Armed only with massive amounts of caffeine and very rudimentary training in what bad ECG cardiac rhythms look like, I spent my nights watching a row of heartbeat monitors for 24 hospital patients. I was given three standing orders:

1. Don’t fall asleep.
2. If anything changes in a patient’s heart rhythm try to print off a paper strip of it for the physicians to take a look at in the morning.
3. If any of the rhythms changed to either very smooth waves or a completely flat line scream for a nurse.

That second responsibility proved to be the most challenging, because the monitors didn’t have the ability to pause or rewind. Catching the anomalies that the physicians wanted to see required gunfighter reflexes to physically get to the right monitor and hold down the print button hoping that the troubling rhythm was still on the screen so that it would show up on the paper slip.

Being jacked up on caffeine did help with the reaction time, though I was a jittery mess in class the next morning. Good times.

Do you know what physicians do now when they want to see their patients’ cardiac rhythms?  Many of them pull out their smart phones. Modern cardiac monitors are intelligent, autonomous, and wi-fi enabled. They can assess and interpret patient rythyms far better than I ever could, and they never fall asleep.

Modern Monitoring

Companies now market devices that push cardiac and other patient care data directly to physician’s mobile iOS devices. Whenever a doctor wants to check in on her monitored patients, the information is at her fingertips, wherever she happens to be.

And, wherever the patient happens to be. This is the part that seems like science fiction compared to my days as a monitor tech. I could only monitor patients that were in the ICU because that’s where the monitors were and the cables were only so long. Even when we later went to telemetry broadcasting devices we still had to keep monitored patients close to the ICU because the signals were not strong enough to penetrate thick floors or walls.

Today’s healthcare practitioners routinely monitor telemetry from patients who aren’t in the hospital at all. Medical device manufacturers have developed innovative tools that enable the remote monitoring of changes across a wide range of patient vital statistics. These devices are at the forefront of what is referred to as telemedicine or telehealth – the use of networked technology to enable patients to receive care from offsite health professionals.

The Evolution of Telemedicine

Telemedicine is a fast evolving and fast growing healthcare discipline. Industry analysts InMedica and IMS Health project the global market for telemedicine to reach $1 billion by 2016, accelerating to a potential $6 billion by 2020.

This growth aligns to a broader migration of care delivery from hospitals to less expensive non-institutional sites, including patient’s homes. This migration is evidenced by growth in annual Medicare expenditures on home and hospice care. In 2010 this expenditure was $30.8 billion. By 2015 it will be $46.4 billion.

Medical device innovation supporting home based care is increasingly focused on enabling patients to self-manage their chronic conditions, overseen by offsite health professionals. In addition to improving patient quality of life by allowing them to remain at home, this innovation also contributes to the reduction of healthcare expenditures to benefit society as a whole.

The Logistics of Telemedicine

Telemedicine is a transformative technology, and it brings with it new logistics challenges and opportunities. The supply chains underpinning an ECG monitor confined to a hospital ICU and many thousands of tiny remotes dispersed to homes across the country are very different.  They require different approaches to support deployment, servicing, updating, and device recovery.

Logistics solutions that effectively support innovative telemedicine devices include services that:

• Manage device inventory and fulfill individual orders against physician prescriptions
• Enable the patient to take control of the delivery of their incoming medical shipments
• Facilitate swap out of devices in the patient’s home, and replacement or return of components

Are telemedicine/telehealth devices part of your healthcare strategy? I’d love to talk with you about your perspective on this dynamic area of medicine, and ways in which medical device innovations can be effectively supported by recent logistics innovations. I promise I’ll lay off the caffeine when we talk! Leave me a comment below.

After I had my van repaired, I would still ride, but not as frequently. As time went on, I started riding as a way of saving money and staying healthy. When gas prices went over $4.00/gallon, I said, “That’s it!”, and started riding daily. I figured that driving my car back and forth to work was throwing money out the window. I could easily ride my bike to work, stay healthy and fuel my body instead of my vehicle.

After a while, I just became accustomed to riding my bicycle, rain or shine. At first, the guys at work were amazed that I could ride my bike and then perform my driving duties, but my job actually became easier. My body started having more energy/stamina. Now it’s just normal for them to see me riding up on my bicycle.

The funny part about this is that all it took was me jumping on my bicycle and pedaling. In time, it became so easy, that I started riding on the weekend with cycling groups. The groups were amazed that I could keep up with them, even though I had a bike rack on my bicycle.

There are so many ways that bicycling has helped me, but I think the most important is the workout my body gets from the ride. It has helped me to remain fit, healthy, become a faster runner and given me a different perspective than an ordinary commuter in a car.

I went from riding an old 10-speed to a mountain bike and am currently on a Trek road bike. I find that cycling, running, and working out at the gym all go hand in hand to keep a driver performing his or her best and for being in the best health.

Keeping medicines at the right temperature is essential if they are to work well, and it’s vital to the health of patients. Whether you need an annual flu shot or your regular supply of insulin, it’s likely that a great deal of work has gone into designing the packaging it’s shipped in. Packaging may be the only protection that stands between your medicine and the outside world, from the manufacturer to the point of care, whether that’s a doctor’s office, an outpatient surgery center or even your own home. In fact, a recent UPS survey investigating healthcare supply chain challenges found that product protection is one of the biggest challenges healthcare manufacturers face.

If medicine spoils because of inadequate packaging, it certainly won’t do you any good and may even be harmful. It immediately presents a headache (no pun intended) to the doctor, the patient and the medicine manufacturer. The drugs must be returned, replacements must be shipped, and you might have to return the next day or go somewhere else to get the treatment you need.

And, getting back to those record temperatures, it’s also about the external ambient temperature. We’ve extensively mapped the ambient temperatures that shipments are exposed to in both the heat of summer and the depths of winter, and the range of temperatures is amazing. I factor in this very important information to help assess the conditions that the shipment is up against, and then determine what kind of packaging is needed to overcome the environmental challenge most efficiently. (Contrary to what one might imagine, we’d far rather a customer use the smallest, lightest and most efficient shipment possible instead of a hefty, inefficient one carrying exactly the same product. I’m responsible for keeping an eye on the environment, too.)

UPS has become a thought leader in healthcare logistics for very good reasons. We apply our logistics expertise to all the challenges of sensitive product protection – and we thoroughly understand that there is a patient at the end of the supply chain. Our goal is always to get the right product to the right patient in the right condition at the right time. (And we succeed: watch a video made by one happy healthcare customer.) We help healthcare manufacturers protect their products, their profit and their patients, helping to facilitate wellness among us all – and even save lives.

So the next time you visit a doctor’s office, a drugstore or any other care center for your healthcare needs, remember that the medicine that comes out of the doctor’s fridge had to get there somehow – and it had to arrive in optimal condition. You never know, UPS may have consulted on the packaging as well as ensured the on-time delivery for your temperature-sensitive medicine. And that helps us all stay healthy, hearty and happy.

Be well!

Learn more about how UPS can help you prevent spoilage.

One day, I was griping to my father about having to plant trees and he commented, “That, son is the future.”

This principle is still alive today. I think of that as I plant trees that I will never live to see harvested. I thoroughly enjoy spending free time on the farm and have planted well over 2,000 trees.

In early 20^th century, farmers got overzealous and eradicated trees like weeds, even burning them to get rid of them. This led to erosion problems and loss of wildlife habitat. Now, most of the United States has more forested area than 100 years ago; deer and turkey have returned to our region in large numbers.

Managed forests with a combination of native grasses can provide important wildlife habitat needed for a healthy ecosystem. Proper use of trees in landscaping can reduce heating and cooling costs as much as 25%, but also can reduce the use of fossil fuels needed to make up the difference.

My wife and I manage nearly 200 acres of a combination Certified Tree farm and participate in Kentucky’s Wildlife Habitat Improvement Program (WHIP). A combination of healthy woodlands management to include invasive species eradication and erosion control and wildlife food plots has helped reintroduce native Bobwhite Quail species in our county.

Remember, you are not alone in an endeavor like this. Resources are available through your state Department of Forestry, the USDA and Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Wike Bicycle Trailers is looking to make our world healthier and more sustainable. With an end goal of getting more people cycling rather than driving, Wike introduces people to new uses for bicycles – from using their trailers to transport pets, groceries and equipment to helping disabled triathletes compete.

Wike began in the basement of Bob Bell’s home in 1993 in Guelph, Ontario and has now become North America’s largest seller of bicycle trailers. They still operate out of the same factory in Guelph that they founded the company in. Bob isn’t kidding when he says everything is really made in Canada!

Due to the size of each trailer and the intricacies of assembling them, Wike ships their products fully constructed. Outbound shipping definitely proposed a number of challenges for Bob and his team. Bob asked UPS to help him take his products overseas while reducing costs. In Bob’s words: “that really helped sales!” Here are three UPS services Wike uses to streamline their business:

1. UPS Returns – When a customer has an issue with a product or parts, they can easily return them to Wike using a preprinted label. An easy returns process is a critical part of keeping customers coming back.

2. UPS carbon neutral – Wike demonstrates their commitment to the environment by offsetting the carbon created by the packages they ship. This aligns with Wike’s “green” philosophy of reducing emissions from automobiles and putting more alternative transportation on the roads.

3. UPS Paperless Invoice – This streamlined their Unites States standard shipments by integrating order and shipment processing and transmitting commercial invoice data to enable clearance by customs offices. The U.S.- Canada border seem invisible and they’re saving paper, too.

Wike is another example of how small business can go global with the right support, effort and passion. While the largest markets for Wike remain the U.S. and Canada, sales of Wike trailers are seeing rapid growth in the United Kingdom, Norway, Finland and South Africa; even as far away as the South Pacific!

A recent survey we conducted in Canada concluded that 2013 is the year for small business. In fact, 60% of business owners believe they’ll see an increase in revenue in 2013 when compared to 2012. So if you are looking to grow your business globally, there’s no time like the present.

To learn more about Wike, watch this video.

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Denise then had an aha moment. While her visual cues box was in another room, she thought of the idea of wearing visual cues and thought, “If I only had cues on a bracelet, then I could capture teachable moments in any setting!” From that moment, Denise began creating the QCharm Portable Visual Cue System, which displays visual cues printed on flat surfaced charms that clip onto silicone wristbands.

Denise says the greatest benefit of starting QCharm has been seeing the positive ways in which the QCharm has helped other caregivers and educators manage their loved one’s needs more easily, so much so that they are able to leave their houses more often to participate in activities with others and enjoy more of what life has to offer.

Since starting QCharm in 2006, Denise relies on Drew Bizzell and the team at College Station The UPS Store close to her home in Texas. Being a one-woman company, Denise knows that not everything can be done from her home office and is grateful to do her errands at a nearby shopping center that has The UPS Store for all her business needs. Denise uses The UPS Store exclusively for printing, notary services, faxing, packing and shipping her products nationally and internationally, and has a postal mail box for her business.

Denise has future plans to market QCharm nationally and generate awareness of her business and the power of visual cues that can help families and caregivers enjoy easy communication. With the support of The UPS Store small business solutions, Denise will be brainstorming ideas to get the word out!

Denise is one of the many mothers who are also small business owners; we wish all our mothers and small business owners a very Happy Mother’s Day! Thank you to all the mothers out there for all they do for their families.

Every year, prescription medication non-adherence (not taking medication at the right time, dosage, or simply not taking it at all) is responsible for more than 120,000 unnecessary patient deaths and $290 billion in unnecessary healthcare spending each year in the United States.

According to the World Health Organization, non-adherence is a much broader issue than many people realize:

• After seeing their doctor, 20-30% of patients never fill their prescriptions
• Even if they fill their prescription, 50% of patients do not adhere to their medication

Medication isn’t going to help if it isn’t taken as directed. Why is non-adherence such a large issue?

• Patients forget to take their dosage
• Patients take the wrong dosage level
• Patients think the cost of the medication is too high
• Patients get confused about which medication to take or when to take it

Many innovative technology providers have developed tools and devices to improve patient education and adherence. Below are three that I find particularly interesting:

• Vending Machine – There’s a point-of-care based vending machine that dispenses top-selling medication. It automates a relatively manual process by dispensing the medication prescribed by the doctor in less than 30 seconds, provides the ability to set up automatic refills, and prints patient education material. In addition to improved adherence, it also allows clinics to immediately know when their medication samples are either recalled and/or expired. It’s a convenient and innovative way to ensure patients fill their prescriptions immediately.

• Dispenser – An at-home medication dispenser (about the size of a small radio) is designed for patients that are on multiple, complex medications – which can often lead to confusion. It’s easily loaded with multiple medications and dispenses the right dosages at the right time. The device also gives positive reinforcement to highlight patients’ progress with adherence and has direct linkage with live medical advisors.

• SmartPhone App – This app visually identifies thousands of prescription medications by crowdsourcing the screening and documentation of thousands of pills in multiple formularies. It’s building a wealth of information designed to improve adherence. Patients, doctors or caregivers can identify a particular pill by name and strength, screen for drug interactions and access other educational information around the medication by simply taking a picture of their pills.

It’s been said that there is nothing as expensive as a bad decision. Failure to adhere to a prescribed course of drug therapy incurs both health and economic costs, both for the patient and for society. These and other innovations are using technology to do what it does best – enable the individual to overcome limitations. In doing so they create a new channel for reaching the patient.

What technology do you use to stay on top of your medications? Let us know in the comments.

Kurt was joined on the panel by U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and the CFO of the U.S. Postal Service, Joseph Corbett. The panel was moderated by Robert Litan, research director for Bloomberg Government.

Among the issues they addressed were the pace of business investment in the economy and ways in which postal and carrier businesses reflect challenges faced by other businesses.

Click on the image to watch the discussion

Kurt described the impact of public debt on private businesses by saying, “That is the big frustration, I think, in business.  If you look at public markets, increased risk and increased uncertainty drives higher return requirement, and so right now, the risk for a lot businesses is outweighing the return, so I do think that there is a need to get some clarity, build a road map, and work through things.

Our message is very much that it’s time to work out a compromise, how we do in business all the time, and create a path to the future so businesses can invest and we can move forward.”

Q: What motivated you to start Star Toilet Paper?

A: My brother came to me with this idea after we saw a gap in a number of areas. First of all, toilet paper is a necessity for any public venue with a bathroom. Not only is our toilet paper free of charge for the public venues using it, but it is made from 100% recycled materials, helping to take away from the 15% of deforestation that is a result of toilet paper production using virgin pulp. Second, we are always looking for a unique way to reach our target audience in a captive manner. Finally, everyone wants to read when they are in the bathroom!

Q: What has been the greatest benefit to you starting Star Toilet Paper?

A: The ability to connect with people in a meaningful manner. I am able to take a passion of mine and utilize it in a manner that helps me connect with other passionate people in their fields. I am able to learn about topics I never thought I would have been able to before. And I know a lot about toilet paper!

Q: So what’s next for you and Star Toilet Paper?

A: A toilet paper empire! Star Toilet Paper will soon be coming to a venue near you! We look to be in every public venue across America.

As Bryan continues to grow his business, he relies on his local The UPS Store in Durham, NC to help him pack and ship samples to interested ad agencies and venues.

“One thing that I have always found at The UPS Store is the helpful nature of the employees,” Bryan said. “They know how to help small businesses. They know logistics. They know what we don’t about this side of the business. … [The] help and advice that the UPS Store employees and franchise owners offer help propel a small business to the next level.”

So, next time you use the restroom, as Bryan puts it, “Don’t rush! Look before you flush.” Hear more about Bryan Silverman and Star Toilet Paper below:

Do you want to be Entrepreneur of 2013? The search is on. Submit your entries for Entrepreneur magazine’s Entrepreneur of 2013 at entrepreneur.com/e2013 and entrepreneur.com/e2013college by June 17, 2013.

To be efficient, you want to maintain control over the services that keep your business running – orders to billing – but need help managing the day-to-day tasks. That means supervising orders, inventory and customer service, for facilitating compliance and on-time deliveries, and for expediting invoicing and speeding payment.

During this webinar, Jen Trone, sector development manager of UPS Healthcare, will discuss how you can create a cohesive supply chain, capture market share, and respond quickly to market demands. Participants will learn how UPS Order To Cash® can help them meet the customer demands and improve overall supply chain performance.

Click here to register for the May 2 webinar at 11:00 a.m. ET.