WCA November 2014

From the Americas

A notable stimulus to telecom-based health care is the Affordable Care Act, hard-fought and won by President Barack Obama over virtually united conservative opposition in Congress. Now enacted and an apparent success, ‘Obamacare’ places emphasis on decreasing the cost of health care while increasing quality through standardised methods. “Technology is going to be the game changer there,” David Collins, the senior director of the mobile community of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), told Computerworld . Implied was a salute – and a challenge – to the telecommunications sector. Of related interest . . .  The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on 5 th August proposed changing its method of evaluating high-speed Internet to require download speeds of 10 megabits per second (Mbps) or higher for a service to qualify as broadband. The agency currently defines broadband, or high-speed Internet, as 4 Mbps download speed and 1 Mbps upload speed. The suggested 10 Mbps download bandwidth benchmark could, by FCC estimate, support moderate but not high Internet usage by a household of three. In its most recent Broadband Progress Report, in 2012, the FCC found six per cent of the US households lacking access to fixed broadband service. In rural areas, that group comprised one-fourth of the population. A stricter definition of broadband could mean that even fewer Americans would be deemed to have access. Automotive Having overcome scepticism about its long-distance capability, the Tesla Model S electric car draws criticism of another kind While positive overall, the most recent Consumer Reports assessment of the Tesla Model S stood in marked contrast to a November 2012 review by the same publication declaring the luxury sedan (sticker price: nearly $89,650) to be the ‘electric car that shatters every myth.’ “Tesla Model S has more than its share of problems,” read the headline of the review, posted online on 11 th August. For the second time in a month, a top critic had published a harsh critique of the Palo Alto, California-based carmaker’s flagship vehicle. As noted by Alexander C Kaufman of Huffington Post , a review published in late July by the car-critic site Edmunds was echoed by Consumer Reports , which complained

‘Telemedicine’ The telecommunications industry undergirds a trend in health care that promises an annual $5 billion savings worldwide

BigStockPhoto.com Photographer: Aispl

“With an ageing Baby Boomer population and broadband bandwidth improved a hundredfold from a decade ago, telemedicine is exploding as a convenient and less costly alternative to the traditional visit to the doctor’s office.” Lucas Mearian of Computerworld used the word ‘exploding’ advisedly. According to research he cited from the global consultancy Deloitte, of 600 million appointments with general practitioners in the USA and Canada in 2014, some 75 million will involve electronic visits, or eVisits. (“Almost One in Six Doctor Visits Will Be Virtual This Year,” 8 th August) Worldwide, Deloitte places the overall cost of in-person primary physician visits at $175 billion. With the number of eVisits climbing to 100 million this year, the potential global savings is $5 billion when compared to the cost of in-person doctor visits. The eVisit projection in Deloitte’s study represents growth of 400 per cent from 2012 levels. As an example of what this means for the future of patient medicine, Mr Mearian selected the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), which last November revamped its patient portal, renaming it MyUPMC and rolling out AnywhereCare. This service offers patients throughout Pennsylvania eVisits with doctors 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The $11 billion health care provider and insurer, with 21 hospitals and more than 400 outpatient sites, says its AnywhereCare service has an 80 per cent satisfaction rating. Patients love the convenience and speed of remote care, Natasa Sokolovich, the UPMC executive director of telemedicine, told Mr Mearian, who covers consumerisation of IT for Computerworld . “The new model provides a faster turnaround,” Ms Sokolovich said. “Within 30 minutes [patients] have the ability to get access to a healthcare provider.” Through electronic record portals, eVisits can also offer physician and patient a view of the same information on medical history, test results, prescriptions and appointments. In addition to telephone consultation, telemedicine – eVisiting – utilises electronic document exchanges, email or texting, and video conferencing. While not all in-person primary physician consults can be handled by eVisits, even a rate of 30 to 40 per cent implies a $50 to $60 billion total ‘addressable market,’ according to Deloitte.  eVisit usage will likely be greatest in North America, where it will soon represent 25 per cent of patient-physician ‘meetings.’ Again according to Deloitte, in the USA in 2010 there were 1.2 billion patient visits to physician offices, emergency departments, and hospitals (for outpatient services) – the equivalent of 3.3 visits per American citizen.

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Wire & Cable ASIA – November/December 2014