A more-than-likely final wrapup of HIMSS and the week’s activity relevant to our area, mainly from Mobihealthnews:
- HIMSS unplugs, embraces mobile: Sprint CEO Dan Hesse’s keynote overview of mobile opportunities, 4G, WiMAX and M2M in the transformative lead (FierceMobileHealthcare), 4G being able to send images at ‘Blu-ray quality’ and video; Allscripts considering adding Android to their EHR app already on iPhone and BlackBerry.
- Epocrates’ mobile EHR–Brian Dolan interview with Geoff Rutledge, Chief Medical Officer and EVP of Product Development and Bob Quinn, Chief Technical Officer and SVP of Engineering. Tight integration with their drug reference application, teaming with practice manager partner (to be announced), targeting solo and small group practices (versus competition) with pricing at affordable monthly rates, and how they negotiated differences in delivery between the desktop and mobile version.
- “Views at variance’ between Panasonic and Motion Computing. Panasonic announced its Toughbook C1 convertible tablet for the healthcare user which can survive a 30″ drop–a very cool triple hinged screen, multi-touch screen for stylus and finger pads along with a keyboard; Motion Computing is sticking to the tablet as a tool format and away from traditional keyboards. Many comments on the iPad, agreement it’s moving ‘beyond the keyboard’ but currently has substantial shortcomings.
- Nuvon announcing their IDM-MG 1000, a mobile and portable solution to collect and present critical biomedical device data. Their VEGA platform is designed to capture, display, and transmit real-time data at the point of care. [Nothing to do with the Vega bracelet]
- VeriWave targeting the surely beleaguered HIT exec with the Mobile Healthcare Test Suite for testing WiFi in healthcare facilities.
- Aetna finally gets ‘On-The-Go’ for smartphones and desktops on the road, a full 21 months after its announcement in Mobihealthnews. This will also include an iPhone and BlackBerry app allowing GPS location of plan physicians from the current location with turn-by-turn directions, an electronic ID card (interesting, but most offices copy said card) and more. (Android, where art thou?) Aetna is piloting an app for their commercial membership: a text-based alcohol risk assessment to determine a member’s risk for problem drinking tied into the company’s EAP (Employee Assistance Plan). Why any actual problem drinker would want this information anywhere near the hands of the employer is a puzzle, though.