1. GoMeals developed by Sanofi Aventis – a free app that provides nutritional values and the ability to track and manage food intake.
2. GlucoseBuddy developed by oneAppOneCause – a free app that provides data storage utility for people with diabetes.
3. Allergy Alert developed by SDI Health – a free app that provides regual pollen forcast for local areas.
4. Livestrong developed by Demand Media – a $0.99 app that keeps users up-to-data on cancer information
5. WaveSense Diabetes Manager developed by Agamatrix – a free app that helps users track glucose results, carb intake, and insulin does.
6. Diabetes Log developed by Distal Thoughts – a free app that helps users to track glucose levels, food intake, and medicine records.
7. Diabetes Companion developed by dLife – a $0.99 app that in addition to glucose level tracking, provides recipes, answers diabetes questions, and posts informative videos.
8. Diabetes Health Mobile developed by Diabetes Health – a free app that provides access to news articles and blogs about diabetes and lets the user share the information with others.
9. hCG Diet app developed by CodeQ – a $12.99 app that providers users with a comprehensive ability to track diet and exercise, as well as their weight loss progress.
10. BloodPressure+Pulse Grapher Lite developed by Michael Heinz – a $1.99 app that allows users to track their blood pressure and pulse.

~~

Marlene M. Maheu, Ph.D. is the Executive Director of the TeleMental Health Institute, Inc., offering a Certificate training program in TeleMental Health for telepsychiatry, telepsychology, telesocial work, and online counseling. Academic books authored by Dr. Maheu and colleagues include eHealth, Telehealth and Telemedicine and The Mental Health Professional & the New Technologies.

1. Any $8.5 billion investment has meaning for the industry it serves. Microsoft’s investment in this videoconferencing company is a good predictor for the future of video. Why now? It has been clear for some time that momentum is shifting from the desktop computer to smart phones and tablets. The shift make sense. Consumers are interested in convenience, and nothing is more convenient than a smart phone in a hip pocket or Tablet PC in a back pack / briefcase. This trend is likely to continue, and most phones will soon be upgraded to smartphones.

Already, we can see that worldwide, many more people own mobile phones than desktop computers. Why video? Most people prefer to have the option of using all their senses to communicate something important. Microsoft’s purchase of Skype gives it easy, albeit expensive entrée into these emerging, more convenient and more natural platforms in a way that will help it maintain its leadership.  For us, Microsoft’s purchase means we are likely to see the proliferation of online video-based health care, and that our patients are likely to use smartphones and tablet PCs to be viewing us. (We on the other hand, may still choose desktop units to minimize fatigue and improve visibility, but opt for the convenience of a smartphone or tablet PC at least occasionally.)

2. Given Microsoft’s current investment in advertising with the Windows platform and BING search engine, we’re likely to see advertising campaigns move into Skype itself. That means that if you are chatting with a patient and still want to use a free version of Skype, you may be accompanied by a variety of advertisements strategically inserted by Microsoft.

3. While business has largely stayed away from Skype due to its reports of security leaks and unreliability, that is likely to change. Large players such as Polycom and Cisco’s Tandberg videoconferencing platforms have dominated the business world. Microsoft is likely to take Skype to the business enterprise, rather than keeping it to the consumer world where it has been the leader to date. In other words, we’re likely to see Skype become a more legitimate, secure, reliable platform that gets adopted by business, and dare we say, healthcare.

These predicted developments are likely to take some time, but they are promising for those of us interested in online practice. Microsoft’s involvement in bringing videoconferencing to not only the PC but smart phones and Tablet PCs is significant. As with most other computer products and services, the more widespread the adoption, the higher the quality, and lower the price points.

Meanwhile, if you or your colleagues are interested in using Skype, register here for a FREE webinar entitled “3 Reasons SKYPE May be RISKY to Your  Practice & How to Remedy.” Discover a new model for using Skype while still protecting yourself. Dr. Maheu will be interviewed by Dr. Joe Bavonese. Audio recording will be made available to  registrants.

Day:   June 6, 2011

Time:  2 p.m. Eastern

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Marlene M. Maheu, Ph.D. is the Executive Director of the TeleMental Health Institute, Inc.,offering a Certificate training program in TeleMental Health for telepsychiatry, telepsychology, telesocial work, and online counseling.  Academic books authored by Dr. Maheu and colleagues include eHealth, Telehealth and Telemedicine and The Mental Health Professional & the New Technologies.

Feel free to drop me a line if you have questions about submitting your specific topic, but otherwise, please send your manuscripts to the email address at the bottom of the file.

Please note, 2 types of submissions will be accepted:
1. traditional research (20-25 pages)
2. profiles of successful projects (1-page)

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Telehealth, Telepsychology and Technology-Related Papers: Open Call for Manuscripts
The editorial staff at the American Psychological Association,
Division 18′s journal entitled Psychological Services is extending an
invitation for manuscripts to be considered for a special section on
technology-based mental health services. Pat Deleon, Ph.D., J.D. is
the publication’s editor. Marlene M. Maheu Ph.D. is the guest editor.

Technology development is accelerating and doubles every year in
capacity, price performance and bandwidth. Yet, psychology still
offers a dearth of theory and research related to technology-based
services psychologists could be delivering. Therefore, this special
section will be devoted to the three overlapping areas of
psychological service delivery:

1. information technology (including to the telecommunication
specialties of telehealth: telemental health; telepsychology; distance
assessment and psychological testing; ehealth (Internet-based
telehealth such as in email, chat rooms, instant messaging, audio and
audio recording, videoconferencing, psycho-education formats such as
webinars, community forums, social networking, and other forms of
self-help); mobile health (or “mhealth” such as text messaging or
iPhone/ smartphone “applications or “apps”) and universal health
(uhealth) as is being conducted in foreign countries such as South
Korea.

2. nanotechnology (including microchips, nanodevices, nanosensors,
nanoelectronics, biofeedback, virtual reality )

3. biotechnology (medical and psychological “devices,” biometric
sensors, genomics, proteomics, diagnostics, pharmaceuticals and
psychoinformatics).

The US Federal government began its funding of telemedicine with
telepsychiatry over 50 years ago, but most psychologists are unaware
of the over 10,000 telemedicine articles that have been published in
all areas of medicine since then. Not only has telepsychiatry (and
telemedicine in general) been shown to be effective as well as cost
effective, Medicare and Medicaid have been reimbursing for such
services in specified conditions. Eleven states of the union now
require all insurance carriers to reimburse for telehealth services,
but most mental health practitioners are unaware of their ability to
receive such reimbursement.

Division 18 welcomes two types of submissions:

1. Traditional Manuscripts related to a variety of topics related to
technology, including, but not limited to:
* Video conferencing of psychotherapy and supervision
* evidence-based care management and psychotherapy
* continuing education
* use of Internet capabilities to advance psychological
interventions, including video, chat, email, instant messaging,
webinars, psycho-education, for either groups or individuals in
treatment; as an adjunct to treatment or as self-help
* ethical and legal challenges (e.g., licensure across state lines
or national borders; encryption; referrals, patient education;
professional boundaries online; supervision; security and
confidentiality; reliability; client or practitioner authentication;
psychological testing; informed consent procedures; multicultural or
multilingual issues; emergency backup procedures; direct care in
unsupervised settings such as the home or workplace; etc.)
* use of technology for administrative purposes (i.e., scheduling
through web interfaces, email or chat; electronic medical record
implementation)
* case consultation and supervision
* innovative use of publicly accessible information online
* multidisciplinary telehealth, such as collaboration with primary
care offices or home telehealth specialists including nurses
* innovative use of social media use of federal or state resources
on the Internet; psycho-informatics; or use of search engines in
practice
* reimbursement issues, including but not limited to grants,
Medicare Medicaid funding,  special programs (i.e., Indian Health
Services or children’s programs)
* models of service expansion  to rural or other special
populations  through technology

2. Model Programs: Manuscripts in the form of brief, 1 page (2.5 typed
pages) summary articles that are instructional in nature to exemplify
the current state of the art in practice settings. These brief
manuscripts must include a minimum of these elements:

a. name(s) of institution
b. service(s) delivered
c. type(s) of professionals involved
d. training for telemental services of professional(s) involved
(professional path to get where you are)
e. population(s) served
f. geographic location served
g. funding sources
h. technology used
i. technology choices that would be different next time and why
j. use of Electronic Medical Record (EMR)
k. biggest challenge(s)
l. biggest success(es)
m. lesson(s) learned

While the Division’s focus is on psychologists in “public service,”
usually defined as being employed by a governmental agency,
Psychological Services covers the full range of psychological services
provided in any service delivery setting.

Psychological Services therefore encourages submission of papers that
focus on broad issues related to psychotherapy outcomes, evaluations
of psychological service programs and systems, and public policy
analyses. The journal will also publish a limited number of
significant literature reviews, descriptions of training for
psychologists working in public service settings, and case studies of
psychological services, service delivery systems, or model programs.

Review papers, theoretical papers, and empirical papers are all
welcomed for submission. The deadline for receipt of papers for this
special section is March 15, 2011. Please follow the Instructions to
Authors information located on the Psychological Services website
at:http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/ser/index.aspx.

Manuscripts must be submitted electronically through the Manuscript
Submission Web Portal as described on the journal’s website,
here:http://www.jbo.com/jbo3/submissions/dsp_jbo.cfm?journal_code=ser

Please specify in your cover letter that the submission is intended
for the special section on telehealth, telepsychology and technology
and address your letter to Dr. Lisa Kearney. All papers submitted will
be initially screened by the editorial board and then sent out for
blind peer review, if evaluated as appropriate for the journal. For
further questions related to this special section, please contact Dr.
Kearney at lisa.kearney3@va.gov.

______________________________________

Marlene M. Maheu, Ph.D. is the Executive Director of the TeleMental Health Institute, Inc., offering a Certificate training program in TeleMental Health for telepsychiatry, telepsychology, telesocial work, and online counseling.  Academic books authored by Dr. Maheu and colleagues include eHealth, Telehealth and Telemedicine and The Mental Health Professional & the New Technologies.

Cars would have been a novelty because the automobile wasn’t mass produced by Henry Ford until 1913. (The “horseless buggy”  wasn’t invented until 1880.)

Back in 1910, automobiles were just beginning to be mass-produced, roads were not paved, driver’s licenses were not issued, and people were experimenting with their new automobiles by driving everywhere they could, along dirt roads, over fields, and yes, into ditches.

It took a few decades for cars to be made safer, roads to be built,  for traffic rules and drivers licenses to be required to protect public safety.

For a quick 10-minute video clip that illustrates how this analogy relates to telemental health and coaching, just look here:  MP4 version or FLV version.

Those are my thoughts. If you have a comment, please leave it below!

As small business owners (in essence), independent practitioners operate with fewer layers of protection from liability and with less oversight by supervisors.  We typically work in small offices, free from the same adherence to either treatment or practice protocols as might exist when working in academic, government or other large institutional settings.

We therefore have somewhat different experiences — and risks. It is my opinion then, that those differences with respect to telemental health warrant attention by those associations who accept our yearly dues and set standards  for us as a group.

Aside from documents issued by the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC) and the International Society for Mental Health Online (ISMHO), two relatively small groups that paralleled each other in strongly advocating the use of e-mail and chat rooms to work with unseen, previously unknown and undiagnosed mental health clients or patients, I have awareness of one formally produced document that addresses the myriad complexities of remote ethical practice for solo practitioners in the United States. That document is the “Telepsychology Guidelines” produced by the Ohio Psychological Association, originally published in 2008.

Since then, most of us have witnessed the rapid proliferation of services such as Skype-type videoconferencing services on the Internet, cell phone use and texting, and have heard of colleagues who use these services. Unfortunately, many of those practitioners seem to be jumping on the new technologies without training in ethical or legal vulnerabilities with respect to consumer protection or their own risk management.

Therefore, I have these question for you, my resourceful colleagues:

1. Are you aware of any other statements, ethical decisions, announcements or other documents for  independent practitioners seeking guidance for practice through the Internet as produced by any of the large US professional associations?

2. Do you live in a country other than the U.S., and have a professional association that has published such a document?

If you are aware of any such resources, please leave links or details in the comments section below.

~

Marlene M. Maheu, Ph.D. is the Executive Director of the TeleMental Health Institute, Inc., offering a Certificate training program in Telemental Health for telepsychiatry, telepsychology, telesocial work, and online counseling.  Academic books authored by Dr. Maheu and colleagues include eHealth, Telehealth and Telemedicine and The Mental Health Professional & the New Technologies.