It’s been announced that Allscripts and MyCareTeam (MCT) have launched a new integrated diabetes management solution that will integrate the latter’s application with Allscript’s Enterprise EHR platform.

Patients will leverage “MCT-Clinical for Diabetes,” which after being combined with Allscript’s Electronic Health Records system, will transmit blood glucose readings directly from patient’s glucose meters, along with blood pressure, weight, vital signs, caloric intake and exercise to a central web-based database.  With the Allscripts integration, this data automatically connects to the Allscripts Enterprise EHR, and can create user-defined alerts that are routed to a diabetes educator, a care manager, a nurse, the patient’s primary care physician or, if serious enough, an endocrinologist.  This process facilitates remote monitoring and coaching, increases user compliance with protocols, and most important, based on early results from UMASS and other studies, reduces hospitalizations.

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ChartLogic, a company known for its EHR suite that spans Electronic Medical Records, patient portals, billing/document management and patient education solutions, has announced a new voice recognition overlay technology designed for compatibility with all leading EHR systems.

Called “Stella,” the new solution works similar to Apple’s Siri personal assistant by leveraging the same type of cloud-based natural language processing (NLP) technology to “greatly speed workflow for physicians by enabling them to use iPads, iPhones and other mobile devices with their hospital’s EHR system.”  Voice recognition has long had a place in the healthcare space, and with the proliferation of mobile devices the concept is finally coming to fruition.

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The folks behind the Health 2.0 Conference together with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Innovation (ONC) have launched three new “Investing in Innovation” (i2) Initiative competitions that challenge developer communities to develop innovative health information technology (HIT) solutions.

Like many of the previous competitions we’ve seen from various government agencies and private organizations, the new i2 programs promote the use of technology to “drive better outcomes, engage users in their health and improve healthcare quality.”  The three new challenges being introduced are the “Health Innovations in Commuting Challenge,” “Discharge Follow-Up Appointment Challenge” and the “EHR Accessibility Module Challenge.”

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A new report out of the U.K is praising the telehealth program sponsored by the U.S. Veterans Health Administration (VHA) — which is the largest telehealth project in the world — while also asking the question of why telehealth hasn’t gained more momentum and adoption across the U.S. healthcare system.

The new report, published by the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS), touts the VHA’s telehealth program as a prime example of how telehealth services should be rolled out on such a large scale.  Patients enrolled in the program — most of whom have chronic conditions such as heart failure, COPD, hypertension, diabetes, and post-traumatic stress disorder — receive free telemonitoring equipment and attention from care coordinators who teach them how to manage their own care.

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The year 2011 saw a variety of changes in health IT.  There was a clear expansion in the use of online and mobile technology allowing doctors, patients and insurance providers to digitally exchange information that used to be tracked with paper and pen. In the last twelve months, payers, providers, governmental agencies, and consumers supported a drastic increase in health information exchanges. The government distributed over $200 million in grants to 13 states for creating and using systems that allow consumers to shop around for healthcare coverage plans. GE and Microsoft began the process of developing an open, interoperable technology platform with clinical apps aimed at improving patient care. Consumer adoption of health apps was at an all-time high as the use of smartphones continued to rise.

As a result of these and other changes, experts predict a wave of changes over the course of 2012. After the proliferation of health apps in 2011, mobile professionals expect the Food and Drug Administration to step in and begin regulating their health claims and recommendations.  As the pool of care givers and facilities continues to shrink, many expect there will be an increased administration of care outside of brick and mortar facilities. Telemedicine and mhealth are two of the methods providers will depend on to pick up the slack and ensure access to health care across geographical and socioeconomic boundaries. EMR adoption has increased, and with that, the number of companies offering IT services to support its use has exploded in the last few years. During 2012, the organizations facilitating and supporting health communication will begin to consolidate.

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Voice recognition provider Nuance has launched a contest to get developers to integrate voice recognition technology into mobile or Web-based healthcare applications.

The contest, dubbed the “2012 Mobile Clinician Voice Challenge,” calls on independent software vendors, internal development teams and health insurance providers to find new ways to incorporate speech recognition into their medical software.  Nuance already has several mHealth apps using its solution.

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New research out from CompTIA takes a deep look at adoption of mobile technologies among physicians and healthcare providers — with a focus on smartphone & tablet usage, EMR/EHR implementation, and usage of mobile medical apps.

According to the research one-quarter of healthcare providers surveyed report currently using tablets within their practice, with another 21 percent expect to do so within 12 months.  More than half of healthcare professionals surveyed currently use a smartphone for work purposes.  in addition, about 38 percent of physicians with a mobile device capable of supporting applications use medical-related apps on a daily basis.  Over the next 12 months, however, physicians expect to increase usage of medical apps to the point where 50 percent are using them daily, according to the research.

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