TomTec to enter cardiology PACS market

I first blog about it last year and have been ranting on and on about it, seems that now, the signs are obvious.

Everyone is jumping on to the Cardiology Informatics arena and in this case, it makes sense for TomTec.

“TomTec Imaging Systems, a provider of 3D/4D ultrasound and echocardiography information management systems, is expanding into the field of cardiology PACS.

The Munich, Germany-based TomTec is pre-announcing CardioArena, the network and imaging solution for Cardiology to be released in 2008.The CardioArena platform will be available for 2D, 3D and 4D imaging data, and can serve as a multimodality platform for all major medical imaging systems, such as ultrasound, MRI and cath lab, the company said.

For existing enterprise PACS and CPACS environments, TomTec said its CardioArena presents itself as an add-on solution that opens up opportunities for new medical imaging technologies like 3D/4D echocardiography. “

I heard that their 3D technology are impressive (well, thats where they started! )

More competition… and more job opportunities for us all!

Philips to acquire CVIS developer TOMCAT Systems

Seems to me that Philips is making a strategic move in establishing themselves as a major Cardiology Informatics solution vendor.

Philips completed its acquisition of Witt Biomedical, the largest independent supplier of hemodynamic monitoring and clinical reporting systems used in cardiology catheterization laboratories (Cath Labs) back on the 8th Mar 2006 for for USD 165 million.

Today, it announced that it will TOMCAT Systems, a developer of cardio-vascular information systems (CVIS) that collect and aggregate data relative to the cardiac care of patients to give a patient-centric presentation of data to care givers such as doctors and nurses.

TOMCAT will become part of the Healthcare Informatics business group within Philips. While Wittt only have hemodynamic and Cath modules, TOMCAT’s software connects with different clinical information systems, like cath lab workflow management systems and PACS. It can connect to Philips’ Xcelera and Philips Xper Information Management or with systems from other vendors.

In addition, the solution also provides scheduling, staff and resource management, cost capturing, and the generation of reports and statistical information – one can say that they cover the entire spectrum of the cardiology information lifecycle.

Makes me wonder what Microsoft have in store for Cardiology Informatics, it is afterall, the next big thing

Ramblings: Oxford University Press

I mentioned previously in another post that I did an Advanced Certificate in Teaching English to Young Children many years back, hence it was of great excitement today when I received an email from the Oxford University Press expressing their interest in using an adapted (and abridged) extract of one of my old article for a book entitled Solutions Intermediate Workbook(Slovak Version) by Tim Falla and Paul A. Davies.

The book is an intermediate level workbook in a 5-level general English course for teenage secondary school students. I personally feel honoured and am glad that although I did not practice as an English Teacher (except the occasional ad hoc tutoring of my nephew), that my writings (on IT) could help students learn English.

Life is full of surprises, don’t you agree?

Ramblings: I’m back

First thing first, I must say it was a wonderful break the daily rat race. For 5 whole days,

• I had no access to the Internet (ok, I paid AUD $2 for 15 minutes access on day two)
• I did not watch TV
• I went to the beach 4 times (and I now know why they call it Surfers Paradise! )
• I had minimum phone calls (I had 7 calls in total on the weekdays. 6 on work, even though they knew I was on leave, 1 from the bank……)
• I spend lots of time with my baby gal (who is coming to 11 months old now)

In short, it was simply an amazing break, I spent the last day (Easter Sunday) sitting by the beach watching the waves, it was just amazing.

Ah well, I’m now back in Singapore and clearing emails from work is making me wish that I’m back in Australia….. ah well, such is life !

Ramblings : Going on a holiday

Thats right folks, I’m heading off to a holiday (flying to Brisbane, Australia) for some pleasure.

Hence, I do apologise for the temporary period of silence that this blog will suffer from.

However, do note that I’ll be back (so don’t go away for too long) and yes, I do acknowledge that I have not updated you folks on both the CIO Summit 2008 and SingLIVE 2008 (but I will !).

Stay tune mates.

Regards
Adam Chee W.S.

Heart device hack could be a shocker

A group of university researchers were able to gain access to an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), reading sensitive patient information, disrupting its operation and even programming it to repeatedly administer strong electric shocks – with just a PC, a wireless radio with a couple of antennas and some free software. (Original article here)

Shocking? Not so.

With the increasing reliance on commercially available computing technology (which makes commercial and technological sense), it is only natural that along the benefits, comes the problems associated.

I first talk about IT security in Healthcare Informatics in 2002 and most people just shrug it off thinking that I’m being over-reactive and even had to write an article (published at DIMag.com) to convinence my immediate manager (Manager of the Radiology Department) to adopt a security policy I wrote to prevent computer viral infection from demo ultrasound units.

On a side note, NEMA’s whitepaper on “Defending Medical Information Systems” was published in Mar 2004, my article was published in Jan 2004. I wrote on the topic first )

Medsphere CEO highlights benefits of open-source Ecosystem EHR

Alot of interesting things happened at the 2008 HIMSS conference (in Orlando). It seems that Medsphere Systems unveiled a broad healthcare IT community initiative, called the Healthcare Open Source Ecosystem, that is focused on improving healthcare around its OpenVista EHR.

The CEO of Medsphere – Michael J. Doyle, told Health Imaging News that,

• “Healthcare IT is not collaborative; it’s a bunch of siloed information with many big vendors, where data is neither transparent nor shared. As a result, patient care is compromised through the clinical systems that are in place”

Now that is something I totally agree with, there is indeed a huge gap in the space of interoperability (I think I’ve post countless blog entries on this subject) but wait, there’s more! Michael also mentioned some interesting facts (observations),

Updates to the Google Health

Alright, lets see who else have jump in the bandwagon,

• Medical Informatics Engineering (MIE) has formed a collaborative relationship with Google Health
• Health Grades, an independent healthcare ratings company, is partnering with Google to make independent information on doctors and hospitals, based on quality and cost, accessible via Google Health
• SafeMed, a provider of analytical software for clinical decision support, has formed a collaboration with Google Health

I reckon there are more that I missed out, stay tune to find out who else is going on-board.

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PACS provides platform for new ways of working

As the title indicates, the installation of a PACS opens up new possibilities on how one can work in the imaging department (be it Radiology, Cardiology or ‘X’iology).

Many might think that the selection and installation of a PACS is a challenge but installing a PACS is just the first step what really matters is how the technology and infrastructure is utilised. While a PACS was previously adopted to streamline daily workflow, add value to reporting services, and act as a useful resource for education and training, the current generation of PACS are supposed to help a hospital manage its entire radiology operation.

PACS, teleradiology market to reach $4.4B by 2010

According to a report from market research firm, Global Industry Analysts (GIA);

“The global market for PACS and teleradiology systems is projected to reach $4.4 billion by 2010, despite the fact that the transition to a digital information environment is fraught with challenges, such as the high cost of purchasing, installing and implementing a PACS and uncertainty over security of patient data.”

While I’m not exactly sure what research methodology and extrapolation tools they use in deriving this figures, I’m sure the teleradiology will be in huge demand in the coming years simply due to an advancement of technology and shortage of radiologist (and even radiographers).

The report indicated that