Conmergence

St. Joseph Medical Center (Houston) and MedConcierge to Demonstrate Telemedicine Solutions at FTTH Council Conference

Top Houston Hospital Selects MedConcierge to Offer Telemedicine to Corporations and Master Planned Communities

September 8, 2009 (Sarasota, FL & Houston, TX) - St. Joseph Medical Center, the largest, Level 3 trauma hospital in downtown Houston, has selected MedConcierge to provide its advanced telemedicine solution to leading communities and corporations. Both parties will demonstrate the user experience and benefits of telemedicine during the upcoming 2009 FTTH Conference & Expo taking place at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, September 27th through October 1st.

"We are very excited to demonstrate the MedConcierge at St. Joseph Medical Center service to local community developers and corporate executives at the upcoming Fiber to the Home Conference," states St. Joseph chief executive officer Phillip D. Robinson, "Telemedicine will clearly be at the center of healthcare delivery moving forward and leveraging the technological advantages of the MedConcierge service over fiber-optic communications will help us extend patient services, generate additional revenue and save costs."

"St. Joseph is a leader in the Houston area, and we are thrilled to play a role in helping them deliver health and wellness services to residents of FTTH communities in and around the Houston metropolitan area," says MedConcierge director Rob Scheschareg. "Telemedicine offers competitive and financial benefits in a cost-effective fashion that is critical in today's market environment. We look forward to meeting service providers and developers at the FTTH Conference & Expo who want to take advantage of the billions being spent by consumers and the government in the next 30 months on home-based telemedicine."

Substantial news coverage, increasing consumer interest and adoption, and the allocation of billions of dollars in Federal stimulus funds specifically for broadband and healthcare information technology have placed telemedicine at the forefront of applications that benefit from fiber to the home networks.

"Fiber to the home provides benefits to consumers and employers that truly improve the quality of life. From our own industry research to that of our members and market followers, it is becoming increasingly evident that consumers want the benefits of improved healthcare services and access to doctors that services like MedConcierge and healthcare providers like St. Joseph can provide," states Joe Savage, president of the FTTH Council. "Telemedicine is a prime example of the type of applications that will be on display at our upcoming conference demonstrating the power of fiber".

To showcase the user experience, benefits and implementation of telemedicine services, MedConcierge and St. Joseph Medical Center will be hosting a number of activities at the upcoming 2009 FTTH Conference & Expo.  These include:

Corporate VIP Demonstration & Reception, Tuesday, September 29th.  For more information call the Corporate Health Connection at St. Joseph Medical Center at (713) 756-8600. 

MedConcierge Booth in the Fiber Zone, located on the show floor during exhibit hours. 

Phillip D. Robinson, CEO, St. Joseph Medical Center will be discussing telemedicine over FTTH networks as part of the Closing Keynote presentation Wednesday, September 30th at 2:00 pm.

For information about these events, visit the conference website at http://www.ftthconference.com.

About St. Joseph Medical Center

St. Joseph Medical Center, downtown Houston's only general acute care hospital, partners with Houston physicians to provide comprehensive health care to all.  As Houston's first hospital, St. Joseph Medical Center provides services for outpatients as well as inpatients, with a full continuum of care in surgery, cancer care, emergency care, Women's services, cardiovascular services, wound care, rehab, sports medicine, Corporate Health Connection and more. For more information on St. Joseph Medical Center, please visit http://www.sjmctx.com or call 713.757.1000.

About MedConcierge, LLC

MedConcierge is the leading provider of telemedicine solutions for community developers and operators, broadband service providers, healthcare providers, and municipalities, that deliver personal, concierge healthcare services to consumers at home, at work and while traveling. Utilizing our award-winning, patent-pending technology, MedConcierge provides unparalleled private and secure access to certified doctors, specialists and content. MedConcierge offerings range from real-time, live videoconference consultations, on demand, 24/7 with leading doctors, specialists, psychiatrists and wellness experts, to educational content, health status monitoring and dynamic electronic medical records - all accessible from the comfort, privacy and convenience of homes and facilities. For more information, visit http://www.medconcierge.com.

Fred Trotter Announces FOSS Healthcare Conference, July 31st to August 2, Houston, TX

The local FOSS revolutionaries in Houston, TX have decided that it is time to restart hosting a conference/unconference focused exclusively on FOSS in healthcare. DOHCS ( http://www.dohcs.org/ ) is awesome, but there is only so much that you can accomplish in a single day. We also feel that Californians should not be the only ones having all the fun. So I am happy to announce the FOSS Healthcare conference. http://fosshealth.eventbrite.com/

The conference will be held here in Houston, TX the weekend of July 31st to August 2. We are trying to coordinate to have the WorldVistA conference at the same time/location, but for now that is up in the air.

Early bird registration is really, really cheap. This is very intentional. I know that budgets are tight and travel is often the first thing to go. We are making early bird registration cheap enough that you might be able to fund the trip out-of-pocket if you are an individual contributor to a particular project. We also have limited "spare room" availability so if you want to go, but cannot afford a hotel, contact me offline ASAP. If I get an overwhelming response to this, I may need to change to bigger facilities. So really cheap early-bird registration has the added benefit of giving me a good early head count. Early-bird registration is just $60 bucks. You can SAVE TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS if you register early!

I have invited every project that I could think of, but I know for a fact that FOSS in healthcare is much bigger than my meager contact list. If you work with or know of an open source project with serious impact in healthcare that might like to attend/present, please forward them this invitation! Here are the rules for project invitations:

• You have to be actually using the software live to be considered for a project invitation. No disrespect to alpha projects, but our resources are limited and we have to favor mature projects.


• Project leaders can get two free tickets to the conference, one for a guest and one for a speaker. The speaker should be ready to give a 10 minute summary talk on your project.


• Please advertise this talk now on your own forums. The early-bird pricing, specifically for community members is only good for about a month.

I have already gotten commitments to speak from people that I consider to be some of the top minds in FOSS healthcare. I can guarantee that if you are a Medical or IT professional you will get good talks on software that can make a difference in your world today. I am doing everything that I can think of to ensure that different projects will be able to cross-pollinate and grow.

If you are not sure if you can go... it is worth $60 to reserve a spot... sign up today!

Ken Rubin on Practical Guide to SOA in Healthcare

From SOA Consortium

The Practical Guide to SOA in Healthcare, an output of the Healthcare Services Specification Project (HSSP), is a collaborative work of the OMG Healthcare Task Force & Health Level 7 (HL7). The goal of HSSP is to develop SOA specifications for health, specifically defining healthcare business services to enable interoperability between organizations across the health domain.

While not a standard, the practical guide provides context and guidance for healthcare IT organizations and professionals considering SOA. Using a fictitious example, the practical guide presents an 8-step process to establish a healthcare SOA, from enterprise architecture through sustainment, and includes valuable lessons learned.

During his talk, Rubin spoke of the current state of global healthcare, and anticipated changes with the new U.S. administration and Health IT programs. Walking through the practical guide, meeting attendees were keenly interested in the healthcare function to service mapping and the reference architecture. Rubin emphasized that the reference architecture is a starting point for people to think about the problem, and extend and amend for their own situations.

Smart Phone Electronic Medical Record / Mobile Contactless Payment / Remote Monitoring, Developments Toward...

<ed.note>Since vendors are looking at remote monitoring for disease management I should list those as well. I'll also be on the look out for sensors which are car-based now that wi-fi is available in automobiles. There are some parallel developments which I guess I should mention: Major League Baseball and other event vendors as well as transportation providers and social networks are putting the cell phone closer to the center of their business models. ( Robert Neelbauer on social graphs here -- cells will eventually be tracked by them. ) Of course, on the other end of the spectrum is home automation.</ed.note>

Phillips (still using POTS lines)
Qualcomm
Nokia's Intellisync Call Connect for Cisco

Shout out to http://www.wirelesshealthcare.co.uk who usually gets these stories before anyone else.

The Tech Scene: Banking by Cell Phone - This Time It's for Real?,
Use of Mobile and Wireless Technology Jumps in Hospitals,

iPhone ? ? ? ( Remember Osirix ), icefirst, liferecord, Access, aKos, ARANZ Medical, Asia eHealth presentations, Banco do Brasil, Blackberry [2], Diebold, Docobo, ebay VOIP (Skype), Gemalto, Google [2][3][4], INSIDE Contactless, J/Speedy, mBlox, mFoundry, Microsoft, m-Wallet, Obopay, payWave, Mayo Clinic InTouch, NTT DoCoMo, PayPal Credit Card, Privium, Samsung, telSpace, Telzuit's Bio-Patch PDA,
Telemedicine & eHealth Directory 2005, Verisign, ViVOtech, FeliCa, [2], Mifare [2], NFC Forum, Blackberry, Ubuntu mobile, Globe Telecom and Smart Communications

Can Medical Banking Connect the Healthcare IT Dots for Politicians?

<ed.note>John Casillas testified today before the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) American Health Information Community concerning the medical banking vision of a unified view and unified platform to connect EHR|PHR, real-time adjudication, Healthcare Savings Accounts, High Deductible Health Plans, Consumer Driven Healthcare. AHIC decided at its November 29, 2005 meeting to form workgroups in the following areas: biosurveillance, consumer empowerment, chronic care, and electronic health records. Subsequently, at the May 16, 2006 Community meeting, two additional groups were formed: the Biosurveillance Data Steering Group as a sub-workgroup within the Biosurveillance Workgroup (renamed Population Health and Clinical Care Connections Workgroup), and the Confidentiality, Privacy & Security Workgroup, which was created as a cross-cutting workgroup responsible for an issue relevant to all the workgroups. More recent, at the August 1, 2006, meeting, the Community formed the Quality Workgroup to address the need for the development of quality measures; and at the October 31, 2006, meeting, the Personalized Healthcare Workgroup was formed to develop and make recommendations on standards for interoperable integration of genomic test information into personal e-health records.</ed.note>

LinkedIn OpenHealthCare Group Launched

<ed.note>In order to better network between the various OS efforts touching healthcare I asked LinkedIn to set up a group. If you're a biz dev, booster, coder, contributor, venture-type, the invite is here.</ed.note>

A National Summit: Moving Toward Interoperability - Technologies for Accessible, Affordable Healthcare October 18-19, 2006 [ Updated ]

Presentations available online here.

NIST Administration Building, Gaithersburg, MD

Keynote Address:

Michael O. Leavitt (confirmed)
Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Carlos M. Gutierrez (invited)
Secretary, U.S. Department of Commerce

Craig R. Barrett (confirmed)
Chairman of the Board, Intel Corporation

Just Announced...

Keynote Address (Day Two):
Mike Magee, MD, Director, Pfizer Medical Humanities Initiative and Vice President, Science and Medical Advocacy, Pfizer Inc. (confirmed)

This is a unique opportunity where government and industry will come together to chart a path toward a far-reaching vision for connected, home-based health technologies through public-private partnerships.

Five session topics will cover today's interoperability issues, such as:

• Market Drivers and Societal Issues
• Technology Gaps and Barriers Networked, Interoperable Solutions
• Device Standardization and Interoperability of Equipment
• EHR and PHR Standards as a Foundation for Future Digital Healthcare Systems

Register Today!
Register online now. The registration fee is $195 and includes meals, summit materials, and transportation to and from the NIST facilities to the Gaithersburg Holiday Inn.

Hotel and Travel
Reserve a hotel room at the Gaithersburg Holiday Inn. A limited number of rooms are available for the rate of $104 per night. Book online or call (301) 948-8900 to make your reservation . Please refer to the "NIST/Moving Toward Interoperability Workshop" room block. The group booking code is MTI.

Posters and Case Studies
Interact with researchers at universities, companies and government on technologies to support our aging population during our poster networking session.

Questions?
Contact Rebecca Scritchfield
E-mail: rscritchfield@agingtech.org
Tel: (202) 508-9416
Official Event Web site: http://www.itl.nist.gov/Healthcare%20Summit/intro.htm

Who Should Attend
Technology Researchers and Developers
Healthcare and Aging Services Providers
Government Agency Representatives
Healthcare Product Vendors
Company Executives
Standards Development Organizations
Associations
Consumer Organizations

Companies, government, and consumers are developing partnerships to address the challenges of the coming "age wave". Through the application of consumer-directed technologies, opportunities exist to empower individuals to take charge of their own health care and maintain independence.

To achieve this vision, our country must advance the development of new technologies and ensure the interoperability of these devices. To help explore the best way to enable the vision of connected home-based health delivery, Center for Aging Services Technologies, the Department of Commerce's Technology Administration and National Institute of Standards and Technology have come together as partners to host a National Summit to identify issues around the needs and challenges to make interoperability a reality. Recommendations from the Summit will drive needed public and private sector action.

Co-Sponsored by:
Center for Aging Services Technologies (CAST)
U.S. Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
U.S. Department of Commerce's Technology Administration (TA)

For more information about this Summit, visit the official website at http://www.itl.nist.gov/Healthcare%20Summit/intro.htm

Three Massachusetts Communities Chosen To Be Test Cases For Digital Health Records

March 29, 2005 By Marianne Kolbasuk McGee, InformationWeek

Backed by $50 million from a health insurer, the multiyear project will test whether digital health records can cut errors and costs in the real world.

Three Massachusetts communities have been chosen as pilot sites for an electronic-health-record project that could serve as the model for statewide adoption of digitized medical-record systems.

... Within each community, health-care providers--including acute-care hospitals or group hospitals, physician practices, long-term care facilities, nursing and home health-care agencies, and community health centers--will implement interoperable E-health records systems.

EuroRec 2006 Annual Conference Presentations on Electronic Health Record systems and Certification

here.

This year’s conference focused on the Quality Labelling and Certification of the EHR, the importance of which is recognised by the European Commission in funding the Q-REC project to be managed by the Eurorec Institute. Not only in Europe has this been seen as key to the future but elsewhere in the world. An example of this is in the USA where their Government have funded Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT) and Eurorec is liaising with them to make this a global initiative.

The EUROREC Institute (EuroRec) is an independent not-for-profit organisation, promoting in Europe the use of high quality Electronic Health Record systems (EHRs). One of its main missions is to support, as the European authorised certification body, EHRs certification development, testing and assessment by defining functional and other criteria.  EuroRec is organised as a permanent network of National ProRec centres and will provide service to industry (the developers and vendors), healthcare providers (the buyers), policy makers and patients.

Barry Smith, Werner Ceusters, and Rita Temmerman on Interoperable Electronic Health Records Ontology Best Practices

The last two decades have seen considerable efforts directed towards making electronic health records interoperable through improvements in medical ontologies, terminologies and coding systems. Unfortunately, these efforts have been hampered by a number of influential ideas inherited from the work of Eugen Wüster, the father of terminology standardization and the founder of ISO TC 37. We here survey Wüster’s ideas – which see terminology work as being focused on the classification of concepts in people’s minds – and we argue that they serve still as the basis for a series of influential confusions. We argue further that an ontology based unambiguously, not on concepts, but on the classification of entities in reality can, by removing these confusions, make a vital contribution to ensuring the interoperability of coding systems and healthcare records in the future.