Talking pill bottles read out their own labels
Pharmacies in Northern California have started to stock talking prescription bottles which aim to help elderly or partially sighted patients by reading out label information at the touch of a button. The bottles, which go by the name ‘Rex’, contain a voice chip, battery and a speaker. When dispensing, the pharmacist inserts the bottle into the recording dock, which connects […]
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Intel creates e-health interoperability alliance
Intel has created a major international new alliance of healthcare hardware and software providers called Continua, in order to increase compatibility of e-healthcare devices and software, EHI can exclusively reveal. All devices that follow the Continua standards will be compatible with one another and will feature a new ‘consumer recognisable logo’, in the same fashion […]
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Lessons for NPfIT from ‘wild ride’ to US failure
A study of the ‘wild ride’ towards a failed implementation of a new electronic medical record system found a ‘transient climate of conflict’ associated with the adoption of the new way of working. The qualitative study, reported in the British Medical Journal, was completed during an implementation by Kaiser Permanente, the US’ largest non-profit healthcare […]
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Patients need reminders for online depression self-help
Websites that only offer self-help for people suffering from depression can be effective as those that also offer external clinical guidance, as long as patients are reminded to use them, according to a new study published this week. Researchers at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research studied a group of 250 people with self-diagnosed […]
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Americans want personal health records
The majority of Americans want to be able to access an online personal health record (PHR), providing them with details of their medical record. According to a survey conducted by the US health IT research body Connecting for Health, 61% of Amercans questioned agreed with the statement: "It’s my health information. I should have access […]
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Kaiser to end ‘wobbly’ medicine
Doctors working without computerised systems are working in the “operational dark ages”, according to George Halvorson, chief executive officer of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals. Speaking at the World Health Care Congress in Chantilly, France, he outlined his organisation’s $3 billion project to create a fully computerised information tool kit including an automated patient […]
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EMRs reduce visits for primary and specialist care
The introduction of electronic medical records (EMRs) reduced visits to primary and specialist outpatient care in two regions covered by the US health maintenance organisation Kaiser Permanente, according to a new study. Both regions – Colorado with 367,795 Kaiser Permanente members and Northwest with 449,728 – experienced significant decreases in use of services over the two […]
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Over-65s less likely to use internet for health
Less than a third of over 65-year-olds use the internet for health purposes, compared to over half of those aged 50-65, a new study in the US has found. Furthermore, evidence of a digital divide is growing, with only 15% of over-50s with an income of under $20,000 (£11,000) a year even using the internet in the […]
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Citrix prescribes access strategy for health
Ever thought of having an IT access strategy for your trust? Citrix thinks you should. E-Health Insider went along to the company’s iForum in Edinburgh to find out why. Mark Templeton, president and CEO of access infrastructure solutions specialists, Citrix, feels there is good reason to be interested in healthcare. Very interested, in fact. […]
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NHS deals just the start, say Forrester
The NHS’s deals on clinical applications are just a prelude to a much wider adoption these technologies according to US analysts, Forrester Research. In a list of the top 10 healthcare predictions for 2004, Forrester forecasts that 2004 will mark the shift of IT attention from back office to the clinical examination room in a […]
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