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Med-e-Tel Newsletter
This newsletter is your source for Med-e-Tel updates, news from the Med-e-Tel partners, sponsors, exhibitors and speakers, as well as other telemedicine and eHealth news from around the world.
Make plans to attend Med-e-Tel (18-20 April 2012) now and find out more about the conference program and some of the participating organizations and companies in this edition of the newsletter. More details about the event will be announced in upcoming newsletters.
Register before March 16th to qualify for the early bird rate, which provides you with full access to the entire event (conference sessions, expo, social events).
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Organizer
Med-e-Tel is organized by the International Society for Telemedicine & eHealth (ISfTeH).
ISfTeH is the international federation of national telemedicine/eHealth associations, research institutions, care provider organizations, companies and individuals.
The ISfTeH network currently comprises members in 70 countries around the world. Its mission is to facilitate the sharing of information and experiences, to support networking among members, to expose potential synergies between member organizations and their activities, and enhance collaboration and partnerships, contributing to a more widespread and useful deployment of telemedicine and eHealth.
ISfTeH is recognized as an NGO in Official Relations with WHO (World Health Organization).
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Featured Partners
 Luxembourg Minister of Health and Social Security, Mars Di Bartolomeo, will open the 10th edition of Med-e-Tel on April 18th. He has been an active supporter of the event throughout the past years and will inaugurate this year's Med-e-Tel together with Najeeb Al-Shorbaji of the World Health Organization and with ISfTeH President, Dr. Andy Fischer.
The Luxembourg Ministry of Health has set up an eHealth Agency (Agence eSanté) to implement the national eHealth action plan. One of the main objectives of this plan include better exchange and sharing of health data between health professionals to improve the quality and performance of health care and to better control the health expenditure, particularly by avoiding duplication of medical tests and analysis.
Also the Luxembourg Ministry of Economy has been supporting Med-e-Tel for many years and is again a partner in this year's Med-e-Tel Welcome Reception that will be held in the evening of April 18th.
The Ministry of Economy is active since many years in the development and implementation of a national action plan on health technologies with international ambitions.
Med-e-Tel works together with a distinguished academy of organizations, associations and institutions who are active in the fields of ehealth, telemedicine, and health ICT. Click here for a full list of supporting organizations and partners.
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Preliminary list of Med-e-Tel 2012
exhibitors/sponsors:
For a list of Med-e-Tel 2011 sponsors/exhibitors, click here.
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Featured Media
Partners
eHEALTH is a niche monthly publication (print and online) focusing on healthcare ICT technologies and applications. It provides rich and relevant content for healthcare stakeholders, medical professionals, researchers and policy makers across the world for global capacity building and knowledge exchange towards better eHealth adoption. eHEALTH covers technology, policy, standards and best practices of eHealth.
European Hospital is a leading, pan-European professional healthcare magazine for medical directors, nursing directors, and hospital managing directors. We keep you up-to-date on trends and innovations in the healthcare market, on clinical research, and on the newest developments in medical technology. 
IGI Global is the leading publisher of computer science and information technology management books, journals, cases, and databases. Providing comprehensive coverage on the role of technology in biomedical and healthcare research and practice, their newest imprint, Medical Information Science Reference, offers cutting-edge collections of vital interest to biomedical and healthcare professionals.
Medical Education Online (MEO) is a peer-reviewed international Open Access journal for disseminating information on the education and training of physicians and other health care professionals. It was launched in 1996 as the first ever freely available online journal in the field of medical education and has since then grown to become a highly ranked source of information in this area, with indexing in PubMed/MEDLINE and inclusion in NIH's digital archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature, PubMed Central. As of 2010, MEO is published by Co-Action Publishing who will also provide free access to the valuable archive.
Published since 1986, MENA Health World is a specialized business magazine that covers the latest advancements and technologies in the Medical, Laboratory, Pharmaceutical, and Nutrition sectors. It is circulated to the desktop of over 6,280 leading decision-makers engaged in the afore-mentioned sectors throughout the Middle East and North Africa. Published by CPH World Media.
The Revue de la Télésanté is a French online information service targeting hospital and home care decision makers. The magazine features new technological developments, practical applications and key players in the field of telemedicine and home care.
Telemedicine and e-Health is published 10 times per year. In addition to the usual high-caliber peer-reviewed papers, the Journal offers expanded coverage of medical connectivity, technology advances, telemedicine business, new products, and much more.
Telemeditalia is an Italian monthly online journal which focuses on eHealth, telemedicine, homecare and health technologies in general. The webjournal is widely read by doctors and other health professionals, as well as by health institutions. The Med-e-Tel media partnerships provide you with a look at a wide range of healthcare and medical journals, magazines and on-line news and information services that will help you to stay abreast of what is going on in the field of ehealth, telemedicine and healthcare IT and to make better informed decisions in your daily business or healthcare practice. |
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Med-e-Tel 2012 conference program details announced
The Med-e-Tel 2012 conference program features presentations of business cases, research activities, projects, practical experiences from care providers, offering national and international perspectives on eHealth and telemedicine opportunities and experiences. The Med-e-Tel 2012 Opening Session on April 18th includes welcome addresses and keynote presentations by:
- Mars Di Bartolomeo, Minister of Health and Social Security, Luxembourg
- Najeeb Al-Shorbaji, Director, Knowledge Management and Sharing (KMS), World Health Organization
- Andy Fischer, President, International Society for Telemedicine & eHealth (ISfTeH) and CEO, Swiss Center for Telemedicine MEDGATE
- Peteris Zilgalvis, Head of Unit, ICT for Health, DG Information Society and Media, European Commission
- Claudia Bartz, Coordinator International Classification for Nursing Practice and ICN Telenursing Network, International Council of Nurses
- Frank Downing, Continua Health Alliance
- Angela Single, Chair, 3millionlives
- Masatsugu Tsuji, University of Hyogo and ISfTeH eHealth Economics Working Group
Also a newly created Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented during the Opening. This newly created ISfTeH Award provides recognition to a person who has made great contributions to the advancement of telemedicine and eHealth. A plenary opening session on the second day of Med-e-Tel 2012 (April 19th) will provide a further update on some global telemedicine and eHealth initiatives by:
- Lord Nigel Crisp, Ambassador, Global eHealth Ambassadors Programme (GeHAP)
- Hammad Durrani, French Medical Institute for Children (Afghanistan) and eHealth Association of Pakistan
- Mark Blatt, Global Director Health Industry Solutions, Digital Health Group, Intel
- Abdel-Badeeh Salem, Ain Shams University (Egypt)
A series of thematical sessions throughout the 3-day conference will allow you to attend those presentations and workshops that matter most to your daily activities and interests. Topics of the overall Med-e-Tel 2012 program include:
- A regional seminar and training session, aimed at local (Luxembourg, Belgian and French) care providers, public authorities, health insurers and industry representatives, focusing on ROI of eHealth investments.
- The 2nd edition of the Global eHealth Strategies Symposium, hosted by the European Commission and the International Society for Telemedicine & eHealth, providing a policy dialogue on global eHealth as well as a look at developments and good practice from the field.
- A track and discussion forum on Benefits of Open Source Software in Health Care (FLOSS-HC) with contributions from experienced users and developers of open source solutions.
- A consultation meeting of the TeleSCoPE project that is working on the development of Service Standards and Guidelines for Telehealth. By setting service standards, TeleSCoPE will help establish relationships of trust between users, patients and providers and contribute to overall health and well-being. The standards also aim to provide a quality benchmark for service regulation.
- The quest for evidence of clinical effectiveness and economic efficiency of telemedicine and eHealth will be addressed in sessions on Evidence of Telehealth Outcomes and eHealth Economics.
- A focus on some Regional Initiatives in Telemedicine and eHealth. The regional level is often where health and social policy is determined. Med-e-Tel 2012 features a look at some regional initiatives in telemedicine, both from an economic development point of view (industry support, etc.) as well as from a regional care organization point of view (care networks, etc.).
- Special focus on Innovative Technologies for Mental Healthcare providing background on virtual reality applications and telerehabilitation in health and psychological care, presented in cooperation with the International Association for CyberPsychology, Training and Rehabilitation.
- HealthStartup Europe, an initiative that aims to create a more hospitable environment for health startups by creating connections between the burgeoning digital startups scene and the health sectors, will feature an Evaluating Telehealth Startup Initiatives workshop at Med-e-Tel, in which the potential of a particular startup initiative will be discussed and evaluated by entrepreneurs, health care professionals, policy makers and investors.
- Various sessions on Mobile Health, Telecardiology, Homecare and Telemonitoring, Distance Consultations, eLearning, and more, showing what works and what doesn't, as well as what exists or what is under development in telemedicine, eHealth and health ICT systems and solutions.
CME credits for medical professionals attending Med-e-Tel 2012 are being applied for through the European Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (EACCME), an institution of the European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS). Med-e-Tel has been offering up to 18 hours of CME credits over the past few years, making it a valuable training and learning event for medical professionals. Overall, Med-e-Tel offers great networking opportunities. It is the perfect forum to share experiences and knowledge, a chance to gain new insights and to establish new contacts and partnerships. Med-e-Tel also offers the opportunity to see and evaluate actual products, technologies and services and to find out how they can be beneficial for you, your organization, or your health system. More details are available here. |
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Early bird registration for Med-e-Tel 2012 available until March 16th
Stepping away from your daily activities for just a few days and attending Med-e-Tel 2012 (18-20 April 2012) will provide you with an opportunity to obtain practical and useful information on current telemedicine and eHealth topics and will help you build a bright future for your healthcare practice, your business or your regional or national healthcare system.
Med-e-Tel offers a vast conference program and an expo area with companies and organizations showing their telemedicine devices and eHealth solutions.
Register now for Med-e-Tel 2012 and obtain a full event registration for only €360, including access to expo, all conference sessions, receptions, conference materials, and networking opportunities with Telemedicine and eHealth stakeholders from some 50 countries around the world.
Registration conditions can be found here. If you have any questions, contact info@medetel.eu.
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Telemedicine and telehealth solutions take center stage at Med-e-Tel
The Med-e-Tel 2012 expo area will primarily feature tried and tested telemedicine and telehealth solutions from companies with extensive experience in the use and implementation of those solutions.
Products and services on display will include solutions for telemonitoring, remote consultation, videoconferencing, health data exchange, and peripheral devices such as monitors and cameras.
For a preliminary list of companies and organizations that will be represented in the Med-e-Tel 2012 expo, click here.
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Still need to make travel arrangements for a trip to Med-e-Tel 2012?
The Luxembourg Convention Bureau has negotiated special rates at some hotels for your stay in Luxembourg during Med-e-Tel 2012. Take advantage of these rates while room availability lasts. Click here for conditions and to access the reservation form.
Air France/KLM are offering discounted airfare to Luxembourg for Med-e-Tel participants. See here for conditions and information.
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Discover web/cloud based telemedicine solutions from Medweb at Med-e-Tel 2012
Medweb, provider of telemedicine and RIS/PACS solutions, offers a store-and-forward tele-infrastructure supporting collaboration across clinical teams, leading to accurate diagnosis and successful treatment. The implementation of workflow technology enables the monitoring of clinical performance necessary to enable this premise. During its 22 year history, Medweb has created a track record of implementing telemedicine solutions both domestically and abroad.
Medweb's all-in-one family of telemedicine products has historically provided a single, flexible platform for all specialties including surgery, obstetrics, dermatology, cardiology, neurology, GI and ENT, ophthalmology, wound care and dental. Web based technology provides instant communication between clinicians, specialists, and patients in remote locations, at neighborhood clinics in urban areas or across regional and country boundaries.
Medweb's telemedicine solutions expand medical enterprises by providing a comprehensive patient assessment protocol and a simple interface for uploading images, such as those captured by an USB ultrasound, videoscopes or EKG waveforms into an electronic consultation request. All consultations and patient information is sent via a secure Internet connection to a specialist for online diagnosis, in many instances eliminating the need for a face-to-face appointment.
Medweb telemedicine is also used with efficacy in this regard for to disaster preparedness and post-event triage.
A growing interest in telemedicine in underserved and rural communities has led to Medweb's development of cloud based options for the telemedicine team.
See Medweb's solutions at work during Med-e-Tel 2012 and hear from Medweb CEO, Pete Killcommons, about "Afghan Mobile Health: A Model for Community Health" in the Med-e-Tel 2012 conference program.
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A new solution that extends the reach of healthcare in rural regions
eWaveMD's ARTEC Remote Consultation Platform can help meet the healthcare resource challenges in developing nations. For people in rural regions of developing countries, gaining access to healthcare is a critical challenge. Shortages of healthcare professionals and clinical facilities mean that patients must travel for even the most basic services. That travel is costly in terms of time, direct travel costs, and interruptions to family earnings. As a result, diagnosis and treatment rates are low. Not only does this mean higher rates of disease and increased suffering, but also negative impacts to local, regional, and national economies. Shortening the distance between patient and clinician is critical to better healthcare service delivery in developing nations.
Building on their extensive experience creating secure, web-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions for health care organizations, eWaveMD developed ARTEC - a remote consultation and medical information system designed to provide a first line of medical services to the over three billion people who have limited or no access to medical services worldwide.
ARTEC is a mobile, fully featured, secure, semi-ruggedized, cloud-based platform for delivering remote medical services for primary care, preventive healthcare, and disease management. It's designed to be easy to deploy and easy to use by low-skilled technicians. But at the same time, it offers real-time connectivity to healthcare providers in central clinics and hospitals and a sophisticated backend that builds electronic health records (EHR).
The benefits of ARTEC for rural healthcare delivery are significant:
- Healthcare for rural populations is improved as the "distance" between patient and provider is reduced
- The social and economic costs to the patient are reduced
- Utilization of limited healthcare resources is improved
- The solution is easy to deploy and grow - and therefore sustainable and scalable
For more details, click here. eWaveMD, together with their partner in the ARTEC solution, Intel Corp., will present ARTEC in the Med-e-Tel 2012 conference program and exhibition.
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Cardiocom and Delta Health Technologies partner to provide telehealth data interface for homecare and hospice
Cardiocom, a provider of remote patient monitoring solutions, and Delta Health Technologies, a provider of information systems for homecare, hospice and private duty agencies, have announced the completion of a bi-directional telehealth interface to exchange data between their respective systems.
"Cardiocom provides an innovative service to the Telehealth industry," said Keith Crownover, President and CEO of Delta Health Technologies. "By providing our customers with integration between our systems, they can effectively utilize telehealth services without the frustration and worry associated with combining two separate structures. This benefit allows them to focus on their patients' health rather than technology challenges."
Clinicians can note in Delta's Encore solution that a patient has a Cardiocom Telehealth device in their home. This notation will automatically send a notification to Cardiocom's Omnivisor Pro System to create a new telehealth record for the patient. On an ongoing basis, while the patient is monitored at home using a Cardiocom Telehealth device, the patient's vital sign, symptom data, and telehealth notes are sent to the Delta Encore solution. By seamlessly integrating this data into Encore, homecare and hospice clinicians are provided real-time access to all of the patient's telehealth data at the point of care. This helps promote the most efficient and effective patient care while helping to foster improved outcomes.
"Cardiocom is pleased to collaborate with Delta on this robust, bi-directional interface. This integration offers customers immediate access to actionable data to better coordinate transitions to the home which results in better outcomes for patients and providers," said Daniel L. Cosentino, President and CEO of Cardiocom.
Cardiocom is participating at Med-e-Tel 2012 and will be available to provide more information and demos of their remote patient monitoring solutions.
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Doctors agree on top healthcare IT benefits, but generational divide exists, according to Accenture eight-country survey
An Accenture survey of more than 3,700 doctors across eight countries has found that healthcare IT is improving health practices and there is common agreement on the top benefits of technology across countries. But some physicians do not yet see all the benefits, especially those over 50 or those who are not actively using healthcare IT, such as electronic medical records (EMR) and health information exchanges (HIE).
The physician quantitative research - which is part of an Accenture Connected Health Study that will be published in the coming weeks - surveyed 500 doctors per country in Australia, Canada, England, France, Germany, Spain and the United States and 200 doctors in Singapore between August and September 2011. The research measured physician attitudes toward "Connected Health," an approach to healthcare delivery that leverages the systematic application of healthcare IT to facilitate the accessing and sharing of information and the analysis of data across the healthcare system.
The majority of doctors in all of the countries surveyed believe that healthcare IT does provide some common top benefits, including better access to quality data for clinical research (70.9 percent reported positive benefits), improved coordination of care (69.1 percent) and a reduction in medical errors (66 percent).
But, some doctors do not yet see all the benefits of healthcare IT, with high percentages reporting either a negative impact, no impact or didn't know for reducing unneeded procedures (43.6 percent), improving access to services (43 percent), or improving patient outcomes (39.2 percent).
Those physicians who are routine users of healthcare IT, however, rated the overall benefits more positively than their counterparts who are less actively involved with these technologies.
Accenture is participating at Med-e-Tel 2012.
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News from the ISfTeH
The International Society for Telemedicine & eHealth (ISfTeH) is the international federation of national Telemedicine/eHealth associations, research institutions, care provider organizations, companies and individuals. ISfTeH is the organizer of the Med-e-Tel conference and is an NGO in Official Relations with WHO.
New members
The ISfTeH is honoured and pleased to announce the recent addition of two new national members to its international network:
- eHealth Society of Uganda
- Telehealth Society of Kenya
Info about all member organizations can be found through the ISfTeH member directory.
Global Observatory for eHealth - Call for Innovative Health Technologies and eHealth Solutions for Low Resource Settings
This is a new initiative undertaken bu the eHealth and Essential Health Technologies units of WHO. The goal is to publish a Compendium of Innovative Health Technologies and eHealth Solutions which can be applied to low resource setting in particular. The call has recently been launched and submissions are accepted until the end of April 2012. Details are available at www.who.int/goe/call2012/en/index.html.
Call for consultants
Consultancy notice for eHealth/mHealth study in South Sudan: consultant is expected to carry out a needs analysis for eHealth/mHealth to support priority health sector activities in South Sudan, in consultation with the project partners - Advance Development for Africa (ADA), WHO and Ericsson - using identified templates for country situation analysis recommended by WHO and other international agencies for such studies. Applictions can be submitted until March 9, 2012. See www.isfteh.org/media/category/call_for_consultants for more details.
Lifetime Achievement Award
The ISfTeH has created a Lifetime Achievement Award which will be presented for the first time at the upcoming Med-e-Tel conference in Luxembourg on April 18th. The Award is presented to a person who has made great contributions to the advancement of telemedicine and eHealth on a clinical or technological level, or by driving its awareness and implementation. More info to follow!
Member news
Prof. Krishnan Ganapathy, immediate Past President of the Telemedicine Society of India and President of the Apollo Telemedicine Networking Foundation reports on a first of its kind initiative in India in which the Apollo Hospitals Group provided 535 tele-consults from 65 different specialists in 2 days in 13 different specialties from 5 Apollo Hospitals simultaneously at a general mega telehealth camp at Ajmer ranging from neurology, cardiology, paediatrics, orthopaedics, dermatology, oncology to sexual medicine.
Various subspecialties were covered including asthma, spine, pediatric neurology, using a well equipped Hospital on Wheels, through which patients were connected to Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Bhubaneshwar. Consultants interacted and virtually examined the patients at the camp and gave the necessary e-advice and e-prescriptions. Details of the examination were stored in special electronic records. With prior consent the entire consultation was recorded in some of the tertiary centres.The telemedicine division of the Apollo Hospitals (Apollo Telemedicine Networking Foundation and Apollo Telehealth Services Ltd.) facilitated these virtual consultations using high speed broadband connectivity. Each cubicle had dedicated 1MBPS connectivity. 1MBPS connectivity was also made available at the registration/prescription dissemination counter.
AMD Global Telemedicine, worldwide supplier of telemedicine technology, devices, and application software for both dynamic encounters (live telemedicine) and store and forward consultations, recently announced that it has accepted TeleMedicine Australia into its reseller program. This reseller agreement makes TMA the authorized reseller of AMD's telemedicine devices and solutions in Australia.
"AMD is pleased that TMA has joined our select group of resellers to sell, service and integrate AMD's telemedicine solutions," stated AMD's Vice President, Global Sales & Corporate Development, Dan McCafferty. "With the recent changes in Medicare reimbursement for telehealth consults in Australia, we are anticipating great growth for telemedicine in Australia. We value our new relationship with TMA because it allows AMD to successfully reach the customers in this important market."
GlobalMed recently introduced three new mobile telemedicine carts and a tablet PC solution powered by HP Workstations and EliteBook PCs that will bring doctors and patients together for clinical healthcare at a distance.
"Prior to telemedicine products like the GlobalMed carts, even the most acute cases of suspected cardiac problems were transferred outside of local clinics," said Joel E. Barthelemy, managing director of GlobalMed. "We've had one hospital report $560,000 in savings within six months of deploying our telemedicine carts by reducing transfer fees."
The GlobalMed General Practice Cart powered by HP and GlobalMed Specialty Cart powered by HP come equipped with the TotalExam™ camera for close-up patient examinations, a digital stethoscope to hear high-quality real-time medical sounds remotely, and CapSure® image automation software to measure, annotate, and time/date stamp examination images. The GlobalMed Specialty Cart powered by HP also includes a TotalENT™ otoscope for high-quality digital video.
The GlobalMed Educational Cart powered by HP offers a larger 42" HP monitor, making it ideal for patient and physician education programs.
Polycom video is transforming how doctors, nurses, and healthcare organizations deliver care by connecting specialists to patients face-to-face from anywhere.
Healthcare organizations are under pressure to reduce costs, increase revenues, and improve patient care with available resources - even as the Baby Boomer generation moves toward retirement and places increasing demands for care on the industry.
According to the World Health Organization, 60 percent of the world's population live in rural areas (as of 2010), while 75 percent of consultants and medical professionals live in urban centers. Patients in remote and rural areas have less access to medical expertise simply because of where they live. Distance is also a stress on the system due to costly transfers to medical centers for treatment.
More and more hospitals are turning to telemedicine to eliminate the problem of distance, using Polycom RealPresence video to bring healthcare providers and remote, home-care, and quarantined patients together face-to-face for consultation, evaluation, and monitoring.
A new hub-and-stroke business model has emerged based on Polycom video, where a central facility is the hub and smaller facilities or individual specialists are the spokes, allowing healthcare providers to provide round-the-clock consultation and remote treatment of patients via high-definition, interactive video.
A cutting-edge example is the United Kingdom's NHS (National Health Service) telestroke services, which has saved millions of dollars in clinician travel and after-patient care by bringing stroke specialists to the patient via video to enable timely life-saving diagnosis by the specialists.
Events
In the next weeks, the ISfTeH and/or its members will actively contribute to, organize or support many conferences and meetings around the world. To follow are links to just a few of these international events:
Join the ISfTeH
If you are heading a national telemedicine/eHealth organization, if you offer telemedicine products and solutions, if you are doing research on telemedicine and eHealth applications and technologies, if your organization provides (or wants to offer) care services by means of telemedicine/eHealth technologies, or if you are engaged in healthcare policy, join the ISfTeH network to expand your global reach or to learn from existing experiences and best practices. Membership information is available here. Or send an e-mail with your question or membership request.
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Newsbriefs
To follow are links to some interesting and recently published articles, books, studies, interviews and reports (if you would like to suggest an article for inclusion into a following newsletter, feel free to send details to info@medetel.eu):
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