Continua Maintains Strong Membership Growth

Despite the ongoing global economic crisis, Continua Health Alliance has continued to see strong growth in its membership, activities and international efforts for personal telehealth interoperability. The alliance welcomed its 191st member company in April and is seeing a 95 percent retention of current members.

Dr. Joseph Kvedar, founder and director of the Center for Connected Health at Partners HealthCare System in Boston, a Continua Originating Promoter and Board Member, said Partners' decision to renew its membership was made easy by the solutions Continua's activities will bring to the market to improve healthcare delivery.

"Continua's interoperability standards are empowering healthcare providers and patients," he said. "With Continua colleagues, we are forging new paths to better quality, access, and efficiency.

"All of us at the Center are proud to be a Continua founding member," Kvedar said.

Sustained by this type of dedication from its members, Continua has taken great strides in the early months of 2009 while enjoying strong momentum in the marketplace.

The initial phase of its Certification Program was unveiled to the membership in January, with the first Continua Certified Product being introduced shortly after. Additional member products are being queued for Continua Certification, helping the alliance's vision of building an ecosystem become a reality.

Shortly before the Certification Program was operational, the alliance's Technical Work Group released the Version One Design Guidelines internally.

And the alliance's progress has not gone unnoticed. Continua was honored with the 2009 ATA President's Innovation Award at a ceremony this month held in conjunction with the ATA 2009 event.

Recognized for advances, creative thinking and development of technology in the telemedicine industry, Continua joins past American Telemedicine Association (ATA) President's Award winners who have been saluted as valuable contributors to the industry.

"Being selected as the 2009 ATA President's Award recipient -given the other premier organizations involved in this industry - is a great honor for Continua Health Alliance," said Rick Cnossen, Continua Health Alliance president. "This award showcases the great work occurring within Continua Health Alliance to drive the future of telemedicine worldwide. We believe this is merely the beginning of what Continua has to offer to the continued advancement of this industry."

To read more about the award, see Continua's press release here.

Continua Welcomes New President and Chairman of the Board

Rick Cnossen, former Continua Technical Work Group chair, officially assumed the roles of Continua President and Chairman of the Board this month after being unanimously voted into office. The transition was announced in an internal message to the Continua membership in late April.

He replaces outgoing Continua president David Whitlinger, who earlier announced he is stepping down to spend time with his family. In the message, Cnossen told the membership he is ready to continue the momentum established under Whitlinger's term.

"It has been my privilege to work with many excellent individuals from diverse companies over the past three years, and I am excited about the chance to extend my commitment and increase my contributions," Cnossen said. "I truly believe that Continua-enabled solutions give rise to innovative solutions for improved care and I am passionate about making this happen."

Currently the director of Personal Health Enabling in Intel's Digital Health Group, Cnossen was commended by Continua Vice President Joe Ternullo for helping advance a variety of Continua objectives, most notably the Technical Work Group's successful release of the Version One Design Guidelines earlier this year.

"With this change, Continua embarks on a new chapter with a new leader as we work to make Continua Health Alliance synonymous with connected, interoperable healthcare solutions that enrich users' lives," Ternullo said.

He praised Whitlinger as "instrumental" in Continua's founding in 2006.

Cnossen also took the opportunity to outline his main goals for Continua in the coming year, which includes establishing liaisons with industry partners and enhanced cooperation with regulatory bodies.

"We eagerly anticipate the broadening of our reach with applications and solutions to satisfy additional important use cases and are excited about continued penetration into high growth geographic regions," Cnossen said.

Whitlinger will continue to serve Continua as Intel's alternate board representative.

Barcelona Marks 12th International Members Summit for Continua

Industry expert keynotes, a public symposium and live demonstrations of potential low power radio standards highlighted Continua's Spring Members Summit in Spain earlier this quarter. Held in the Barcelona Hotel Arts, the summit welcomed more than 140 Continua members to a week of Work Group sessions and presentations.

Continua, in conjunction with Generalitat de Catalunya, TicSalut and Hospital Clinic, began the week with the Integrated Care of the Future Symposium. Drawing in more than 280 attendees from the public and private sectors, the symposium featured a variety of panel discussions and keynote addresses from Continua leaders and officials from the Spanish government and EU Commission.

These sessions focused on a wide variety of topics relevant to telehealth, including e-health deployment prospects in the EU, ICT in Catalonia, policy positions and regulatory concerns.

In addition, Symposium-goers witnessed public demonstrations of pre-Continua Certified products from 15 Continua member companies, the second such public demonstration in the alliance's history.

The Members Summit also boasted a trio of keynote addresses from industry leaders. The Continua membership welcomed Joan Cornet, Executive Director, Fundacio TicSalut; Joan Guanyabens I Calvet, Managing Director of the Agency of Technology Evolution and Medical Research; and Josep Piqué, Vice General Director del Hospital Clínico de Barcelona in the Summit's Opening Session.

The Spring Summit also marked the demonstration of five potential standards for Continua's low power radio use cases. More than 75 Continua attendees took part in the demonstrations, which allowed each standard a venue to demonstrate its functionality within the Continua framework. The Technical Work Group is now scoring these standards and is expected to make its final decision by the end of the month.

The Continua Summer Members Summit will be held in Vancouver, B.C. from June 22-26. Continua members, please click here for more information.

In the News

• Continua Health Alliance Awarded for Innovation in Telemedicine (BusinessWire)

• Healthy Growth for Wireless Patient Monitoring (MobileTech News)

• TeleHealth 2009: New Impetus for Telemedicine (eHealthNews.eu)

Upcoming Events

World Health Care Congress Europe 2009
Continua Sponsored Event

Where: Bedford Hotel & Congress Centre, Brussels, Belgium
When: May 13, 2009 - May 14, 2009

Building on the success of the 2008 event, the World Health Care Congress Europe will convene more than 600 health care leaders from around Europe and the world for its 2009 event, 13-14 May, 2009 in Brussels, Belgium. The World Health Care Congress Europe is the only major international forum where hundreds of health leaders share best-practices and successful initiatives for improved delivery and outcomes in Europe.

Participating thought-leaders include: health ministers, leading government officials, hospital directors, IT innovators, decision makers from public and private insurance funds, pharmaceutical and medical device companies, and heath care industry suppliers.

Featured speakers are to include, Dimitris Avramopoulos, Minister of Health and Social Solidarity, Greece, who will participle in a roundtable discussion with other health ministers from Europe and around the globe.

The event features visionary keynote addresses, controversial debates, dynamic panel discussions, case studies, tutorials and roundtable discussions.

Attendee Summit Offerings:

• Chronic Disease Management

• Implementing Health IT

• Reforming Health Insurance

• Improving Quality and Patient Safety

• Chronic Disease Management

• Implementing Health IT

• Reforming Health Insurance

• Improving Quality and Patient Safety

For the latest programme updates, please visit www.worldcongress.com/europe

The leading global producer of health care conferences for senior-level executives from private industry and government, the 6th Annual World Health Care Congress Europe is featured through the support of Humana DB Motion, Health Dialog and Aetna Global.

NHS Healthcare Innovation Expo
Where: ExCel Centre at London Docklands, London
When: June 18, 2009 - June 19, 2009

The Innovation EXPO is your chance to help deliver that ambition, and participate in the largest and most exciting event of its kind. The Innovation EXPO will take place at the ExCel Centre at London Docklands on 18th and 19th June 2009. It is a unique opportunity to catch up with the best in healthcare innovation from the public, private, voluntary, academic and scientific communities.

Hear world leading innovation experts and thinkers;
See and test innovation in action;
Transact real business with a range of public and private sector partners;
Talk to organisations with a global health reach;
See the latest cutting edge technology, devices and pathways showcased by the leading companies.
Continua will be attending this event. For more information, please click here.

6th Annual Healthcare Unbound Conference and Exhibition
Where: Seattle Airport Marriott, Seattle, WA
When: June 22, 2009 - June 23, 2009

Healthcare Unbound is a nationally recognized conference and exhibition on the convergence of consumer and healthcare technologies to facilitate participatory medicine. The event focuses on innovative applications of remote monitoring, home telehealth and e-health to manage diseases and to promote wellness. It will be held immediately prior to Continua's Summer Members Summit in Vancouver, B.C.

Join hundreds of senior executives and clinicians from healthcare provider and payer organizations across the US and abroad, as well as medical device companies, IT and telehealth vendors and consultants to explore the potential of this rapidly evolving market.

Continua will be attending this event. For full details, please visit here: http://www.tcbi.org/index.php?conference=conference-temp

Please note the conference does not conflict with the Continua Summer Members Summit, which begins Wednesday, June 24. Continua Members will also receive a $200 discount to attend this Conference and Exhibition. For more information, please click here.

Membership Update

Continua's membership has reached more than 190 member companies and is still growing! Most recently, Alive Inc., Denso Corporation, Hill-Rom Company, Inc., Innovation Centre Scotland, Nordic Semiconductor ASA, Silicon Laboratories, Inc. and Ziehm Medical LLC joined at the Contributor level.

Also, Qualcomm Incorporated, All Medicus Co., Ltd., AT&T, BIOSPACE Co., Ltd., Bluegiga Technologies Oy, Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd., Continuity Health, CSR plc, Dynastream Innovations Inc., The European Centre for Connected Health (DHSSPS- N.Ireland), Honeywell HomMed LLC, Infineon Technologies, Innomed Medical Zrt., InterComponentWare AG, Neusoft Medical Systems Co., Ltd., Telbios SpA and University of Miami - Miller School of Medicine recently renewed their Continua membership.

If you would like to read more about the Continua Health Alliance membership benefits please click here.