Barco may be the digital display maker of choice at Sundance this year--the company's digital cinema projectors have been tapped as the exclusive selection for screening the festival's 3D entry--but now that the Belgium-based manufacturer of display solutions has finalized its acquisition of FIMI, company officials are making plans for healthcare. Read »

The increasing pervasiveness of wireless technologies in healthcare environments has surpassed the point of simply networking mobile devices to help clinicians deliver more efficient care for patients, with fewer medical errors. In fact, now that medical personnel can access and record data at the point of care—as well as facilitate billing and other administrative tasks—we’re seeing that wireless applications will continue to play a major role as the healthcare market continues to grow. Read »

For anyone who’s been following health IT, it’s probably not surprising to learn the global market for hospital information systems is expected to surpass $35 billion by 2015, according to the latest forecast by San Jose, Calif.-based Global Industry Analysts, Inc. That’s good news since, here in the U.S., the spike can be attributed to an increase in acceptance of customized technology, such as laboratory information systems and radiology information systems, as well as EMRs. Read »

Among the various technologies forging the future of healthcare in America, those which monitor patients remotely have been particularly well received by health care providers tasked not only with doing more with less, but doing so on-the-fly. Toward that end, it’s encouraging to see the results of a new study from clinicians at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, which show the use of remote monitoring technology coupled with a clinician notification system can improve patient outcomes and lower costs. Read »

With the threat of government-run healthcare looming on the horizon like a bad storm rising, the prospects for telehealth have never looked so good. As Daschle and his gang move to make face-to-face visits and “redundant, unnecessary tests”—as determined by bureaucrats—things of the past, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration is ponying up $3.4 million in the form of 14 new telehealth grants. Read »

The drive to slash healthcare costs has spurred considerable innovation among patient monitoring companies. Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen a flood of new products touting remote monitoring capabilities with enhanced connectivity features, and we’ve learned that technology powerhouse Intel is entering the healthcare fray with its first in a series of monitoring devices aimed at tracking chronic and age-related conditions. Read »

Many medical groups saw operating costs outpace their revenues in 2007, a scenario some industry insiders say falls in line with the slow uptake of IT among physicians. It makes sense when you consider that most physician organizations support the medical home model—a partnership approach with families to provide access to quality health care in a cost effective manner in the primary health care setting—which calls for the implementation of information technology as a means for lowering healthcare costs nationwide. Read »

The movement to push medical care out of hospitals and physicians offices and into the home is still in its early stages, but well underway. Right now, the most common conditions to monitor at home include irregular heartbeats, high blood pressure, diabetic glucose levels, and high lipid levels in the blood—conditions which happen to coincide with people the world over getting older, heavier and more expensive to maintain. On the upside, we possess the technology to monitor all of these conditions and a recent report from Gothenburg, Sweden-based Berg Insight AB indicates the market for wireless monitoring solutions for home medical care shows ample room for growth. Read »

The shift in U.S healthcare towards minimally and noninvasive techniques in the hemodynamic and neurological segments of the market represents a trend on the rise, according to a new report put out by Toronto-based Millennium Research Group. This trend, coupled with the ongoing drive to slash hospital costs, should generate double-digit annual market growth in these segments over the next five years. Good news for patient monitoring vendors marketing into this space, not to mention patients on the receiving end. Read »