Feb 17, 2014 | Digital Pathology, Instruments & Equipment, Laboratory Management and Operations, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, Uncategorized
Experts are excited about the swift development of wireless remote monitoring of patients; companies expected to develop sensors that incorporate a wide range of biomarkers
Some experts predict that the era of wireless, remote monitoring of patients is almost upon us. It will require pathologists and medical laboratory professionals to learn a new acronym: MBAN, which stands for medical body area network.
There is keen interest in remote wireless monitoring systems. The concept is to free patients from the hospital bed and allow continuous remote monitoring, regardless of where the patient is located. For this reason, in just a few years and in many local markets, opportunities are likely to be ripe for pathologists and clinical laboratory teams to have a role in managing wireless medical devices that use MBANs. (more…)
Dec 23, 2011 | Digital Pathology, Laboratory News, Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
Oklahoma’s public services commission seeks limits on free bandwidth to rural non-profit hospitals
Rapid expansion in the use of telemedicine, telepathology, and similar digital data applications is creating an unexpected problem. The cost of the bandwidth required to support these services is growing at an equally fast pace!
In Oklahoma, the increased cost of supporting telemedicine services is busting the budget of the state’s decade-old Universal Service Fund (OKUSF). That is causing regulatory bodies and the Oklahoma state legislature to look for solutions to this growing problem. For example, The Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC), which regulates public service corporations in that state, is seeking to limit the amount of free bandwidth available to rural non-profit hospitals under existing state law.
Medical laboratory testing is contributing to the higher spending on telemedicine services by Oklahoma’s USF. Chris Herbison, who is a Public Utility Regulatory Analyst at the OCC, told Oklahoma lawmakers during a hearing on this issue that the change in the size of telemedicine files has been dramatic. There has been a significant increase in the size of both medical reports and clinical laboratory reports. Similarly, whereas it once was basic X-rays, now it is MRIs and other types imaging files. All of these larger data files require more broadband capacity. (more…)
