Synergy’s the word at healthcare IT’s biggest show
Synergy’s the word at healthcare IT’s biggest show
By ARTHUR GASCH
Healthcare InfoTech Contributing Editor
ATLANTA The Healthcare Information and Manage ment Systems Society (HIMSS; Oak Brook, Illinois) boasts one of the fastest-growing annual conferences in the entire healthcare sector. Attendance has soared over the past few years, surpassing 15,000 last year in Orlando.
This year’s gathering is expected to bring more than 19,000 CEOs, CIOs, CFOs, physicians, consultants and suppliers here, beginning Sunday, to learn what’s new in the healthcare IT sector and to exchange information on Year 2000 and other issues. In the words of this year’s conference theme, it’s an opportunity to "Discover the Synergy!"
As you may have deduced in perusing part 1 of our pre-HIMSS coverage in last week’s Healthcare InfoTech, there will be plenty to see and do, including more than 160 education sessions, and in excess of 600 vendors whose booths will sprawl across the cavernous exhibit halls of the World Congress Center.
The key to effectively navigating so large a conference is planning. Vendor presentations and educational sessions dominate Sunday’s calendar, with the latter including programs on "Information Technology Strategic Planning," "Nursing Informatics Practice Trends," "Long-Term Care Information Technology Review," and "A Systems Delivery Methodology for Implementing Vendor-Supplied Software Solutions," and "Clinical Systems for Non-clinical Health care Professionals."
The vendor sessions, which are free, provide an excellent preview of what is new on the exhibit floor.
There is a wealth of good information presented on Sunday. And attendees shouldn’t plan to leave early, assuming the last day means less-significant presentations. First, the annual leadership survey results are previewed that day, providing a "heads up" on the trends for the next year in healthcare information technology. Along that line, be sure to participate in the survey, which can be accessed this year on-line.
The exhibits are a show unto themselves. Each year the number increases, as the conference attracts more attendees and more vendors. Networking, both hard-wired and wireless, is a particularly hot issue.
If interested in network infrastructure, check out 3Com (Santa Clara, CA), one of the largest and most successful vendors. Another in this category worth visiting is Cabletron Systems (Merrimack, NH), offering standard-based LAN, WAN and ATM networking solutions. Through its intelligent switching and enterprise management products, Cabletron provides the foundation for a "smarter network" that seamlessly ties existing equipment together with newer products and applications. Cisco Systems (San Jose, CA) would also be worth a visit.
If interested in IEEE 802.11 wireless networking (see story, page 4), stop in at Aironet’s (Akron, OH) booth. Aironet is a division of Telzon, a well known supplier of wireless inventory control systems. Other vendors to see in this group include Proxim (Mountain View, CA), a leader in wireless LAN implementations in the healthcare market, with more than 600 installed healthcare sites and over 30 healthcare partners. Proxim has been selected as the 2.4 GHz wireless LAN technology of choice by more than 150 suppliers of mobile computing devices, hand-held PCs and terminals, and wireless solutions providers. Another supplier to check out would be RadioLan (Sunnyvale, CA), which offers a family of 10 Mbps wireless networking solutions for both laptop and desktop computers, as well as a stand-alone access point. RadioLan also offers a 10Mbps wireless point-to-point bridge, which allows two buildings to be connected wirelessly.
A niche market in wireless networking is the pager links created by Data Critical (Redmond, WA). Its StatView product transmits alarm data (including patient name, bed number, alarm condition, heart rate and ECG waveform) from a bedside patient monitor to a wireless receiver worn by the caregiver. MobileView permits transmission of patient data including the ECG waveform via cellular phone, while EventView uses the Motorola Pagewriter 2000 Platform. This system is used now by Hewlett-Packard, Spacelabs, Marquette, Siemens and Protocol Systems with their patient-worn telemetry systems. Inquire about the impact of Motorola’s (Schaumburg, IL) new bi-directional pagers on this market segment.
If one’s networking interests are mostly imaging and PACS, stop by Access Radiology (Lexington, MA), which recently acquired EMED (Buffalo, NY), making it the largest independent distributor of electronic radiology imaging solutions. Access provides enterprise-wide mini-PACS, web-based image distribution, ER/ICU/CCU image distribution; long term storage; RIS interfaces and multi-facility and on-call teleradiology systems.
With all the fuss about Y2K and its related hardware and software upgrades, finding a mobile computer platform on which to run the new, Windows healthcare software can become a big issue. Several companies at HIMSS will be touting their solutions.
Much progress has been made this year on advancing the computerized patient record (CPR), in both the inpatient and outpatient settings. Picis (booth 2218) has burst onto the U.S. CPR scene with its sales of systems for ICU and perioperative CPR applications. Spacelabs (booth 3236) has expanded its Intesys products into the perioperative setting, but also has ICU and emergency department systems.
Marquette/GE (booth 2129) has extended its QMI CPR product to include perioperative, ICU and perinatal applications. The company has also entered into an interesting partnership (via parent GE) with Cerner (booths 3320- 3332).
Hewlett-Packard (booth 2814) has placed another 800 workstations, representing about $16 million in sales, in spite of dropping its internally developed perioperative systems in favor of the new Saturn CPR system of its partner, North American Drager. Drager will not be at the show in its own booth, but you might find some info on the company and its new Saturn perioperative information systems in the Hewlett-Packard booth (2814).
Datex-Ohmeda (booth 2662) has expanded its perioperative CPR product into the ICU setting.
Hill-Rom (Air Shields) has entered the perinatal CPR market with WatchChild (both 1718), via its acquisition of Air Shields, but is likely to be overrun by competitors unless it gets all the way into the CPR fray.
Eclipsys/Emtek (booth 2522) will be showing Continuum 2000 and other products. Surgical Information Systems (booth 4066) will be showing a perioperative information system that includes CPR.
Newcomer Nine Rivers Technology (booth 1901) , which along with Spacelabs Medical (booth 3236), has one of the best systems for emergency department CPR we have seen this year.
In the outpatient computerized patient record market, visit SMS (booth 3246), Healthvision (booth 1526), Oceania (booth 2039), Clinitec (booth 3605), IDX (booth 2847), MedicaLogic (booth 2633), and even John Deere (yes, the tractor firm), which has gotten into the business.
Be sure to check out Snomed (booth 2915) for front- and back-end data structuring.
Healthmatics (booth 2955) will be showing its new, Series 4 CPR product, which incorporates Medicomp’s Medzin front end. Medicomp, makers of Medzin, didn’t appear on the vendor list.
Purkinje (booth 2519) will be there, complete with its new CEO and market position.
Health Care Data Systems will be showing its new Version 3.0 release of Entity Patient Management System at its booth (2558).
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