IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

“The global world of Telemedicine opens to these facilities without the major up-front costs and effort normally associated with developing an in-house Telemedicine department,” said Gideon Ilumin, Director of Business Affairs for US Tele-Medicine.

US Tele-Medicine, a national health care provider based in Beverly Hills, CA and licensed in twelve states, providing General Practice and Family Practice services, is forming joint ventures with hospitals and clinics in its territories.

While global momentum supporting mobile health (mHealth) research and development is increasing, it is imperative to assess the potential fit of mHealth programs in local settings. We describe the penetration of mobile technologies among Bolivian patients with noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) to inform research on mHealth interventions for the Andean region as well as low- and middle-income countries more generally.

Methods: Five-hundred and fifty-nine NCD patients were identified from outpatient clinics affiliated with four hospitals in the cities of La Paz and El Alto.

1. How is telehealth related to mHealth?

   With the emergence of mHealth, telehealth has become a sub-category inside the definition of mHealth. Based on the fact that telehealth has been around for an extended period of time, it is going to take a longer period of time for people to not separate the two due to familiarity with the term “telehealth.” But just like most of the population referred to copies as a “Xerox” for decades, over time the term “copies” have come back to popularity. I believe that the same scenario will play out here if a better term for telehealth is not established.

2. Australia developing 21st century electronic health record system

   

   Australia is revamping its personalized My Health Record system for patients and doctors as part of a $485-million package to deliver a new electronic medical record system.

   “A functioning national electronic medical records system is essential to ensure doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other healthcare providers across the country had instant access to the information needed to treat patients safely and efficiently without having to gamble on unknowns in their medical history,” said Minister for Health Sussan Ley.

3. Bad quality data costing Australia’s healthcare industry millions

   Greater adoption of the global GS1 System of supply chain standards and the National Product Catalogue (NPC) has the potential to significantly improve data quality and bring about savings of anywhere between $30 million and $100 million a year for Australia’s healthcare industry, according to a newly published report.

   The Australian Healthcare Industry Data Crunch Report reveals the impact of inaccurate and inconsistent data across the Australian healthcare industry and the effect on patient safety.

4. Bangladeshis can get health advice 24/7 calling 16263

   

   The government has launched a call centre to give health information to the people across Bangladesh.

   Health and Family Welfare Minister Mohammed Nasim on Sunday formally opened a number, 16263, calling which people can get advice round the clock.

   He said this was one more initiative of Prime minister Sheikh Hasina to reach health services to the doorsteps of the people.

5. COVID-19 and the Future of Smart Cities

   

   Hard times breed innovation and ingenuity. Take 19th century London, where a series of cholera outbreaks taught the city to send its poop downstream. Today, COVID-19 could catalyze a wave of smart city upgrades as governments turn to digital infrastructure to guard against future crises.&

   Cities moving from containment to recovery offer a glimpse of what could come. In Wuhan, China, factory operators register workers’ temperature daily. Returning employees are working alongside more robots than when they left. And to get on a train, residents display app-based “health codes” ranking them by infection risk levels.

6. COVID19: Deadly virus forces Cyprus to embrace digital era

   

   Due to adversity, Cyprus has had to up its game in digital technology by offering online government solutions to help the public and businesses navigate the COVID-19 lockdown.

   Deputy Minister of Innovation Kyriacos Kokkinos told CNA that his newly established ministry is focusing on preparations to offer more online services to help through the crisis.

   Kokkinos said adjustments to the action plan have been made since his new Deputy Ministry was established in March due to needs dictated by the crisis and social distancing.

7. E-health to be focus at ITU Telecom World, Dubai

   UN telco co-ordinator enlists WHO to urge healthcare revolution

   Emerging e-Health technologies and their applications for revamping healthcare delivery will be a focal point at the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) annual forum ITU Telecom World 2012, taking place in Dubai 14-18 October.

   In concert with fellow UN agency the World Health Organisation (WHO), US telco Verizon, global management consultancy McKinsey, and the government of Uganda, ITU will hold a series of sessions focused on the ambitious goal of global delivery of e-Health solutions.

8. eHealth in Europe hard to get off the ground

   Despite visible progress, eHealth finds it hard to get off the ground in Europe, as the latest report by the European Commission highlights. The inquiry has been led in 31 countries on a sample of nearly 9,000 doctors.

   According to results, the most technologically-skilled GPs are from Denmark, Norway and Spain. The least from Czech Republic, Latvia and Lithuania.

   Four indicators taken into account: electronic health record, health information exchange, telehealth and personal health records.

9. eHealth to be prioritised in key states

   Government authorities have named ehealth a top priority, and they are backing up their words with solid financial support. As a result, the public (and many private) hospitals and clinics are building up their IT infrastructure in order to facilitate patient information management.

   The results show in the numbers. According to data recently released by International Data Corporation (IDC), spending on IT among healthcare organisations is soaring in Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, and the UAE. Over the five-year period from 2012 to 2017, spending will jump by just under 10 per cent annually. The purpose of the spending varies by country.

10. EU executive cheerleads for tele-doctorin

    European Commission presses the case for EU states to move quickly to expand e-medicine.

    Patients living in remote areas or suffering from chronic diseases that need continuous monitoring should have better access to medical treatment delivered, for example, over the internet, the European Commission said today.

    In a communication, an early stage in a process that could eventually lead to legislative proposals, the EU executive pressed member states to draw up national action plans aimed at broadening the provision of telemedicine, which pilot projects suggest could improve public health and lower costs.

11. FI: Launch of a new electronic data management strategy

    The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health of Finland has recently announced the launching of an electronic data management strategy with the aim to define the social and health care electronic data management national strategy until 2020.

    At the same time, a consultation regarding the definition of the measures needed to implement the new strategy was launched with the participation of all involved stakeholders in an open and interactive process.

12. GCC committee for E-Health discusses E-Linking systems for expats

    The first meeting of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Committee for E-Health, supervised by Ministry of Health, kicked off here on Monday to discuss E-Linking systems for screening programs of expatriates and establishing appropriate work mechanism to implement the smart card and E-Linking systems among GCC countries.

    The meeting is also to discuss development mechanisms for E-Systems of screening expats that would help each GCC country to identify health conditions of expats wishing to enter to any member-country, Dr. Qais Al-Duwairi, Assistant Undersecretary of Public Health Affairs at Ministry of Health, said in a press statement.

13. Health Service 'goes mobile' in UK

    Community nurses in North Lincolnshire in the UK are set to get rugged wireless laptops in one of the largest deployments yet of mobile technology to staff working outside of hospitals.

    In the first phase of this five-year project, 140 staff will get the devices, supplied by BT Health, which already provides the health service’s N3 data network and is prime contractor for NHS IT upgrades in London.

14. How new technology is changing access to health care in Australia

    From a smartphone app that scans your vital signs to doctors treating their far distant patients through "face time" on their tablets or computers, technology is changing the way thousands of Australians access health care.

    General Practitioner Ashley Collins is stationed more than 1000 kilometres from his patient but he can get a blood pressure reading without laying a hand on the company director.

    Using a video link and a portable machine owned by the patient he can measure blood glucose, pulse rate, body temperature, cholesterol and even get an ECG measurement.

15. Identifying Ireland’s eHealth needs

    Paul Mulholland examines the Government’s new eHealth strategy and Health Identifiers Bill

    Given the increasing importance of information technology within the health sector, the lack of a national IT health strategy has been seen as a fundamental gap that has prevented the Department of Health and the HSE from running a fully modernised service.

    Also, while the Government had been working on a Health Information Bill for the last number of years, which would facilitate the much heralded unique patient identifiers, there was little sign that this legislation was being progressed. These two factors combined meant that Ireland was far from leading the way in the area of eHealth.

16. Importance of digital economy further highlighted amid COVID-19 pandemic: Chinese premier

    

    The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of digital economy in restoring economic and social development, creating more jobs and improving people's well-being, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said on Friday.

    Li make the remarks in a congratulatory message to the opening ceremony of the 2020 China-ASEAN Year of Digital Economy Cooperation (DEC).

17. Indonesia’s Healthcare to Be Improved with Latest Digital Health Platform

    

    Fitness centres around the world have closed their doors due to the COVID-19 public health emergency. Even as some states plan to reopen businesses, including health clubs, the protocols for social distancing are likely to remain, forcing owners of fitness businesses that will soon reopen or those that must remain closed for the time being to consider two options: go digital or possibly disappear.

    The good news is that forward-thinking fitness professionals have long used digital tools to engage with members outside of brick-and-mortar locations. The number of digital fitness tools available to help health club operators deliver and monetise digital fitness content has also recently increased.

18. Informed citizen and empowered citizen in health: results from an European survey

    The knowledge about the relationship between health-related activities on the Internet (i.e. informed citizens) and individuals'control over their own experiences of health or illness (i.e. empowered citizens) is valuable but scarce. In this paper, we investigate the correlation between four ways of using the Internet for information on health or illness and citizens attitudes and behaviours toward health professionals and health systems and establish the profile of empowered eHealth citizens in Europe.