healthcare - page 2

Majority Of Doctors Will Use iPads On The Job By 2013

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Doctor-Ipad
Doctors' iPad use growing faster than expected

The iPad’s design and capabilities have always made it intriguing option for doctors and other healthcare providers. Shortly after Apple launched the iPad two years ago, technophile doctors began bringing them into their offices and a number of hospitals began launching pilot programs centered around it.

That initial burst of interest and enthusiasm hasn’t slowed in the slightest according to a new report from Manhattan Research. In fact, iPad use by U.S. doctors has nearly doubled in the past year and adoption is set to continue at a meteoric rate over the next twelve months.

U.S. Department Of Veterans Affairs Cancels Long Term Contract With Microsoft

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The VA cancels Microsoft contract, which could mean widespread use of iPhone to follow
The VA cancels Microsoft contract, which could mean widespread use of iOS to follow

While many federal agencies have been defecting from RIM’s BlackBerry to iOS devices, the Department of Veterans Affairs seems poised to make a much more dramatic transition. The agency recently canceled its participation in Microsoft’s Software Assurance program. While the move isn’t likely to mean the VA is replacing all of its PCs with Macs, it may signal a significant transition to non-Microsoft mobile devices like the iPad.

Are iPads And iPhones Too Distracting For Doctors?

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iPads offer lots of advantages to doctors but they can also provide lots of distractions
iPads offer lots of advantages to doctors but they can also provide lots of distractions

Since the day the original iPad was announced more than two years ago, there’s been a constant discussion about its use in healthcare. At face value, the iPad offers a lot of tools to doctors and other healthcare professionals like access to electronic medical records (EMRs), access to electronic prescribing systems, and access to a wealth of reference materials like medication guides. To some extent the same benefits are available from the iPhone and other smartphones.

Those seem like great additions to a doctor’s daily workflows – both in the office and while on rounds at hospitals. Those great healthcare features don’t live in a vacuum, however. They live on mobile devices that also allow their owners to check-in on social networks, send and receive texts and emails, play games, and do all manner of personal tasks. That has some doctors and hospitals concerned that iPad, iPhones, and other mobile devices could actually be putting patients in harm’s way.

Restrictive Fed Guidelines Could Keep The iPad Out Of Doctor’s Hands

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Will a new era of healthcare privacy enforcement keep the iPad out of healthcare?
Will a new era of healthcare privacy enforcement keep the iPad out of healthcare?

The costs of not complying with HIPAA (the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), which includes self-reporting of data breaches, can be steep. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee recently finalized a settlement with the Department of Health and Human Services for $1.5 million for a recent breach (on top of a $17 million price tag for the investigation and remediation actions). HHS seems to be making a a show of high profile enforcement as a way to encourage better compliance among smaller organizations, including hospitals and individual medical practices.

This raises the question of whether or not using the iPad in healthcare increases the risk of privacy violations. If so, will a show of force on the part of HHS dampen the enthusiasm for the iPad in healthcare?

If You Use The New iPad’s Dictation Feature For Work, You Could Be Breaking The Law

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Enabling dictation on the iPad means sending your voice and personal data to Apple
Enabling dictation on the iPad means sending your voice and personal data to Apple

One of the feature on the new iPad is its dictation capabilities, a feature also available on the iPhone 4S (which also boasts Apple’s Siri virtual assistant feature). There are quite a few ways that high quality dictation and other speech to text capabilities could useful to professionals in many fields.

The problem is that in order to get that high quality dictation functionality, the new iPad and the iPhone 4S rely on Apple’s servers to do much of the work in turning your speech into text. More importantly, it isn’t just snippets of voice recordings that get sent to Apple. Personal data from your iPad or iPhone 4S gets uploaded as well and much of it remains associated with you and your device. That’s a general concern for most of us, but for professionals in regulated industries like healthcare or fields that require confidentiality like finance and legal professions, it becomes a critical privacy concern and may even break the law.

iPad Ranks As First Choice For Doctors But IT Still Nervous About Privacy Issues

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Healthcare was one of the first fields to adopt the iPad after it launched two years ago. As with other fields, the initial use of the iPad in healthcare came from doctors and other professionals buying their own iPads and bringing them into their practices or along with them on rounds – a move that predated most of today’s BYOD planning.

A recent study of mobile technology in healthcare clearly shows that the iPad is the number one device used by doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers with significantly greater use than Android or BlackBerry devices or even the iPhone.

Could Apple Help Cure Cancer in Corporate America?

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Apple CEO Tim Cook has been invited to participate in a roundtable discussion at the National Comprehensive Cancer Network’s (NCCN) annual conference on clinical practice guidelines and quality cancer care. The topic of the discussion is Cancer and Corporate America: Business As Usual. At the moment it isn’t clear if Cook will attend (NCCN lists both speakers that have confirmed their attendance as well as those that have not).

The invitation raises some questions about why the organization chose to invite Cook. One obvious answer centers around the role that Cook played in managing Apple while Steve Jobs was fighting the pancreatic cancer that eventually led to his death last year. While that is certainly plausible, there could be other reasons behind NCCN’s invitation.

Health care iPhone App Helps You Get Info, Fast

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iTriage is an app for the iPhone and iPod touch that helps US users find local healthcare information on the road.

Developed by two emergency room doctors, it offers a national directory of emergency departments, urgent care facilities, retail clinics and pharmacies. Drilling down, the info also includes descriptions of capabilities and areas of specialization, web site links, opening hours and contact information. Quality reports on hospitals and physicians can be downloaded, too.

The docs saw a lot of patients making uninformed snap decisions, so they formed partnerships with leading health care information, service and technology companies to offer additional services,  including companies that can provide iTriage users with everything from quality and safety ratings and patient recommendations to 24-7 phone consultations with board certified physicians and assistance in negotiating medical bills.

Reviewers — including an ER doc and closet programmer — suggest  filtering to wade through all the info but otherwise like the app.

Available for $.99 on iTunes.