Rural Missouri Hospital Awarded USDA Healthcare Grant, Funds Telepharmacy

News-Leader.com out of Springfield, Missouri writes in their Daily Planner section about a new USDA grant awarded to Citizens Memorial Hospital in Bolivar:

Citizens Memorial Healthcare was awarded a $457,500 grant last month from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to fund educational projects and expand health care services in rural Missouri.

CMH received the grant for a program to manage medications. Rural residents can connect to a pharmacist in the evening and from remote locations with what's called a telepharmacy. The program computerizes managing prescriptions and improves the time it takes to review medication orders. The award was received by Susan Sanders, telehealth coordinator for CMH.

Hong Kong Outpatient Remote Pharmacist Conferencing Coming to Retail Stores

A large store chain in Hong Kong called Mannings is getting a remote pharmacist video consultation device for outpatients to consult with a pharmacist at different Mannings stores:

Jardine Matheson Group Managing Director Anthony Nightingale visited three Mannings stores including the recently opened flagship store at the Hang Lung Centre in Causeway Bay, as part of his annual tour of the Group's Hong Kong operations.

During the visit, the Mannings senior team showed Mr Nightingale new initiatives implemented at store level and demonstrated the innovative and first-to-market 'Tele-pharmacy'.

'Tele-Pharmacy' provides shoppers with pharmaceutical advice through a teleconference system link to a pharmacist stationed at another Mannings outlet. This is designed to address the needs of the increasing number of health conscious consumers.

MedCenters: Pharmacies in a box

Here's a video from CNN's coverage of PharmaTrust's MedCentre at work in the UK and coming soon to the US: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/health/2010/08/22/pharmacies.in.a.box.cnn

Sorry about the lack of an embedded video post, CNN isn't allowing it.

MedCentre Remote Dispensing Machine to expand further in Canada, UK, and soon, USA?

PharmaTrust issued a press release today, announcing they were enabling all Ontario Telemedicine Network members to easily install and use their MedCentre dispensing machine. As a result, they got some good press on CBC News which relayed this tidbit:

[d]iscussions are continuing with about 30 health facilities, with six to 10 showing strong interest in adopting the new technology.

In an article late last month, CBCNews asked the Canadian public, "Drug vending machines: Would you use one?" in a(n unscientific) poll, to which they for the most part, surprisingly, answered NO:

Yes: 31% (410 Votes)
No: 69% (924 Votes)

See comments for their reasoning. The article also mentions:

PharmaTrust introduced the machines in Britain this week, already has three operating in Ontario and expects to have them in five U.S. states within a few months.
...
Three of the machines are currently being tested in Ontario, two at Toronto's Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and one in the emergency room at Cambridge Memorial Hospital.

Michigan Health Clinic Receives Rural Development Grant for Remote Pharmacists

Baldwin Family Health Care, which operates a number of family medical clinics in Michigan, is another recipient of the 2009 Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grants from the US Department of Agriculture:

The DLT project connects the applicant with remote pharmacists through tele-pharmacy. Off-site pharmacists will provide prescription dispensing and patient consultation to patients at Baldwin.

The total amount awarded was $52,400. With $13,875 in additional funding, the total project cost is $66,275, according to the USDA's DLT reports (or original PDF) recently released.

Missouri Hospital District receives USDA telepharmacy grant

The Scotland County Memorial Hospital District, serving Scotland and Schuyler Counties (Memphis area) in northeast Missouri received a $62,622 grant from the US Department of Agriculture, as 1 of 4 Missouri grant recipients from this year's USDA Distance Learning and Telemedicine Program:

This project will connect a hospital, two clinic and a phamacy. The primary purpose is telepharmacy. There will also be upgrades to the existing video-conferencing system which supports remote consultation.

Read the full report here (or Original PDF).