The Future of Healthcare Mobility by @DrJosephKim

Here's a short little video that was recorded at HIMSS13 where I had the opportunity to discuss how the future of healthcare mobile computing will evolve as hospital devices leverage enterprise operating systems and leverage cloud computing to improve clinical workflow and patient care.

Discussing mobility at the HP Healthcare Tweetup at #HIMSS13

I want to thank everyone who participated in our HP Healthcare mobility tweetup today here at HIMSS. We had a great discussion and heard how different organizations are using mobile devices in the clinical setting to improve patient care.

Also, we had the special privilege to hear from several people from Pediatric Associates, greater Seattle, WA. They were the recipients of the Greenway Innovation Awards at the Annual PrimeLEADER User Conference. With over 80 providers at seven locations, Pediatric Associates leverages the Greenway platform to eliminate multi-location challenges, improve billing performance and support patient empowerment and engagement.

With the availability of Windows 8 devices in the health care setting, we will be seeing a rise in the use of mobile devices among physicians and nurses. Windows 8 slate tablets are allowing clinicians to run fully functional enterprise-level applications on a light, thin, touch-based tablet and they can dock these devices and maintain a full level of productivity by using a large monitor, keyboard, and mouse. 

Have you given Windows 8 for a spin? Here at HIMSS, you can hold and test a wide variety of Windows 8 mobile devices ranging from slate tablets, convertible tablet PCs, and laptops.

HIMSS13 coverage is sponsored by HP. HP’s extensive portfolio of products, solutions, services and relationships can help your healthcare organization achieve quality business practices and provide quality patient care.

Discussing BYOD and BYOx here at #DellWorld

Here at Dell World 2012, there was a lively discussion about BYOD, BYOx, and mobility this morning. What's the difference between BYOD vs. BYOx? Well, the "x" in BYOx represents applications, content, and other elements that go beyond the device. In other words, enterprise applications can be available on any device through robust cloud-based platforms. So, there are overlapping themes between BYOD and BYOx, but they're not the same.

We all know that we're seeing so many mobile devices entering the workplace. Mobile operating systems like iOS and Android are becoming ubiquitous in the medical workplace. I speak with physicians and medical students all the time who want to know how they can use their personal mobile device in the healthcare setting without risking security breaches around patient privacy. They're using their personal smartphones to take photos of patient rashes. They're using their iPads for remote desktop access to their office PCs running an EHR.

Here are some interesting stats to consider:

• College grads today have grown up with the Internet throughout their entire lives. Generation Y, also known as the Millennial Generation, represent the mobile generation.
• Over $7 million of lost mobile phones are lost each day (the actual $ is probably actually bigger). What type of corporate data breach do these lost phones represent?
• Today's employees are accessing personal and corporate files on their own devices. What's the risk associated with this type of behavior when you mix personal and corporate cloud-based services? 

It's troubling that many organizations don't have mobile device policies in place today. This is especially true when you look at small medical practices, private medical offices, and even multi-specialty medical groups.  Doctors, nurses, and students are all bringing their own devices into the medical workplace. They're accessing files in the corporate cloud as well as in their personal cloud (personal content). Dell Wyse PocketCloud is an example of a personal cloud solution. The Dell Kace K3000 Mobile Management Appliance is an example of a mobile device solution that delivers robust features and capabilities. Here at Dell World, these solutions will be showcased on the exhibit floor.

Dell's approach to BYOD involves 3 key elements: 1) Define; 2) Protect; and 3) Empower while having a solid foundation that supports the evolving workforce.

Mobile PCs on wheels

Are you running around in your hospital or office with a computer in your hand all the time? Do you have wheels for your mobile computer? Or, is your tablet so light that you don't need any wheels?

The "computer on wheels" or "COW" may be ubiquitous in the hospital, but in the medical office or clinic you're more likely to find PC terminals in each patient room or physicians walking around with tablet computers or laptops. Of course, some docs prefer wheeling around a COW and going from one room to the next. This is the only way to be mobile with a large monitor + mouse/keyboard combination if you don't have them set up in every room. It's really not a bad setup, but I think it would be better if you added another monitor that actually faces the patient. After all, the medical encounter with the patient should include some type of interactive display. This allows the provider to illustrate complex concepts to the patient using multimedia and this is why tablet computers are becoming so popular as bedside education tools designed for the point-of-care.

The next time you're shopping for a mobile computer on wheels, consider adding that 2nd monitor that faces the patient.

The Mid-Sized IT Support Challenge of Mobility (BYOPC, Work-from-Home, Mobile Computing) -- and How To Solve It!

Here's an upcoming webinar focused on IT support challenges in our world of mobile computing:

The Mid-Sized IT Support Challenge of Mobility (BYOPC, Work-from-Home, Mobile Computing) -- and How To Solve It!
Tuesday, July 26, 2011 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM PDT

Delivering IT services and support for a medium-sized businesses is a constant challenge for CIOs, CTOs, and IT Managers because there’s an inherent struggle of conflicting priorities. Ultimately, the goal is to grow the business by making strategic investments in people and technology, but there are cost constraints that challenge Technology Leaders to be ‘creative with budgets’ and ‘do more with less.’ As a result, most MBs are looking at a variety of end-user compute programs that will turn CapEx to OpEx.

Mobile Technology Meets Healthcare: Risks and Remedies

Mobile Technology Meets Healthcare: Risks and Remedies
a complimentary one-hour Web seminar:
Date: Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Time: 12 p.m. Eastern / 9 a.m. Pacific
Duration: 1 Hour

The use of laptops and smart phones is big in healthcare, but the newer tablet devices, including iPads, and competing BlackBerry and Android-based tablets, are taking mobility in healthcare to a whole new and exciting level. Doctors are using them for go-anywhere EHR access and data entry, allowing them instant access to patient information. While the ease of accessing this information wherever can be appreciated, it does present new risks to Protected Health Information (PHI) and challenges the organizations responsible for safeguarding PHI to think harder about addressing important issues of increased mobility, including visual privacy – the protection of sensitive data while it is displayed on screen.

Dell Mobile Clinical Computing Significantly Improves Clinician Productivity

* Medical professionals reclaim up to three hours per week each, in study of Mobile Clinical Computing (MCC) at European hospitals
* MCC helps improve IT management and data security for hospitals
* Solution features latest virtualization and bio-metric authentication technologies with services that simplify implementation

ROUND ROCK, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Findings of Dell Mobile Clinical Computing (MCC) pilot projects at 10 European hospitals show how the right information technology can help medical professionals reclaim up to three hours a week for patient care by improving access to patient information and reducing application access time by an average of 83 percent. For the hospitals, this time savings can add up to £10,000 (approximately $15,000) in annual productivity gains for each medical professional1.

“There are real savings to be realized—in seconds, minutes and hours. And for medical professionals, that is time best spent with patients—not hunting for critical information.”

The adoption of Electronic Medical Records (EMR) is an important step in improving patient care and streamlining administrative processes and the study, commissioned by Dell and performed by Ignetica Ltd., highlights the need to simplify secure access to that information for medical professionals who use it for diagnosis and decision-making. Specifically, the study measures the time clinicians lose searching for the systems and information they need and estimates the impact of these disruptions to patient care and caregiver productivity.

Typing on a "virtual" keyboard

There are times when I wonder if our physical keyboards will get replaced by "virtual" keyboards like those found on slate tablets like the iPad.

Have you tried placing the iPad on a flat (or angled) surface so that you can type using the on-screen keyboard?  After you get used to the fact that there are no physical buttons, you'll find that typing is actually quite easy (even if your fingers aren't tiny). If you haven't tried it, go by an Apple store and play with the iPad. Try typing on its screen and see what you think. Do you think you could get used to that?

Is this the future for all mobile computing devices? Will the days of physical QWERTY keyboards be a thing of the past as smartphones, slates, and other mobile devices move away from physical keyboards? With an on-screen keyboard, you don't have to worry about moving parts or small keys that may break or fall off. You also don't need to worry about annoying clicking sounds that may bother the person sitting next to you if you're an aggressive (and fast) typist.

From netbooks to iPads - the search for the ultimate mobile computer

I find it interesting to follow mobile computing trends in the world of healthcare. I'm in San Diego and I'm attending the 2nd International mHealth Networking Conference. I'm surrounded by people who have Apple iPads. Has this become the optimal mobile device for conference attendees? Will the iPad replace netbooks? (we're already seeing a decline in netbook sales, so maybe slate computing is going to replace ultra-mobile laptops)

In the past, it seemed like every conference attendee had a netbook. Laptops were simply too heavy and bulky for most medical professionals. Now, the iPad is new, it's trendy, and it's very portable. That's probably why I see so many mHealth professionals here who are using iPads. Then again, this is an mHealth conference, so maybe the room is full of early adopters who have a passion for mobile technology.

2010 Healthcare Mobile Technology Symposium in San Antonio, Texas!

There's another event coming up later this month: 2010 Healthcare Mobile Technology Symposium in San Antonio, Texas. This event is for healthcare providers interested in discovering new solutions for mobile technology in their industry. It looks like they're going to have some great speakers at this event.

Sept 19-21, 2010
Hyatt Regency Hill Country
San Antonio, Texas

The Healthcare Symposium is an invitation-only event. However, you can get more information about this event by clicking here.

Speaker include:

Rance Poehler
President, Panasonic Solutions Company

Mark Blatt, MD
Director for Healthcare Industry Solutions, Intel - Digital Health Group

Jonathan Leviss, MD
Vice President, Chief Medical Officer, Sentillion (a Microsoft Company)
Author of "H.I.T. or Miss: Lessons Learned from Health Information Technology Implementations

David Merritt
Center for Health Transformation
Author of "Paper Kills 2.0"

VisualDx Mobile app for the iPad

Logical Images Joins mHealth Revolution

Clinical Decision Support Developer Releases VisualDx for the iPad including Free Drug Content

ROCHESTER, NY, August 16, 2010 – Logical Images, Inc., leaders in diagnostic clinical decision support and experts in dermatology and consumer skin health, has launched an mHealth initiative to deliver a series of dermatology medical mobile apps that improve diagnostic accuracy, enhance medical education, and heighten consumer skin health awareness. To kick off the mHealth product introductions, the company debuted its VisualDx Mobile app for the iPad last week that includes free access to its Drug Eruptions content.

Following a successful launch of their first medical mobile app at HIMSS10, the company is focusing significant resources on the development of mHealth apps that perform across top mobile platforms including Apple, Android, and the current leader for health professionals, RIM. VisualDx Mobile was named by iMedicalApps as one of the top 5 medical apps for the iPad in March of this year.

Is this the future of mobile computing?

Here's a great photo of an Apple iPad on a stand with a keyboard on the desk. Is this the future of mobile computing? Will we all end up using thin slate tablet computers that are held up on stands? While we're sitting on a desk, we may use the keyboard. When it's time to go, we grab the slate and we run off. No keyboard needed since we're probably going to be computing on-the-go.

Point of Care Communications for Physicians

Spyglass Consulting Group has published a report titled, "Point of Care Communications for Physicians." Here are some interesting snippets from the abstract:

Mobile communications are poised to revolutionize the way physicians can communicate with colleagues, care team members, and patients to improve collaboration, streamline productivity, and enhance patient care
and safety. With these mobile solutions, physicians can:

• communicate via voice, text messaging and e-mail,
• determine care team member availability and status,
• access hospital directory services, and
• review patient information

There are more than 650,000 physicians in the United States. Many of them are mobile professionals who are constantly on the go as they travel between their offices, clinics, exam rooms, and corridors of affiliated hospitals. They work in high-stress data intensive environments dominated by inefficient paper-based workflow processes where they have a constant need to communicate with colleagues and to access relevant patient information regardless of their physical location. As physicians are taking care of more patients with higher acuity levels, it is becoming increasingly difficult to communicate with them in a timely manner.

Point of Care Communications for Physicians presents the findings of an end-user market study focused on how physicians across the United States are rapidly adopting mobile communications at point of care to improve communications and collaboration, streamline productivity, and enhance patient care and safety.

http://www.spyglass-consulting.com

After a few days with the HP EliteBook 2740p

After using the HP EliteBook 2740p for a few days, I've come to conclude that this is a really great option for physicians and other health care professionals who want a light, but robust convertible tablet PC. I really appreciate the size and weight of the EliteBook. Although the ThinkPad X200 tablet PC is a popular choice among many professionals, I still find that the ThinkPad is too bulky and heavy (especially when you use the extended battery). The HP 2740p is refreshingly lighter and thinner. For me, the pop-out LED light found on the 2740p is a life-saving feature since I often work at night.

So, if you're looking for something that is powerful, versatile, thin, and light, then you should explore the HP EliteBook 2740p tablet PC. I prefer the keyboard on the ThinkPad over the keyboard found on the HP, but I'd rather have the weight and the size found on the 2740p. If you want something thinner and lighter, then you'll need to settle for a device like the Apple iPad.

When will mobile Internet surpass desktop Internet?

Many analysts are predicting that the majority of people will access the Internet using mobile technology instead of a desktop computer. I think we're going to see desktops go away and they're going to get replaced by notebooks and other small computers. After all, we should be doing everything we can to reduce and eliminate electronic waste or e-waste.

We'll always want large (or multiple) monitors when we're working. The mobile device will never be a substitute for a large screen. However, we're going to get more accustomed to accessing information on a small screen. Also, we're seeing a convergence of smartphones and tablets into devices like the Apple iPad.

So, what does the future look like? It definitely looks like we'll have much more mobile technology in our lives.

Can you afford a $49,246 laptop?

I received this e-mail from Intel and I thought I'd share it since it really communicates an important message:

Over 12,000 laptops are stolen every week from airports alone. In 2009, the average cost of a missing laptop was $49,246. What if one of those was from your organization? Would your patient data be safe?

Laptop computers are essential to mobile healthcare, but their mobility and convenience put organizations at heightened risk of a data breach. With increasingly stringent HIPAA regulations and stiffer penalties resulting from the HITECH Act, keeping patient data secure is a business necessity. Unauthorized access to patient data or hospital systems resulting from a stolen or lost laptop could cause severe economic and legal consequences — in 2009, the total average cost of a data breach was a sobering $6.75 million. And the rate at which customers "jump ship" after a data breach is significantly higher for healthcare organizations — even higher than for financial organizations.

Attend an upcoming Intel Webinar (co-sponsored by Frost & Sullivan) to learn these key trends and solutions:

* The challenges in protecting healthcare data
* The rules governing the protection of healthcare data and the consequences of noncompliance
* Keeping sensitive healthcare data out of the wrong hands
* Employing new technology that offers rapid lockdown and rapid recovery to keep you in compliance with healthcare data security laws

To sign up for a free webinar discussing healthcare data protection, click here.

Attend the live event and be entered to win an Intel® Anti-Theft enabled mobile device.

Do physicians prefer mobile computers or workstations? #HIMSS10

Here at HIMSS10, I heard several stories where hospitals were trying to determine what type of computing form factor they should adopt as they prepared to transition from paper orders to computerized physician order entry (CPOE). Do physicians prefer mobile computers like laptops and tablet PCs, or do they prefer workstations with large monitors?

You can't answer this question through a series of surveys. However, you could set up a "tech day" where you set up several different clinical stations that simulate the clinical workflow. Station one may have a slate tablet PC. Station two may have a workstation with a 19" monitor. Station three may have a convertible tablet attached to a docking station and large monitor. You can have physicians try each different station and rate their level of comfort at each station.

In general, you'll find that older physicians like the larger monitors. Younger physicians who train with tablet PCs and laptops will prefer mobility. How do you reconcile these differences?

Special thanks to HP for sponsoring me to attend HIMSS10 and blog about my experiences.

Tablets and mobile computers at the #HIMSS10 exhibit

If you walk through the HIMSS10 exhibit, you might feel like you're at CES instead of HIMSS. I'm seeing small computers everywhere! Convertible tablets, slate PCs, Mobile Clinical Assistants (MCAs), and even micro PCs that are really tiny. Next year, I predict that we'll see many vendors using the iPad and other new devices like the HP Slate to demo their EHRs.

I personally think that many physicians fail to recognize the value of mobile computers and pen-based input in the ambulatory setting. My prediction is that future exam rooms will be equipped with a Microsoft Surface table and a large touch-screen monitor mounted on the wall. Every doctor and nurse will use some type of mobile computer to record patient biometrics and enter data at the point of care. The addition of clinical decision support will further enhance patient care as providers apply the latest clinical data to practice true evidence-based medicine.

Special thanks to HP for sponsoring me to attend and blog here at HIMSS10.   

Gadgets and mobile computers at #HIMSS10

I'll be at HIMSS10 this week and I'm really looking forward to seeing some of the new gadgets and mobile computers that will get announced this week. Thanks again to HP for sponsoring me as a blogger and I hope to provide "meaningful" coverage as we discuss the "meaningful use" of electronic health records (EHRs).

Special thanks to HP for sponsoring me to attend and blog here at HIMSS10.

New rugged mobile computer for the healthcare industry

There's a new rugged mobile computer coming out for the healthcare industry and I plan to blog about it when it gets announced at HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) in a few weeks. Stay tuned for more details...