ATA 2010: it's global, Haiti, AT&T

Donna Cusano

With over 3,000 foreign registrants from 35+ countries, the American Telemedicine Association’s (ATA) is surely global in attendance, but has telemedicine/telehealth truly gone global?  Based on comments from the pre-conference international use forum, the systems aren’t quite there yet. The question is ‘meaningful use’ (a little EMR lingo here); devices aren’t meant to stand on their own but need an infrastructure.  Case in point:  Haiti.  90% of Haitians own cell phones and mobile was invaluable in raising disaster relief funds, creating databases and connecting emergency teams, but the infrastructure is still needed.  Healthcare IT News  Also highlighted is AT&T Labs Research’s ‘smart slippers’ [TA 10 December]–a shoe insole fitted with a broadband connection, in test at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, TX.  24Eight is behind the sensor technology and algorithms for detecting motion, balance and instability.  Healthcare IT News