Reprinted from Canadian Healthcare Technology, May 1998 issue
Multimedia medical software can be used by sole practitioners or entire health regions, Software is image-enabled, plugs into drug utilization systems, and can route reports to referring physicians.
BY JERRY ZEIDENBERG
TORONTO - As part of an aggressive product launch, MedcomSoft Inc. will send a sample copy of its, MedWorks 2.0 software system to each of Ontario's 22,000 physicians. The company claims to have produced the first 'multimedia' medical system based on Microsoft Windows 95/NT that automates both business and clinical processes for doctors.
The MedWorks software has been designed along the lines of Microsoft Office - anyone familiar with the integrated suite will immediately recognize the interface. Doctors can try the software, and if they like it, can continue using it for $69 per month. That price includes the software, support, and upgrades.
It doesn't include training, but the company says it takes about four hours of instruction for most medical professionals to become adept users of the system. And unlike other medical programs, physicians won't be locked into long-term leases. Since they only commit to paying for it one month at a time, they can stop using the program at any point.
MedWorks combines electronic patient records with clinical and radiological images, and even live videos, in a package that's ready to use right now. That contrasts with some other developers who have demonstrated these capabilities as applications that won't be available for a few years.
MedWorks emerged from MedcomSoft's experience as a provider of medical billing systems. Working with doctors who used the 'front office' software, the company studied what was needed for a clinical system. According to company president and founder Dr. Sami Aita, an extensive patient records is at the core of the program, but it's a record that can be accessed from a point-of-care - physician's office, hospital, private clinic, pharmacy, homecare provider and others.
Each patient record consists of an array of categories that can be tracked by the doctor or health professional. In the standard electronic record, these variables revolve around medical history, prescriptions, lab encounters, radiological results, facility visits, appointments and billing. In the medical history category, segments of the record include:
• On-going health conditions.
• History of illness/injury and operations.
• Family history.
• Risk and social factors.
• Immunization.
• Allergies/reactions.
• Blood transfusions.
• On-going treatment regimens.
The company plans to release modules for specialists, such as radiologists and obstetricians, every three months. These modules will contain specialized fields - allowing, for example, an obstetrician to follow the course of a pregnancy much more easily.
Using MedWorks, healthcare providers can obtain access to patients history at other facilities, pro, vided that the various health professionals have all implemented the MedWorks system and have the appropriate security clearance. This ability to link various facilities over a network makes the program ideal, says Dr. Aita, for automating whole health districts or provinces.
MedWorks intergrates medical images with patient records. What's more, the system is web-enabled, and is said to offer several types of high-level computer security.
At the same time that it is establishing a base in Ontario, the company plans to promote the system in other jurisdictions. It has already begun an international marketing push, and obtained a memorandum of understanding (MOU) from the government of the Philippines. Under the agreement, MedcomSoft will sell the software to 1,863 Filipino hospital's in a deal valued at $30 million. A second phase, involving software sales to doctors, pharmacies and laboratories, could be worth $280 million more.
MedcomSoft won the business in the Philippines while on the 1997 Team Canada trade mission in Asia, which benefited from the involvement of Ontario Premier Mike Harris.
Traditionally, many physicians have resisted computerizing the clinical aspects of their practices because they haven't seen any real advantages in doing so. What's more, most doctors don't like keyboards, and don't want to start typing - a process they find laborious and below their station.
To get around the keyboard problem, MedcomSoft has integrated continuous speech, voice-recognition software from IBM into the system, along with a thumb, controlled trackball that's built right into a handheld microphone. Using the thumb-guided mic/trackball - a brand new product from Philips - a doctor can quickly flip from field to field in a patient record and enter the appropriate clinical data by voice.
Dr. Aita says that MedWorks will offer clear-cut benefits on both the business side and the quality of patient care.
In terms of finances, the program offers one-button, health-card validation. This will enable physicians in Ontario, for example, to validate the health cards of their patients without renting a card swiper, the method commonly used today.
As for patient care, the system can speed up many of the processes that are currently used by doctors and other health professionals. For example, the system can automatically route radiological reports and even images from a clinic or hospital to the referring physician. Surgeons can send still pictures or videos of operations to referring physicians, as well.
And in the emerging field of telemedicine, a specialist at a big city hospital could monitor numerous patients in distant locations via live video feeds, with equipment such a EEGs attached.
Much of this work can be done using the system over an intranet or the World Wide Web. According to Dr. Aita, records in MedWorks can be quickly converted into HTML format for the WWW, and common plug-ins permit viewing of images.
MedcomSoft is currently integrating the system with MDS labs, creating application that will allow physicians order tests for patients and send the orders directly from their offices to local diagnostic lab. "The data can be entered just once, at the doctor' office," said Dr. Aita. "The sample c be labeled and bar-coded at physicians offices, and the report can come back to them electronically, as well." That contrasts with the courier service that' typically used today - a process that can leave physicians waiting hours o even days for results.
What's more, the system is ready connect to drug checking systems thanks to MedcomSoft's alliance wit Systems Xcellence Inc. of Milton Ont., the company that designed British Columbia's PharmaNet drug utilization system. It can also connect with pharmacies, automating much the communication between physicians and pharmacists.
Overall, the multimedia MedWorks system can dramatically speed up and improve the level of care in health region, says Dr. Aita. "Quality of care depends on access to information," he asserted. "You need flow of information."
MedcomSoft's timing appears to b pretty good, too. Just when many health districts and entire provinces including Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta - are seeking to construct health information net works, MedcomSoft will be promo its newly released system as one of the basic building blocks. |
