TELUS Health Solutions and Orange have joined forces to develop innovative remote monitoring solutions for patients with chronic diseases. The Calydial solution, a pilot that remotely monitored patients with kidney disease, in collaboration with Grenoble University Hospital, Calydial dialysis centers of Lyon, France and AGDUC health center in Grenoble, France, yielded positive results; patient satisfaction and patient support both improved1. Yesterday, the Calydial solution was awarded the Innovation Prize in the telemedicine category at Health IT, France’s preeminent information technology trade show for hospitals and other medical establishments.

Hospitals are usually eager to embrace the latest medical technology, but the road to deploying tablet computers has been bumpy.

The advocacy group Health Care for America Now has had a loud voice in the healthcare reform debate over the past three years. The company started a Tumblr blog titled "We are the 99 percent," where followers submit photos of themselves holding a sheet of paper, with a message as to why they choose to occupy Wall Street. The site states: "We are forced to choose between groceries and rent. We are denied quality medical care. We are suffering from environmental pollution." The list goes on.

A registry of healthcare information on patients with mild to moderate chronic kidney disease could help physicians improve care for patients, according to a new study in Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN).

Now that the Interim Final Rule (Initial Set of Standards, Implementation Specifications, and Certification Criteria for Electronic Health Record Technology) and the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (Medicare and Medicaid Programs Electronic Health Record Incentive Program) have been published, we can all finalize our policy and technology strategies for achieving Certification and Meaningful Use in our organizations and communities.

Fresenius Medical Care North America, operator of the nation’s leading network of dialysis facilities, today announced it has purchased Nashville-based Health IT Services Group (HITSG) and its portfolio of products including Acumen nEHR, a nephrology-specific electronic health record.

A company that earned its reputation designing staffing schedules for dialysis centers is setting its sights on other healthcare providers.

A German renal therapy company is partnering with a U.S.-based healthcare IT vendor to offer a Web-based electronic health record designed specifically for nephrologists.