A Medical Device Daily

Healthlink (Houston), a healthcare information systems consulting firm, reported the signing of a $4 million agreement with Christus Health (Dallas), one of the largest Catholic health systems in the U.S., as part of that organization's initiative to standardize its IT-enabled clinical, business and financial processes. Christus recently launched an initiative called the Unity Project to standardize these operations around Meditech Health Information Systems.

Healthlink will lead the redesign of clinical and patient administrative processes and guide business transformation in conjunction with the Meditech implementation.

Time frame for implementation of the project is 24 months; it will encompass eight regions totaling 25 acute care sites in Texas and Louisiana, plus two long-term care facilities in Louisiana and Utah. Christus said that when the project is completed, it will have one of the most advanced clinical information systems across the continuum of care.

"The Unity Project was prompted by recognition of the need to manage our technology costs and implementation of best processes across the organization," said George Conklin, chief information officer and senior vice president.

Xilas Medical (San Antonio) reported that its telemedicine grant of $880,000 has been approved for Phase II funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH; Bethesda, Maryland). The grant enables Xilas to conduct clinical trials on its TempTouch RM, an infrared temperature remote monitoring (RM) device for diabetic patients.

A Phase I NIH-sponsored trial was completed in late 2003 demonstrating that the TempTouch RM can be used as a tool for capturing data and sending it over a modem.

A diabetes patient uses the TempTouch RM device in the homes, standing on it like a bathroom scale. It measures foot temperatures and the patient's weight, loads the data into an on-board computer and transmits the data via the phone/Internet to the doctor's office or a central monitoring facility, so that daily measurements can be monitored.

Elevated foot temperatures can be a sign of inflammation and potential ulceration, and a sudden increase in weight is an indication of impending heart problems in diabetic patients with congestive heart failure.

"The TempTouch RM is our first product in the area of telemedicine, and it's a way that information technology can be used to save lives and money in the future of healthcare," said Don Lawson, CEO of Xilas Medical. "This device is designed for high-risk diabetes patients who can't check their temperature measurements using a hand-held device due to age, blindness, disability or obesity. These are people for whom an ulcer would mean devastating consequences, including amputation and potential loss of life."

Xilas said it will run a one-year clinical trial with the TempTouch RM placed in the homes of 50 diabetic patients at high risk for foot complications.