James Mault’s TEPR+ keynote

PALM SPRINGS, Calif.—Here’s a quick rundown of today’s keynote address at the TEPR+ conference from James Mault, M.D., director of new products and business development in the Microsoft Health Solutions Group:

He showed data suggesting that more than 90 percent of consumers favor some form of health IT, and framed that in the context of politics, noting that whenever 90 percent of people agree on something, elected officials pay attention. But healthcare organizations often do not. “Why is it that I can go online and see my Starbucks purchase from this morning on my credit card, but I can’t see my cholesterol [test results]?” Mault asked.

Mault reiterated Microsoft’s intention to introduce HealthVault outside the United States “not too long for now.” He did not give a time frame or any geographic clues, but said that Microsoft has had inquiries from with health systems globally, including in South America and Africa.

At least 10 of the Fortune 100 companies are in various stages of updating their human resources sites to link employee portals to HealthVault, according to Mault. Already, technology vendors to Microsoft’s own HR department must make their products compatible with HealthVault.

In showing how HealthVault is being used for telemedicine and mobile applications, Mault showed a slide that included images of Apple iPhones. Shocking perhaps? Mault told me that the Redmond Empire gets royalties for each iPhone sold because Apple links to Microsoft Exchange Server. Mault then whipped out his own iPhone.

Apparently, though, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is not so enthusiastic about the iPhone.

Granted, Ballmer gave this interview in January 2007. Microsoft signed the Exchange Server deal with Apple in March 2008.