It's only been 16 months since Apple's SDK release empowered developers to unleash their creativity through the iPhone platform, but already there are over 700 medically-focused applications available at the company's app store. While some still question the iPhone's place in the healthcare enterprise, Sarasota, Fla.-based Voalté is among those convinced the ubiquitous smartphone will play a key role in revolutionizing the mobile point of care. Following a successful eight-week pilot at Sarasota Memorial Hospital that is expected to be expanded to include three additional units within the hospital--and with two other hospitals awaiting installation later this month--I caught up with Voalté's original founder and vice president of innovation, Trey Lauderdale, for his take on where the future point of care is headed. Read »

In case you missed it, health reform is all about mobility. Tripling the amount of spectrum available for commercial use doesn't count for much when wireless traffic is set for a thirty-fold increase, due to the rise of online video and other bandwidth-heavy applications. Hence, the FCC's warning yesterday of a "looming spectrum crisis." As the government struggles to locate more bandwidth for mobile devices, it's interesting that FCC chairman Julius Genachowski is renewing his praise for AT&T's recent decision to let iPhone owners use Internet calling services on its wireless network. Read »

With mobile point-of-care technology set to transform the traditional relationships between patients and their health care providers, an Arlington, Texas-based developer of Emergency Department Information Systems (EDIS) has launched technology that enables physicians to customize the iPhone for Emergisoft's physician documentation in the emergency department. Given the iPhone's rising popularity in healthcare settings, at least among physicians, this roll-out could be just what the doctor ordered. Read »

Despite endless claims that Apple can never be a serious player in the enterprise space, we can't seem to escape news of the company's successful efforts to grow market share. This week, we learned that aside from the 5.2 million Apple iPhone units that were sold in the third fiscal quarter, the ubiquitous smartphone is making inroads within the enterprise. That means healthcare, too. Read »

WebMD is looking to enhance its value among physicians at the point-of-care with the launch of Medscape Mobile, a free medical application for doctors that provides physicians with Medscape's industry-leading medical information in a mobile format that can be accessed on demand with an iPhone, or an iPod touch. Read »

No reasonable person could argue that the implementation of health IT will help define any meaningful restoration of the healthcare system. Despite talk of hospital cuts and delays to health IT projects, here on the mobile technology front, we’re confident the role IT plays in health reform has taken root as a non-negotiable element of change. Increasingly, mobile point of care (MPOC) technologies are proving their potential and value to a system that is practiced in the art of doing more with less. Since the system’s need to stay focused on cost reductions and efficiency gains will remain a constant, regardless of how much federal funding comes its way, the smart money says MPOC is the place to be in HIT. Read »

mHealth Initiative, Inc. (mHI), which arrives as the natural successor to the Mobile Healthcare Alliance (MoHCA), recently unveiled its comprehensive plan for cost control and improved healthcare through mobile device-based information technology. The Boston-based not-for-profit organization envisions the development of a wide range of healthcare applications on cell phones and other mobile devices and cites them as the future conduit of interoperability for essential health information Read »

Even as mobile phone manufacturers complained of slumping 2008 sales due to the weakened global economy, sales of higher priced smartphones rose steadily throughout 2008, according to Nokia, RIM, Sony Ericsson and Apple. A new report from Dublin, Ireland-based Research and Markets indicates that vendors and industry analysts alike are now convinced that, although the mobile device market will record negative growth overall in 2009, the downward shift will be softened by strong smartphone sales. Healthcare, of course, is a key channel for these sales. Read »

A while back, I wrote about the Apple iPhone’s potential place in healthcare as the smartphone of choice, provided the innovative hardware developer makes a few key tweaks with physicians in mind. That column sparked a flurry of e-mails from Blackberry devotees, some of whom raised great counterpoints regarding the iPhone’s limitations in healthcare settings. So far, Apple hasn’t made any efforts to target healthcare specifically and, since that column was written, Research In Motion has unveiled the Blackberry Storm, an impressive touch-screen device that will likely knock the iPhone 3G out of the running when released later this year—at least as far as healthcare settings are concerned. Read »

The competitive landscape for vendors in the mobile healthcare IT space of late has been punctuated by a series of partnership efforts aimed less at reinventing the wheel than consolidating and streamlining existing technologies, with an eye toward delivering real-world functionalities to an overburdened U.S. healthcare system committed to realigning itself with the relentless demands placed upon it. Read »