EHR software market to exceed $6 billion

Markets and Markets reported the electronic health record (EHR) software market is poised to exceed $6 billion by 2015. In addition to government initiatives toward development of EHR, they also attribute the rising demand for healthcare cost containment and the need to improve the quality of healthcare services are driving the growth rate in this market. This is a huge jump as the EHR market was only about a $2 billion industry in 2009.

Not so surprising, they also noted that web-based EMR solutions or ASP models are gaining popularity with small-sized healthcare practices and physician offices. The popularity of web-based and ASP EHR solutions for smaller providers will force many smaller providers to upgrade their IT infrastructure, i.e. broadband access, hardware, LAN/WAN, software platform, etc. Therefore, IT opportunities should trickle down to smaller IT integrators and consultants.

A Week in Review, June 20

HITECH Act moves healthcare IT industry forward

[MedCity News] As I travel the world speaking about the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, I’m often asked to present objective evidence that it is making a difference. Read full story.


Consumer confidence about health data safety is key to EHR adoption

[Government Health IT] As the healthcare system becomes more connected, it will increasingly become a breeding ground for risk to individual privacy, confidential information, data integrity and service availability, according to health IT security experts. Read full story.


Are Health Insurers Prepared for Healthcare Reform?

[Insurance & Technology] Countless papers have been written about the impact of healthcare reform on the insurance industry, but few look at these changes from the perspective of how these mandates will impact healthcare payers -- particularly, technology, people and processes. In the interest of bridging that gap, let's take a look some of the challenges health insurers face, and some solutions they might consider. Read full story.

Whimsical Friday: Bicycle Computers

[Whimsical Friday is a light-hearted note on any technology that impacts our lives in some form or fashion.]

The past few weeks I've been looking to upgrade my bike game, trying to find a fun activity to stay active, healthier, and have a better quality of life (well, that's what the cycling brochure said). In the past when I needed, and/or wanted, a new bike I would go to the nearest Walmart and purchase whatever bike that was on sale. Since I really wanted to do more than cruise the neighborhood I decided I would get a bike from my LBS (local bike shop).

Sticker shock aside, I was amazed at all the gadgets that were available for such a simplistic activity, gone are the days when you just buy a bike and a box of patches to repair the inner tube that would eventually blowout. The LBS had CO2, wedge packs, skinny seats, wide seats, platform pedals, clip pedals, front suspension, rear suspension, seatpost suspension, computers, yes computers and not to mention a whole line of clothing apparel. So much for my cutoff jeans and vintage University of Florida Gator tee shirt from 1984.

Since I’m a computer kind of guy, I decided to pushed the salesperson on the computer gadget to find out exactly what it did. "Does it calculate the wind resistance and the friction between the road and tires to adjust the tension in the crankset automatically? Or is it constantly monitoring the pressure in my tires to let me know when one of the tires is below the required PSI levels?" The salesperson replied, "No. It tells you your current speed, trip distance, and second-trip distance. And it’s all touch-screen." "What? A speedometer?" "Yes." "Why didn’t you just say that? Geez!"

I’m all for technology advancement, but just because a few LED’s, IC's, and a digital display were put into a speedometer, it’s still a speedometer. I suspect the name change was driven by dollars and cents, you can probably charge more by calling it a "computer" versus a speedometer. By the way, there’s an app for that!

So I jumped in my computer, I meant my car, and drove home without buying the bike. I’ll checkout Walmart this weekend to see what they have on sale.

Citrix Virtualization for the iPad

In my past few blog posts, I’ve discussed the rapid penetration of iPad’s by health care providers. Virtualization is another reason why iPad’s are being readily adopted in the clinical setting.

Citrix’s Receiver application is a free app available for the iPad which allows users to access their virtualized Windows applications. In addition, it let users access and view both Adobe Flash-and Microsoft Silverlight-based Web sites, which isn’t allowed through Apple’s Safari. With Citrix Receiver, the iPad can provide most of the functionality of a desktop, including an on screen keyboard.

Nick Volosin, ISS director of technical Kaweah Delta Health District in Visalia, CA stated “It [iPad] gets the physicians in the patient rooms more, if the physician is in the room charting-versus at the document desk—the patient feels that they’re present. The patient can ask questions. They don’t have to push the nurse call button as much.”

If your organization has Citrix servers already install, it would be prudent to do due diligence on allowing connectivity via their Receiver app for the iPad. If your organization doesn’t have Citrix but considering it, enumerate this feature as a pro for installing Citrix.

A Week in Review, June 13

Study: EHR, paper workarounds may lead to efficiencies

[CMIO] Workarounds identified during the outpatient consultation management process, first studied two years ago, continue to challenge EHR-based ambulatory consultation systems, according a study in the July 2011 issue of the International Journal of Medical Informatics. Read full story.

Small Practices, Individuals Practitioners Struggle More to Overcome EHR Costs

[Becker’s Hospital Review] Solo physicians and small physician practices find it harder to remain financially viable as they work to choose, implement and learn to use electronic health records, according to a Government Health IT news report. Read full story.


Patient involvement is critical to success of Meaningful Use program

[Healthcare IT News] One of the major purposes of the federal program for the Meaningful Use of electronic health records (EHRs) is to produce improved clinical outcomes for patients. Providing patients access to their personal health information and having that information available to their families, caregivers and healthcare providers anywhere at any time is another core requirement of the Meaningful Use program. Read full story.

Whimsical Friday: No More iPhone Activation

[Whimsical Friday is a light-hearted note on any technology that impacts our lives in some form or fashion.]

The Zeus of Apple, Steve Jobs, made three major software-based announcements this week at the 2011 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), OS X Lion, iOS 5, and iCloud.

iOS 5 is the latest upgrade of Apple’s operating system for its mobile devices, iPhone, Touch, iPad, and Apple TV. Whereas OS X Lion is the latest operating system upgrade for its Macintosh desktop and laptop computers. iCloud is their cloud service offering to store music, photos, apps, calendars, and documents automatically and wirelessly push the stored content to all of your devices. There are too many features and enhancements involved in this announcement for me to discuss here, in addition you can find better sources on the Internet that discuss this announcement in greater details than I ever could.

The one feature that stood out as having a significant impact for consumers is computer-free iOS device setup and updating. Jeremy Horwitz of iLounge described it the best “as the single most important change in iOS 5—and the one that will impact not just existing iOS users, but the next generation of new Apple customers, too: you won’t need a computer any more to activate and start using your iOS device. The required “Connect to iTunes” activation step has always been a small hassle for some users and a major roadblock for others, particularly people who don’t own desktop or laptop computers (yes, they exist!) but want to enjoy the benefits of an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. These users have either had to find friends or family to lean on for initial activation, backups and/or software updates; some people haven’t purchased Apple’s digital media devices solely because they’ve been tethered to computers.”

Just in the past couple of years, I can think of three people that have used my computer to activate their Touch and/or iPhone. I’m finally free of being iPhone activation central!

iPad, Embraced By Health Care Providers

In one of my previous blog posts, Rapid Integration, I discussed the rapid adoption rate of tablet computers, iPads in particular, by physicians. One of my blog readers asked what were my thoughts on why the iPad was readily embraced by physicians?

Actually, healthcare providers have been using the iPhone for several years now for everything from voice recording to clinical data entry via the mass selection of apps that are available for this platform. So the rapid adoption rate of iPad by physicians really came as no surprise. However, I think there are a couple of characteristics that made the iPad even more attractive to health care providers.

First the price, for a few hundred bucks you can have the processing power of a desktop computer in your hands and/or lab jacket at a fraction of the weight and size. Secondly the apps, basically the iPad can run all of the apps available on the iPhone, and it can be used to enter data directly into EHR and CPOE systems. Thirdly the size, the iPad is about the same size as patient charts so carrying around an iPad is not awkward. Also the larger screen on the iPad makes it easier to obtain and enter information, and share this info with the patient.

Now if Jobs (Apple’s CEO) and Narayen (Adobe’s CEO) could settle their differences so the iPad can run Adobe’s Flash, this would open the iPad to many more applications.

A Week in Review, June 6

IBM Watson Beaten In Medical Diagnostics Race

[InformationWeek Healthcare] Sherlock Holmes would be proud of IBM's Watson computer. No longer the bumbling sidekick portrayed by Arthur Conan Doyle, the supercomputer has managed to master natural language skills, defeat Jeopardy contestants, and wow medical school professors with its potential to diagnose esoteric diseases. I suspect it would even make the late IBM President Thomas J. Watson, for whom the computer is named, proud. Read full story here.

Health Care Cloud Offers Some Risk, Endless Possibilities

[SearchHealthIT.com] Health care information technology, in many ways, trails other vertical markets. Contract attorney Diana McKenzie of HunterMaclean in Savannah, Ga. put it this way: When she first started practicing health IT law more than two decades ago, she found health care about eight years behind finance. Read full story here.

Verizon Enhances Security Programs For Healthcare Organizations

[InformationWeek Healthcare] Verizon has added new capabilities to two of its security programs, capabilities that should help health delivery organization strengthen security across their health systems and assess the security practices of partners they do business with. Read full story here.

Whimsical Friday: YouTube, Public Access Channel

[Whimsical Friday is a light-hearted note on any technology that impacts our lives in some form or fashion.]

As I familiarized myself with my latest toy, Verizon Fios television, I wondered was Public Access television (channels set aside for free by cable companies for use by the general public) still around and was it still a viable option for fledging artists, personalities, and technicians? Honestly, after fumbling around with Verizon’s glitzy television guide, and sifting through 300+ channels, I couldn’t tell which channels were public access versus the commercial ones, heck I had a hard time just trying to find TBS HD channel for the NBA playoffs.

Anyway, as I continue to think about Public Access television, I rationalized that YouTube is public access television. To get a show on YouTube all that is needed is a camera and means to upload your video, i.e. a cell phone purchased within the last 2-3 years with a camera would probably suffice. You can’t get more public access than that, right? Unlike cable’s Public Access television whereas most artists/personalities hope to get discovered to potentially cash in on their talents, with YouTube not only is the potential there to cash in if you get discovered but if one of your videos goes viral you cash in immediately.

I’ve taught myself several new skills by watching YouTube, i.e. how to apply an Invisible Shield to my iPod Touch, how to stain concrete, just to name a few. I've also watched some very entertaining videos of original content on YouTube at my leisure. Actually, Public Access television is still around, hopefully any person or persons still broadcasting their program on Public Access television are simultaneously posting their show on the other public access channel, YouTube. For the record, I've never self-taught myself anything from watching Public Access television.

IT Infrastructure for Telehealth

As baby-boomers continue to age, the demand on health services is set to double in the next 10 years. It’s not practical to believe the number of doctors and nurses, hospitals, and other healthcare providers will double also during this time, therefore, the industry will leverage technology to address these growing needs. Telephone and internet consultations will become increasingly more important as a method of providing and receiving healthcare advice.

Technology will be leveraged to provide care beyond the walls of hospitals and doctor’s offices, a routine trip to a doctor’s office could be replaced by a video, telephone, or even an internet consultation. Thereby free up time for the physician to spend with patients whose conditions require their full attention. In addition, healthcare providers will also increasingly need information systems to support non-collocated collaboration between clinicians.

The efficacy of telehealth requires the IT infrastructure to support this emerging remote physician-patient interaction; the infrastructure must connect and consolidate various imagining and clinical databases; and IT organizations must continually evaluate if and when SaaS and cloud computing is appropriate for their organization.