The CMS Innovation Center www.innovation.cms.gov has issued a Request for Information (RFI) seeking comments on how to develop and test models to increase the engagement of Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, Medicare-Medicaid enrollees, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) beneficiaries as related to healthcare. (more…)
FDA Approves Test for Type 1 Diabetes
FDA www.fda.gov now allows the marketing of the first “Zinc Transporter 8 Autoantibody” (ZnT8Ab) test that can help determine if a person has type 1 diabetes and not another type of diabetes. When used with other tests and patient clinical information, the test may help some people with type 1 diabetes receive timely diagnosis and treatment for their disease. However, a negative result from the test does not rule out a diagnosis of type 1 diabetes. (more…)
Teleaudiology Makes a Difference
People with hearing problems are being helped in Zambia, a developing country larger than Texas with a population of more than 14 million. Dr. Jackie Clark, a clinical associate Professor in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences http://bbs.utdallas.edu at the University of Texas, Dallas http://utdallas.edu has helped Dr. Alfred Mwamba establish a teleaudiology practice over the past year in the landlocked country of Zambia located in South-Central Africa. (more…)
USDA Funds $40 Million for Broadband
USDA has awarded nearly $40 million in loans for new or improved broadband services in rural parts of Minnesota, North Dakota, and Texas. The loans are being funded through the USDA Rural Utilities Service’s “Telecommunication Infrastructure Loan Program” to expand voice, video, and data services. (more…)
BPC Releases White Paper
The Bipartisan Policy Center’s (BPC) Health Project released a White Paper August 19, 2014 “Transitioning from Volume to Value: Opportunities and Challenges for Health Care Delivery System Reform” at http://bipartisanpolicy.org examining some of the barriers and potential solutions to moving toward more organized systems of care in light of the current legislative and regulatory environment. (more…)
FDA Seeks Proposals
As announced in the August 15 Federal Register, FDA is soliciting proposals for participation in a pilot program called the “Medical Device Development Tools” Pilot Program” (MDDT). FDA supports the development of MDDTs so that manufacturers and FDA will be able to assess and measure the performance, safety and effectiveness of medical devices. (more…)
Alaska’s Telemedicine Experiment
In looking back forty years at telemedicine technology used in Alaska, it is interesting to see how a comprehensive telemedicine experimentation began and also, how comprehensive telemedicine experimentation operated in the early 1970s. (more…)