Hubble Telemedical acquired by Welch Allyn

Hubble Telemedical, Inc., has been acquired by Welch Allyn, Inc., a manufacturer of physical examination instruments and accessories and EMR-connected vital signs and cardiac monitoring solutions. Hubble, founded by UT Health Science Center researcher Edward Chaum and ORNL researcher Kenneth Tobin, has developed an innovative way to provide remote diabetic retinopathy screening and analysis in primary care doctors' offices and other settings. 
 
"Hubble Telemedical started ten years ago as a concept and has always been about changing the health care paradigm and the way we screen for diabetic eye disease, to make it accessible, efficient and effective in reducing vision loss and blindness. Being part of a world-class health care company like Welch Allyn now creates an opportunity to scale Hubble into an innovative national enterprise to achieve these goals," says Chaum.
 
Chaum, who is Plough Foundation Professor of Retinal Diseases and the Acting Director of Research for the UTHSC Hamilton Eye Institute, and Tobin, Director and a Corporate Research Fellow of the Electrical and Electronics Systems Research Division at ORNL, created the technology to help save the sight of diabetic patients, particularly those with low incomes and a lack of access to regular vision screenings.
 
The Hubble network enables retinal screening for diabetic retinopathy as part of a routine primary or convenient care visit. By improving the access and convenience of screening, compliance rates have been increased as much as 100 percent in less than 12 months. Increased compliance permits detection of disease in its earliest stage--increasing the number of patients that receive timely treatment to prevent severe vision loss.
 
Hubble offers real-time screening and diagnosis services for diabetic retinopathy, the most common diabetic eye disease and a leading cause of blindness caused by changes in the blood vessels of the retina.
 
Hubble’s Telemedical Retinal Image Analysis and Diagnosis (TRIAD) technology, a web-based telemedical platform, achieves real-time diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy and other retinal diseases over the Internet by using retina cameras to capture and securely transmit patient images for remote, expert physician diagnosis and validation.