The mobihealthnews team is about to embark on a month-long tradeshow and event media tour that includes travel to both coasts of the U.S. and a couple trips to Las Vegas. In the coming month we will be bringing you, our readers, live coverage from:

The mHealth Initiative's one day summit (pdf) in Boston, MA on March 31.

The CTIA Wireless 2009 tradeshow in Las Vegas from April 1 to April 2. I'll be speaking on a panel I helped organize for the event-click here for more information on the speakers and topics to be discussed.

The BodyNets '09 event in Los Angeles on April 3.

The HIMSS 2009 tradeshow in Chicago from April 4 through April 8.

The World Health Congress in Washington D.C. from April 14 through April 16.

The Health 2.0 Meets Ix two-day event in Boston, MA from April 22 to April 23.

The American Telemedicine Association's ATA2009 event in Las Vegas from April 26 to April 28.

In other words: April is a busy month for us. If you find yourself attending any of these fine events and would like to meet up, be sure to send us a note. Our dance cards are not yet entirely full, but they are getting there. As always, if there's any particular trend you'd like us to keep an eye on for you, let us know and we'll be sure to track it.

Both the wireless and healthcare industries are putting a special focus on mHealth at these upcoming events. It's clear the time is ripe for wireless innovation in healthcare. Stay tuned to mobihealthnews for extensive coverage on all things mHealth at each of these upcoming events.

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BeWell: Where’s our reimbursement, CMS?

At the Wireless in Healthcare IT event held at a Senate office building earleir this week in D.C., BeWell Mobile Technology's Vice President and General Manager Greg Seiler called on the federal government to outline better guidelines for getting the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to recognize the value of mobile-based health systems and subsequently offer reimbursement for their use. "It'd help to have clear support and guidance coming from Washington for how to enter the CMS system and get reimbursed for technologies that work," Seiler told attendees. Read on for more of what Seiler had to say at the Wireless in Healthcare IT event.

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FCC: We need to prioritize mHealth

"You need a more reliable wireless connection for a CAT scan than you for watching a cat do backflips on Youtube," FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein joked at Wireless in Healthcare IT event in D.C. this week. "Here, with health IT, we can at least take a stab at [the healthcare crisis] and bring down costs," Adelstein said.

Read the full article for Adelstein's take on how the FCC will help "foster the wireless healthcare revolution."

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Interview: Continua Alliance President

After last week's big announcement from Apple that the iPhone will soon be able to connect to medical devices via Bluetooth, we thought it'd be a good idea to check-in with the Continua Health Alliance, which is working to ensure interoperability for connected personal medical devices. Recently, mobihealthnews caught up with Continua Health Alliance President David Whitlinger to discuss the organization's efforts to date, the iPhone 3.0, working with the FDA, the imminent first batch of Continua certified products as well as their plans to include more wireless technologies.

Read the full interview with Whitlinger here.

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Telstra funds mHealth for mental health

Australia's Telstra Foundation has announced a grant of $285,000 (Australian Dollars) over two years for an mHealth program run by the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute. The program, which has already facilitated a successful pilot, uses mobile phones to track the mental health of young people suffering from depression. Telstra Foundation is an arm of Australia's biggest wireless carrier, Telstra, which has an impressive 3G network. The grant money will be used to determine whether the pilot should be rolled out nationwide.

Read the full article.

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After 3 years, Zume Life officially launches

One of the first start-ups we interviewed earlier this year, Zume Life is set to officially launch its personal health management system for consumers that have complex health regimens, including those with multiple chronic conditions (diabetes, heart disease, depression, autoimmune diseases, cancer, obesity, etc.)-to help them manage their daily, ongoing self-care tasks by making it easy to remember, record and review those tasks. One iteration of the system includes a dedicated device they call a Zuri, while the company also has an iPhone application for those who prefer to use Zume Life from their mobile phone instead. The system has been in pilot tests for the past 15 months and under development for more than three years.

Read the article for more on Zume Life's launch.

Also check out our interview with Zume Life CEO, Rajiv Mehta from last month.

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Analyst: mHealth cannot be homebound

Perhaps the most engaging presentation at the New America Foundation and CTIA's Wireless Health IT event this week was the one given by Michael Barrett, managing partner at Critical Mass Consulting and author of the well-known Healthcare Unbound report. Barrett began his talk with a rough timeline of healthcare dating back to before the 18th Century. He then went on to contextualize the wireless healthcare opportunity and outline some challenges this "revolution" still faces. Read on for a a synopsis of Barrett's timeline.

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