Entries tagged with health - Channel 10

Are Gene Scans Effective? Microsoft Funds Research To Find Out

sarahintampa — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 23:21:00 GMT

In an effort to discover the effectiveness of DNA scans, Microsoft has funded a research study, along with Scripps Translational Science Institute, Navigenics, and Affymetrix, which will attempt to answer that question. The study will involve up to 10,000 people who will receive scans of their genomes and then a detailed analysis of the results, including information about more than 20 health conditions that may be changed by lifestyle. Those conditions include diseases like diabetes, obesity, heart attacks, and cancer. Over the course of the next 20 years the behavior of those participants will be tracked. The private data for the participants involved will be stored in HealthVault, Microsoft’s online medical and health information web service. (via SeattlePI, Image credit: mknowles)

Microsoft Research: A look at tomorrow's health solutions today - part II

Laura — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:15:00 GMT

In this special two-part video edition of House Calls for Healthcare Professionals, Bill Crounse, MD, visits with researchers at Microsoft Research. Each program reviews three promising areas of research that may one day lead to solutions with a direct or indirect application to health and healthcare. Viewers will gain insight to advanced ideas and technologies now in the labs at Microsoft Research long before they find their way into future products, solutions, or applications.

HIV Research, Visualization

One of the enduring challenges in HIV vaccine design is the remarkable rate of viral mutation and adaptation, which limits the immune system’s ability to mount a lasting, effective response. The HIV group at Microsoft Research is developing models of evolution that allow researchers to identify and visualize the complex, yet encouragingly consistent, patterns of adaptation that suggest novel vaccine strategies.

http://research.microsoft.com/research/eScience/

•David Heckerman, M.D. Ph.D.

Senior Directior, eScience Research Group

•Jonathan Carlson

Researcher

DynaVis Data Visualization

DynaVis is an information visualization toolkit that provides several extensions to business (or perhaps even clinical) charting, including animated transitions between data and between different views of data. The animated transitions help users stay in context when complex changes occur, making it easier for them to perform their tasks.

http://csdl2.computer.org/persagen/DLAbsToc.jsp?resourcePath=/dl/trans/tg/&toc=comp/trans/tg/2007/06/v6toc.xml&DOI=10.1109/TVCG.2007.70539

http://research.microsoft.com/vibe/projects/dynavis.aspx

•George Robertson, Ph.D.

Principal Researcher

Muscle-Computer Interface

Microsoft researcher Desney Tan and his team are working to create interfaces called muscle-computer interfaces, or MuCIs. that sense gestural input directly from muscle activity. This research may one day lead to new modalities for computer screen navigation and data input.

http://research.microsoft.com/cue/MuCI/.

http://research.microsoft.com/~desney
http://research.microsoft.com/cue

•Scott Saponas

Intern

Hear the Lions Roar on Xbox 360

Laura — Wed, 07 May 2008 14:30:00 GMT

I did this interview last year but JUST NOW is it allowed to go public...
A new program aims to make hospitals more fun for kids through technology. That’s the mission of a whole host of organizations nationwide like the Companions in Courage Foundation. Founded by pro hockey Hall of Famer Pat LaFontaine, the organization sets up what it calls Lion's Dens – rooms like one just opened at the Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital.

"We can create an atmosphere and environment where kids can escape to and be a safe haven where they can play games and videos and create art and create music and video conference with friends, their heroes, their grandparents, and just be, with technology, connected to the outside world," LaFontaine said. "We really have four primary components: video game, so Xbox 360; we have the PCs, so kids can go in and instant message and email, they can get homework assignments," Jim Johnson of the Companions in Courage Foundation said. "We also have a big screen television; and then we have the video conference pod, which is a live video conference that allows them to connect to relatives that may be out of town or celebrities."

Mobile health update: Devices and solutions for healthcare professionals- part 2

Laura — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 16:16:00 GMT

Among the attributes of information technology solutions designed for healthcare professionals, mobility is high on the list. Doctors, nurses, and other clinicians are always on the move, and the IT solutions they use must move with them. Fortunately, there is now a wide selection of very capable devices and applications to meet the needs of highly mobile medical professionals.

In this special two-part video edition of House Calls for Healthcare Professionals, Dr. Crounse and his guests review some of the options. The first program takes a look at four popular mobile devices running Windows Mobile 6. The second program reviews a useful application from IQMax that provides mobile access to patient lists, lab reports, x-ray results, and more wherever that information is needed. Other useful functions include charge capture and real-time dictation of chart notes, discharge summaries, and documents using a smartphone.

Mobile health update: Devices and solutions for healthcare professionals-part 1

Laura — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 16:14:00 GMT

Microsoft Research: “Innovations in Data Input and Navigation”

Laura — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 19:04:00 GMT

18 months ago, House Calls for Healthcare Professionals showed viewers something from Microsoft Research called “Play Anywhere”; a technology that allowed users to manipulate images projected on a table with nothing more than their hands. That technology has since been commercialized and is now called Surface Computing. It’s showing up in retail centers and casinos, and perhaps one day in your home or doctor’s office.

In this edition of House Calls, Dr. Bill Crounse revisits the creative geniuses at Microsoft Research to take a look at InkSeine and Lucidtouch, data input and screen navigation tools that might one day help clinicians and other people around the world work more efficiently.

Micro-processor controlled Robotic Legs

Laura — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 19:43:00 GMT

Have you ever heard of Otto Bock? Chances are that you haven't and you should probably be pretty happy for that. However, there are millions of people, like Heath in this video, whose lives have been forever improved by the research and products that Otto Bock offers. Heath lost his legs in the war in Iraq and his adoption of the C-Legs allows him the most natural mobility possible with prosthetic limbs. C-Legs have a remote controlled micro-processor in each knee. The science behind the knee is revolutionary. It anticipates what the wearer is doing and accomodates every change, in real time... by utilizing microprocessors to control the knee's hydraulic function 50 times a second.

Microsoft HealthVault: Search, Store and Connect Health Information

bcrounse — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 17:45:00 GMT

As a physician, I know how important it is to have access to my patient's health information. As a patient, I know how frustrating it is to have my health information scattered across multiple doctors, ambulatory clinics and hospitals. As a care manager for my elderly parents, I've experienced firsthand how difficult it is to keep track of their doctor appointments, medications, and medical problems.

Today, in Washington, D.C., Microsoft is announcing a new tool that will begin to bring order to this chaos. It's called HealthVault; an environment of new online services to help people SEARCH, STORE and CONNECT their health information, putting them in control of their, and their family’s health and wellness.

HealthVault, designed with security and privacy in mind, is built on the principle that people should have a copy of their own health information, have control over it, and be able to share their information with whomever they choose. I think many people are going to proclaim, "It's about time!".

Using HealthVault, people will be able to store and control an array of health information, including prescription medication lists, health histories, hospital discharge summaries, lab results, fitness data and search results.

In addition to being a place to securely store and share personal health information, people can also use HealthVault to access and put to practical use a variety of new health services and home health medical devices.

Microsoft HealthVault Connection Center will make it possible for people to upload health-related data, such as that taken from blood-pressure cuffs, heart rate monitors, blood glucose monitors and peak flow meters. The technology is straightforward and makes it easy to confidently share health information with family, caregivers or physicians. With the support of partners that will develop these services and devices, Microsoft has committed to a platform that is free to consumers, inclusive of industry standards and trusted through robust privacy and security safeguards.

Speaking of privacy and security, I know that nothing is more important when it comes to your personal health information. The HealthVault platform is underpinned by the following clear, strong health privacy commitments:

The Microsoft HealthVault record you create is controlled by you.
You decide what goes into your HealthVault record.
You decide who can see and use your information on a case by case basis.
Microsoft does not use your health information for commercial purposes unless you are asked and you clearly tell Microsoft they may.

Rest assured, we know that transforming healthcare is an incredibly complex challenge – one which no single organization can solve alone. It will require the participation of leaders in every sector of the healthcare ecosystem if success is to be achieved. However, with Microsoft's broad customer reach, extensive software platform and broad partner community, we believe that we have the depth and breadth required to help transform the way people and providers connect with health information and services.

You can learn more about today's launch of HealthVault by clicking on this video clip with Microsoft Health Solutions Group Corporate VP, Peter Neupert and Dr. Deborah Peel, founder of the Patient Privacy Rights Foundation.

I'm pleased to announce that more than 40 other innovative organizations – from leading medical providers, health management device manufacturers, and national health agencies are embarking with us on this challenge to bring the health industry into the Internet age. We invite the rest of the health industry to join us.

Bill Crounse, MD Worldwide Health Director Microsoft Corporation

House Calls with Dr. Bill Crounse

Laura — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 20:04:00 GMT

A Common User Interface to Clinical Applications: The patient safety imperative

It’s not unusual for healthcare applications to require user training that takes healthcare workers offline for days or even weeks at a time. And even if they become proficient on one application, workers could encounter something entirely different in another hospital or clinic they visit. But what if there were common user-interface guidelines for developers of healthcare applications, used around the world to create applications with a uniform look and feel? Microsoft and the United Kingdom’s National Health Service have set out to create a common user interface for clinical applications.

In this edition of House Calls for Healthcare Professionals, Dr. Bill Crounse and his guests discuss this collaborative initiative between the NHS, Microsoft, and the developer community to improve patient safety and end-user satisfaction with a more intuitive, standardized, and universal user interface to clinical applications.

Panel guests

•Andrew Kirby is a director at Microsoft U.K., where he is responsible for the delivery of solutions and services to the National Health Service (NHS). He oversees the delivery of the Common User Interface Programme, a five-year project aimed at improving the safety and usability of clinical systems used throughout the NHS. Mr. Kirby was a software engineer with Hewlett-Packard and a development analyst at the London Stock Exchange prior to joining Microsoft 16 years ago.

•Mike Bainbridge, M.D., leads the clinical architecture team at NHS Connecting for Health (NHS CFH), which delivers innovations in hardware, clinical application interface, and electronic medical record interface design. A leading figure in the field of clinical informatics for the last 25 years, Dr. Bainbridge has worked with both government and industry and currently sits on the editorial board of the Journal of Informatics in Primary Care.

•Stephen Corbett is head of UI Design for NHS CFH, evangelizing the user-centric design approach to building software. Prior to joining the NHS, he spent nine years at the German software company, SAP AG, as a usability engineer, UI design manager, and lead UI designer. Mr. Corbett has been working in the field of software usability in various industries since obtaining his degree in ergonomics in 1988.

Dr. Bill Crounse and Robertson Research

Laura — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 17:53:00 GMT

There’s never been a more compelling time for computers in the practice of medicine. There has been an explosion in the amount of information and scientific knowledge that physicians must know in order to practice medicine today. That task becomes even more challenging as genomics and personalized medicine enter the mix of care. In addition, in many developing countries there are severe shortages of qualified healthcare professionals. What medical care there is must often be provided by lesser-trained individuals.

In this special video edition of our on- going House Calls for Healthcare Professionals series, Microsoft's worldwide health director, Bill Crounse, MD, takes a look at computer software called NxOpinion. Using this software, physicians and other caregivers can more accurately assess a patient’s symptoms, arrive at the correct diagnosis, and deliver the safest and most appropriate treatment.

Bios:

Dr. Joel Robertson is the innovator and driving force behind the creation of NxOpinion. With more than 20 years of experience consulting with senior executives, companies and health care facilities to improve their performance and achieve better results, as CEO and Chairman of Robertson Institute, Dr. Robertson currently oversees several medically focused companies in the U.S. and abroad. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy from Ferris State University and a Doctor of Pharmacology from the University of Michigan.

Del. J. DeHart, M.D. is an infectious disease specialist in private practice. He also serves as Associate Professor of Medicine, College of Human Medicine at Michigan State University, where he obtained his medical degree. He serves as Medical Director for NxOpinion, Robertson Research.

M.U.R. Naidu, M.D. is the Dean of the Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) in Hyderabad, India, which is dedicated to providing medical care, educational and research facilities in the field of medical science. Dr. Naidu set up the clinical pharmacology research center at NIMS and is actively involved in research and education for the government of India with multiple publications. He has served as the coordinator of research and testing for NxOpinion, coordinating testing in rural health care workers as well as helping to improve usability and culture and language sensitivity issues.

D. Prasada Rao, M.D. is a cardiothoracic surgeon who serves as a Director at the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences in Hyderabad, India. He is also on the Rural Health Initiate Board for the Government of India and on the Board of Ayorgi Sri, which is their new Medicaid system. He is considered one of the highest ranking physicians in India.

Doctor Google and Doctor Microsoft; if not them, who?

bcrounse — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 22:56:00 GMT

The Internet is abuzz today following a New York Times article by Steve Lohr about Microsoft's and Google's designs to change the game in healthcare. Readers who follow this Blog will understand very well where I come down on all of this. As a country, maintaining the status quo in our broken healthcare system (which really isn't a system at all) just isn't a viable option. We spend about twice as much money per capita on health than any other nation on earth, yet the US ranks far behind other countries in many of the ways we measure the overall health status of a population.

Do I think that some kind of universal, government-run healthcare fix is the answer to all of our problems? Absolutely not! One of the things I have learned as I have traveled around the world these past few years is that providing timely, cost-effective, equitable healthcare for an entire population of people is challenging no matter what payment system is in place. Healthcare is expensive and it doesn't matter whether the payor is government (we pay), employers (we pay) or private citizens (again, we pay); many of the miracles of modern healthcare have become so expensive and so out of the reach for people of ordinary means, there's just not enough money in any system to apply them universally and equally to every citizen. Therefore, healthcare always has been and always will be rationed in some way.

So, if how we pay for healthcare has flaws no matter what system is in place, we must find better ways and better systems to deliver more affordable and accessible care. I've taken a few hits for my positive stance on retail clinics, home health, patient self-service, physician-patient e-mail, personal tele-health services, and other modalities to provide health information and medical services in ways besides those that our current "system" provides. Many of my physician colleagues are on a war path against retail clinics. They are calling every state legislator and pulling out every tool in their regulatory armamentarium in an attempt squash the movement, but they will ultimately fail. Prohibition doesn't work. Retail clinics will thrive or falter based on the quality of services they provide and the value that their customers perceive. The whole reason this movement has gained a foothold is because medical professionals haven't been listening to their patients. Patients want healthcare to behave like other industries. It really doesn't matter who's paying the bill. We are all paying the bill, and we expect more than we have been getting considering how BIG that bill has become.

Doing something about this will take more than coming up with new ways to pay for healthcare as it is presently delivered. We need new care delivery models, staffing models, business models, and a bevy of contemporary information and communication technologies to truly revolutionize American medicine. Neither Google, nor Microsoft nor any of the other companies mentioned in Lohr's article can be your doctor, nor should they be. But these companies can and should help us with the technologies that will be needed to change the game. If not Microsoft or Google, then who?

Bill Crounse, MD Worldwide Health Director Microsoft

American Healthcare and Falling Bridges: Too much in common

bcrounse — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 23:16:00 GMT

I've mentioned before on this Blog that I'm a fan of Most-Wired Online and its guest editorials. Every so often, a Most-Wired edition comes across my desk that especially draws me in. This week's editorials by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island on Building a National Health IT Infrastructure and by Lois Taveras and Dadong Wan of Accenture on The Case for Pervasive Healthcare really hit a chord with me.

I suppose we all tend to gravitate to folks who think like us, but I couldn't help but ponder how relevant these editorials are to some of the really big issues we face in American healthcare.

Senator Whitehouse is advocating for a public-private partnership akin to the COMSAT legislation for satellite communications during the Kennedy administration. The partnership would drive interoperability, privacy and security rules, and EMR data standards for healthcare IT. As I've hop-scotched around the world and seen for myself, America is woefully behind in the adoption of IT in healthcare (and don't even get me started on even more basic infrastructure failings like roads, bridges, airports, etc.).

Taveras and Dadong write eloquently about the opportunity to transform healthcare delivery and services with pervasive technology that would help us better care for the elderly, treat people with chronic diseases, and frankly serve just about everyone else far more safely and efficiently than we do today. Their editorial is a two-parter and I suspect next week's edition will deal with the harsh reality that unless we change reimbursement mechanisms and perverse incentives in American healthcare, these very real solutions will never see the light of day.

Regular readers of my Blog will immediately understand why I embrace what these guys are saying. Whether it is my commentaries on the potential for Unified Communications in Healthcare, Remote Physiological Monitoring, the need for a Common User Interface, the value proposition for Commodity Software in Healthcare IT, Failing American Infrastructure, and more; there is a very common theme. And that theme is interwoven in everything Whitehouse, Taveras and Wan are writing about.

Wake up, America! If you think our foreign competitors don't see HUGE opportunities to beat us in healthcare because of our failings in IT and our screwed up system, think again. We are at a crossroads here. American healthcare as an industry is at risk of collapsing just like that freeway bridge in Minneapolis.

Bill Crounse, MD Worldwide Health Director Microsoft

Future Vision: Microsoft knowledge driven health

bcrounse — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 03:02:00 GMT

If your company ever comes to Redmond for a health industry briefing at our Executive Briefing Center, or you happen to attend one of the many keynotes I give at industry conferences throughout the year, you'll more than likely see what is known as our Health Future Vision video.

This is the third such health industry video we have produced here at Microsoft. It has been my pleasure to work closely with Ian Sands and his Industry Innovations Group (IIG) to bring these videos to life. What's particularly interesting is how accurate the videos have been in predicting future industry trends and how technology will influence the way we work. Perhaps that's because IIG does so much internal and external research before producing one of these videos. We also base them on technology that is either currently available but not widely implemented, or on technology that is being actively pursued in the labs at Microsoft Research. In any event, everything you see in the video is based on technology that is available now, or is very likely to be available within a 7 to 12 year time frame.

Our newest Future Vision Video also captures the essence of healthcare industry trends that I've been following and writing about for the last few years. This includes the rising tide of consumerism in healthcare, the retail movement, commoditization of services, information everywhere, and globalization.

In the video, we follow a young pre-diabetic patient as she ventures out on a run. During her run, various physiologic functions are being monitored and data is being sent in real time to her personal health record.

A case manager, who has been given permission by the patient to see her data, becomes aware that she may qualify for a new clinical trial. When the young woman returns home she enters into a virtual consultation with her case manager who directs her to check with her personal physician about possible enrollment in the study. She immediately schedules a "virtual conference" with her personal physician.

The scene switches to the young woman's endocrinologist as he beings to make rounds in a hospital. He uses a very light-weight Tablet computer to gather information on his patients, locate needed equipment, and conduct his patient visits.

We see him performing a retinal exam on one of his diabetic inpatients and sharing results with the patient.

He later enters a special room where he conducts a "virtual visit" with the young woman we saw at the beginning of the video. The physician, his patient, and a clinical researcher collaborate on details of the proposed clinical trial.

The doctor instructs his patient to visit a nearby retail setting, where as the video comes to a close, we see her using her "digital wallet" and a kiosk to get necessary tests and medication for the clinical trial.

I think the video accurately reflects the kind of consumer-directed, quality and price transparent, knowledge-driven healthcare delivery system we'd all like to see. And while this is just a video, it certainly captures the essence for how information technology will help transform medical practice to better connect people and data, facilitate improved collaboration, and better inform everyone involved.

Bill Crounse, MD Worldwide Health Director Microsoft Corporation

Your opportunity to help change the world in healthcare: Check out new RFP's from Microsoft Research

bcrounse — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 21:50:00 GMT

My colleagues at Microsoft Research asked me to spread the word about an announcement they made on Monday during their External Research & Program’s Faculty Summit. Faculty Summit is the premier event hosted by ER&P for academic researchers and professors to meet with Microsoft researchers and product group engineers for in-depth presentations and discussions of computing problems and research trends. The conference brings together approximately 350 academics from 175 leading institutions worldwide.

During the Summit, Microsoft Research outlined the research agenda for the next year by announcing 11 new RFPs. These are research grants open to anyone, two of which focus on healthcare (outlined below).

Cell Phone as a Platform for Healthcare

Goals:

· Explore applications and evolution of the cell phone for healthcare services.

· Incubate, develop, and disseminate to the worldwide academic research community new healthcare services prototypes and mobile technology tools.

Solution Statement: What medical applications are relevant, worldwide, for ‘smart’ mobile phones (application and web-enabled) in rural, and urban, communities? What are the appropriate services and infrastructures to be created to provide affordable and accessible healthcare services?

Personalized Medicine: Improving Genome-Wide Association Studies

Goal: Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) is an area that would greatly benefit from having computing improvements for researchers. Focus areas for improvement include:

• Improvement of HapMap (tools for data collection, etc.)

• Standardization of genetic data collection, semantics and DB schema

• Improvement of Algorithms (particularly for in multi-allele disorders) accuracy, performance (e.g., parallelization, HPC)

• Genomic Data Visualization

Solution Statement: Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) are defined by the NIH as any study of genetic variation across the entire human genome that is designed to identify genetic associations with observable traits (such as blood pressure or weight), or the presence or absence of a disease or condition. GWAS are laying the groundwork for personalized medicine. What is needed to put this data as quickly as possible into the hands of a broad number of researchers so that they can advance the state of the art in this area.

If you’re interested in any more detail, please contact Tami Begasse: Microsoft Corporation

A Common User Interface to Clinical Systems

bcrounse — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 00:47:00 GMT

On October 21st, 2005, I wrote an entry on this Blog about the need for a more common and intuitive user interface to clinical information systems. Here's part of that entry:

*****************************************************

Jim Lynch, R.N. is quoted by Health Data Management's on-line news service on remarks he recently made during a presentation at the 77th Convention and Exhibit of the American Health Information Management Association. In his address, "Electronic Medical Records: Expect the Unexpected", Mr. Lynch recounts the plaudits and pitfalls encountered at Oklahoma City-based Integris Health during the implementation of their EMR. He says, “A major part of the problem was that the electronic record was not easy to use--the interface is not as simple as Microsoft Word, and many physicians had absolutely no computer skills.”

Indeed! Why is it that EMR interfaces have to be so challenging for clinicians? The typical community physician in many American cities admits patients to more than one hospital. In my own community, it's not unusual for docs to call on three or four different hospitals. One hospital might use Meditech; another IDX; another Cerner; and yet another something else. Even if any one of these systems had the "perfect" user interface, how can a clinician become proficient on all of them? How much training would that take!

Bill Crounse, MD

******************************************************

I am now extremely pleased to tell you about something that I believe may be the tipping point in moving us toward a common user interface to clinical systems, perhaps worldwide. For the past couple of years, Microsoft has been working with administrators, clinicians and other experts in the United Kingdom to design a common user interface for clinical and administrative systems at the National Health Service. With the consent of the NHS and its Connecting for Health initiative, the design guidelines and tools are now being made available to developers around the world with the launch of the CUI Website.

As noted on the website, design guidance has been produced through a rigorous user-centred design process that incorporates primary and secondary research, usability testing, consultation with software providers and integrated hazard assessments. Patient Safety Assessments (PSAs) are continually performed to ensure the Design Guidance meets safety concerns.

The guidance is targeted at both existing clinical applications and those that are being designed and architected right now. The second part of this release is the implementation of much of that guidance in the form of control libraries for both WinForms 2.0 and ASP.NET. The website contains explanation and samples for each of the Web controls with the Codeplex project hosting a download of both the Winforms and the ASP.NET Control library.

Example of Common User Interface Design

If you are a developer of applications used in healthcare, an IT professional, or just someone who is passionate about clinical information systems, I urge you to become familiar with this excellent work, and help us make it even better by joining the dialogue here on CodePlex (http://www.codeplex.com/mscui). Take a look at the CUI Website and be sure to watch the introductory video.

My thanks to our Microsoft UK team and our colleagues at the National Health Service for providing leadership in addressing a much needed solution that will improve patient safety while providing a much easier to use, more consistent interface to clinical systems.

Bill Crounse, MD Worldwide Health Director Microsoft Corporation

Arkansas Children's Hospital: IT Innovations Enhancing the Care of Hospitalized Children

bcrounse — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 18:26:00 GMT

Every so often we do a program in my House Calls for Healthcare Professionals series of audio and video-casts that really seems to hit the mark in demonstrating the value of Microsoft technologies in the healthcare industry. I want to draw your attention to one such program.

Arkansas Children’s Hospital is cutting edge when it comes to developing solutions on Microsoft technology. First, take a look at my Blog entry on this topic to get some background and then download or listen to our audio-cast with ACH to learn more about CarePoint and other solutions. This program is especially compelling because one of my guests is a patient at the hospital; a 16 year-old boy who has cystic fibrosis and has spent more time in the hospital than most of us can ever imagine. Find out how Microsoft technologies including Xbox 360, Media Center, Visual Studio, IE, and many others have come together to make hospital stays a whole lot more enjoyable for patients, their friends, and family at Arkansas Children’s Hospital.

Here is where you can stream the audio-cast or download it to your MP3 device

Arkansas Children's Hospital: IT Innovations Enhancing the Care of Hospitalized Children
This program is also available in MP3 for download.

Program Guests:

David Higginson is chief information technology officer at Arkansas Children's Hospital (ACH). He earned a degree in accounting/finance from Liverpool University and qualified as a Chartered Management Accountant. He began developing computer systems at the age of 10 and later combined his computer and financial expertise when he began developing systems for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the British Post Office. Since moving to ACH in 1996, Mr. Higginson has developed numerous award-winning computer systems with the help of his team of 14 developers, who have created more than 400 systems in less than five years.

Penny Ward is a registered nurse who joined Arkansas Children's Hospital in 1993. Since 2002 she has been a Nursing Director for the Adolescent and General Medicine units and for the Dialysis and IV teams at the hospital.

Christopher Holstead is 16 years old and has cystic fibrosis. He has been admitted to Arkansas Children's Hospital many times and has seen how the hospital has improved the patient care experience.

Additional resources

Healthblog - additional information and screenshots of ACH CarePoint patient entertainment/education solution

Arkansas Children's Hospital

Windows XP Media Center

Xbox

Bill Crounse, MD Worldwide Health Director Microsoft Corporation

Medstory debuts on MSN Health and Fitness

bcrounse — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 21:23:00 GMT

Back in April I posted information on HealthBlog about Medstory, the medical search company that had recently been acquired by Microsoft. I interviewed Medstory founder and CEO, Dr. Alain Rappaport, who I have known for nearly a decade. Alain and I first met while I was co-founding a venture-backed technology company aimed at facilitating physician-patient communication and collaboration. Little did we know at the time that many years later our paths would cross once again under Microsoft's umbrella.

Dr. Rappaport called me last week to say that Medstory is now fully integrated with MSN’s Health and Fitness site. He wanted me to be among the first to know and invited me to take it for a test drive.

After navigating to MSN Health and Fitness, I initiated a search on Prostate Cancer. Right away, I noticed that my search yielded Medstory's unique and rather colorful “dashboard".

The dashboard is made up of categories. Under each category is a list of related health topics that are most pertinent to the search being performed. The color bar next to each topic illustrates its degree of relevance to the subject of the search. For instance, one of the categories for a search on Prostate Cancer is Tests and Procedures. The most relevant topic in that category is the PSA Test. When I click on PSA Test, I have the option of refining my search to include both Prostate Cancer and PSA Test, or PSA Test alone.

Should I decide to search for both terms, the most pertinent articles containing both terms will be revealed. I'm given similar choices each time I conduct a search adding a third, fourth, or fifth term to my list. I also have the option of jumping to articles that are associated only with the new term I'm selecting from the dashboard. I also have the choice of using a "Site Search Results" tab that only reveals articles on MSN, or "Health-Related Web Results" that will return health information from all across the worldwide web. Note that the categories include Complementary Therapies and Nutrition; two that will be especially popular with consumers.

Prior to founding Medstory, Dr. Rappaport had had an illustrious career in artificial intelligence research and data mining. He says he turned his attention to improving how consumers and clinicians find and use medical information because healthcare is an industry that is driven by information. It is not enough, he says, to provide links to information. Search engines must become intelligent enough to understand a user’s intent. “We need a web that knows versus one that just links”, said Dr. Rappaport. “We are moving the center of gravity of search to return an understanding of what the user wants. Our core objective is to provide meaningful information that is also actionable.”

Dr. Rappaport said he teamed up with Microsoft because of the opportunity to engage with customers and partners all around the world who are now coming forward to help us innovate and use this technology. “Even in parts of the world where populations are medically underserved", he said, "providing relevant and timely information, will make a difference”.

Of course, this is just the beginning of many health related applications and services for both consumers and medical professionals that you'll be seeing from Microsoft and our partners in the months and years ahead. But for now, the next time you are seeking information about health or wellness, navigate over to MSN Health and Fitness and take Medstory for a spin. I think you will like what you see.

Bill Crounse, MD Worldwide Health Director Microsoft Corporation

Age and culture as impediments to the adoption of healthcare IT

bcrounse — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 04:09:00 GMT

A friend sent me a link to an article written for SearchCIO.com by senior editor, Kate Evans-Corriea. Ms. Evans-Corriea's article entitled "Age Does Matter" reflects on what she says was a common theme at Gartner's recent Symposium ITxpo. That theme is perhaps best captured in a quote from Gartner analyst, Tom Bittman, who says, "It's not the technology; It's not the process that's holding us back. It's the culture".

As I read the article, I couldn't help but think about a conversation I had just had with a colleague who currently serves as a hospital CIO. He expressed to me his total frustration with hospital culture and healthcare providers. In fact, he is so frustrated that after ten years on the job he is looking for another position; this time likely in another industry.

His hospital had recently purchased a very advanced surgical management system that included anesthesia scheduling and work-flow automation. The anesthesiologists at first welcomed these new tools, although one of the docs had initially pushed back because he had designed his own solution that he thought was a lot better than the vendor solution selected by the hospital.

Even so, after a few weeks using the new system, several of the older and most influential members of the anesthesia group simply proclaimed that they didn’t like what the hospital had purchased and would be going back to using their old paper processes. And, as my colleague noted, "that was that".

A similar scenario had recently played out in the radiology department. The mammography unit was asked to start using the hospital's digital PACS system. They prepared the docs for the fact that their productivity could initially fall by as much as 30 percent until they got used to the new tools and work-flow. The docs agreed to give it a try, but as soon as their productivity actually did take a nose-dive, they rebelled and refused to use the new system.

I know what you may be thinking. Screw the doctors! Tell them they have no choice but to use the new systems. As a doctor and a former hospital VP/CIO and CMIO, I know it's not that easy. Those doctors are the life blood of the hospital. It took years to recruit the physicians who run the mammography unit. And the anesthesiologists? They along with their powerful surgeon allies are responsible for most of the hospital’s profit margin.

The CIO also told me about his hospital's struggle to implement an electronic charting system in nursing. He said the VP of Nursing gives the initiative good lip service, but her first in command is a 50 year old nurse who has never worked anywhere else, and there’s a lot of passive-aggressive behavior going on in the rank and file. Since the nurses are all employees, you might think administrators could just lay down the law and mandate the use of the nursing documentation system. But you would be naïve to think that. The average age of nurses working at the hospital, especially as managers and unit leads, is 50-plus. There’s a huge nursing shortage with lots of vacancies in posted positions. They have a powerful union. It’s hard to tell them what to do.

I share this because it is so typical of the culture in healthcare, and not only here in America. It speaks volumes on the issue that Gartner is drawing to our attention; it isn’t so much about the technology as it is about the culture, and the need for more carefully orchestrated change management.

Of course some of these hassles will resolve as the “dinosaurs” retire. But based on what Gartner is saying the age and culture issue won't go away. Instead of “why must I use this computer instead of my paper” the argument will become “why must I use this (fill in the blank) instead of my computer"?

Bill Crounse, MD Worldwide Health Director Microsoft

A Pediatric Hospital Bedside Patient Entertainment & Education System: Microsoft Media Center + Xbox

bcrounse — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 20:54:00 GMT

Arkansas Children’s Hospital

Every so often I come across organizations and people that truly blow me away. Pediatric hospitals have always been known for innovative ideas in the care of their young patients. So, it comes as no surprise that a pediatric hospital would rise to the occasion to better meet the entertainment and education needs of their "customers". But you just have to love it when a truly dedicated clinical and IT staff put their heads together and come up with a solution that is truly best in class.

That is exactly what has happened at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. ACH is based in Little Rock. It is the only full-service children's hospital in the state. The staff at ACH decided it was time to replace the hospital's aging in-room television system with something a little more contemporary. At first, they looked at systems that might typically be found in good hotels. However, they soon discovered that these systems were too expensive, too inflexible, and too limiting for what they really wanted to accomplish. They wanted a system that would provide their young patients with a full spectrum of on-demand movies, television, Internet, video gaming, and patient education. They also wanted a highly flexible platform on which they could provide other services now and well into the future. Finally, they wanted complete control over the system and its attributes that could be fine-tuned to meet the age-appropriate needs of patients, their friends and family. When they didn't find what they needed on the open market at a price they could afford, they decided to build it themselves.

The solution they came up with uses Microsoft Media Center, Xbox 360, and SQL Server. It extends the hospital's IT infrastructure out to the patient's bedside. Patients access the system through a custom designed interface on a 15-inch flat screen monitor next to the bed. This set-up lends itself to easy cleaning between patients. The monitor also becomes a kind of "command-central" for doctors and nurses who want to access a patient's electronic record or review x-rays and other data with the patient in his or her room. Movies, games, educational videos, Internet access, e-mail, messaging, etc. are viewed on a 32-inch LCD screen mounted on the wall across from the bed.

Home screen to the bedside entertainment and education system at Arkansas Children's Hospital based on Microsoft Media Center

Yesterday, I recorded one of my House Calls audio-casts with the staff at ACH. That program will be posted on my House Call's site on Microsoft.com within the next few days. In the meantime, I just couldn't wait to tell you about this. Although the solution has just finished a limited pilot, the decision has already been made to roll it out hospital-wide. One of the highlights of my audio-cast was interviewing a 16 year-old young man who is a frequent patient at ACH. To hear his excitement about using the new bedside entertainment and education system at ACH was reward in itself. He said the system is totally awesome in helping him stay in touch with school, friends and family during extended hospital stays. His doctor has used the bedside monitor to review test results with him. And the TV, movies and Xbox games are way cool!

Custom user interface that controls entertainment and education options as displayed on a 15-inch flatscreen monitor at the patient's bedside

Congratulations to ACH Chief Technology Officer, David Higginson, and his staff. This is just one of more than 400 clinical and business solutions this team has built at Arkansas Children's Hospital in the last five years alone. I met David a while back when he visited us here at Microsoft in Redmond. It was evident then that he and his team were up to some amazing work. My thanks also are extended to Penny Ward, RN, for sharing her enthusiasm about the bedside solution at ACH. And, my very special thanks go to Christopher Holstead, the 16 year-old patient at ACH, for sharing his thoughts about the new bedside entertainment and education system.

Be watching here on HealthBlog for more information when my House Calls’ audio-cast with Arkansas Children’s Hospital goes live on the Net.

Bill Crounse, MD Worldwide Health Director Microsoft

BlueTooth Fiber Optic Clothing....really?

Laura — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 18:55:00 GMT

Picture it...you're flying a helicopter over a warzone and you're looking for soldiers who need to be rescued. You see uniforms spread out across the battlefield but you can't tell who is in need of assistance. Well...imagine now that these same soldiers had illuminations on their uniforms that allowed you, and only you, to determine their level of distress.
Imagine no longer- it's real and it's here. This is what happens when Exmocare teams up with JF Magic.

And take a look at our previous coverage of Exmocare.

Unified Communications: The Next BIG Thing in Healthcare

bcrounse — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 21:23:00 GMT

In previous Blog entries and on my House Calls audio-cast series, I’ve highlighted healthcare customers who are doing some outstanding work using Microsoft and Microsoft partner solutions to build portals that make key performance indicators, quality standards, and price standards more transparent. These same solutions are being used to automate clinical and business work-flow processes, manage documents, and generally improve collaboration across the enterprise. Today, I want to focus on what I see as the next really big opportunity in healthcare; Unified Communication.

Healthcare is a communication intensive business. Good communication has a profound effect on the quality and safety of patient care. Communication also has a huge bearing on patient satisfaction. Yet historically, the options for how we communicate with each other in the healthcare industry have been somewhat limited. We are hampered by an industry that has far too long relied on old fashioned telephone, paging, fax, and mail (both postal and interoffice); not exactly the most contemporary communication infrastructure.

Today’s progressive businesses use a wide variety of tools and technologies to facilitate communication. Communication can be synchronous or asynchronous depending on the urgency or context of the message. Information can be relayed and exchanged by instant message, e-mail, telephone (including voice over IP), audio conferencing, or video conferencing. In addition, the concept of “presence” in communication technologies now allows us to know ahead of time if someone is available to receive a message or take a call. It also lets us set up rules on how, when, where, and on what devices we want to be contacted.

So let’s extend all that into the typical healthcare setting. No longer am I restricted to the telephone for communicating with colleagues or patients. Depending on the nature of the message, where I am and what I’m doing, I can decide to use either a synchronous or asynchronous mode of communication. No more waiting on hold or playing phone tag on the telephone. Furthermore, as communication technology converges to the computer and is increasingly facilitated by the Net, my choice of device is no longer restricted either. My office telephone, Smartphone, Pocket-PC, laptop, Tablet-PC or desktop PC will all be able to do the job for me whether it’s an instant message, e-mail, voice, or video communication that is required. This technology will also have a profound effect on the way we conduct meetings and do training in the future. The use of multi-media web conferencing and interactive e-learning technologies will absolutely explode in healthcare as we increasingly communicate electronically in the office and at home for grand rounds presentations, staff training, patient education, and more. Finally, advances in speech recognition and the incorporation of speech recognition technology into unified communications, will open up new vistas for securely accessing patient information and relaying clinical orders.

I’m not going to spill the beans on everything that is yet to come. But if you work in healthcare, or you are an industry vendor building communication and collaboration solutions for the healthcare industry, the future is blazingly bright.

Bill Crounse, MD Worldwide Health Director Microsoft