Entries tagged with bill crounse - Channel 10

Mobile health update: Devices and solutions for healthcare professionals- part 2

Laura — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 16:16:00 GMT

Among the attributes of information technology solutions designed for healthcare professionals, mobility is high on the list. Doctors, nurses, and other clinicians are always on the move, and the IT solutions they use must move with them. Fortunately, there is now a wide selection of very capable devices and applications to meet the needs of highly mobile medical professionals.

In this special two-part video edition of House Calls for Healthcare Professionals, Dr. Crounse and his guests review some of the options. The first program takes a look at four popular mobile devices running Windows Mobile 6. The second program reviews a useful application from IQMax that provides mobile access to patient lists, lab reports, x-ray results, and more wherever that information is needed. Other useful functions include charge capture and real-time dictation of chart notes, discharge summaries, and documents using a smartphone.

Health Calls with Dr. Bill Crounse: HealthVault

Laura — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 18:45:00 GMT

Healthcare is becoming much more consumer focused. Today’s patients want to be more directly involved in their care and in making decisions about their health. In October 2007, Microsoft launched HealthVault, a Web-based environment of new online services to help people search, store, and connect with their health information. HealthVault enables patients to have a copy of their own health information, have control over it, and have the ability to securely store and share their information with whomever they choose.

In this special video edition House Calls, Bill Crounse, M.D. and his guests discuss Microsoft HealthVault and HealthVault Search, the latest tools from Microsoft helping to improve the way people find, organize, and use health information.

Bios:

Peter Neupert is corporate vice president of the Health Solutions Group at Microsoft Corp., where he is responsible for Microsoft’s collaboration with the healthcare system to address global infrastructure issues of significant scale.

Neupert first joined Microsoft in 1987, when he headed up the OS/2 development team. Three years later he took over Microsoft's operations in the Far East, including establishing the first Asian research and development (R&D) laboratory. He also negotiated Microsoft's deal with NBC, creating MSNBC.

In 1998, Neupert took Drugstore.com from concept to launch in seven months. He served as president and chief executive officer of Drugstore.com Inc. from 1998 to 2001, and as chairman of the board of directors from 1999 to 2004. Neupert also served on President Bush’s Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC) from 2003 to 2005. On that committee, he co-chaired the Health Information Technology subcommittee and helped drive the report Revolutionizing Health Care Through Information Technology, which was published in June 2004 by PITAC. Neupert re-joined Microsoft in 2005.

Sean Nolan is chief architect and general manager for the Health Solutions Group at Microsoft Corp., where he directs all aspects of product development and operations for the consumer health platform.

Nolan first began his career at Microsoft in 1991, as the development manager for the original Microsoft Network (MSN) client tools and the conversion to Internet technologies. Nolan joined Drugstore.com in 1998, and in 2000, he was named vice president of technology and chief technical officer for Drugstore.com. Nolan led the design and implementation of Drugstore.com’s award-winning e-commerce systems. While there, he was honored as one of the nation’s Premier 100 IT Leaders for 2001 by Computerworld magazine. Before rejoining Microsoft in 2006, Nolan co-founded a number of technology ventures, including Software Poetry Inc., a software and management consultancy, and Cognisoft Corp., where he was the architect of one of the first Web-based knowledge management systems.

Additional resources
HealthVault
http://www.healthvault.com

HealthVault demonstration
http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/exec/pneupert/10-04healthvault.mspx

HealthVault virtual press room
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/events/healthvault

Missing Dr. Bill? Visit HealthBlog

bcrounse — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 03:35:00 GMT

To my loyal readers/listeners/viewers on Channel 10;

You may have noticed that I haven't posted anything lately to my Blog on Channel 10 (other than the video we just did with my colleagues at Microsoft Research). Don't fret. I haven't abandoned my rants and raves on the healthcare IT industry. We just decided that it didn't make sense anymore for me to duplicate the material I've been writing for my other more widely read blog, HealthBlog, on Channel 10. So if you've been missing me, link yourself over to HealthBlog and catch up on all that's new in healthcare. Better yet, subscribe to the RSS feed.

Best always,

Bill Crounse, MD Worldwide Health Director Microsoft Corporation

Microsoft Research: “Innovations in Data Input and Navigation”

Laura — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 19:04:00 GMT

18 months ago, House Calls for Healthcare Professionals showed viewers something from Microsoft Research called “Play Anywhere”; a technology that allowed users to manipulate images projected on a table with nothing more than their hands. That technology has since been commercialized and is now called Surface Computing. It’s showing up in retail centers and casinos, and perhaps one day in your home or doctor’s office.

In this edition of House Calls, Dr. Bill Crounse revisits the creative geniuses at Microsoft Research to take a look at InkSeine and Lucidtouch, data input and screen navigation tools that might one day help clinicians and other people around the world work more efficiently.

Microsoft HealthVault: Search, Store and Connect Health Information

bcrounse — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 17:45:00 GMT

As a physician, I know how important it is to have access to my patient's health information. As a patient, I know how frustrating it is to have my health information scattered across multiple doctors, ambulatory clinics and hospitals. As a care manager for my elderly parents, I've experienced firsthand how difficult it is to keep track of their doctor appointments, medications, and medical problems.

Today, in Washington, D.C., Microsoft is announcing a new tool that will begin to bring order to this chaos. It's called HealthVault; an environment of new online services to help people SEARCH, STORE and CONNECT their health information, putting them in control of their, and their family’s health and wellness.

HealthVault, designed with security and privacy in mind, is built on the principle that people should have a copy of their own health information, have control over it, and be able to share their information with whomever they choose. I think many people are going to proclaim, "It's about time!".

Using HealthVault, people will be able to store and control an array of health information, including prescription medication lists, health histories, hospital discharge summaries, lab results, fitness data and search results.

In addition to being a place to securely store and share personal health information, people can also use HealthVault to access and put to practical use a variety of new health services and home health medical devices.

Microsoft HealthVault Connection Center will make it possible for people to upload health-related data, such as that taken from blood-pressure cuffs, heart rate monitors, blood glucose monitors and peak flow meters. The technology is straightforward and makes it easy to confidently share health information with family, caregivers or physicians. With the support of partners that will develop these services and devices, Microsoft has committed to a platform that is free to consumers, inclusive of industry standards and trusted through robust privacy and security safeguards.

Speaking of privacy and security, I know that nothing is more important when it comes to your personal health information. The HealthVault platform is underpinned by the following clear, strong health privacy commitments:

The Microsoft HealthVault record you create is controlled by you.
You decide what goes into your HealthVault record.
You decide who can see and use your information on a case by case basis.
Microsoft does not use your health information for commercial purposes unless you are asked and you clearly tell Microsoft they may.

Rest assured, we know that transforming healthcare is an incredibly complex challenge – one which no single organization can solve alone. It will require the participation of leaders in every sector of the healthcare ecosystem if success is to be achieved. However, with Microsoft's broad customer reach, extensive software platform and broad partner community, we believe that we have the depth and breadth required to help transform the way people and providers connect with health information and services.

You can learn more about today's launch of HealthVault by clicking on this video clip with Microsoft Health Solutions Group Corporate VP, Peter Neupert and Dr. Deborah Peel, founder of the Patient Privacy Rights Foundation.

I'm pleased to announce that more than 40 other innovative organizations – from leading medical providers, health management device manufacturers, and national health agencies are embarking with us on this challenge to bring the health industry into the Internet age. We invite the rest of the health industry to join us.

Bill Crounse, MD Worldwide Health Director Microsoft Corporation

House Calls with Dr. Bill Crounse

Laura — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 20:04:00 GMT

A Common User Interface to Clinical Applications: The patient safety imperative

It’s not unusual for healthcare applications to require user training that takes healthcare workers offline for days or even weeks at a time. And even if they become proficient on one application, workers could encounter something entirely different in another hospital or clinic they visit. But what if there were common user-interface guidelines for developers of healthcare applications, used around the world to create applications with a uniform look and feel? Microsoft and the United Kingdom’s National Health Service have set out to create a common user interface for clinical applications.

In this edition of House Calls for Healthcare Professionals, Dr. Bill Crounse and his guests discuss this collaborative initiative between the NHS, Microsoft, and the developer community to improve patient safety and end-user satisfaction with a more intuitive, standardized, and universal user interface to clinical applications.

Panel guests

•Andrew Kirby is a director at Microsoft U.K., where he is responsible for the delivery of solutions and services to the National Health Service (NHS). He oversees the delivery of the Common User Interface Programme, a five-year project aimed at improving the safety and usability of clinical systems used throughout the NHS. Mr. Kirby was a software engineer with Hewlett-Packard and a development analyst at the London Stock Exchange prior to joining Microsoft 16 years ago.

•Mike Bainbridge, M.D., leads the clinical architecture team at NHS Connecting for Health (NHS CFH), which delivers innovations in hardware, clinical application interface, and electronic medical record interface design. A leading figure in the field of clinical informatics for the last 25 years, Dr. Bainbridge has worked with both government and industry and currently sits on the editorial board of the Journal of Informatics in Primary Care.

•Stephen Corbett is head of UI Design for NHS CFH, evangelizing the user-centric design approach to building software. Prior to joining the NHS, he spent nine years at the German software company, SAP AG, as a usability engineer, UI design manager, and lead UI designer. Mr. Corbett has been working in the field of software usability in various industries since obtaining his degree in ergonomics in 1988.

Diagnostic software: Improving patient safety around the world

bcrounse — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 18:23:00 GMT

I'd like to draw your attention to a new video that we've just released as part of my House Calls for Healthcare Professionals series. The program takes a look at diagnostic software developed by Robertson Technologies.

I met Dr. Joel Robertson about five years ago. I and others from Microsoft (most notably Dr. David Heckerman at Microsoft Research) have been advising Dr. Robertson during the development of his company's software. The result of this work, NxOpinion, is one of the most significant, accurate, responsive and intuitive diagnostic programs I’ve seen.

I believe there are many applications for its use in emerging markets where physicians in rural villages or lesser-trained individuals working in public health need diagnostic support. I believe there is also a role for diagnostic software in developed nations to improve patient safety and the quality of care in settings such as nurse call centers, community clinics, retail clinics, and urgent care settings. There is also the potential for this technology to be used by consumers in evaluating personal health issues at home.

Enjoy the show!

Bill Crounse, MD Worldwide Health Director Microsoft Corporation

See Video

Dr. Bill Crounse and Robertson Research

Laura — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 17:53:00 GMT

There’s never been a more compelling time for computers in the practice of medicine. There has been an explosion in the amount of information and scientific knowledge that physicians must know in order to practice medicine today. That task becomes even more challenging as genomics and personalized medicine enter the mix of care. In addition, in many developing countries there are severe shortages of qualified healthcare professionals. What medical care there is must often be provided by lesser-trained individuals.

In this special video edition of our on- going House Calls for Healthcare Professionals series, Microsoft's worldwide health director, Bill Crounse, MD, takes a look at computer software called NxOpinion. Using this software, physicians and other caregivers can more accurately assess a patient’s symptoms, arrive at the correct diagnosis, and deliver the safest and most appropriate treatment.

Bios:

Dr. Joel Robertson is the innovator and driving force behind the creation of NxOpinion. With more than 20 years of experience consulting with senior executives, companies and health care facilities to improve their performance and achieve better results, as CEO and Chairman of Robertson Institute, Dr. Robertson currently oversees several medically focused companies in the U.S. and abroad. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy from Ferris State University and a Doctor of Pharmacology from the University of Michigan.

Del. J. DeHart, M.D. is an infectious disease specialist in private practice. He also serves as Associate Professor of Medicine, College of Human Medicine at Michigan State University, where he obtained his medical degree. He serves as Medical Director for NxOpinion, Robertson Research.

M.U.R. Naidu, M.D. is the Dean of the Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) in Hyderabad, India, which is dedicated to providing medical care, educational and research facilities in the field of medical science. Dr. Naidu set up the clinical pharmacology research center at NIMS and is actively involved in research and education for the government of India with multiple publications. He has served as the coordinator of research and testing for NxOpinion, coordinating testing in rural health care workers as well as helping to improve usability and culture and language sensitivity issues.

D. Prasada Rao, M.D. is a cardiothoracic surgeon who serves as a Director at the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences in Hyderabad, India. He is also on the Rural Health Initiate Board for the Government of India and on the Board of Ayorgi Sri, which is their new Medicaid system. He is considered one of the highest ranking physicians in India.

American Healthcare and Falling Bridges: Too much in common

bcrounse — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 23:16:00 GMT

I've mentioned before on this Blog that I'm a fan of Most-Wired Online and its guest editorials. Every so often, a Most-Wired edition comes across my desk that especially draws me in. This week's editorials by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island on Building a National Health IT Infrastructure and by Lois Taveras and Dadong Wan of Accenture on The Case for Pervasive Healthcare really hit a chord with me.

I suppose we all tend to gravitate to folks who think like us, but I couldn't help but ponder how relevant these editorials are to some of the really big issues we face in American healthcare.

Senator Whitehouse is advocating for a public-private partnership akin to the COMSAT legislation for satellite communications during the Kennedy administration. The partnership would drive interoperability, privacy and security rules, and EMR data standards for healthcare IT. As I've hop-scotched around the world and seen for myself, America is woefully behind in the adoption of IT in healthcare (and don't even get me started on even more basic infrastructure failings like roads, bridges, airports, etc.).

Taveras and Dadong write eloquently about the opportunity to transform healthcare delivery and services with pervasive technology that would help us better care for the elderly, treat people with chronic diseases, and frankly serve just about everyone else far more safely and efficiently than we do today. Their editorial is a two-parter and I suspect next week's edition will deal with the harsh reality that unless we change reimbursement mechanisms and perverse incentives in American healthcare, these very real solutions will never see the light of day.

Regular readers of my Blog will immediately understand why I embrace what these guys are saying. Whether it is my commentaries on the potential for Unified Communications in Healthcare, Remote Physiological Monitoring, the need for a Common User Interface, the value proposition for Commodity Software in Healthcare IT, Failing American Infrastructure, and more; there is a very common theme. And that theme is interwoven in everything Whitehouse, Taveras and Wan are writing about.

Wake up, America! If you think our foreign competitors don't see HUGE opportunities to beat us in healthcare because of our failings in IT and our screwed up system, think again. We are at a crossroads here. American healthcare as an industry is at risk of collapsing just like that freeway bridge in Minneapolis.

Bill Crounse, MD Worldwide Health Director Microsoft

Future Vision: Microsoft knowledge driven health

bcrounse — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 03:02:00 GMT

If your company ever comes to Redmond for a health industry briefing at our Executive Briefing Center, or you happen to attend one of the many keynotes I give at industry conferences throughout the year, you'll more than likely see what is known as our Health Future Vision video.

This is the third such health industry video we have produced here at Microsoft. It has been my pleasure to work closely with Ian Sands and his Industry Innovations Group (IIG) to bring these videos to life. What's particularly interesting is how accurate the videos have been in predicting future industry trends and how technology will influence the way we work. Perhaps that's because IIG does so much internal and external research before producing one of these videos. We also base them on technology that is either currently available but not widely implemented, or on technology that is being actively pursued in the labs at Microsoft Research. In any event, everything you see in the video is based on technology that is available now, or is very likely to be available within a 7 to 12 year time frame.

Our newest Future Vision Video also captures the essence of healthcare industry trends that I've been following and writing about for the last few years. This includes the rising tide of consumerism in healthcare, the retail movement, commoditization of services, information everywhere, and globalization.

In the video, we follow a young pre-diabetic patient as she ventures out on a run. During her run, various physiologic functions are being monitored and data is being sent in real time to her personal health record.

A case manager, who has been given permission by the patient to see her data, becomes aware that she may qualify for a new clinical trial. When the young woman returns home she enters into a virtual consultation with her case manager who directs her to check with her personal physician about possible enrollment in the study. She immediately schedules a "virtual conference" with her personal physician.

The scene switches to the young woman's endocrinologist as he beings to make rounds in a hospital. He uses a very light-weight Tablet computer to gather information on his patients, locate needed equipment, and conduct his patient visits.

We see him performing a retinal exam on one of his diabetic inpatients and sharing results with the patient.

He later enters a special room where he conducts a "virtual visit" with the young woman we saw at the beginning of the video. The physician, his patient, and a clinical researcher collaborate on details of the proposed clinical trial.

The doctor instructs his patient to visit a nearby retail setting, where as the video comes to a close, we see her using her "digital wallet" and a kiosk to get necessary tests and medication for the clinical trial.

I think the video accurately reflects the kind of consumer-directed, quality and price transparent, knowledge-driven healthcare delivery system we'd all like to see. And while this is just a video, it certainly captures the essence for how information technology will help transform medical practice to better connect people and data, facilitate improved collaboration, and better inform everyone involved.

Bill Crounse, MD Worldwide Health Director Microsoft Corporation

Arkansas Children's Hospital: IT Innovations Enhancing the Care of Hospitalized Children

bcrounse — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 18:26:00 GMT

Every so often we do a program in my House Calls for Healthcare Professionals series of audio and video-casts that really seems to hit the mark in demonstrating the value of Microsoft technologies in the healthcare industry. I want to draw your attention to one such program.

Arkansas Children’s Hospital is cutting edge when it comes to developing solutions on Microsoft technology. First, take a look at my Blog entry on this topic to get some background and then download or listen to our audio-cast with ACH to learn more about CarePoint and other solutions. This program is especially compelling because one of my guests is a patient at the hospital; a 16 year-old boy who has cystic fibrosis and has spent more time in the hospital than most of us can ever imagine. Find out how Microsoft technologies including Xbox 360, Media Center, Visual Studio, IE, and many others have come together to make hospital stays a whole lot more enjoyable for patients, their friends, and family at Arkansas Children’s Hospital.

Here is where you can stream the audio-cast or download it to your MP3 device

Arkansas Children's Hospital: IT Innovations Enhancing the Care of Hospitalized Children
This program is also available in MP3 for download.

Program Guests:

David Higginson is chief information technology officer at Arkansas Children's Hospital (ACH). He earned a degree in accounting/finance from Liverpool University and qualified as a Chartered Management Accountant. He began developing computer systems at the age of 10 and later combined his computer and financial expertise when he began developing systems for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the British Post Office. Since moving to ACH in 1996, Mr. Higginson has developed numerous award-winning computer systems with the help of his team of 14 developers, who have created more than 400 systems in less than five years.

Penny Ward is a registered nurse who joined Arkansas Children's Hospital in 1993. Since 2002 she has been a Nursing Director for the Adolescent and General Medicine units and for the Dialysis and IV teams at the hospital.

Christopher Holstead is 16 years old and has cystic fibrosis. He has been admitted to Arkansas Children's Hospital many times and has seen how the hospital has improved the patient care experience.

Additional resources

Healthblog - additional information and screenshots of ACH CarePoint patient entertainment/education solution

Arkansas Children's Hospital

Windows XP Media Center

Xbox

Bill Crounse, MD Worldwide Health Director Microsoft Corporation

Medstory debuts on MSN Health and Fitness

bcrounse — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 21:23:00 GMT

Back in April I posted information on HealthBlog about Medstory, the medical search company that had recently been acquired by Microsoft. I interviewed Medstory founder and CEO, Dr. Alain Rappaport, who I have known for nearly a decade. Alain and I first met while I was co-founding a venture-backed technology company aimed at facilitating physician-patient communication and collaboration. Little did we know at the time that many years later our paths would cross once again under Microsoft's umbrella.

Dr. Rappaport called me last week to say that Medstory is now fully integrated with MSN’s Health and Fitness site. He wanted me to be among the first to know and invited me to take it for a test drive.

After navigating to MSN Health and Fitness, I initiated a search on Prostate Cancer. Right away, I noticed that my search yielded Medstory's unique and rather colorful “dashboard".

The dashboard is made up of categories. Under each category is a list of related health topics that are most pertinent to the search being performed. The color bar next to each topic illustrates its degree of relevance to the subject of the search. For instance, one of the categories for a search on Prostate Cancer is Tests and Procedures. The most relevant topic in that category is the PSA Test. When I click on PSA Test, I have the option of refining my search to include both Prostate Cancer and PSA Test, or PSA Test alone.

Should I decide to search for both terms, the most pertinent articles containing both terms will be revealed. I'm given similar choices each time I conduct a search adding a third, fourth, or fifth term to my list. I also have the option of jumping to articles that are associated only with the new term I'm selecting from the dashboard. I also have the choice of using a "Site Search Results" tab that only reveals articles on MSN, or "Health-Related Web Results" that will return health information from all across the worldwide web. Note that the categories include Complementary Therapies and Nutrition; two that will be especially popular with consumers.

Prior to founding Medstory, Dr. Rappaport had had an illustrious career in artificial intelligence research and data mining. He says he turned his attention to improving how consumers and clinicians find and use medical information because healthcare is an industry that is driven by information. It is not enough, he says, to provide links to information. Search engines must become intelligent enough to understand a user’s intent. “We need a web that knows versus one that just links”, said Dr. Rappaport. “We are moving the center of gravity of search to return an understanding of what the user wants. Our core objective is to provide meaningful information that is also actionable.”

Dr. Rappaport said he teamed up with Microsoft because of the opportunity to engage with customers and partners all around the world who are now coming forward to help us innovate and use this technology. “Even in parts of the world where populations are medically underserved", he said, "providing relevant and timely information, will make a difference”.

Of course, this is just the beginning of many health related applications and services for both consumers and medical professionals that you'll be seeing from Microsoft and our partners in the months and years ahead. But for now, the next time you are seeking information about health or wellness, navigate over to MSN Health and Fitness and take Medstory for a spin. I think you will like what you see.

Bill Crounse, MD Worldwide Health Director Microsoft Corporation

A Pediatric Hospital Bedside Patient Entertainment & Education System: Microsoft Media Center + Xbox

bcrounse — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 20:54:00 GMT

Arkansas Children’s Hospital

Every so often I come across organizations and people that truly blow me away. Pediatric hospitals have always been known for innovative ideas in the care of their young patients. So, it comes as no surprise that a pediatric hospital would rise to the occasion to better meet the entertainment and education needs of their "customers". But you just have to love it when a truly dedicated clinical and IT staff put their heads together and come up with a solution that is truly best in class.

That is exactly what has happened at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. ACH is based in Little Rock. It is the only full-service children's hospital in the state. The staff at ACH decided it was time to replace the hospital's aging in-room television system with something a little more contemporary. At first, they looked at systems that might typically be found in good hotels. However, they soon discovered that these systems were too expensive, too inflexible, and too limiting for what they really wanted to accomplish. They wanted a system that would provide their young patients with a full spectrum of on-demand movies, television, Internet, video gaming, and patient education. They also wanted a highly flexible platform on which they could provide other services now and well into the future. Finally, they wanted complete control over the system and its attributes that could be fine-tuned to meet the age-appropriate needs of patients, their friends and family. When they didn't find what they needed on the open market at a price they could afford, they decided to build it themselves.

The solution they came up with uses Microsoft Media Center, Xbox 360, and SQL Server. It extends the hospital's IT infrastructure out to the patient's bedside. Patients access the system through a custom designed interface on a 15-inch flat screen monitor next to the bed. This set-up lends itself to easy cleaning between patients. The monitor also becomes a kind of "command-central" for doctors and nurses who want to access a patient's electronic record or review x-rays and other data with the patient in his or her room. Movies, games, educational videos, Internet access, e-mail, messaging, etc. are viewed on a 32-inch LCD screen mounted on the wall across from the bed.

Home screen to the bedside entertainment and education system at Arkansas Children's Hospital based on Microsoft Media Center

Yesterday, I recorded one of my House Calls audio-casts with the staff at ACH. That program will be posted on my House Call's site on Microsoft.com within the next few days. In the meantime, I just couldn't wait to tell you about this. Although the solution has just finished a limited pilot, the decision has already been made to roll it out hospital-wide. One of the highlights of my audio-cast was interviewing a 16 year-old young man who is a frequent patient at ACH. To hear his excitement about using the new bedside entertainment and education system at ACH was reward in itself. He said the system is totally awesome in helping him stay in touch with school, friends and family during extended hospital stays. His doctor has used the bedside monitor to review test results with him. And the TV, movies and Xbox games are way cool!

Custom user interface that controls entertainment and education options as displayed on a 15-inch flatscreen monitor at the patient's bedside

Congratulations to ACH Chief Technology Officer, David Higginson, and his staff. This is just one of more than 400 clinical and business solutions this team has built at Arkansas Children's Hospital in the last five years alone. I met David a while back when he visited us here at Microsoft in Redmond. It was evident then that he and his team were up to some amazing work. My thanks also are extended to Penny Ward, RN, for sharing her enthusiasm about the bedside solution at ACH. And, my very special thanks go to Christopher Holstead, the 16 year-old patient at ACH, for sharing his thoughts about the new bedside entertainment and education system.

Be watching here on HealthBlog for more information when my House Calls’ audio-cast with Arkansas Children’s Hospital goes live on the Net.

Bill Crounse, MD Worldwide Health Director Microsoft

Microsoft surface computing: Implications for the healthcare industry

bcrounse — Thu, 31 May 2007 20:52:00 GMT

Yesterday, Microsoft officially launched the first commercial product from a group and technology known as Microsoft surface computing. The product is called Milan; a coffee-table sized PC that takes touch screen technology to entirely new levels and gives users a highly interactive experience with all things digital. For now, you'll be seeing the technology in business environments such as hotels, casinos, and retail establishments. You can read more about that here:

I first told you about surface computing last July when I met with colleagues at Microsoft Research to produce a video segment for my House Calls for Healthcare Professionals series. In that video, Dr. Eric Horvitz and surface computing guru, Andy Wilson, and I talked about the technology and possible implications for the healthcare industry. At the time Andy's work was going under the code name Play Anywhere. My head was literally spinning with ideas on how this new user interface could be used in radiology, physical therapy, anatomical pathology, and other disciplines. It also occurred to me that this new way to interact with a computer, manipulate screen images, and navigate through data could be immensely important to clinical work-flows demanding a more hands-free, no-touch solution such as might be desirable during surgery or certain medical procedures.

If you are a developer of solutions for the healthcare industry, or just an enthusiast of forward-looking technologies, you may want to give my video another look. You may also want to view another video that was shot during an “In the Labs” keynote panel at the Gartner ITXpo at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. In the video, broadcast by CNET, Dr. Eric Horvitz also ponders possible medical uses for surface computing. Finally, if you take a look at another video I recently did with UCSF physician and CMIO, Dr. Michael Blum, and Motion Computing VP, Joel French, you'll catch us talking about the touch screen features found on Motion Computing's newest Tablet PCs running Windows Vista. Put two and two together, and I think you'll begin to see where all this is going.

I would like to extend my congratulations to Andy Wilson and his fellow researchers at Microsoft Research, as well as to my colleagues in our surface computing group. Way to go! I can't wait to see how some of our partners in the healthcare ISV community will take advantage of surface computing in tomorrow's clinical applications.

Bill Crounse, MD Worldwide Health Director Microsoft Corporation

The Mobile Clinical Assistant: A new category in Tablet PC’s for Healthcare

Laura — Thu, 17 May 2007 01:17:00 GMT

Over the past few years Microsoft partner, Motion Computing, has focused on serving the healthcare industry. In February at HIMSS, the company introduced an entirely new category of Tablet PC: the Mobile Clinical Assistant, also known as the C5. In March, Motion introduced a new full-sized Tablet PC, the LE1700, that not only has a touch screen but is fully capable of running Windows Vista with Aero glass graphics.

In this special video edition of House Calls for Healthcare Professionals, Microsoft's worldwide health director, Dr. Bill Crounse, and his special guests take a look at these exciting new Tablet PCs from Motion Computing and discuss how these devices are being used by clinicians around the world.

Joel French, is Vice President of the Health and Life Sciences group for Motion Computing, Inc. Mr. French is a leader in wireless products and services designed for mobile professionals in vertical industries.

Dr. Michael Blum, is Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, a practicing Cardiologist, and Chief Medical Information Officer for the University of California San Francisco Medical Center.

National e-Prescribing Patient Safety Initiative, HIMSS, and more

bcrounse — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 21:37:00 GMT

Last week while visiting New York City, I sat down for an interview with Peter Cervieri at ScribeMedia. Peter and I first met last December at the Consumer Health World conference in Washington, D.C. Peter had invited me to visit him at ScribeMedia's Manhattan headquarters the next time I was in the city, and so I did. I toured ScribeStudios and then Peter and I chatted for 30 minutes or so about some of our initiatives at Microsoft. We also videotaped the interview so Peter could share it with his "viewers". We talked about the National e-Prescribing Patient Safety Initiatiive (NEPSI) sponsored by a consortium of leading technology companies including Microsoft, payor organizations and academic medical centers across the nation. NEPSI makes an easy-to-use and secure web services e-prescribing solution from Microsoft partner Allscripts available free of charge to every physician in America. Adoption of e-prescribing by all physicians is essential to help reduce medication errors that according to a report from the Institute of Medicine injure more than 700,000 Americans each year.

We also talked about a range of other topics related to healthcare IT and Microsoft's role in the industry. I hope you enjoy the show.

Next Saturday, I'm off to HIMSS in New Orleans where I hope to see a lot of you. If you are in the neighborhood of the Microsoft booth on Monday or Tuesday, I hope you'll drop by and say hello. I hope you'll also be around for Steve Ballmer's keynote on Monday morning. I think you'll be inspired by his message and our vision for higher quality, safer, more effective and satisfying health and healthcare made possible by technology.

Bill Crounse, MD Worldwide Health Director Microsoft

Big Healthcare Savings from Surprisingly Simple Solutions

bcrounse — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 23:07:00 GMT

Even if you work in a so-called “most wired” American healthcare facility, I guarantee if you look around you’ll still find lots of paper forms and processes. Paper is endemic in American hospitals and clinics, even in those with fairly robust enterprise information systems and electronic medical records. Paper is still used for staff scheduling, HR processes, reporting, transfers, discharges, and all kinds of other tasks.

There are a couple of ways around this. You can ask your HIS vendor to automate a work-flow that’s still trapped on paper. But often the aggravation, delays, and high costs don’t justify the return; and that's if you can even get them to do small projects like this. You can also buy specialized software to solve these problems, but you just end up with a bunch more departmental applications in an already crowded and complex array of applications that don’t talk to one another.

That’s why I have been so pleased to learn what some of our most innovative customers are achieving with software that so many of them already own. This is particularly true of the way some hospitals and clinics are using Microsoft Office and SharePoint Server (MOSS) and InfoPath Forms.

One such example comes from Children’s Memorial Hospital of Chicago. Last week at our Healthcare Executive Forum event in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Eric Gasber, RN, followed me on the podium with a presentation that truly wowed attendees. Eric describes Children’s use of SharePoint as a solution that “begins where the enterprise applications end”. In example after example he showed paper based workflow, reporting, and collaborative processes that had been automated with MOSS. Most of these solutions were developed by Eric with little help from IT. He’s created solutions for time off requests, patient financial services, crash cart logs, meeting agendas and materials, service requests, and pre-procedural forms and scheduling for interventional radiology, cardiac catheterization, and anesthesia. Some of these solutions took just hours to put into production. Some took days or weeks. Eric soon identified “power users” in the organization who could develop their own solutions and forms. “If they have ever created a form in Word, they have most of the skills they need”, he says.

In some cases the return on investment from these solutions is measured simply by delighted clinical or business staff. But in many cases, Eric can claim real dollars coming from his work. His solution for Cardiac MR scheduling resulted in an 80 percent increase in scanned cases per month. Total increased throughput in Cardiology and MRIs have resulted in an additional $6.5 million to the bottom line. Eric attributes this success to the fact that the solutions he designs using SharePoint Server and InfoPath are fast to develop and implement, highly flexible, and very intuitive for end users.

This is another great example of how commodity software is being used to address critical business and clinical processes in hospitals and clinics, at a cost that is affordable. And that means more money for what really counts in healthcare; taking care of our patients.

Bill Crounse, MD Healthcare Industry Director Microsoft

Exchange Hosted Services: Right solution, right time, right price for healthcare

bcrounse — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 22:41:00 GMT

If you are charged with managing e-mail, messaging, and other forms of electronic communication and collaboration in a healthcare organization large or small, you will be very interested in learning more about Exchange Hosted Services from Microsoft. For starters, check out the new audio-cast on this topic in my House Calls for Healthcare Professionals series. This just might be the solution you've been waiting for.

Click below to access the programs

Exchange Hosted Services: Secure email communication and collaboration in healthcare
This program is also available in MP3 for download.

Program Introduction and Guests:

E-mail communication has become the norm for consumers and business people. And when it comes to healthcare, consumers have a growing expectation that they should be able to communicate electronically with their doctor or hospital, just as they do with their bank, retail store, or other service industry provider. Striving to increase efficiency and curb rising costs, healthcare providers are turning to e-mail to replace paper-based communications. But healthcare poses some special challenges when it comes to maintaining confidentiality and privacy. To address issues raised by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and other regulatory requirements, healthcare organizations must evaluate and implement organization-wide security best practices and technologies—adding potential complexity and expense to the equation. Finally, there’s a solution for more secure e-mail communication for healthcare: Microsoft Exchange Hosted Services.

Panel guests:

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Forrest Hobbs, director of sales and market development for Exchange Hosted Services (formerly known as Frontbridge Technologies), has worked on Exchange Hosted Services since 2001. He develops and implements programs for sales, marketing, and business development. Previously, Forrest headed business development for TTI/Vanguard, a technology think tank for Fortune 500 companies and government agencies.

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Danny Bohm, senior product manager for Exchange Hosted Filtering and Exchange Hosted Encryption, has worked with Exchange Hosted Services and its customers since 2003. Prior to that, Daniel led research and development and operations teams at iBeam Broadcasting, a streaming media production and hosting company.

Additional resources

Microsoft Exchange Hosted Services

I hope you enjoy the program!

Bill Crounse, MD Healthcare Industry Director Microsoft

Windows Vista Accessibility: Speech Recognition and Navigation

bcrounse — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 20:57:00 GMT

As referenced in my previous Blog entry, I just returned from delivering the opening keynote address at the NextGen Users Conference in Las Vegas. The event was attended by nearly 2500 people. As I looked out across the vast audience that filled the Grand Ballroom I couldn't help but think about how much, and how fast, this company has grown. Their first users conference in 1995 consisted of 27 customers and 17 NextGen employees. This year's event was organized by more than 160 NextGen employees. At the rate NextGen's user base is growing, I suspect that conference attendance will top 4000 within a couple of years. Of course I'd like to attribute this growth at least in part to the partnership between our two companies. NextGen is solidly built on Microsoft technologies. It's a business decision and strategy that appears to be paying off huge dividends for NextGen.

Speaking of great technology, be sure to check out Part 2 of my streaming video "House Calls" series on Windows Vista accessibility features. This particular video focuses on the greatly improved speech recognition and navigation experience in Windows Vista. My colleague, Rob Chambers, provides a whirlwind tour and demo of speech recognition in Vista and gives us a few tips and tricks to help maximize our experience with speech.

My reason for focusing on accessibility in Windows Vista is to draw attention to the prevalence of temporary and permanent disabilities in the workplace and general population. Accessibility technologies and solutions are available to keep people productive and make computing available to everyone regardless of visual, auditory, cognitive,or neuromuscular ability. Health professionals need to be aware of these technologies since they are often the first point of contact for people who may turn to them for advice and counsel on how best to live and remain productive with a disability.

To stream the video, click here

Bill Crounse, MD Healthcare Industry Director Microsoft Corporation

Are you talking to me? No! I'm talking to my computer! Check out this new Voice Recognition program.

Laura — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 04:44:00 GMT

Explore the speech recognition capabilities in Windows Vista and watch a demonstration to learn how you can operate them to open, close, and use programs; navigate around the screen; explore the Web; and create documents. You’ll also get some tips on how to edit documents, improve recognition of custom or unusual words, and get the most out of speech recognition in Windows Vista.

A peek inside Microsoft Research reveals Tom Cruise's technology today!

Laura — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 14:00:00 GMT

We dropped in at Microsoft Research (MSR) to get a look at the potential for today’s technologies long before they ever evolve into products. Andy Wilson’s Play Anywhere prototype uses a clever combination of a projector, a camera, and a computer to develop what is probably the most intuitive human interface for digital information yet (Minority Report anyone?). Andy showed us the Coffee Compass, which could certainly become a popular in-car hack.

Links: Research

Productivity tools that watch you work, learn your habits, and write your autobiography all at once.

Laura — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 04:00:00 GMT

Eric Horvitz spends his time at MSR developing advanced ideas for time and resource management. His work automates the prioritization of tasks by monitoring the formatting of emails (and eventually the voice-print of voice-mails). His software even uses his digital camera to watch how he moves in his office, so his machine can learn by literally watching him work! His Life Browser tools give us a peek at the sort of software that might give all of us our own [virtual] executive assistant.

Links: Bill's health blog, Eric Horvitz