Telehealth

Remote Medical International launched RMI CONNECT, a global telemedicine service that provides integrated medical support.
Pitched at people working in far flung reaches of the world, the company says RMI CONNECT clients receive unlimited access to comprehensive medical advice and logistical support worldwide, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

Happtique, a mobile health application store and total app management solution, today announced the commencement of its pilot program of mRx, Happtique’s patent-pending solution that enables physicians and other health practitioners to electronically prescribe medical, health, and fitness apps to their patients.

Medtronic’s CareLink Express monitor, compatible with almost all Medtronic ICDs, CRT devices, ICMs and pacemakers, “interrogates” implanted Medtronic cardiac devices. In so doing it shortcuts repeated tests and the need for on site specialists, in so doing reducing delays and increasing efficiency…. at least for Medtronic implantees.

Cardiac telemedicine specialist CardioNet, Inc. has entered into a definitive merger agreement with cardioCORE Lab, Inc., a leading centralised cardiac testing laboratory. The move is seen as exploiting an adjacent market, while de-risking by broadening CardioNet’s business base.

Biotronik has announced that the first cardiac resynchronisation therapy device (CRT-D) patient has been enrolled in its so-called EuroEco Trial—the European Health Economic Trial on Home Monitoring in implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) and CRT-D patients.

Boston Scientific Corporation has announced a significant milestone for its telemonitoring technology with the initial use of the Latitude NXT Remote Patient Management System for pacemaker patients in Europe. The company says its next-generation wireless remote patient management system enables physicians to risk-stratify patients and more confidently make treatment decisions.

California’s InTouch Health has announced that it has received FDA 510(k) clearance with expanded indications for use for its Remote Presence devices. The range is now approved for active patient monitoring rather than a medical device data system, thereby exemplifying the FDA’s new approach to telemedicine device classification.

iBGStar from Sanofi gets a rave review from imedicalapps, so we thought our readers would like to see us following the progress of a device we’ve been watching for a while.

A little over four months after gaining FDA clearance Sanofi’s Glucose meter, which interfaces with an iPhone, is now commercially available through selected stores in the US. It’s been available for a while in most of Europe.

France’s eDevice has worked with US company Freescale Semiconductors to develop its HealthGO platform which it hopes will form the core of many companies’ remote monitoring systems.

New CRT device from Biotronik gives heart failure safe access to MR scans and can be remotely monitored too.

Pardon our irreverence, but there’s a sitcom in here somewhere. The automated “housecall” is an obvious component in the provision of tomorrow’s healthcare, but the potential to get it wrong presents a minefield in which only certain patients with certain conditions will form the first wave.

Human nature, behavioural economics, call it what you will, but the idea that the NHS can introduce telehealth at GP level with dictats and bungs doesn’t feel like winning management. Is this a good case for GP commissioning?

Let’s be careful about leaping to too many conclusions about the magic wand that is telemedicine, but this is another paper that suggests remote monitoring of high blood pressure may outperform conventional treatment.

40% of US doctors say mHealth apps decrease time spent on administration.

What looks like a good idea as healthcare provision at all ages adapts to today’s communications-driven generation. The school nurse finds him/herself getting a lot of texts from spotty kids.