ipad EMR
Dell offering deep discounts for physicians adopting electronic medical records
With all the talk of the adoption towards electronic medical records (EMR) and questions about software choices – people tend to forget the hardware needed to run such records. Dell is trying their best to create as many partnerships as possible with EMR vendors and physicians hoping to adopt EMRs. Apple has also tried to foster these relationships, but compared to Dell its efforts have been significantly weaker.
Just recently Dell teamed up with Practice Fusion, an EMR vendor for small practices famous for marketing themselves as the fastest growing free electronic health record company – and are offering deep discounts through this partnership.
The partnership with Practice Fusion is by no means the first relationship with an EMR vendor for Dell. They have over 20 partnerships with electronic health vendors, ranging from Allscripts to Athena Health. Dell even has a dedicated number and email address for those who are interested in buying hardware for electronic health records: 1-866-Dell-EMR and Dell_EMR@Dell.com.
So exactly how deep are these discounts?
Apple is actively recruiting health care providers at their retail stores
When I recently walked into my local Apple store to buy an iPad accessory, I saw a group of about 20 people huddled around a large LCD screen while an Apple employee was giving a workshop.
When I saw the LCD screen full of medical applications (picture on the left), I was shocked. Â This wasn’t your run of the mill “how to use your iPhone” workshop.
The people gathered for the workshop consisted of healthcare professionals in medicine, dentistry, and other fields. Â About a third of the group consisted of physicians.
The workshop was focused on how the iPhone and iPad can be useful for their practices and as reference tools for day to day work.
The workshop was led by an Apple employee who went through a slideshow presentation of useful medical applications, such as epocrates, iMurmur, Airstrips OB, and many of the other useful applications we’ve featured on iMedicalApps before.
How Apple’s Position on Flash Could Turn Many Medical Professionals Back to Android
Storm clouds continue to gather in the Apple-Adobe feud over Flash and recent reports suggest it could get even worse. Reports are surfacing that they Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission are in discussions over opening an inquiry into the recent changes to the iPhone OS developer license agreement. As we discussed previously, these changes basically kill Flash on the iPhone OS, thus including both the iPhone and iPad. We’ve talked previously about our excitement over the numerous emerging web-based electronic health records such as CareCloud and Practice Fusion. With news from Adobe of plans to include a “Packager for iPhone” in the latest development kit, we were definitely excited that these electronic health records would be ready to go on the iPad. But it looks like those dreams have ended.
As the folks over at PC World are quick to point out, we are right now in the “rumor” stage that an inquiry – not a full scale investigation – may occur. Even so, Apple’s legal team is certainly revving up for a fight. But, at least when it comes to medicine, this is a fight they may be better of losing.
The First Electronic Health Record Customized For The iPad Has Arrived [First Impressions]
The iPad has been out for almost a month and we now have the first electronic medical record app customized to take advantage of its features. The Dr. Chrono EMR app is the first of its kind to hit the scenes. Technically, MacPractice has already put their electronic medical record on the iPad, but you need a VNC connection, and they don’t have a customized iPad app yet.
The Dr. Chrono EMR app enables you to sync your iPad with the online practice management platform provided on the Dr. Chrono website. The electronic health record produced by Dr. Chrono is intended for smaller practices, similar to the model Epocrates is takings with it EHR. On initial impressions, the app definitely has potential, but you can tell there are kinks that need to be worked out.
California Hospital ordering iPads for healthcare use
One of the most important apps for healthcare providers might not be a medical app after all, rather a business app, called Citrix Receiver for iPad.  This app allows your to have secure access to virtual desktops, applications, and data – those of you who have accessed your hospitals electronic health record when off campus are using this type of software. Hospital systems can use the Citrix app to access their own servers and desktops, as shown in the above video, and display key information on their iPad.  The data can be accessed as long as you have a Wi-Fi or a 3G connection, allowing you to become mobile.
New iPad Demographics Suggest the Medical iPad Could Be An Easier Sell to Healthcare Providers
The iPad is a pretty cool device, as you may have gathered from our healthcare perspective comprehensive review of it. And with the iPhone OS 4.0 bringing some new features to this powerful platform, the iPad certainly has a lot of things going for it.
In particular, the enterprise and security features of the new operating system will further lower the barriers to adoption of the iPad in healthcare. We could finally have a user-friendly and practical mobile device on which to the access radiology images, enter orders, educate patients, and so on – the beginnings of a revolution in healthcare workflow.
However, whether the iPad will overcome the biggest hurdle of all – adoption by a generally late-adopting profession – remains up in the air. But at least one report suggests that this may not be that much of a hurdle after all.
Apple squashes any hopes of flash based electronic health records on the iPhone or iPad
We posted an article a few weeks ago detailing how a form of Adobe’s flash player, the ubiquitous platform used to stream videos and play games, was coming to the iPhone operating system. We were excited about this because many electronic health record (EHR) vendors developing web-based (“Saas”) EHRs, including Practice Fusion, Hello Health, and Care Cloud have relied on Adobe Flash technology for portions of the user interface. [Check out our video of Care Cloud’s EHR in action – using flash]
But with the upcoming release of the Apple iPhone Operating System 4.0, the hopes of having some semblance of flash on Apple’s mobile platforms is gone.
Dr. Felasfa Wodajo, a senior writer on this site, explained the how and why on his blog:
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While this may seem like a repeat story, there was actually a little jewel buried in the “terms of service” for developers adopting version 4 of the iPhone OS, as they discovered last week.
iPad hands on review: Fits in your white coat and is fast enough for Medical point of care use [Healthcare Perspective]
We’re giving away 15 copies of a popular iPhone medical app that has been customized for the iPad in the comments section.
The iPad has finally been released and we’ve got our hands on one so we can provide the medical community a healthcare perspective of the device. I’ve been using the iPad for the last two days, and these are the initial impressions.
Fits in your white Coat:
The iPad should fit comfortably your white coat. If you continue on to the rest of the review you’ll see pictures of the iPad easily settling into my white coat, along with my stethoscope. Granted, my white coat has been thoroughly stretched out with mini medical reference books, papers, and medical devices, but even with a fresh white coat, you shouldn’t have problems tucking away your iPad.
For the iPad to be seriously used in the medical setting, this type of convenience is key. I can’t imagine carrying it around while I juggle patient notes and other necessities.
The iPad feels heavy in your hands(1.5 pounds), but is thin, measuring half an inch in depth. The ends of the iPad are tapered, making it feel significantly thinner. The heavy feel is almost welcome and assuring, it makes the iPad feel strong – making you feel like a drop, with a case on it, wouldn’t break it. This type of build quality is expected from an Apple device.
iPad customized medical apps already in the Apple App Store
Developers for some of our favorite medical apps have been working at a fever pitch to have their apps utilize the extra functionality and screen space offered by the iPad. Just to be clear, all your iPhone medical apps will run on your iPad. But, some developers have made “iPad versions” of their medical apps. The following are some of our favorite medical apps that have done this conversion, and screenshots of how they have utilized the extra space and features afforded by the iPad.
Apple iPad set to launch – What do you, Medical Professionals, think?
The Apple iPad is set to launch, and right now, most of the early reviews of the product have been positive. The NY Times has a fantastic piece looking at the iPad from two angles – An everyday user verse a more technically inclined user, and both have differing opinions on the eventual success of the iPad.
But what about a medical professional or a medical student. From the reviews I’ve read so far, the screen is gorgeous and easy to read, further giving traction to the idea of medical e-books or radiology viewing on the iPad. We’ve also made clear that handwriting software for the iPad is a necessity if broad implementation in the medical field is a goal.
We’ll be getting our hands on an iPad soon so we can show you how some of our favorite iPhone medical apps perform on the new platform.
Until then, we’d like to hear from you. Will you be buying the iPad, why or why not? What additional features do you want to see on the iPad – and do you think it can help with medical education or enhance the patient physician relationship?
The future of mobile medical technology – From iPhone dictation software to mobile ICU monitors – Summary of HIMSS 2010 [Video]
If you’ve been following our site, you know the iMedicalApps Team was at HIMSS 2010 earlier this month, where we covered the conference in great detail.
Two of our senior writers, Dr. Wodajo, and Satish Misra, conducted interviews, wrote commentary, and captured great videos of actual medical applications in action – most of this mobile technology is yet to be released.
We rolled out posts at breakneck speed, sometimes twice a day, so we’ve compiled a “highlight reel” of the products we covered in case you missed something – from iPhone dictation software, real time ICU monitors, and soon to be released mobile electronic health records – there’s a bit for everyone.
Also, we can’t wait to see how some of these apps will look on the iPad.
