Calorie Counting and Metabolic Feedback for Physical Therapists' Patients

The Aipermotion Active Body Control device:

Physical therapists can use Aipermon's new Active Body Control device to help their patients adhere to their diet using instant feedback of calories burned and calories taken in.

The device is part calorie calculator and part pedometer with an internet connection that sends your results to your doctor.

Poor Nancy has not had breakfast yet but she's a good trooper and she demonstrates the Aipermotion for me at the American Telemedicine Association (ATA) meeting in Tampa using her own metabolic data.



Thanks Nancy! Now, go get some breakfast!

Cell Phone Inventor at ATA Says "People Want to Move..."

Martin Cooper was an engineer at Motorola in 1973 when he stood on a Manhattan street corner on April 3rd and placed the world's first public cellular telephone call.

The rest, they say, is history.

Cooper expected millions, not billions, of cell phone users to use his product. This image is a replica of the original 2.2lb. cell phone that had a 20-minute battery life.

Today, there are 6,915,756,494 people in the world and over five billion cell phone users.

More people have access to cell phone networks than have access to...

• clean running water
• electricity
• regular dental hygiene

But Cooper doesn't bear the stigma for these social inequities - he is still hopeful that mobile technology can help solve some of the world's most pressing disease burdens.

"Technology doesn't mean a thing unless it makes people's lives better..."

...he said at the Keynote Speech kicking off the American Telemedicine Association 2011 annual conference in Tampa, Florida.

"People are mobile, they're naturally mobile - they want to move around".

Cooper envisions mobile technology implanted in our bodies - able to detect the genesis of new cancer cells and call that finding into a doctor who will then call the patient back for an appointment.

"Every disease can be actionably prevented," he said, "The cellular industry is still in its infancy..."

I admire Mr. Cooper's optimism.

I wonder what creative uses physical therapists can find for cellular technology to encourage our patients to "move around"?

American Telemedicine Association Advocates for Physical Therapists

The American Telemedicine Association (ATA) is advocating for physical therapists to deliver telerehabilitation services and receive Medicare reimbursement in order to succeed under Medicare Accountable Care Organizations (ACO):

"Medicare law bars some providers from delivering telehealth services - even as they are otherwise permitted under Medicare.
Notably, physical therapists, occupational therapists and speech-language pathologists, are barred from delivering telehealth services."

The ATA sent Medicare administrator Dr. Donald Berwick a letter on April 25th asking for five regulatory waivers, including the restriction on physical therapists performing telerehabilitation services.

The ATA request reads:

"ATA strongly urges the Secretary to waive this restriction. Otherwise, the ACOs will fail to fulfill Congressional and Agency intent...

...section 1834(m)(4)(E) needs to be waived... to permit any beneficiary to get the otherwise covered Medicare services of physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech-language pathology and audiology..."

The American Telemedicine Association is the leading international resource and advocate promoting the use of advanced remote medical technologies.

ATA and its diverse membership, works to fully integrate telemedicine into transformed healthcare systems to improve quality, equity and affordability of healthcare throughout the world.

The ATA 2011 annual meeting started today, Saturday April 30th in Tampa, Florida and runs through Tuesday, May 3rd.

I'll be attending the pre-course meetings, presentations and trade shows and posting the technology and innovations I find to this blog.

Tell me what you'd like to know about the emerging telemedicine industry.

How do you think physical therapists should fit into this new paradigm?