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Cellular advances tighten mHealth securityby John Farrell
Mobile technology adds value to healthcare, but as the industry's adoption of applications that improve patient recovery and render clinical services more effective grows, we need to consider whether advances in technology pose a security threat, since information transmitted across a network should be accessible only to authorized users.
Recent Posts
Trade group stumps for mobile healthcare
The wireless industry's trade association is firing up its mHealth campaign to make better known the potential of mobile devices to improve the nation's health care system. Last week, CTIA hosted a policy forum featuring medical experts and government officials, who touted the promise of mobile health applications to drive down costs and to improve the quality of care. The forum took place as the Department of Health and Human Services struggles to define the "meaningful use" criterion attached to the $19 billion Congress appropriated for health IT initiatives in the so-called economic stimulus package. Read More
Date: Jul 01, 2009
Home monitoring system to link caregivers via mobile devices
The advantages of remote patient monitoring continue to drive innovations at the mobile point of care. The latest evidence comes from the University of Houston, where a team of researchers is designing an in-home health-monitoring system that will notify caregivers, via smartphones or PDAs, if their patients need attention. Read More
Date: Jun 30, 2009
Handheld POC system to gain lab connectivity
The U.S. point-of-care testing distribution subsidiary of Quest Diagnostics--HemoCue, Inc.--has struck a deal with Medical Automation Systems (MAS) for the development of a RALS-Plus module for the HemoCue 201 DM analyzer whole blood systems for hemoglobin and glucose point-of-care measurement. The interface promises to allow users of the analyzers to automatically manage, report and electronically transfer patient hemoglobin and glucose data to the RALS-Plus database and to a hospital's laboratory information system. Read More
Date: Jun 29, 2009
Virtual desktops offer cheap, easy IT option for hospitals
With no hard drives or CD-ROM drives to break down, thin clients carry one-quarter of the capital expense of a full-scale PC. Plus, if for some reason a user's desktop stalls, the entire troubleshooting process consists of rebooting it off the central server. No wonder hospitals increasingly are turning to end-user virtualization to provide doctors and nurses with desktops that will follow them on their rounds. Read More
Date: Jun 26, 2009
The wireless industry's trade association is firing up its mHealth campaign to make better known the potential of mobile devices to improve the nation's health care system. Last week, CTIA hosted a policy forum featuring medical experts and government officials, who touted the promise of mobile health applications to drive down costs and to improve the quality of care. The forum took place as the Department of Health and Human Services struggles to define the "meaningful use" criterion attached to the $19 billion Congress appropriated for health IT initiatives in the so-called economic stimulus package. Read More
Date: Jul 01, 2009
Home monitoring system to link caregivers via mobile devices
The advantages of remote patient monitoring continue to drive innovations at the mobile point of care. The latest evidence comes from the University of Houston, where a team of researchers is designing an in-home health-monitoring system that will notify caregivers, via smartphones or PDAs, if their patients need attention. Read More
Date: Jun 30, 2009
Handheld POC system to gain lab connectivity
The U.S. point-of-care testing distribution subsidiary of Quest Diagnostics--HemoCue, Inc.--has struck a deal with Medical Automation Systems (MAS) for the development of a RALS-Plus module for the HemoCue 201 DM analyzer whole blood systems for hemoglobin and glucose point-of-care measurement. The interface promises to allow users of the analyzers to automatically manage, report and electronically transfer patient hemoglobin and glucose data to the RALS-Plus database and to a hospital's laboratory information system. Read More
Date: Jun 29, 2009
Virtual desktops offer cheap, easy IT option for hospitals
With no hard drives or CD-ROM drives to break down, thin clients carry one-quarter of the capital expense of a full-scale PC. Plus, if for some reason a user's desktop stalls, the entire troubleshooting process consists of rebooting it off the central server. No wonder hospitals increasingly are turning to end-user virtualization to provide doctors and nurses with desktops that will follow them on their rounds. Read More
Date: Jun 26, 2009
Recent Comments
Posted by tim On May 29, 2009
John, I hate to throw cold water on this, but there are number of barriers to adoption in health care for a rumored Apple tablet. The first barrier to adoption includes the basic requirements for any computing device at the point of care. The first requirement is a 12 hour battery life so you can use the device throughout a full shift. Phones seem to be the only device category to deliver on this so far. The point of care can get messy, so devices need to be water resistant to prevent the ingress of patient fluids (I'll let you use your imagination here). Similarly, or perhaps after the fact, the device must be able to be liberally wiped down with hospital-grade disinfectants. This requires the device be made out of materials that are resistant to the deleterious effects of these disinfectants (e.g., they tend to make plastics brittle and break) and the device must again be water resistant so liquid disinfectants don't seep into devices and cause shorts. Finally, devices at the point of care have to be rugged. Computing devices need to be ruggedized to withstand repeated drops from 3 or 4 feet onto linoleum covered concrete. The above covers the basic "health care hurdle" for an Apple tablet -- none of which the device is likely to provide. Current tablets based on the Intel C5 spec meet more of the requirements than ever before, but lack sufficient battery power and are too big and heavy to use as tablets. There are currently two use models at the point of care, 1) a clinician carried device for alarms, alerts, workflow automation and communications, and 2) a portable computer with full size display and keyboard -- typically a computer on wheels (COWs) used for charting and other applications that deman a full screen user interface. This segmentation is driven by workflow and the current limitations of technology. Popular clinician carried devices include wireless VoIP phones, smart phones and PDAs. Because current tablets miss the mark, they're deployed on COWs, which sort of obviates their "tablet" advantages. A while back an interesting tablet was announced from Emano Tec. Like the rumored Apple tablet, this ruggedized device has a ~7" diagonal touch screen (and fits in a lab coat pocket), water resistance, ability to withstand hospital disinfectants, and a 12 hour battery life. This the most impressive health care tablet you've likely never heard of. The barrier faced by Emano Tec was the display size, which is too small for a PDA user interface and too big for a standard EMR user interface. Sadly, none of the EMR vendors were interested in investing the $$$ to redesign their user interface for Emano Tec's screen size. Consequently, we had a great tablet device, but there is no software to run on it. Will EMR vendors redesign their user interfaces for an Apple tablet? Maybe. But if they don't don't expect to much Apple tablet adoption beyond physician personal use. It is clear to me that Apple has a health care agenda, but I hope for their sake, they're not counting on a horizontal market tablet. Apple's iPhone 3.0 OS (with some changes to the hardware to meet health care requirements) has tremendous potential as an adjunct to medical devices and a tool for physicians, caregivers and patients alike.
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Posted by John Farrell On May 20, 2009
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Posted by ducknetservices On May 18, 2009
I agree the PHR will move faster for obvious reasons and I have an entire section on my blog related to PHRs too. I did posted about NEPSI and Quest's membership which with the way marketing is changing, the way the original vendors work may change a bit too. Good move with Quest and HealthVault. http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/05/nepsi-free-e-prescribing-solutions-with.html Barbara Duck, the Medical Quack
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John, I hate to throw cold water on this, but there are number of barriers to adoption in health care for a rumored Apple tablet. The first barrier to adoption includes the basic requirements for any computing device at the point of care. The first requirement is a 12 hour battery life so you can use the device throughout a full shift. Phones seem to be the only device category to deliver on this so far. The point of care can get messy, so devices need to be water resistant to prevent the ingress of patient fluids (I'll let you use your imagination here). Similarly, or perhaps after the fact, the device must be able to be liberally wiped down with hospital-grade disinfectants. This requires the device be made out of materials that are resistant to the deleterious effects of these disinfectants (e.g., they tend to make plastics brittle and break) and the device must again be water resistant so liquid disinfectants don't seep into devices and cause shorts. Finally, devices at the point of care have to be rugged. Computing devices need to be ruggedized to withstand repeated drops from 3 or 4 feet onto linoleum covered concrete. The above covers the basic "health care hurdle" for an Apple tablet -- none of which the device is likely to provide. Current tablets based on the Intel C5 spec meet more of the requirements than ever before, but lack sufficient battery power and are too big and heavy to use as tablets. There are currently two use models at the point of care, 1) a clinician carried device for alarms, alerts, workflow automation and communications, and 2) a portable computer with full size display and keyboard -- typically a computer on wheels (COWs) used for charting and other applications that deman a full screen user interface. This segmentation is driven by workflow and the current limitations of technology. Popular clinician carried devices include wireless VoIP phones, smart phones and PDAs. Because current tablets miss the mark, they're deployed on COWs, which sort of obviates their "tablet" advantages. A while back an interesting tablet was announced from Emano Tec. Like the rumored Apple tablet, this ruggedized device has a ~7" diagonal touch screen (and fits in a lab coat pocket), water resistance, ability to withstand hospital disinfectants, and a 12 hour battery life. This the most impressive health care tablet you've likely never heard of. The barrier faced by Emano Tec was the display size, which is too small for a PDA user interface and too big for a standard EMR user interface. Sadly, none of the EMR vendors were interested in investing the $$$ to redesign their user interface for Emano Tec's screen size. Consequently, we had a great tablet device, but there is no software to run on it. Will EMR vendors redesign their user interfaces for an Apple tablet? Maybe. But if they don't don't expect to much Apple tablet adoption beyond physician personal use. It is clear to me that Apple has a health care agenda, but I hope for their sake, they're not counting on a horizontal market tablet. Apple's iPhone 3.0 OS (with some changes to the hardware to meet health care requirements) has tremendous potential as an adjunct to medical devices and a tool for physicians, caregivers and patients alike.
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Posted by John Farrell On May 20, 2009
Hi Barbara - I think the Quest-HealthVault deal makes sense for both companies and ultimately will help speed PHR adoption. How do you see the original vendors' work changing down the road?
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Posted by ducknetservices On May 18, 2009
I agree the PHR will move faster for obvious reasons and I have an entire section on my blog related to PHRs too. I did posted about NEPSI and Quest's membership which with the way marketing is changing, the way the original vendors work may change a bit too. Good move with Quest and HealthVault. http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2009/05/nepsi-free-e-prescribing-solutions-with.html Barbara Duck, the Medical Quack
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