think through the governance, quality and safety issues. We include a series of recommendations for those leading healthcare providers, those commissioning services and for policy makers to ensure that as telehealth rolls out across the country its potential to transform the care of patients is fully grasped.

Fulltext at:
http://www.good-governance.org.uk/Products/better-care-for-people-with-long-term-conditions.htm

Social Media for Dementia Patients

ScienceDaily: 
Research scientists in Norway are developing a "Facebook Light" -- with a user interface suitable for the elderly and people with dementia -- to promote important social contact.

Both research and experience show that social contact enables people with dementia to maintain their level of functioning longer.

Social media may improve the quality of life of the ever-increasing number of elderly people in society. Here is SINTEF-scientist Kristine Holbø helping an 

Fulltext at:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110915113627.htm

Telemonitoring Saves Money When Combined With Traditional Care

By Ken Terry InformationWeek:
Despite the significant benefits reported in this Health Affairs study, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services questions whether the benefits are real.

Combining telehealth and care management tools significantly reduces the costs of treating Medicare patients with chronic diseases, even after factoring in program costs, according to a new study published in Health Affairs. While the study focused on the use of the Health Buddy, a decade-old technology that must be used at home, it has implications for the use of the newer mobile applications for telemonitoring. Equally important, it signals the lag between studies of telehealth and its application in the field, according to a noted expert.

Fulltext at:
http://www.informationweek.com/news/healthcare/mobile-wireless/231601230?queryText=telemonitoring

Skype service expands in south Devon

ehiMOBILE: Clinicians in south Devon are using Skype to hold consultations with patients from their own homes using patient-controlled record system supplier Patients Know Best.

Dr Mohammad Al-Ubaydli, founder of Patients Know Best, told EHI Primary Care that the project had been running for a couple of months in response to demand from clinicians working for South Devon Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.

http://www.ehi.co.uk/news/mobile/7144/skype-service-expands-in-south-devon

Monitoring patients using intelligent t-shirts

Universidad Carlos III de Madrid:Scientists at la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M - Carlos III University in Madrid) who participate in the LOBIN consortium have developed an “intelligent” t- shirt that monitors the human body (temperature, heart rate, etc.) and locates patients within the hospital, as if it were a GPS system that works in closed spaces; it can even determine if the subject is seated, lying down, walking or running.

http://www.uc3m.es/portal/page/portal/actualidad_cientifica/noticias/intelligent_tshirts

The home health care market is very much in its infancy

residential systems: The home health care market is very much in its infancy, according to Laura Mitchell, VP of marketing for GrandCare Systems. Although she warns that it’s not as undeveloped as some people might believe. “Maybe it’s better to say that it’s an adolescent with braces,” she joked, going on to assert that the category has been around for some while now and is seeing more vendors and more advanced technology.

http://residentialsystems.com/article/63422.aspx

New Publication on Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Demonstration Link Remote Patient Monitoring to Reduced Costs and Mortality

bosch healthcare:

• Medicare demonstration project demonstrates that care coordination supported by content-based remote patient monitoring results in improved patient care, reduced costsiand rates of mortality
• Use of Bosch Healthcare’s Health Buddy System associated with noted changes in health outcomes and healthcare spending reductions up to 13 percent
• New findings published in the September edition of Health Affairs, the leading healthcare policy journal

http://www.bosch-telehealth.com/content/language1/html/6951_ENU_XHTML.aspx

Staffordshire answers the call of assistive technologies

theguardian: Technologies both simple and high tech can support people living in their own homes

Phones with giant numbers and keys, an example of assistive technology. Photograph: Staffordshire county council

http://www.guardian.co.uk/healthcare-network/2011/sep/15/staffordshire-assistive-technology

Scotland publishes new eHealth strategy

the guardian: Scottish government outlines plans to get patients more directly involved in their own healthcare by focusing on outcomes from eHealth technology

http://www.guardian.co.uk/healthcare-network/2011/sep/12/nhs-scotland-ehealth-strategy?&

How telemedicine can turn consultants into teleworkers

the guardian: Patients can benefit from faster access to drugs and greatly reduced travel times when specialists can work remotely

http://www.guardian.co.uk/healthcare-network/2011/sep/13/telemedicine-consultants-teleworkers-broadband-heart-stroke?&

Reminder calls boost patient monitoring via smartphones

FierceMobileHealthcare: Remote patient monitoring alone may not be an effective way to increase patient compliance, with tasks like checking blood pressure or blood glucose, according to a study out of the University Health Network in Toronto.

It turns out patients are far more likely to use the devices if they receive automatic phone calls or texts reminding them to perform the checks, or alerting them to negative trends in their results, says Dr. Joe Cafazzo, lead researcher on a one-year clinical trial of BP monitors for patients with diabetic hypertension.

http://www.fiercemobilehealthcare.com/story/reminder-calls-boost-success-smartphone-enabled-patient-monitoring/2011-09-12?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal

App-based remote room monitoring system for iPad and iPhone

gizmag: When I lived in what is generally described as an unsavory neighborhood, I had a device installed which would ring my mobile phone if the alarm sounded. Technology has moved on a tad since then with home monitoring options like this one from Florida-based Stem Innovation. The company has developed an app-controlled video camera called the iZON Remote Room Monitor that streams live video and audio to your iOS device when movement or sound is detected at home. The system can even send the recording direct to a private YouTube account for safe-keeping or sharing.

http://www.gizmag.com/izon-live-stream-remote-monitor-iphone/19727/

Kinect Used To Help Detect Increased Fall Risk In Elderly Patients

Gamasutra: Researchers at Missouri University are using Microsoft's 3D depth sensing Kinect to help gauge changes in behavior that could indicate increased risk of a fall in elderly patients.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/37085/Kinect_Used_To_Help_Detect_Increased_Fall_Risk_In_Elderly_Patients.php

New Video Gaming Technology Used to Detect Illness, Prevent Falls in Older Adults

ScienceDaily (Sep. 8, 2011) — Many older adults lose their independence as their health declines and they are compelled to move into assisted care facilities. Researchers at the University of Missouri and TigerPlace, an independent living community, have been using motion-sensing technology to monitor changes in residents' health for several years. Now, researchers have found that two devices commonly used for video gaming and security systems are effective in detecting the early onset of illness and fall risk in seniors.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110906144600.htm

Mi-Look: Cell Phone For The Elderly, Pedometer And Mobile Alarm System In One

Techcrunch:

Kyocera did what a clever cell phone manufacturer whose home market has the oldest society in the world (over 20% of the Japanese people are 65 or older) has to do: it manufactured a cell phone specifically designed for the elderly. While the basic concept isn’t new, the way the so-called Mi-Look[JP] works certainly is.

The Mi-Look is essentially three devices rolled into one. First, it’s a basic cell phone with a simple 2-inch QVGA display, three large buttons (and hardly any other bells and whistles).

http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/22/mi-look-phone-pedometer-alarm/

Invicta Telecare celebrates 25th Anniversary

dash.com: Staff at Invicta Telecare came to work dressed in silver to celebrate 25 years of providing a life saving alarm service that helps over 93,000 residents to live independently at home.

"It provided a community alarm service to 300 residents and employed just a handful of operators responding to around 450 calls a day based in one small office at Larkfield in West Malling."

"service responding to an average of 4000 alarm calls a day and employs closer to 200 staff based at three offices"

"In a typical month Invicta calls the emergency services 1,580 times, asks a doctor or district nurse to attend 520 times and helped over 875 vulnerable people who had fallen at home whilst alone."

http://www.24dash.com/news/housing/2011-08-30-Invicta-Telecare-celebrates-25th-Anniversary

Continua Health Alliance Releases 2011 Design Guidelines

The Alliance further enhances its complete personal connected healthcare solution

BusineesWire: Continua Health Alliance, the international non-profit, open industry organization of leading healthcare and technology companies, today announced the release of its 2011 Design Guidelines. The new Guidelines further enhance the pathway for complete solutions based on Continua-certified products and services.

The release of the 2011 Guidelines is the latest milestone demonstrating Continua’s commitment to cultivate and enrich the ecosystem of personal connected healthcare solutions. This supports the Alliance’s vision of empowering individuals and organizations to better manage their health and wellness by connecting seamlessly with their healthcare providers.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110901005491/en/Continua-Health-Alliance-Releases-2011-Design-Guidelines