Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Top 50 Healthcare IT blogs
Health Sensei has released its list of the 50 Healthcare IT blogs. I'm honored to be included in this list among some highly distinguished blogs.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Telemedicine for Diabetic Teaching
This study demonstrated that diabetic teaching using via video conferencing based telemedicine was as effective as in-person teaching in improving control and patient satisfaction.
The advantage that diabetic teaching via telemedicine offers over the traditional face to face encounter, is the ability to deploy essential diabetic teaching across a wider region, thus solving the problem of access that many patients face.
Ideally, I envision that a patient should be able to visit their physician , and then from the same office visit, access the diabetic trainer via the video conferencing. Toward the end of the session, the patient and the remotely located diabetic educator would do a recap with the physician in order to insure the everyone is on the same page. This would be a way to decrease the level of fragmentation that can exist in diabetic care when multiple providers are involved.
The results of the study are listed below:
RESULTS—Patient satisfaction was high in the telemedicine group. Problem Areas in Diabetes scale scores improved significantly with diabetes education (adjusted P <>1c improved from 8.6 ± 1.8% at baseline to 7.8 ± 1.5% immediately after education and 7.8 ± 1.8% 3 months after the third educational visit (unadjusted P <>P = 0.089 adjusted for BMI and age), with similar changes observed in the telemedicine and in-person groups.
The advantage that diabetic teaching via telemedicine offers over the traditional face to face encounter, is the ability to deploy essential diabetic teaching across a wider region, thus solving the problem of access that many patients face.
Ideally, I envision that a patient should be able to visit their physician , and then from the same office visit, access the diabetic trainer via the video conferencing. Toward the end of the session, the patient and the remotely located diabetic educator would do a recap with the physician in order to insure the everyone is on the same page. This would be a way to decrease the level of fragmentation that can exist in diabetic care when multiple providers are involved.
The results of the study are listed below:
RESULTS—Patient satisfaction was high in the telemedicine group. Problem Areas in Diabetes scale scores improved significantly with diabetes education (adjusted P <>1c improved from 8.6 ± 1.8% at baseline to 7.8 ± 1.5% immediately after education and 7.8 ± 1.8% 3 months after the third educational visit (unadjusted P <>P = 0.089 adjusted for BMI and age), with similar changes observed in the telemedicine and in-person groups.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Friday, January 8, 2010
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Telemedicine for Orthopedics
Orthopedics may be an opportunity for telemedicine. It may be especially useful in the correctional center setting where travel time for an orthopedic physician mY be an inefficient use of a valuable resource. See the abstract below:
Outpatient Orthopedics and the Impact of Telemedicine Upon Costs and Patient Care
Richard M. Garden, MD
Utah Department of Corrections, P.O. Box 250, Draper, UT 84020. Phone: (801) 576-7100.rgarden@utah.gov
In an effort to investigate and evaluate a start-up telemedicine program, the first two years of conducting orthopedic clinics via telemedicine were analyzed. These years were compared to the last full year during which all such clinics were conducted off site. The numbers of off-site visits, surgeries, total visits, grievances (patient complaints), and costs associated with on-site telemedicine (telecasts) were compared for years 1997, 1999, and 2000. A major reduction in the need for off-site visits, a small change in costs, a small increase in total utilization, a decrease in orthopedic-related grievances, and minimal changes in the number of surgeries were found. It was concluded that telemedicine is a fruitful endeavor and also offers a few less tangible benefits and lessons learned.
Journal of Correctional Health Care, Vol. 9, No. 1, 53-61 (2002)
DOI: 10.1177/107834580200900106
Outpatient Orthopedics and the Impact of Telemedicine Upon Costs and Patient Care
Richard M. Garden, MD
Utah Department of Corrections, P.O. Box 250, Draper, UT 84020. Phone: (801) 576-7100.rgarden@utah.gov
In an effort to investigate and evaluate a start-up telemedicine program, the first two years of conducting orthopedic clinics via telemedicine were analyzed. These years were compared to the last full year during which all such clinics were conducted off site. The numbers of off-site visits, surgeries, total visits, grievances (patient complaints), and costs associated with on-site telemedicine (telecasts) were compared for years 1997, 1999, and 2000. A major reduction in the need for off-site visits, a small change in costs, a small increase in total utilization, a decrease in orthopedic-related grievances, and minimal changes in the number of surgeries were found. It was concluded that telemedicine is a fruitful endeavor and also offers a few less tangible benefits and lessons learned.
Journal of Correctional Health Care, Vol. 9, No. 1, 53-61 (2002)
DOI: 10.1177/107834580200900106
Monday, November 2, 2009
Providers skeptical of meaningful use reimbursement process
Providers skeptical of meaningful use reimbursement process"Under a draft of potential measures released in September by the HIT Policy Committee, eligible providers would have to use CPOE (computerized physician order entry) for all orders, implement drug-drug, drug allergy and drug-formulary checks and maintain an up-to-date problem list of current and active diagnoses based on ICD-9 or SNOMED.
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The issue of interoperability with hospitals in the local community is essential:
"...physicians from small practices often interact with more than five community hospitals and several labs, each with a different system. Doctors need to know that whatever electronic health record they buy will work with the systems the labs and hospitals have."
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The issue of interoperability with hospitals in the local community is essential:
"...physicians from small practices often interact with more than five community hospitals and several labs, each with a different system. Doctors need to know that whatever electronic health record they buy will work with the systems the labs and hospitals have."
Sunday, November 1, 2009
WSJ: Video conferencing in Medicine
More Hospitals Are Using Video to Connect Patients With Specialists Far Away, Speeding Treatment
see the WSJ article here.
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