Product Briefs
Product Briefs
• AHN.com (Nashville), the Internet site of America’s Health Network, has added an HIV/AIDS Health Center to its site, featuring updated video and text resources and information. AHN.com also announced the addition of a newly expanded HIV/AIDS section to its Health Wave property (www.healthwave.com), an Internet search engine. The AHN.com HIV/AIDS Health Center includes a video library of answers to AIDS-related questions from Dr. Walt Larimore’s "Ask theFamily Doctor," a series on America’s Health Network. The center also offers articles on subjects that include testing, prevention and clinical trials, as well as a health quiz, chats, and a community message board. The newly expanded HIV/AIDS section of HealthWave features sub-topics that include research, articles, events, products and services, as well as on-line information resources, directories and organizations.
• Alpha Bytes (Niagara Falls, NY), a provider of software for the vision care industry, has introduced a new Internet-based transaction network called H-Net, expected to be available in 2Q99. Initially available to the vision care industry, the new service will electronically link vision care providers, including retail opticians, retail optical chain home offices, optometrists, ophthalmologists, and optical laboratories, along with insurance companies and credit and debit card networks. It is designed to help participants reduce costs while speeding the processing of healthcare claims and payments and simplifying the accompanying paper work, with all transactions passing through an electronic tollbooth.
• Chemdex (Palo Alto, CA), a provider of e-commerce solutions for laboratory supply, has begin offering scientific instruments and laboratory equipment via its web marketplace. The site provides suppliers the opportunity to present their products to a broad audience of scientists and other lab supply purchasers. "In order to best meet the needs of our customers, we’re expanding the Chemdex product line to include suppliers of instruments and other equipment," said David Perry, president and CEO of Chemdex. By the end of this year, customers will be able to purchase more than 1 million products using the Internet. Chemdex procurement systems automate work-flow approval processes, provide contract pricing, consolidate invoicing and billing, and integrate with enterprise systems.
• CorVel (Irvine, CA) has released its MedCheck 2000 suite of medical review software. The latest version is designed to help automobile insurers automate, review, and pay medical claims. The software is available for license, and includes an updated version of First Review, the company’s line of automated review employing artificial intelligence tools.
• Discovery Communications (Bethesda, MD) has laun ched the Discovery Health Channel, which is designed for basic cable and satellite distribution. The company plans to offer an equity interest in Discovery Health Media to major distributors as an incentive to use the channel. The 24-hour channel will feature original programs that include new medical discoveries on a prime-time series called "21st Century Medicine," real-life medical drama, live and taped operations, and health advice.
• A new software device that allows users to Internet-enable their legacy embedded electronic devices without requiring new hardware or software has been introduced by emWare (Salt Lake City). Called emLink, the device allows caregivers to monitor patients remotely via an Internet connection. The system was introduced at the recent Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society conference in Atlanta, where it was networked with the Welch Allyn (Skaneateles Falls, NY) Vital Signs Monitor.
• Epix Medical (Cambridge, MA) has launched a new corporate web site using interactive technology to demonstrate several visualization techniques to expand the clinical utility of magnetic resonance imaging. Centerpiece of the site is the Virtual Workstation with images from two phase II clinical studies of AngioMark, the company’s lead intravascular MR contrast agent under development.
• First DataBank (San Bruno, CA), a wholly owned subsidiary of The Hearst Corporation, has released its new Prescriber Order Entry Module (POEM), a database of standardized medication orders which can be integrated into healthcare order entry applications to help reduce the possibility of drug prescribing errors. Errors such as miscalculation of drug dose to misinterpretation of handwriting are increasing dramatically with the number of new pharmaceuticals, according to James Wilson, senior vice president and chief operating officer of First DataBank. The Order Entry Module is integrated into a medication order entry application, and the prescriber is prompted with a pick list of common medication orders for the requested drug formulation and intended route of administration. Prescribers can narrow the list even further to display orders valid for an adult patient (ages 15-64) or specific indication. Future releases will include additional age ranges.
• LaserMedia (Toronto) has launched two proprietary software programs at actfit.com: Active Planner, an interactive diet and nutrition planner with features enabling the users to track and plan their nutritional needs, and Instant Workout Generator, which creates a free personalized exercise regimen, based on information entered onsite. Two free screen savers are downloadable from the site, according to the company. The programs are expected to generate 100,000 users apiece. Actfit.com will offer at least 10 such programs by the end of 1999 and 20 by the end of 2000.
• XCARE Technologies (Englewood, CO) has launched a new e-commerce service network the XCARE CommerceNet. The new venture will specialize in providing transaction-based connectivity solutions using a client-server platform to provide the core assets and infrastructure for development of XML modules.
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