Health Data That Travels

By Bob Francis

oday's new-fangled notebooks are being used to update an old-fashioned practice: doctor's house calls.

Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. in Nashville, Tenn., is testing a package of mobile computer and communications technology to transmit video and images to remote caregivers. This "telemedicine" technology is being supplied by HealthCare Vision Inc. in Fort Worth, Texas. It uses standard mobile components, including regular telephone lines.

During a recent test of the system, a dermatologist was able to treat several workers who developed a skin rash while working on an offshore oil rig. The oil rig was able to continue operation, and there was no need to move the workers to a hospital.

Because standard file systems are used, data collected can be tied to the hospital's billing systems as well as to patients' files, notes Anne Schmidt, senior VP for technology at Columbia/HCA. That makes the system fit easily into an overall computing environment, not just for use as a standalone device, she adds. Once a file is created, the images are maintained in a central repository, where the data can be called up later for reference or retransmission.

HealthCare Vision's system uses a high-powered Toshiba notebook computer and palm-sized video camera to transmit images back to a reviewing physician. What attracted HealthCare Vision was use of standard components-which keeps the cost to about $12,500. "We've been able to put together a package like this for some time, but always using higher-cost and proprietary components," says Deborah Jenkins, president of HealthCare Vision. "This was t he first time we were able to put this all together using standard components, bringing the cost down and making it much easier to use."

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Since ease-of-use was so important to Columbia/HCA, HealthCare Vision added a speech-recognition component from Verbex Voice Systems Inc. in Edison, N.J., along with imaging tools from various vendors to improve the graphics.

The technology may find users outside the medical field, as well. Jenkins is soon to travel to an offshore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico to test the equipment using satellite communications. There, the applications may be employed for another kind of diagnosis. "They may also put the system to use for structural problems on the rig," Jenkins says.

Return to: " Notebooks: Take On The Enterprise ."

See related stories: " Hints For Going Mobile " or " Vendors Make Chips To Go ."

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