{"id":12242,"date":"2016-04-30T17:50:00","date_gmt":"2009-04-30T17:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.accessrx.com\/blog\/?p=39"},"modified":"2009-04-30T17:50:00","modified_gmt":"2009-04-30T17:50:00","slug":"amazing-technologies-witnessed-at-ata-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.edrugstore.com\/blog\/current-health-news\/amazing-technologies-witnessed-at-ata-2009\/","title":{"rendered":"Amazing Technologies Witnessed at ATA 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Google,
Healthcare\u00a0is going to be at our fingertips both at the keyboard\u00a0and\u00a0on our\u00a0mobile\u00a0devices.<\/figcaption><\/figure>I saw a lot of incredible concepts, tools, and general genius at the\u00a0American Telemedicine Association’s Annual\u00a0Meeting & Expo\u00a0in Las Vegas earlier this week.<\/p>\n

But, do you know the best thing about the show?\u00a0Each of the 150-plus exhibits translate to\u00a0expedited, improved and more cost-effective healthcare. And we can use\u00a0every bit of that.<\/p>\n

Considering how much money we’re\u00a0spending\u00a0on healthcare in the U.S. these days\u00a0($2.4 trillion in 2008), everyone wants to be in the mix when it comes to making a\u00a0buck.<\/p>\n

No Vacancy on Showroom Floor<\/strong><\/p>\n

So not one, but two exhibit halls were filled with companies ranging from small start-ups to big giants like Cisco, Intel, Honeywell and General Dynamics. Anyone who has technology applications is looking for ways to use those applications in healthcare. Take Intel’s recent partnership with General Electric<\/a>. The two companies will invest $250 million over the next five years to produce telemedicine products for home healthcare\/monitoring.<\/p>\n

One of the most notable trends in healthcare is\u00a0the\u00a0move toward the transmission\u00a0of data via cellular\/mobile devices.\u00a0Healthcare\u00a0is going to be at our fingertips both at the keyboard\u00a0and\u00a0on our\u00a0mobile\u00a0devices.\u00a0The military has\u00a0instituted a program, for\u00a0example, called the mCare Cell Phone Project. It utilizes cell phone data exchanges between patients and\u00a0providers to modify behaviors and improve clinical outcomes\u00a0by messaging patient-specific notifications, reminders and questionnaires.<\/p>\n

Many vendors\u00a0displayed video-related technology.\u00a0Applications included\u00a0patient-to-doctor video, as\u00a0well as doctor-to-doctor or specialist-to-specialist.\u00a0 Images are also sent electronically in real time, eliminating the need for face-to-face appointments with several specialists, in some cases. Many disciplines\u00a0within healthcare (such as radiology, dermatology, etc.) have their own applications\u00a0to transmit data.<\/p>\n

Medical devices themselves are advancing quickly, including bluetooth blood pressure monitors, thermometers, glucose meters, caloric\/activity meters, etc. These and others can all be tied directly into a database to monitor a person’s real-time vitals on a second-to-second basis, etc.<\/p>\n

Latest & Greatest in Telemedicine<\/strong><\/p>\n

For a comprehensive summary of new, innovative products that were found at ATA 2009, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For information about specific vendors who exhibited at ATA 2009, 32 interviews have been made available by the ATA.<\/p>\n

Brian Dolan from MobiHealthnews.com also blogged from the ATA show and provides a comprehensive recap<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Plenty needs to be done about our current healthcare system, but it was very reassuring to walk through the ATA 2009 exhibit halls knowing that healthcare will continue to become more and more efficient, and effective,\u00a0thanks to telemedicine.<\/p>\n

The need for efficiency and cost savings is apparent just by looking at these stats from the\u00a0National Coalition on Healthcare:<\/p>\n

* <\/strong>Healthcare spending in the United States is\u00a0projected to reach $3.1 trillion in 2012 and\u00a0$4.3 trillion by 2016.<\/p>\n

* <\/strong>Healthcare spending equals 4.3 times the amount spent on national defense.<\/p>\n

* <\/strong>In 2008, the United States spent 17 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on healthcare. This\u00a0percentage is expected to\u00a0reach 20 percent by 2017.<\/p>\n

Telemedicine Is Not Going Away<\/strong><\/p>\n

As time goes on, doctors and patients\u00a0will inevitably continue to\u00a0understand the benefits of telemedicine.\u00a0Right now,\u00a0many\u00a0doctors and\u00a0patients are wary of advances such as electronic health records, the\u00a0prescribing of\u00a0lifestyle medications\u00a0online,\u00a0administering healthcare or patient\u00a0monitoring electronically, and the list goes on.<\/p>\n

However, many patients,\u00a0especially those in sparsely populated areas,\u00a0sorely need these and other types of\u00a0healthcare benefits provided by telemedicine.\u00a0It means less trips to the\u00a0healthcare provider, which translates to time and cost savings, which\u00a0are two reasons\u00a0why telemedicine is advancing more rapidly than ever.<\/p>\n

Another reason is that the Obama administration values telemedicine. Billions of dollars are being dedicated\u00a0to telemedicine projects through\u00a0the stimulus\/recovery plan, including $20 billion in health IT infrastructure and Medicare\/Medicaid incentives to motivate healthcare providers and organizations to electronically exchange the health information of patients.<\/p>\n

As one doctor at the Cisco booth at ATA 2009 stated, “telemedicine is a freight train that cannot be stopped.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I saw a lot of incredible concepts, tools, and general genius at the\u00a0American Telemedicine Association’s Annual\u00a0Meeting & Expo\u00a0in Las Vegas earlier this week. But, do you know the best thing about the show?\u00a0Each of the 150-plus exhibits translate to\u00a0expedited, improved and more cost-effective healthcare. And we can use\u00a0every bit of that. Considering how much money […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_autoblog_aioseo_focus_keyphrase":"","_autoblog_aioseo_title":"","_autoblog_aioseo_description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-health-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t