IDC Pegs Healthcare Fastest Growing Software Vertical
Increasing IT adoption within the U.S. healthcare industry are
expected to fuel the growth of the software market over the next five
years, according to IDC. On average, the healthcare market will
represent a 9.7% five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) within
the packaged applications, infrastructure software, and application and
development and deployment markets. Together, these markets totaled
$98.1 billion in 2004.
Here's IDC's view of the health care software market:
programs, explained that the significant increase in software spending
within the healthcare industry is based upon the fact that, “until
recently, a distinct polarity has existed in the healthcare industry
with respect to its use of medical technology and information
technology. Although at the forefront of technology in terms of
diagnostic and treatment equipment, the industry has long been deemed
the laggard with regard to information technology. However, now faced
with an aging population requiring at-home or long-term care,
escalating overhead costs, and information privacy regulations such as
HIPAA, the industry is under intense pressure to bring its information
technology into the 21st century.”
A counterpoint of a sort is provided by Accenture, who released a study
showing that the “widespread and costly investment in customer
relationship management tools
has not resulted in a better service for consumers.” Having lived
through two CRM implementations, I'm not surprised. One CRM vendor has words of wisdom for hospitals,
technology and expecting it to solve all your problems,” said Chris Boorman,
vice president of marketing for Europe at
Salesforce.com.
UPDATE: Matthew Holt has more on Accenture's new found frankness concerning the efficacy of CRM applications.
Wireless Jammer Now Available for WiFi and Bluetooth
A new “professional” wireless jammer has been released. This pocket
sized 1 watt device is capable of jamming everything between 900Mhz and
2.5Ghz, and has a claimed range of 30meters. At a cost of $445.00, at
least most script kiddies won't be buying one. You can buy yours here.
[Hat tip Gizmodo]
AMR to Deploy Wireless Gateway in 4,000 Ambulances
American Medical Response plans to equip 4,000 ambulances with
a wireless network gateway from In Motion Technology. AMR will use the onBoard Mobile Gateway 1000 technology
to enable Internet access from its ambulances in the field.
The gateway provides a managed platform for integrating wireless
devices (basically monitor/defibs) used by AMR's ambulance crews. The
gateway connects 802.11b/g wireless medical devices to cellular
networks. The gateway can support multiple wireless devices and manages
security and authentication of devices connecting to the gateway.
American Medical Response hopes to use the onBoard Mobile
Gateway to facilitate the transfer of patient information from an
ambulance to a hospital. Initially, it will use the technology to
transfer GPS location data from ambulances to its centralized dispatch
office to track the vehicles.
“Hopes” is the operative word here. Current monitor/defibs include
their own connectivity to cellular networks and may not be easily
reconfigured to use the gateway. (Of course the promise of a 4,000 unit
order could engender a certain flexibility on the part of vendors.)
Existing wirelessly enabled devices using 802.11b/g, like those used in
hospitals, could connect to the gateway. Welch Allyn sells ruggedized patient monitors into AMR's market, but their wireless monitors currently use 802.11 FH.
From an enterprise IT management perspective, this is definitely the
right move for AMR. It's just going to take a while for the vendors to
catch up.
[Hat tip Mobile Health Data]
UPDATE: Here's an example of a wireless ambulance application, a trail that's being done in Cincinnati.
While they make it sound like this is the first time a deployment like
this has been done, it's not. Also note the $365,000 study costs. One
of the barriers to implementing this is the need to buy all new
monitor/defibs that have the wireless capability. Given that most
ambulances serve multiple hospitals, it's usually difficult for a
single hospital to justify this expense.
UPDATE: And here's another wireless EMS application.
PCTS to Acquire nuMedica
Patient Care Technology Systems announced that it plans to acquire the paper charting
division of nuMedica Inc. nuMedica markets formED, an emergency
department documentation system featuring 100 compliant or
procedure-specific charting templates. The templates use a consistent
layout and can be customized to individual emergency department
requirements.
Patient Care Technology Systems, develops and sells the AmeliorED
emergency department information system, which includes the
AmeliorEDTracker radio frequency identification-based tracking system. PCTS acquired the RFID technology in December after purchasing it from
Healthcare I.T. Inc.
New RFID Market Studies
Irish market research firm Research and Markets has released a new study
on the RFID market in health care. The €1,386.00 report outlines
drivers and barriers to mass market RFID adoption. It even “uncovers
the RFID value chain and its players,” which sounds very important.
This report seems to offer more of a high level market overview, which contrasts with a recently announced study coming out from Spyglass Consulting.
Trends in RFID is scheduled to be released by Gregg Malkary of
Spyglass in August. Gregg's reports offer detailed views at the current
state of new technology adoption in hospitals, and this RFID study is
no exception. Here are some teaser findings from the study.
- HCOs are investing in RFID today better
understand the viability of the technology and to figure out how to
leverage RFID to solve real problems within their organizations - Active solutions are propelling growth in RFID in healthcare
with hospitals primarily deploying active rather than passive RFID
solutions for tracking assets and patients. With RFIDs, hospitals are
achieving a compelling ROI to help increase operational efficiency and
improve the quality of care. - Passive RFID solutions lack a compelling business case.
Hospitals are having difficulties identifying a compelling business
case to justify an investment in passive RFID for patient safety and
inventory/supply chain management solutions. - RFID solutions are not ready for large-scale, enterprise-wide deployment
due to hospital concerns about network infrastructure, network
scalability, application availability, and systems integration
complexities.
At about the same price as the Research and Markets report, the
Spyglass report is 3 times the size and appears to offer more detailed
insights into why hospitals are buying RFID (or not), and resulting
outcomes.
[Hat tip Mobile Health Data]
