After Hewlett-Packard bought Palm and it's WebOS, for $1 billion last year, we knew the company was serious about mobile health. This year, HP is following up with a cadre of four new mHealth product partnerships--which it debuted at HIMSS11 in Orlando last week--plus some new hardware for mobile applications. It doesn't exactly catch HP up to the blazing fast development going on at Apple or Google, but may signal growing momentum.
The products run the gamut from emergency-related telehealth systems to monitoring systems for seniors. Here's a quick peek:
- Canvys: HP's first stab at a mobile imaging and picture archiving and communication system (PACS), Canvys can display bio-medical data, plus ultrasound, cardiac and other images. It's augmented with Medweb's cloud-hosted imaging and data repository, HP officials say.
- LifeBot: Designed for emergency responders, it's powered by LifeBot's Disaster Relief and Emergency Medical Services (DREAMS), and allows EMTs and others to transmit critical patient data in real time, from the site of the emergency. It runs on HP's Slate 500.
- Medical Information Systems To You (MISTY): Created by Parental Health, the software application has been bundled into HP TouchSmart 9100 PC, and allows users to read, track and send alerts about an aging loved one's daily health indicators, medication status and other values.
The vendor also debuted three new mobile hardware options last week, the Pre 3 and Veer smartphones, as well as the TouchPad tablet. Reviewers at iMedicalApps indicate the hardware is sturdy and responsive, but may only earn fans in the medical community if HP boosts its app development. No word yet if the new telehealth offerings will be enabled for use on the smartphones or tablet, but we'll keep an eye out.
To learn more:
- check out this HP announcement
- read this Nashville Post piece
- here's the iMedicalApps post
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