Virtual platform expands physical footprint
Grand Rounds, which works with consumers and employers to match patients with specialist doctors and also helps provide second opinions, has expanded its brick-and-mortar presence with the opening of a new office in Lewiston, Maine. This marks the first East Coast operation for the San Francisco-based company, and the location was selected as a majority of Grand Rounds’ patients and physicians are located in the Central or Eastern time zones.

Partnership to boost clinical trials
Austin, Texas-based ePatientFinder –  an EHR agnostic cloud-based service that enables doctors to locate new treatment options, preventative procedures and clinical trials for their patients – has teamed up with healthcare sales and information resource Rep Network to expand clinical trial access across the country. Through the partnership, Rep Network’s team of over 2,000 independent sales reps and distributors can direct their physician clients to ePatientFinder’s Clinical Trial Exchange patient identification and enrollment platform. 

Toys, not touchscreens
While handing a toddler a smartphone or iPad can often be a surefire way for parents to get some much-needed quiet time, that digital distraction can come back to haunt them later. Researchers at the Birbeck University of London found that toddlers between six and 11 months who play with smartphones or tablets are getting less sleep than their non-tech peers. Not only do they sleep less, they also have a harder time falling asleep. While parents may understand exactly what this phenomenon feels like themselves, it matters more when screen time cuts into youngster’s sleeping time, as “every minute matters in young development,” according to study coauthor Dr. Tim Smith.

Electronics giant calling all telehealth innovators
LG CNS Healthcare Solutions announced its second annual challenge grant aimed at supporting provider organizations in bringing telehealth into their practices. If awarded a grant, providers will get technical and consulting services to develop, plan, pilot and implement their ideas.

“This challenge is designed to help providers achieve success by fostering telehealth care delivery innovation that can better improve patient outcomes and experiences,” Collain Healthcare ( a subsidiary of LG CNS) CEO Dr. Maryann Choi said in a statement. “Building a successful healthcare delivery system in this country hinges on the capacity of providers to improve, integrate and innovate their processes and methods of caring for the most frail, vulnerable and costly patients in the continuum.”