MedCity News is providing in-depth coverage of HIMSS2012 as part of a special series sponsored by Hyland Software.
The annual HIMSS conference is first and foremost a place where hospital chief information officers and other healthcare tech buyers can come and see everything they need in one place: from electronic health records to staff management tools to the latest in digital security. But the public showcases of HIMSS2012 felt like a consumer electronics show. Healthcare social media, apps and future tech are pushing their way in, which gives the event an even broader feel.
Meaningful use and ICD-10 quickly became the most talked-about topics around the HIMSS conference, but there were several vendors and messages that should be just as viral. There were imaginative ideas and daring assertions that will make this year in healthcare technology an interesting one to watch (that is, until HIMSS2013).
Android’s big statement. Samsung, Motorola and other supporters of Google’s Android mobile operating system spent a lot of time trying to demonstrate that they are ready to be the system of choice for hospital systems. The message: They’re sleeker than the BlackBerry and safer than the iPhone. Pay attention to that second part. A significant amount of oxygen was used outlining the new security frameworks that would make an Android phone or tablet a real alternative for health systems.
For example, Verizon, Motorola and Boxtone announced a partnership that would address the “unique security, reliability and usability requirements of the healthcare industry.”
“When an iPhone transmits an EKG, will it be secure?” asked Sheldon Herbert, senior director of global enterprise sales for Motorola. “We are offering the next level.”
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Samsung, meanwhile, touted its “SAFE” protocol — Samsung Approved for Enterprise — which it says makes devices and the Android operating system worthy of the security-conscious healthcare environment. It also touted its partnerships with the likes of Cerner, Honeywell and Intuitive Health.
Healthcare is Samsung’s most important B2B market, said Ken Daniels, senior director for strategic alliances for enterprise mobility at Samsung. The company is betting heavily on its diversity of screen sizes — from its 5.3-inch phone screens to 8.9-inch tablets — as another big selling point.
Key vendors had one message for the device makers. “A secure tablet environment that’s connected into the electronic medical records system wins,” said Justin Steinman, vice president and general manager of marketing of GE’s Clinical Business Solutions.
Turning military minds into healthcare saviors. Lockheed Martin had a kind of coming-out party at HIMSS. The military contractor you associate with warplanes has been strategically moving into healthcare: It acquired the medical evaluation service QTC Holdings in August and in December announced a partnership with Johns Hopkins to streamline the health system’s intensive care units.
At HIMSS, everyone got a look at how that’s going to happen: with a gaming-esque simulation system that can test everything from hospital staffing policies to the latest software upgrades. Its features include the ability to create simulated versions of patients to test treatment methods before applying them.
“The idea being going from virtual to real should be seamless. Think of it as a flight simulator for an ICU or for an ER or for an OR,” Robert J. Szczerba, Lockheed’s corporate director for Global Healthcare Initiatives, said of ICE STORM, which is short for “Integrated Clinical Environments/Systems, Training, Operations, Research, Methods.”
Several people in healthcare are buzzing about Lockheed’s foray into the medical industry. Reason No. 1: Lockheed’s status as the top U.S. government contractor will give it amazing leverage to compete and grow its healthcare practice. And Lockheed’s booth was showcasing electronic health records, health data sharing and healthcare social media.
A wellness healthcare social network. It will be fascinating to watch SAP as it expands its own healthcare social network to the self-insured, payers, providers and life science companies.
There are other reasons to watch SAP, too. The company has a verbal swagger as it discusses its “enterprise class mobility” and the advantage of having native mobile applications to serve health systems.
But the most compelling effort is its promise to deliver a “social infrastructure around healthcare delivery” if only because they are promising to leverage the network to get the unhealthiest and thus most expensive patients to use this service, get better and as a result noticeably cut healthcare costs. That may be the biggest challenge of all. Consider many of the most unhealthy are poorer and less educated, and many companies have seen wellness initiatives targeting this group be adopted instead by the healthiest Americans.
SAP’s social network links patients to everyone that cares for them — from family members to physicians — in an environment they compared to Google+’s circles. Boomerang family members will know if their parents did take their medication, for example. And wireless devices used at home by the patient will deliver medical readings into the patient’s social network database for a doctor to review.
SAP thinks it’s found a better way to use social networks in healthcare than anyone so far: from Mayo Clinic’s version of Facebook to the targeted medical social networks that continue to iterate across the space. Plus, it thinks that employers — offering both bonuses and penalties for wellness adoption — will drive the adoption and use of a social network.
SAP’s effort is less than one year old and the company said it will announce a major deal to leverage its own healthcare social network later this year.
(Many of you are probably still wondering what that top photo is all about. As a reward for getting to the bottom of my piece, here’s a link to the ultimate in viral videos: Charlie Bit My Finger. You’re now not only hip to viral HIMSS ideas, but the cutting edge of Internet pop culture, too.)
Hyland Software is the developer of OnBase Enterprise Content Management Solutions.
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