Back in the early 90’s during the height of cut backs to the defense industry, I remember reading an article in one of the major magazines about how the economic struggles of the defense industry was a boon for the automobile industry. According to the article, there was a major shift of “technological talent” from defense into the automotive industry.

As I’ve been reading lately of some changes to the healthcare landscape, I began wondering if Healthcare isn’t becoming the newest battlefield for technological talent? So I thought I would piece together highlights from some items I recently came across and offer them up as a blog discussion for our team’s opinions and insights.

First: Visicu Patents Nullified (full article)

The lawsuit between Cerner & Philips over Visicu patents came to a conclusion last month and the verdict was in Cerner’s favor, which was somewhat surprising. Visicu, fairly secure in their legal standing, started the wrangling by threatening Cerner and its clients with lawsuits claiming that Visicu held the patent on the type of sophisticated rule engines used for remote monitoring, diagnosis and treatment of critical care patients. Evidently the jury was unconvinced, and Cerner wins big by having Visicu’s patents nullified, and Philips (who purchased Visicu back in late 2007) is prevented from interfering in Cerner’s business. The ruling may well eviscerate Philips play in the telemedicine space, at least for awhile.

I managed a large Visicu eICU implementation for Sutter Health (24 hospitals, 425 beds, 2 remote monitoring locations) that was completed in late 2006. Visicu used “established technology” components (readily available cameras, speakers, microphones, and networking connectivity), but the proprietary algorithms used by the rules engine in the accompanying software were considered to be a “fortress of solitude”. I guess they have been breached.

Second: Cerner incorporates Microsoft Technologies (full article)

Cerner MyStation (Microsoft Patient Experience Platform)

Cerner is looking to improve the patient experience by creating an interactive information interface that provides hospital patients with a comprehensive, in-room source for communications, education, and entertainment. It looks to deliver an improved patient hospital experience by transforming the standard hospital room into an interactive healing environment.

The Cerner MyStation would be a patient-centric information interface solution that addresses both patient and clinical needs while improving patient experience, satisfaction, and communication.

The Cerner MyStation is a combination of off-the-shelf hardware components from Microsoft and custom-developed software applications including Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, SQL Server 2005 and Xbox 360. The main components of the Cerner MyStation include:

• My Health, which enables patients to actively manage their healthcare medical record
• My Care Team, which provides patients a pictorial introduction to the individuals responsible for their care and explains their roles
• My Schedule, which presents patients with a personalized itinerary of events as well as a patient-specific task list
• My Menu, which provides patient access to hospital food services systems so they can communicate specific requests or selections
• My Opinion, which enables patients to give instant feedback on assorted topics
• My Hospital, a customizable welcome video and introduction to options within the My Health system
• My Education, which provides patients with access to health education materials prescribed by their care team
• Xbox 360, which provides patients access to a full complement of gaming and entertainment experiences

Third: Microsoft Xbox 360 Platform in Health Sector (full article)

Cerner’s solution is one way Microsoft’s gaming console is being incorporated into Healthcare. Microsoft’s research department is busy conducting research to find a variety of ways to use its Xbox 360, surface computers, and mobile phone applications to offer products to improve healthcare.

Some highlights mentioned at the healthcare technology forum included:

• Enabling users to sync with Microsoft healthcare service to keep track of their medical records
• Using the Xbox gaming console to feed information from an EMR onto in-room display screens for patients (see Cerner solution above)
• Allowing users to log health metrics and monitor daily healthcare activities from Windows Mobile applications

Last: Government to release nearly $1 billion for health IT (full article)

The White House recently announced release of nearly $1 billion in stimulus money. Of the $1 billion, $750 million is grant money awarded to help states adopt frameworks to allow health information to be securely exchanged, plus $ $375 million in grants is awarded to assist healthcare workers in developing and using healthcare IT. And, more than $225 million in Labor Department grant awards will be made available to train 15,000 people for healthcare, IT and other careers.

We’re talking serious money flowing from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which allocated an estimated $34 billion in federal subsidies to hospitals and office-based physicians and provided another $2 billion to help promote health information exchange and IT workforce development.

Given the recent items to the healthcare landscape I would like to hear your insights and opinions:

• Is healthcare the new landing spot for technological talent?
• Which other new major corporations might get into the healthcare technology battlefield?
• Will the legal wrangling over patents slow or taint the developing healthcare technology?
• Will the government’s interest in healthcare technology provide the spark for a full fledged technology wildfire?

Thanks,