FCC's Open Internet threatens telemedicine? A PBS Nightly Business Report yesterday noted that the new FCC Chairman, Julius Genachowski's plans for an open Internet could end up stunting growth in telemedicine or wireless health services. AT&T, Verizon and Comcast are worried that proposed FCC requirements to treat all web traffic equally will prevent them from effectively managing their...
GE Healthcare and GE's technology development arm, Global Research, announced an initiative focused on developing body sensor networks (BSNs) that will "collect critical patient-specific information." Examples of the types of vitals and biometrics GE plans to develop sensors for include temperature, pulse-oximetry, blood glucose levels, electrocardiogram readings, blood pressure levels and...
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) just announced a plan to examine the mobile phone industry in an effort to determine ways that the agency can spur innovation and competition in the industry. The FCC highlighted four key markets ripe for wireless innovation: health care, energy, education and public safety and is seeking comments on how it can best go about facilitating innovation...
"The single fastest growing medical device we have in this country is probably the iPhone," Jon Linkous, CEO of the American Telemedicine Association told Mobihealthnews. "I have discussions about the iPhone every single day."
Linkous also explained how the telemedicine industry has grown from "white labeled" (literally) corporate video conferencing solutions to the rapidly growing wireless...
Band-Aid-like painless patch with "microneedles": Researchers have designed Band-Aid-like "painless" patches that they hope will one day replace the procedure for getting a shot. The patches are lined with tiny "microneedles" that the researchers believe could change how we manage diabetes as well as a number of other diseases. The patches are supposedly "safer, more effective and less painful,"...
By Mintz Levin's Russel Fox, Howard Symons, Susan Berson and Heather Westphal
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed to allocate radiofrequency spectrum and establish service and technical rules for the operation of Medical Body Area Network (MBAN) systems. The FCC envisions that MBANs would provide a platform for the wireless networking of multiple body sensors used for...
By Russell Fox, Communications Practice, Mintz Levin
Wireless technology has long been a part of medical devices. The recent introduction of more sophisticated wireless phones and the deployment of wireless broadband networks has sparked the development of new "mHealth" (mobile health) applications and services that enable medical professionals to monitor patient data and help patients manage...
"You need a more reliable wireless connection for a CAT scan than you for watching a cat do backflips on Youtube," FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein joked at an event that took place this morning in the Senate. The session, The Wireless Future of Health IT, was jointly organized by the the wireless industry association, CTIA, and the New America Foundation.
Adelstein began his remarks by noting...
