Healthcare IT News - April 2009 - (Page 33) www.HealthcareITNews.com PHySIcIaN PRactIcES & amBulatoRy caRE April 2009 ■ Healthcare IT News 33 Online doc community available on the iPhone By Molly MerrIll, Associate Editor – QuantiaMD is offering members free access to its interactive physician community though a new iPhone application. The new offering will allow physicians to launch interactive presentations and clinical updates, respond to surveys, participate in case studies, complete CME activities, quickly post and NEWTON, MA Docs can use the iPhone application to participate in QuantiaMD’s free, online community. review comments and ratings and even refer content to peers. “QuantiaMD on the iPhone is an amazing application that pro- vides my doctors access to our educational programs wherever they are,” said Michael Wagner, MD, chief of General Internal Medicine at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. According to recent research, more than half of all healthcare professionals own a PDA or smartphone; that number is expected to increase to more than 70 percent by 2011. “QuantiaMD’s availability on the iPhone means that I will be able to treat my patients more effectively,” said Tanveer Aslam, MD, a practitioner of internal medicine in Dyersburg, Tenn. “I have access to so much critical information about particular diseases and case studies, and happily I’m now liberated from my desk. The quality of the presentations on the iPhone are so crisp that it’s almost as though my colleagues are there with me – whether I’m in a treatment room, out of the office or traveling.” QuantiaMD is free to validated healthcare practitioners and also available for the iPod touch, BlackBerry and Windows Mobile devices and online. ■ More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: IPHoNe 0409 ● Managing your diabetes online improves care By BerNIe MoNegaIN, Editor BOSTON – Online diabetes management programs may lead to improved patient knowledge, engagement and accountability, as well as better communication between patient and doctor, according to a new study by the Center for Connected Health, a division of Partners HealthCare. Based on the results of the pilot study, which examined a program called Diabetes Connected Health, the Center for Connected Health has initiated a randomized clinical trial involving 200 patients from six primary care practices affiliated with either Massachusetts General Hospital or Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “This study provided valuable feedback from diabetes patients and providers on the utility, benefits and limitations of a Web-based diabetes management program,” said Joseph C. Kvedar, MD, director of the Center for Connected Health. “Although the mean number of readings sent per month decreased over time, the number of comments posted per month increased, indicating ongoing engagement.” The pilot study included seven patients with type 2 diabetes at Massachusetts General Hospital. Study participants received access to a secure Web site that stored and graphed glucose readings uploaded remotely by the patients using a standard glucometer. Both patients and providers had access to the Web site, where the data could be viewed, analyzed and discussed. Mean glucose levels declined over the three-month pilot period, as did self-reported HbA1c levels. “Diabetes Connected Health has the potential to truly impact the way diabetes care is delivered and to improve both clinical and economic outcomes,” said Alice Watson, MD, corporate manager of the Center for Connected Health and a co-author of the paper. “Self-monitoring of blood glucose may have a greater impact when patient data can be shared with a provider in a timely manner, leading to treatment changes and enhanced patient education and motivation.” ■ More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: DIaBeteS 0409 Common Clinical Documentation Disorder #23: ISOLATED DOCUMENTOSIS WARNING: Capturing dictated content as unstructured text causes inability to populate the EHR. M*Modal has the cure. Please visit M*Modal at HIMSS, booth #7040. ● http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/online-doc-community-available-iphone-0 http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/managing-your-diabetes-online-improves-care
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