News From Around the Web
> Nintendo Wii can help to improve balance for Parkinson's patients, according to findings presented at a conference, MedPageToday reports. "The ability of the Wii Balance Board to stimulate the central nervous system makes it potentially useful in the rehabilitation of balance problems in patients with Parkinson's disease," Antonella Peppe, research professor at the Fondazione Santa Lucia in Rome, Italy, said at the annual International Congress on Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders in Sydney, Australia, last week. "Our results allow us to confirm that the Wii is an excellent tool that can compete with other devices in the rehabilitation of Parkinson's disease." Article
> The Massachusetts eHealth Institute announced last week that it has awarded $2.35 million in grants to help 80 healthcare organizations connect to the statewide health information exchange. The grants--worth $75,000 each--went to 32 collaboratives. Announcement
Mobile Healthcare News
> The mHealth Regulatory Coalition late last week sent a letter to U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, urging HHS, through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, to publish the final guidance on mobile medical applications "as soon as reasonably possible." Article
> The House Small Business Subcommittee on Health and Technology will hold a hearing on Thursday to highlight entrepreneurs creating healthcare apps, according to a subcommittee announcement. "Entrepreneurs are creating groundbreaking mobile apps to help empower consumers to make better health care decisions, allow patients to access critical health data at any time and anywhere and guide physicians to diagnose or monitor potential conditions," wrote Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.), chairman of the Subcommittee on Health and Technology, in a June 20 hearing notice to subcommittee members. Article
Provider News
> While 10 percent of Medicare patients account for 73 percent of acute care treatment costs, those high-risk patients didn't incur preventable hospital treatment any more frequently than other Medicare patients, a study published online Monday by the Journal of the American Medical Association found. The findings strike a blow to some healthcare cost-containment strategies, and suggest those strategies focused on improving outpatient chronic disease management may ignore the biggest and most expensive problems for high-cost Medicare patients, the authors concluded. Article
And Finally… I doubt he learned how to prepare for this at the police academy. Article