The iPhone is a great invention.  My brother-in-law, Preston was one of the earliest adopters of the device, and I spent most of my Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday draining his iPhone battery while watching YouTube videos.  I have a Treo 700wx, and still prefer it to the iPhone in some ways (especially in regard to networking with our server), but the iPhone does have a huge advantage over other smartphones in that the internet really is the internet.  Not scaled back, just smaller and more mobile.

In this post from the Independent Urologist, we are introduced to a great use of the iPhone to improve the efficiency of private practice through mobile e-Prescribing.  I just love to see technology in action…

…I was in the OR today and forgot my Rx pads. I did several cases on patients, all of whom had different pharmacies and I had have to call in some scripts for them. Now with hold times and phone trees and formulary related call backs etc, calling in prescriptions to pharmacies can be a royal pain and not something that I relish. Instead, I asked to borrow my friend Mike’s i-Phone. With it, I logged onto my e-RX network, located my patients’ profiles, selected the meds and doses from drop down menus, selected their pharmacies, hit approve all and voila’, done.

I love to hear about ways that innovation and technology make things possible that once were not.  In fact, I scour the internet learning from others who do this very thing in healthcare, leading to newfound improvements in care, diagnostics, and efficiencies.

Here is an example of a small practice that really gets it.  So much of the technology that already exists will help practices keep the doors open and wheels turning, and I love to see it in action.  This isn’t a crazy example of the latest and greatest EMR saving a hospital organization millions of dollars in efficiency and reduced waste - just a small practice that is using many of the available technologies and services in order to keep things going on a snow day in New York State.

Despite global warming, the weather brought snow today to Suffolk County Long Island, where I have my urology practice. Fortunately I had a slow day in the office and was not really disrupted much by the snow. My biller however, was unable to get into the office. No biggy. Here’s what we did:

Google is making strides with its web-based PHR by beginning a pilot test that will include 1,500 to 10,000 patients at the Cleveland Clinic.  Electronic management of the PHR is certainly on the way…

Cleveland Clinic plans to enroll between 1,500 and 10,000 patients to trial the secure exchange of medical record data such as prescriptions, conditions and allergies between the clinic and a secure Google profile in a live clinical delivery setting.

The clinic said the goal of the model was to give patients the ability to interact with multiple physicians, healthcare service providers and pharmacies.

Improved patient care, lower mortality, and cost reduction are among the benefits cited in a study by BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, following a retrospective study which included analysis of 4,000 patient years of data collected on dialysis patients.

George Rovegno, CEO of MIQS, Inc, the EMR developer, said:

“For some years we have all believed that computers can provide the information tool needed to improve the quality of care, reduce costs and avoid serious errors. At last, in this landmark study, is the proof of the hypothesis.

Jonathan Lorch, MD, of The Rogosin Institute and Weill Cornell Medical College, said:

“The improved mortality rates we saw in our patients who were tracked using MIQS are striking.”

If it can, you can learn about it on February 29th at Stanford University.

Text messaging is the only viable interactive means of reaching people on a massive scale around the world. This event will highlight the significant, untapped potential for changing health behavior through this channel.

Private healthcare practices rely heavily on practice management systems and the need for smart information technology (IT) infrastructure behind these systems improves the efficiency of patient care significantly.  This article from the American Academy of Family Physicians explains how to improve practice efficiency through the use of a smart computer network.

Small practices are becoming increasingly reliant on computer applications, such as practice management systems and electronic health record (EHR) systems, making them frequent topics of discussion for family physicians. Amid these technology discussions, however, physicians often fail to consider the computer networks on which these applications run. Planning and maintaining a computer network in a practice requires a number of important considerations. Failing to adequately account for these can result in an improperly functioning network with potentially serious consequences, such as security violations.

It’s no secret that rehab can be, well, boring.  It’s about time that the rehab profession leverages a unique and promising technology for increasing compliance with exercise programs at home (and in the gym).

While the Wii won’t replace conventional treatment programs, therapists at the Providence center, among others like the Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan and the St. John Senior Community in Detroit, feel it would be a great addition. They say that because it’s so fun — and feels nothing like work — it would motivate patients and help them with balance, weight bearing, coordination and muscle strengthening.

“A lot of patients don’t really want to exercise, but if it involves doing an activity they enjoy, they’d be more apt to do it,” said Jackie Grabinski, a Providence physical therapist. “If you’re moving and standing and doing something, it’s going to work on your muscle strength.