Cell Phone UMPCs
Tatung has announced the entry of another Windows Mobile-based cell phone in a UMPC form factor – the first was the HTC Athena. Like most cell phone-based devices, the Tatung and HTC Athena should offer much better battery life than a PDA or Windows-based device.
Unfortunately the Tatung doesn't appear to have a keyboard (a nice-to-have feature with a big screen). While the HTC Athena has a key board, in looking at these photos, it would be very awkward – if not impossible to use – in a handheld fashion.
Neither device is a true Ultra Mobile Personal Computer like the OQO, or the bevy of Windows Vista-based UMPCs that are anticipated at CES next month. The lack of Windows renders these devices no easier to write code for than a PDA. Speaking of CES and OQO, it will be interest to see they have anything new to announce at CES.
Pictured right is the Tatung “UMPC”.
Official HIMSS Conference Blog
No not here. HIMSS has started a blog called HIMSSlive, for the HIMSS '07 conference. The blog, moderated by HIT blogger Shahid Shah, will provide info for both vendors and attendees. Blogging will run from now, through the conference and for some time afterwards.
Yours truly has been asked to participate, and I should have my first couple posts up in the coming days. The blog will focus on speakers and events, and how to maximize your attendance in New Orleans next year. When I think of HIMSS and New Orleans, the first thing I think of is food. Hopefully we can get some great bar and restaurant recommendations in addition to more serious topics ( we do have to eat while we're there).
So check out HIMSSlive, and be sure to share your experience and opinions (about food and other things) in the comments!
New Philips WiFi VoIP Phone
The mantle of “best nurse-carried point of care computing device” has yet to be claimed. The eventual winner will probably be either be an UMPC like the OQO or a wireless phone with a nice big display. Each platform has their own advantages, and the eventual winner in any event will be complemented by COWs (computers on wheels) for tasks requiring a real keyboard display and user interface.
On the heels of pre-release info on the OQO 02, a new Philips wireless VoIP phone has surfaced on the FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology's electronic filing web site. From Engadget's write up:
2.2-inch screen with 65,000 colors and a QCIF+ 176 x 220 display, and a
rotating 240-degree VGA cam. From what we can tell, the VP 6500 also
comes with a TV out mode, letting you connect your handset to a TV via
a component cable (although we don't know how good of a picture quality
you'll get when viewed on your sexy new flat-screen display). Further,
your calls should go through those common encryption protocols WEP, WAP
and WPA2 without a problem.
Wireless phones have the advantages of being small, long battery life, and everyone knows how to use them. What's been missing is a nice big display to show contextual data related to medical device alarms – ECG wave forms and the like. This phone has a nice big display. You can see more photos here and here (both PFD files).
The disadvantage of wireless phones is writing a client application to handle the alarm notification, task lists and other handheld applications. Wireless phones are CPU constrained, have little more than a couple function keys, and require a development effort for each phone vendor that is to be supported.
What seems to be missing from this phone is the ability to withstand repeated 3 foot drops onto linoleum covered concrete, water resistance, and the ability to stand up to harsh disinfectants – all basic acute care requirements. The photos show poor fit and finish, but then this is a pre-release product.
Oh, and the video camera is a problem too, what with HIPAA and all. I'm sure some vendor has fantasies of telemedicine and remote video consultations, but fantasies they will remain for the foreseeable future. Nurse carried alarm notification will be common practice long before caregivers are waving cameras at patients for physician consults. (Not to mention the fact that physicians won't want to use them unless they're reimbursed for the consult – I'm sure CMS will jump right on that!)
Speaking of physicians – someone asked me the other day about point of care devices for physicians. Blah! Physicians get way too much attention in the acute care market. The vast majority of physicians don't even work for hospitals and most have privileges at more than one hospital – most hospitals lack the influence (or will) to drive physician work flow changes. Exceptions are physician owned hospitals like Kaiser, Mayo, Group Health, Cleveland Clinic, the government with “yes sir!” military doctors and those that practice at the VA, and the small but growing number of hospitalists – actual employees of the hospital. The bottom line is few hospitals can drive near universal adoption of physician focused IT, witness the poor adoption of CPOE. The penetration and adoption of a common point of care device and related physician application in a hospital is likewise minuscule.
The real point of care market is the person who delivers your direct care, coordinates the care everyone provides, and (hopefully) catches the mistakes your physician makes before it's too late. That person would be your nurse. They work for the hospital, and as an employee have little choice but to use the stuff that's bought for them. These are the folks that make or break hospital bed turnover and patient flow, patient safety, outcomes and operating costs. It is their passion and commitment that will cause them to gladly adopt any new technology that will really help them do their jobs. And if you employ hospitalists at your hospital, give them a version of what the nurses have.
UPDATE: Okay, maybe I was a bit harsh on physicians and physician applications. Such applications have their place, but I still maintain there are bigger (and easier) fish to fry at the point of care.
CardioNet Arrhythmia Detector Receives 510k
CardioNet appears to be moving beyond high tech holter monitoring and into ambulatory cardiac monitoring. The new device has be ability to do arrhythmia detection in the sensor (rather than the PDA-like monitor) and transmitting alarms to CardioNet's Monitoring Center that provides 24×7 analysis of alarms and related cardiac rhythms.
The last two pages of the FDA approval document (pdf file) list 8 outpatient cardiac monitoring indications for use. The document also describes, “[d]ata from the device may be used by another device to analyze, measure or report QT interval.” This sounds like export to an ECG cart.
Pictured right is the old CardioNet device, shot at the Healthcare Unbound conference this past summer.
Boston Scientific Brags on GE EMR Integration
Last month (November) Boston Scientific announced FDA approval of LATITUDE 2.0 Patient Management software with “remote data integration capabilities.”
system to provide clinicians with direct device data integration
capability into GE's Centricity Electronic Medical Record (EMR). The
enhanced version of the LATITUDE website also provides increased
efficiencies to clinicians through streamlined system navigation,
increased alert flexibility, faster printing and fine-tuned automatic
scheduling.
Everything that generates patient data needs to integrate with an EMR, and ICDs are no exception. The fact that Boston Scientific is the first is not that big a deal; I expect their competitors to quickly follow suit. The interesting questions here revolve around how they've implemented their connectivity, especially their business processes around connectivity and the resulting costs.
Since a lot of pacemaker programmers, software and services are given away to hospitals and physicians – the classic “give away the razor to sell the blades” – the costs to develop and maintain EMR integration is a cost that comes right off the bottom line. Because EMR integration is one of those things that either works or it doesn't, there is no competitive advantage in usability or some other qualitative performance characteristic. Given how fragmented the EMR market is, and there are hundreds of EMR vendors, the ICD vendor with the most efficient and low cost connectivity strategy will be the winner here.
Pictured right is the Zoom Latitude wireless programmer.
