New technologies changing healthcare processes

FierceHealthcare will be continuing to track the evolution of new technologies as they are adopted by healthcare organizations. Here are a few which, while not adopted much yet in America's hospitals and clinics, will see a great deal more prominence in 2006:

• Tracking technologies: A mix of active RFID, WiFi, UWB and infra-red technologies are for the first time enabling cost-effective tracking of people and equipment in hospitals. More hospitals will adopt these technologies in the coming year, and they'll find that it will not only help them save money on equipment losses but also change their fundamental work processes.
• ePrescribing: ePrescribing has now been connected to pharmacies and formulary information by the Surescripts and RxHub networks. They are also available as standalone applications that a physician can adopt without needing to buy a full EMR. Medicare, meanwhile, is pushing ePrescribing as part of its Part D initiative. Expect to see more physicians coming on board in the next year.
• Remote monitoring: Remote monitoring has been gaining force for a while, notably in the ICU, with remote monitoring of patients by physicians down the block or across the world becoming popular. As the leader in this field, VISICU, prepares to go public, expect this trend to grow and spread to less intensive settings.
• Health plan PHR and CRM: To say that health plans are not known for their excellence in customer service is putting it mildly. However, 2005 saw some of the first steps by major insurers to integrate what they know about patients' clinical information with their administrative activity. Using technology from WebMD on an ASP basis, Empire BCBS has led the way here, putting its members' patient records online. It looks like the rest of WellPoint (which bought Empire last year) will adopt the technology this year. That will force competitors like United to follow suit.
• Clinical/Med-tech integration: Most diagnostic and imaging devices are now putting out digital signals, and more and more hospitals have clinical data repositories that can handle those files. The obvious center of activity is in the PACS world, but this overall trend is one that has seen GE, Siemens, Philips and other imaging powerhouses make moves into hospital information systems. The two sides of the technology "house"--the bio-medical and the IT shop--are getting closer, and managing that merger is a challenge for hospitals as well as vendors.

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