Physicians To Get Pocket PCs from WellPoint Network

[Ed Hansberry]

<a href="http://news.com.com/2009-1014_3-5103813.html?tag=nefd_top">http://news.com.com/2009-1014_3-5103813.html?tag=nefd_top</a><br /><br />"Health insurer WellPoint announced a $40 million program on Wednesday to equip doctors with handheld computers and PCs. The program, a partnership with Microsoft, Dell and accounting firm Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, will be offered to 19,000 physicians in WellPoint's regional network. Doctors will have the choice of a wireless handheld based on Microsoft's PocketPC software and outfitted with special software and services for electronic submission of prescription orders, or a Dell PC and printer combo to help with processing claims and using Internet resources."<br /><br />Cool. Now my doctor can just IR beam my prescription to me. :D

[PDANEWBIE]

While not to make enemies here I have to wonder how many doctors do people know that are into technology enough to use it for its intended purpose? Most doctors I know can hardly find their PC's power button and say "What is double click". (And believe me I know quite a few as I work in the health insurance industry). I know they are spending their years in school and whatnot but I think the majority of the doctors still out there were not brought up on computers and just don't want to learn new techonology.

Give this idea about 30 more years and I am sure it would catch on alot quicker.

[Kevin C. Tofel]

Understand the last post, but I think it really depends on the simplicity and usability of the software. I'm also in the healthcare industry, supporting the internal systems maturity through the quality assurance department. I know that much of our software isn't as "usable" as we might like, but there's a definite recognition of that gap.

Going forward, I think whole industries will have no choice but to embrace technology at the level the doctors will be through Wellpoint.

[bleeman]

http://news.com.com/2009-1014_3-5103813.html?tag=nefd_top

...
Cool. Now my doctor can just IR beam my prescription to me. :D

What I'm waiting for is when I can walk in and beam my information to them so I don't have to fill out any more forms!!! :)

[peterawest]

While not to make enemies here I have to wonder how many doctors do people know that are into technology enough to use it for its intended purpose?

Well, I'm inclined to think that there will be a lot that need help getting up-and-running.

Since part of my business is teaching people how to use and integrate their PPC's into their business, I'm hoping that many in VA will be getting in on the act.

http://www.allaboutwindows.com/classes.htm

[Autarch]

Physicians' familiarity with technology also varies considerably by background, by medical specialty, and by physician age. Some docs were electrical engineers before going to med school, and others were French literature or anthropology majors. My impression is that radiologists and radiation oncologists (as well as some surgical specialties) tend to be more comfortable with technology. This is likely due to people who already like gadgets being attracted to these "high-tech" fields when they choose an area of practice. Probably a less significant factor is on-the-job exposure making some physicians more comfortable with technology in general. Finally, I think younger physicians tend to be more comfortable with technology because they grew up with computers, VCRs, CD players, etc.

The Veterans Affairs medical system has done a great job pioneering the use of a comprehensive electronic medical record.
rant/
However, on the whole I'd say medicine is 10-20 years behind where it should be with integrating technology into the workplace. With very few exceptions, the medical schools, hospitals, and clinics I've seen have done a poor job (compared to the "state of the art") implementing capabilities like relational databases for patient records and research, coding and billing, encrypted wireless with PDAs, etc. Filmless radiology departments, where the images are maintained on optical disks and reviewed on workstations or PCs, have just been implemented in the last few years. Electronic prescription entry is just now appearing -- driven not by the availability of the technology, but by an imperative to reduce medical errors! A common topic in medical informatics-type publications is -- get this cutting-edge use of computers -- the best way for physicians to use email to communicate with their patients. How many decades has email been around now? This generally poor adaptation of computer technology is one of my pet peeves about the health care industry--but maybe it should be the subject for another thread.
/end rant