Apple to make a push into healthcare
It seems inevitable, given the success of the iPhone in healthcare, but I’m hearing that Apple is getting ready to make a full-scale push into healthcare. I understand that the company invited several vendors to a meeting at an Apple office in Chicago this week. I have no further details on what was said or who was present, but I know that there are a couple of EMR vendors out there who have tailored their products for Macintosh, even if it’s just optimizing the view over the Internet for the Safari browser.
There is this little matter of the billions of dollars in federal money being funneled into health IT over the next eight years, and Steve Jobs would be an idiot if he didn’t go after some of the cash. Steve Jobs is no idiot.
Probably coincides with the iTablet release. I imagine many iPhone apps currently in use in clinical settings will naturally migrate over. I'd love to know which EMR/EHR companies are involved as I work with one of the few companies that specializes in Apple for the enterprise in healthcare.
Alternative hardware platforms should make things interesting in the software market place. Vendors will need to consider portability and accessibility from different clients into the same systems.
Unfortunately Neal I still don't see the iPhone making any huge jumps in success with hospital IT departments. Just from the stories I have heard from others their hospital IT departments are loath to go with Apple instead preferring the security and familiarity of Blackberry devices. I do see more younger docs using iPhones in my own institution, but these docs can't get into their hospital email or the EMR. Still they prefer it over a Blackberry that could do that.
More food for thought: Survey of 1,000 med students: 45% own iPhone/iPod touch — Say EMR is priority. ihttp://ow.ly/pDXO