Government support for healthcare (telehealth or telemedicine) technologies continues to gain momentum across the globe. The latest examples in Scotland and California emphasize improved medical care and reduced costs from adoption of technologies such as telepresence, home monitoring and Internet services.

A recent Guardian article highlights a report from the Scottish auditor which urges NHS to consider telehealth when developing or redesigning services. The report sets out a series of questions for NHS boards to ask around improved access, increased capacity, cost avoidance and health benefits. They include: Are any patients unable to access the current service because of geography? Do clinical staff have to do more than a four hour round trip to deliver the current service? Could using telehealth potentially reduce hospital admissions? Hopefully NHS takes this recommendation seriously and starts to make some serious headway on the telehealth front. Read More »

Tags: american telemedicine association, ATA, healthcare, healthpresence, telehealth, telemedicine, TelePresence, video conferencing, videoconferencing

Healthcare is transforming rapidly thanks to advances in technology and people working together.  This evolution was obvious in Jordan last week, when the inaugural meeting of the country’s Healthcare ICT Task Force took place in conjunction with the World Economic Forum Jordan.

The task force is a collaboration between the King Abdullah II Fund for Development, the Information Technology Association of Jordan (inj@j), and Cisco, and it points to the country’s vision to become a regional hub for ICT solutions in the healthcare sector. Read More »

Tags: CSR, healthcare, healthpresence, ICT, jordan, Middle East, World Economic Forum

In October of 2010, Cisco and the Jordanian Government formally announced the Jordan Healthcare Initiative; a partnership to improve the country’s healthcare system through the implementation of information and communications technology (ICT).

We are proud to announce the first step in this partnership, a pilot of Cisco’s HealthPresence solution, was opened in June of 2011. The HealthPresence solution, donated by Cisco, provides care-at-a distance technology for patents at Al-Mafraq Governmental Hospital with specialized physicians at Prince Hamzah Hospital in Amman. Read More »

Tags: CSR, healthcare, healthpresence, jordan, Middle East

It is of particular interest to me to see how technology can be leveraged to help care providers meet legislation requirements and improve care delivery and outcomes at the same time!   One of our most recent examples of how this alignment occurred was through collaboration with Saint Thomas Health as part of the MissionPoint Health Partners pilot. We have been working on this project since 2010 to bring our Cisco HealthPresence Solution to underserved communities in Tennessee.

Cisco HealthPresence is one of the solutions designed to facilitate better and more regular care.

The objective is to help extend the reach of healthcare delivery, simplify healthcare communications, and connect patients with medical providers and specialists to enable examinations in a convenient and efficient manner.

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Tags: accountable care organization, collaboration, connected health, connected healthcare, healthcare, healthpresence, innovation, telehealth, telemedicine, TelePresence, video

The PPACA known as Healthcare Reform Act in the United States is driving major change in our industry around accountability for the quality outcome of our care.  It is making providers accountable for the care that is delivered with measures that will be reported by patients.  As I monitor these major changes, it makes me wonder how we can really implement the critically needed change.  I wonder, why is the US dead last compared to 6 other leading free world nations” in healthcare quality measures and we spend almost double per capita for healthcare than other countries according to the Commonwealth Fund (June, 2010). Many believe the concepts that have been embraced by the CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) under the direction of Dr. Don Berwick, (appointed on July 7, 2010 by President Barack Obama to serve as the Administrator of the CMS) can drive change.  As CMS is the largest healthcare payer in the US, (over half), they can lead a major change of this nature and have adopted the “Triple-Aim” model of evidenced based care and wellness.  The aspiration goals, or the Triple Aim, is a phrase coined by Dr. Berwick and it is all about focusing on how to drive improvement so that our populations are healthier, our patients receive better care and instead of working within a volume based business model, move to one of quality and value that rewards prevention, wellness and a positive patient experience.

How can Cisco influence and enable this within our Healthcare Ecosystem?

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Tags: BioMed Network, BNAC, Care-at-a-distance, Cisco Connected Health, collaboration, Dr Berwick, health care, health presence, healthcare, healthpresence, Kathy English, Medical Grade Network, MGN, mHealth, telemedicine, TelePresence, video