The big news for StatCom at HIMSS this year was turning 40.  In November, StatCom announced that they had sold their 40th patient management software system (sold into 22 health care organizations).  At the show, they reported that 3 sites are live and the rest should be live by end of year.

At their booth, StatCom emphasized their unique data collection devices and technology.  The WiBut (short for Web Button) is a low cost, easy to deploy device.  The device has a 2 line LCD display, 5 function buttons, and 20 data input buttons.  The WiBut is self contained; it is battery powered and contains a WLAN radio that connects to a self-discovering mesh network that automatically “looks for” other WiButs to exchange data. Deployment consists of a battery and some Velcro.  If you don’t have a WLAN deployed, the WiBut is designed to require minimal AP coverage.  The user interface was clean and pretty straight forward.  Typical transactions were fast and direct.   Less typical transactions required some menu navigation. They also showed the TIP (Touch screen Input Panel).  This device is a smarter input device with a 5.7” color LCD touch screen. The user interface is fully customizable, but requires more infrastructure to deploy. Like all such applications, StatCom also receives data from HL7 from ADT, OE/RR and other hospital systems.

The technology story StatCom told centered on scalability and deployment/cost of ownership.  Their app is web based, so only a browser and Flash are required to run StatCom on client PCs. Their software is written in Java, runs on an Oracle database, and uses Istante RTS platform for real time transaction processing.  All of their installations are on Windows, but Linux is also supported; they have a system running on Linux inhouse.  They’ve also written their own rules engine.  Unlike traditional declarative rules engines, this one is procedural oriented, kicking off messages, alerts and status changes based on configured process “milestones.” Messages and alerts can be pushed to pagers, email and phones.  Thin clients and low cost data entry devices contribute to the low cost of ownership.  Oracle and the web server support enterprise scalability.  StatCom has been deployed within a department (less than 25% of their installations), enterprise-wide, and across multiple facilities.

StatCom’s roots are in the surgery patient management software market, where they spun off from Surgical Information Systems.  From a positioning standpoint, they emphasize deep departmental features targeting the OR and ED.  StatCom is part of Jackson Healthcare Solutions, with $78 million in revenues for 2003 (StatCom is one of six companies in JHS).