Sprint will offer Calgary Scientific's ResolutionMD Mobile medical-imaging application on its HTC Evo 4G Android smartphones to allow doctors to access X-rays, MRIs and CAT scans.
Sprint
has announced plans to carry Calgary Scientific's
ResolutionMD Mobile platform on its
HTC Evo 4G Android handsets through Calgary Scientific's
PureWeb
cloud network.
A provider of advanced visualization solutions and Web-enabling platforms,
Calgary Scientific says it has applied for U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for using diagnostic
tools on handhelds.
Sprint is also seeking certification to run ResolutionMD on its
Samsung Epic 4G Galaxy S handset, which has sold more than
1 million units in the United States since its early August release.
ResolutionMD
is a HIPAA (Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)-compliant, Web-based
application that allows clinicians to access images of X-rays, MRIs and CAT
scans instantly without moving the image or data file locally to a handheld or
PC, which can be lost or stolen.
ResolutionMD
is compatible with any PC or mobile device and integrates into a PACS (Picture
Archiving and Communication System
), RIS (Radiology Information System)
or EMR (Electronic Medical Record) platform.
The two companies expect the application to save health care companies administrative
costs by accessing medical images through the PureWeb cloud platform.
In addition to Sprint, other companies that use Calgary Scientific's PureWeb
technology include
Siemens, Viatronix and
Sentinelle Medical.
For this project, Sprint says it has combined its wireline IP network and 3G
and 4G wireless networks to form a single platform for secure access to medical
images.
"The mobile revolution we are seeing in health care is rivaled by few
changes of this magnitude," Randy Rountree, Calgary Scientific's executive
vice president of sales and marketing, said in a statement. "The change
from film to digital imaging is one that comes to mind."
Doctors can also record high-quality video of consultations using
ResolutionMD on the Evo 4G. This ability to
treat patients remotely could help the elderly in
particular, suggests Tim Donahue, Sprint's vice president of Industry Solutions.
Rural areas could also benefit from the technology.
More
and more solutions are being introduced to allow doctors and patients to
connect remotely. In August, California
formed what it calls the
nation's largest telehealth network to deliver care to
remote areas, particularly rural communities.
"As our nation's population ages, and the number of people with acute
care requirements and chronic illnesses continues to grow, mobile technologies
can enable caregivers to treat patients remotely and in a more cost-effective
manner," said Donahue. "Our strategy is to provide a holistic
communications environment that enables caregivers to access the information
they need within the hospital or anywhere in the country covered by the Sprint
3G or 4G networks or WiFi."
The
HTC Evo 4G phone, launched on June 4, was the first in the United
States to run on the 4G network. It features
a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU, a 4.3-inch display, an 8-megapixel auto-focus
camera with HD camcorder, and a forward-facing 1.3-megapixel camera.
"The
Evo device is a large-screen device and has the kind of resolution necessary to
do some diagnostic images," Shahid Shah, CEO
of technology consulting firm Netspective Communications and author of the
Healthcare IT Guy blog, wrote in an
e-mail to eWEEK.
Shah noted that although mobile imaging technology has resided on Windows
Mobile and Palm devices for more than a decade, it's notable for its emergence
on the Android platform.
Calgary Scientific previously introduced ResolutionMD on the Apple iPod
Touch, iPhone and
iPad devices. You can view sample iPhone medical images
from ResolutionMD on the
Apple iTunes store page.
"These types of partnerships could propel the utilization of mobile
devices in medical specialties, delivering critical information to physicians
all over the world, in real time, without overburdening communications networks
and increasing storage requirements to unreasonable levels," Donahue said.
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