News From Around the Web
> Minneapolis-based Preventice, a developer of mHealth solutions, has announced the commercial availability of its BodyGuardian Remote Patient Monitoring System (BodyGuardian RMS). The BodyGuardian system allows physicians to monitor key biometrics outside of the clinical setting. A small body sensor attached to the patient's chest collects important data, including ECG, heart rate, respiration rate, and activity level. Patient data can then be transmitted to physicians via mobile phones. Article
> Bethesda, Md.-based Telcare, a provider of mobile diabetes management solutions, has announced it received CE Mark approval to market its cellular-enabled blood glucose meter (BGM), the first FDA-cleared mHealth glucose meter, in the European Union. According to the company, Telcare's BGM offers an innovative approach to managing the impact of diabetes by liberating data from blood glucose readings and enabling the observation and evaluation of self-management behavior across an entire population. Article
> San Francisco-based Runtastic, producer of a suite of apps that track and manage health and fitness data to motivate individuals to get in shape, has launched an extensive line of proprietary hardware in the U.S., available exclusively on Amazon. Runtastic's proprietary hardware has been designed to work with Runtastic apps that track critical performance metrics such as distance traveled, speed, elevation gain/loss, rate of climb, calories burned and pace. The hardware adds additional layers of data such as heart rate, speed and cadence statistics. Article
EMR News
> Doctors in the U.S. are embracing electronic health records, even if reluctantly, with 93 percent reporting they actively use an EHR system, according to a new report from Accenture. In addition, nearly half (45 percent) of U.S. doctors surveyed said they regularly access clinical data outside their own organization, illustrating the growing momentum of health information exchange. That's a 32 percent increase since last year, according to an announcement. Article
Health IT News
> The looming transition to ICD-10 continues to be burdensome for healthcare providers nationwide, so much so that some in Congress are calling for it to not be mandatory. However, according to Bonnie Cassidy, senior director of health information management innovation at Nuance, there are several steps that can be taken to ease the process. For example, Cassidy recently told Becker's Hospital Review, information managers in charge of leading such efforts must prioritize physician engagement from the get-go. Additionally, according to Cassidy, project management efforts must be firm to ensure that multiple tasks can be completed without a hitch. Article
And Finally… Cracking down on broomstick flights. Article