Handheld healthcare - handheld PCs with Microsoft's CE OS - includes related article on PHYSIX's PocketChart virtual charting application for handheld PCs - Technology Information

Health Management Technology, Dec, 1996 by John D. Carpenter, Jr.

Microsoft Windows CE

Uses: Allows handheld PCs to communicate with each other, share information with Windows-based PCs and connect to the Internet.

Platforms: Seven different lightweight handheld platforms -- Casio, Compaq, HP, Hitachi, LG Electronics, NEC, Philips -- costing about $500

Features:

* Subset of Windows 95 interface

* Scalable 32-bit operating system

* Combines menu bar of current application with toolbar

* For handheld units typically measuring 3.5 X 1 X 6.9 inches and weighing one pound

* Basic models feature 24MB storage with either MIPS R4000 RISC microprocessor or SH3 RISC processor.

It's 8 a.m. and the morning shift of hospital physicians is just arriving.

Stopping by their offices, they call up the morning's patient visitations from their Windows-based PCs. Then they do something extraordinary.

Using a standard communications link, the doctors download everything necessary to complete their rounds -- patient demographics, medical histories, current care plan descriptions, and drug therapy information-into a mobile, Windows-based handheld personal computer. They slip the lightweight units into their coat pockets and leave for their appointments.

Upon returning, the physicians' palm-size computers contain up-to-date histories for every patient. What's more, the units can produce clearly written medical charts, generate pharmacy script orders, and output all the documentation and billing codes necessary for third-party reimbursement. No illegible hand-written notes. No costly dictation. As easily as they downloaded their patient histories, the physicians upload the results of their rounds to update the patient records on their PCs.

Point-of-care patient data capture

The technology making these kinds of efficiencies possible is the handheld personal computer. This powerful tool streamlines the processing of patient data by capturing it at the point-of-care and distributing it electronically throughout the healthcare infrastructure-to physicians and pharmacists, administrators and accountants. Unlike previous generations of mobile devices, handheld PCs rely on an open operating system: Windows CE from Microsoft.

A scalable, 32-bit operating system, Windows CE allows handheld PCs to communicate with each other, share information with Windows-based PCs, and connect to the Internet. Last month, Microsoft announced the availability of the operating system on seven different handheld PC platforms, each of which conforms to a lightweight and power-efficient design, and carries a price tag of approximately $500.

How are analysts and other interested parties responding?

* Andrew Seybold, who tracks developments in the mobile and wireless computing industries, predicts sales of $750,000 to $1 million Windows CE-based handhelds in the next year alone.

* Roy Breslawski, product marketing manager Hewlett-Packard Company, one of the seven handheld PC vendors, says that ,"With about 32 million mobile professional workers in the US alone, the market potential is far beyond what has been seen yet."

* Over 40 software and peripheral vendors have announced their support for Windows CE-including a company that will release a virtual charting environment for handheld PCs by the end of this year. (See related article on page 26)

"The small, unobtrusive form factor and fast start-up time makes handheld PCs ideal for mobile computing," said Mike Beller, vice president of PenVision Information Systems, Inc. The firm is collaborating with Dendryte International to provide wireless access to Dendryte's pharmaceutical databases, speeding sales representatives visits to physicians.

And the openness and available applications of Windows CE solve longstanding problems in the mobile computing industry, says Breslawski. He believes that Windows CE will alleviate past skepticism because it is, "...a system that not only works with industry-standard PCs, but also works like industry-standard PCs."

The arrival of Windows CE also establishes clearly Microsoft's presence at all levels of the healthcare delivery system-from point-of-care data collection to back-end processing.

Windows CE: under the hood

Rather than squeeze its desktop operating system into a handheld PC, Microsoft built Windows CE from the ground up, using a comprehensive subset of the Windows 95 interface. This approach let the company tailor its new operating system to meet the unique demands of handheld computing.

For example, to maximize a handheld PC's 480 X 240 screen, Windows CE combines the menu bar of the user's current application with the toolbar. A person using a word processing application, for example, would see the File and Edit menus along the top line of the screen, along with such toolbar functions as Save, Copy, and Print, and be able to select any of them.

Microsoft applied the same spacesaving rules to Windows CE kernel and interface. Both reside in ROM to speed processing and reduce costs; accommodating new applications is a straightforward matter of replacing the unit's ROM card. This approach lets developers create configurations for specific markets and user needs while retaining the same programming model and user interface.