pilot program

Wal-Mart has announced that it has rolled out a pilot program that will cut the prices of about 300 generic prescription drugs to just $4. This is well below the average cost of generic drugs, which run $10 to $30 for a 30-day supply. The pilot program will start in 65 Tampa, FL stores and will be expanded across the whole state in January. Wal-Mart could expand the program to more stores next year. "Competition and market forces have been absent from our healthcare system, and that has …

Nemours Children's Clinic in Jacksonville, FL is kicking off a pilot program using remote monitoring technology to keep track of pediatric patient health. This type of preventative care system saves young patients stressful trips to the clinic and prevents small problems from growing into larger health concerns. "There's a lot of evidence that good case management or disease management keeps people out of hospitals, out of crisis situations," notes Lori Bilello, executive director of the …

An often-overlooked issue in the world of healthcare is patient-doctor communications, particularly if they don't speak the same language. But a new pilot program has found a way to clear the obstacle, boosting communications to improve patient care and medical treatment. A new video and voice application featuring consoles within treatment centers lets physicians access interpreters to help share information with patients. The new Health Care Interpreter Network is currently being …

A coalition of health plans led by Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association and America's Health Insurance Plans said it is launching a pilot program that will offer personal health records to consumers. The move appears likely to satisfy critics within the industry who have called for insurers to do more to encourage IT adoption. Privacy advocates, however, may be displeased by the implications of allowing insurers to share data on patient medical histories.

- read this article from Modern Healthcare

This week there is more evidence that telemedicine programs can work--and work very well--from a pilot program in the U.K., where a program in far the northwestern city of Carlisle reduced hospital stays from an average of 10 days to 5.5 days. The project used telemedicine monitors to manage chronic respiratory disease. Patients measured their own temperature, heart rate, breathing rate, electrocardiogram and blood pressure using the equipment. Data was sent via secure server to the …

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City has launched a pilot program that allows members to consult with their physicians via email. Blue Care and Blue Advantage plan members will be able to contact their physicians for consultations on non-urgent medical matters. As many as 500 physicians are expected to be participating in the project by the end of 2006. RelayHealth will provide the technology and manage the compensation plan for participating physicians.

This is an idea that …

Despite recent treatment advances that can extend the lives of sufferers, experts warn that more aggressive international action is required to prevent regional outbreaks of HIV-AIDS in Africa, Eurasia and the Far East from exploding. The World Health Organization says up to 40 million people are infected with HIV, the virus that leads to AIDS. International health officials say 20 million people have died since the condition was first detected.

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The Wall Street Journal examines the success of three European telemedicine programs. The paper looks at recent pilots run by Philips Electronics of the Netherlands, Telecom Italia and Alcatel of France. The Italian Health Ministry is expanding a successful pilot program after finding that costs are cut by as much as 50 percent. Italian market research firm Lexis Richereche finds nearly 90 percent of Italians who have used telemedicine are "satisfied." Seventy-five percent say …

A $50 million electronic medical record pilot program sponsored by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts is experimenting in three local communities: Brockton, North Adams and Newburyport. The project is being "closely watched" by health officials around the country, according to the Boston Globe. The fact that an insurer is footing the bill is considered a major plus by many observers. In many initiatives physicians are expected to pay for implementing EMRs and deal with …