More Thoughts on the GE Acquisition of IDX
I just came across a great post by Matthew Holt at The Healthcare Blog on the GE IDX acquisition:
FDA-regulated imaging device guys (GE, Siemens, Philips, Toshiba) about
how this IT stuff is playing out. They know that their hospital clients
are slowly integrating the IT and Med Tech side of their houses, and
they face the fear that if they can't supply both ends of the chain,
then they may lose business on their more profitable med tech products
to a rival (i.e. Siemens) that can cut the customer a deal on the other
end. But there is not really a good HIT candidate to buy, so maybe a
mere $1.4bn on a not-so-good one is enough for now.
What's really going on indeed. As Matt points out in his post, single
vendor solutions cobbled together from numerous acquisitions tend to
really deliver only one benefit, one number to call when you've got a
problem. When all your eggs are in one basket, trying to get leverage
with that one vendor can be difficult. Okay, I admit that I'm a “best
of breed” guy – since the 1980s when I worked for Trinity Computing
Systems. As I noted in an earlier post,
with the convergence of IT and medical devices at one end, and EMRs and
RHIOs at the other, the potential for a single vendor solution that's
more than lipstick on a pig is slim to none. Which raises more
interesting questions for the vendors that Matt mentions that it does
for their smaller competitors.
Oh, and Cerner – I wouldn't be surprised if they bought a medical device vendor. I can easily think of a few interesting candidates.
InnerWireless Announces RF Location System
InnerWireless has announced the RFID solution that was hinted at a few months ago
(press release). Two things surprise me about this announcement. Rather
than supporting third party RFID solutions on their distributed antenna system,
it appears that InnerWireless will be providing their own turnkey indoor positioning system (IPS).
infrastructure is as easy to install as a home’s smoke detector. A two-person team can install and make fully
operational an InnerWireless location system within one eight-hour-shift per
hospital department. [T]he InnerWireless location system scales seamlessly without major cost
breakpoints, enabling a hospital to install the system and add tags when, where,
and how it wants.
The other surprise is their choice of IEEE 802.15.4 for implementing their RFID solution.
communications standard, thus avoiding the IP address proliferation that
piggybacking on the hospitals’ existing 802.11 wireless data networks would
cause.
[B]y using 802.15.4 the InnerWireless location system uses a reliable, low-power
standard to provide untethered RF infrastructure, and tags with healthcare
optimized functions, form factors, and long battery life all at low cost.
“Many vendors are developing proprietary,
closed-standard location systems that remain expensive and are inflexible. Alternatively, others propose tracking
thousands of tags via the hospital’s 802.11 network, which will unnecessarily
overburden a network that already shoulders a heavy load for hospitals,”
Westgarth [Alastair B. Westgarth, senior vice president
of product line management] said. “The open 802.15.4
standard seamlessly coexists with the hospital’s 802.11 networks. It provides a reliable, easy to deploy, and
high-assurance location system that today’s hospitals want and need. The InnerWireless location system supports
our mission of helping hospitals develop their own 21st century
wireless ecosystem.”
The choice of 802.14.5 seems to run against an apparent market trend to Wi-Fi-based RFID systems (like PanGo and Ekahau).
Certainly the size and cost of Wi-Fi tags is big, and battery life is
short (at least for now) – good reasons to adopt an alternative to Wi-Fi. Here's some more
on 802.15.4 from IT Architect magazine:
Bluetooth, but it can be incorporated into chips that consume little
power and cost only a few dollars each. Like Bluetooth, 802.15.4 uses
frequency-hopping, a radio technique that lowers data rates, but is
more resistant to interference than the radios used by Wi-Fi.
The real secret sauce in all this is that InnerWireless has been
able to implement RFID on their distributed antenna system. That's the
big news. It's early on and many details remain to be revealed. Stay
tuned.
Medtronic Announces Wireless Handheld Therapy Manager
Medtronic's SynchroMed programmable infusion system now has a patient-controlled option. The new Personal Therapy Manager allows patients to self administer pre-prescribed pain medication during episodes of increased pain (press release).
There is no data that I can find describing battery life or the wireless
radio link between the implantable pump and controller. Surprisingly, a
component diagram of the pump doesn't even call out the radio (you can
see the diagram here). Perhaps they're using MICS, the medical implant communications service (more here and here).
New Study Shows ED Information System Improves Efficiency and Communications
A group of researchers at Vanderbilt University published this study (full text $30) on the impact an electronic whiteboard had on ED operations:
efficiency of work and communication in the ED. IT solutions may have
great utility in improving provider situational awareness and
distributing workload among ED providers. The results also demonstrate
that IT solutions alone will not solve all problems in the ED. IT
solutions will probably be most effective in improving efficiency and
safety outcomes when paired with human-based interventions, such as
crew resource management. Future studies must investigate team
interaction, workload and situational awareness, and the association of
these factors to patient and provider outcomes.
HealthAlliance Hospital Installs Innerwireless
HealthAlliance Hospital of Leominster, MA, is installing an InnerWireless
distributed antenna system. They're looking to bring an enterprise
solution to manage coverage for Wi-Fi data, patient monitoring, two-way
radio, and mobile phone applications. Applications include nurse call,
CPOE, and paging. HealthAlliance will also provide mobile phone access
for patients and visitors.
[Hat tip: Mobile Health Data]
