Continua teams with IHE Continua has teamed up with the IHE to work on "standards harmonization" for device interoperability. Continua's Executive Director Rick Cnossen: "The Continua Health Alliance appreciates the opportunity HITSP has afforded to work with IHE to provide a harmonized approach for the Remote Patient Monitoring Use Case with an open architecture, international, standards-based solution. This will facilitate an ecosystem of connected technologies, devices, and services that provide a compelling way to meet the challenges of increased access, improve outcomes for patients, and ultimately reduce overall healthcare costs." More

iPhone : EHR as Platform is to? Remember when the iPhone platform was suggested as a model for EHR development? This commentator points out where that suggestion falls flat. More

More on A&D Medical's Continua-certification from a while back: "By producing both the blood-pressure monitor and the weighing scales, we have shown that the technology is adaptable - the scales are low-power devices that only take a reading infrequently, unlike the monitor," Cambridge Consultants' Paul Williamson said. "The intention is that these are the first of many devices, giving people access to services at home without having to manage a cumbersome PC interface. With Bluetooth capability, the device becomes part of the everyday routine, while for healthcare providers there is a huge gain in being able to collect such data." More

Good news for pager companies? "Now your heart can page you." Or so claims one recent headline describing another wireless remote cardiac monitoring system being used in a clinical trial. The implant sends a "page" to a dedicated handheld device the user carriers with them. Now, if only everyone had a pager in their pocket... Hmm. More

St. Jude Medical announced that its Merlin.net Patient Care Network has launched in Europe. The system bills itself as a "secure, Internet-based remote care system for patients with implanted medical devices." Transmissions from the device include patient-initiated ones and automatic follow-ups. St. Jude said the wireless monitoring system enables physicians to compile a more complete patient record by porting data directly from a cardiac device into an EHR. More

In other wireless cardiac monitoring news for Europe: KG, a wireless remote monitoring technologies company known for its implantable cardiac devices, announced that data from its TRUST trial was recently presented to the European Society of Cardiology Congress. The data found positive outcomes associated with use of KG's Biotronik home monitoring that included a "safe reduction" in the number of in-office follow-up visits for patients.  More