Another Point of Care Computing Device
Intel and Motion Computing are working together to bring to market a tablet PC that's with specific features for the health care market. Intel has done the market research (much of it at El Camino Hospital in Mountain View), feasibility and design, while Motion Computing will be the first to manufacture the new Intel specification.
In an Intel Developer Forum presentation (pdf), Intel lays out the following requirements for a point of care computing device (my comments are in brackets):
- Mobile, hands-free use
- Contamination control & waterproofing [ruggedized]
- Noise-free operation
- Full shift battery life [that means 12 hours]
- Sensor integration
- Closed loop control
- Automation, inferencing, data mining
- Information “cockpits”
This is a great list of requirements. Somehow ruggedized didn't make the list – anything that gets carried will get dropped. Besides the second bullet, 12 hour battery life remains the biggest barrier to a truly mobile point of care device. I'm surprised no one's launched a device with A123 Systems' nano-tech batteries.
Sensor integration sounds intriguing, as does closed loop control (I'm assuming alarm notification and management) – both features push the tablet into “regulated medical device” territory. The last two bullets seem to deal with software applications rather hardware, but certainly user interface capabilities must be supported in hardware.
I remember a HIMSS summer conference several years ago; the consensus was that PDAs (that were all the rage the year before) were out, and tablets were now the ideal point of care computing device. Since then, computers on wheels (COWs) have become the point of care device of choice for bedside charting and meds administration at most hospitals. Certainly, some of the computers on COWs are tablets, but most are either laptops or component PCs built into the cart.
Time will tell whether tablets will remain an option for COWs, or a point of care device on their own. Pictured right is a close up of the Intel tablet for health care.
UPDATE: Blogger and polymath Enoch Choi picked up on this post with the following comment:
Of course all of my “dirt” comes from the public domain, and never from a client engagement. Enoch's got some great observations in his blog post. He's also got a quote from someone at El Camino Hospital who was disappointed with the final product – check it out. Since Enoch's disclosing (see the end of his post) – I should disclose that I helped OQO kick off their medical advisory board, of which Enoch was a member.
Health Care Becomes RFID Growth Market
In the world of logistics, the promised pay-off for passive RFID adoption has always been item level tagging. Conveniently, the ability to do item level tagging (which is mostly driven by cost) has always been just a few years out. Well, the technology is maturing, prices are falling, and the barriers to item level tagging are falling – except now it's starting to look like buyers are leery of taking the item level tagging plung (witness this “alternative” to RFID here). Some of the intractable problems facing current passive RFID tech includes the inability to read tags on metal items, inside metal cases (or shelves, cabinets, etc.), or tags in/on or close to fluids (not to mention the problem with 10-30% reading error rates).
So, what's an RFID vendor to do? How about look for a new vertical market? This story in BusinessWeek describes the above problems and mentions health care as an RFID market that shows continued strength.
The story mentions the usual suspects for RFID adoption in health care: asset tracking, drug tracking and counterfeiting, and meds administration. Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess and CIO Dr. John Halamka are profiled in the story. Halamka describes their asset tracking application using $50 active tags and a WiFi based RTLS (real time location system). Savings at Beth Israel in reduced equipment losses were pegged at $600,000 per year.
not being hidden away is more likely to get maximum use and doesn't
need to be overstocked. Halamka estimates that the hospital will save
$1 million to $2 million this year because it doesn't need to buy extra
devices. “It's the kind of investment that pays for itself within a
year,” he says.
Much more interesting are applications that support the delivery of complex health care services like surgery or patient care in the emergency department. These types of apps can deliver reduced operating costs and increased revenue. Unfortunately this story doesn't get around to these applications.
Pictured right is Halamka reading his VeriChip sign of the beast RFID tag, apparently just after it was inserted in his upper arm.
