Ramblings: SingLive 2009 – Day One

Phew, what a long day! I woke up at 6am just to beat the traffic jam (even though I am not driving today) to the exhibition centre – Suntec City Convention Hall for SingLive 2009.

The day got an exciting start (although I will not comment too much on it) and remained extremely busy throughout with not only queries from delegates who are interested in cardiology informatics (scheduling, cardiovascular information system and cardiology PACS) and product demonstration (I think I did 7 demos while my clinical analyst did even more. I got the thumbs up from her on my ‘demo skills’ though, the feeling was extremely rewarding as I am a technical marketing product manager, not clinical   I guess the late nights fiddling with an end-user manual in front of a demo workstation paid off)

In addition, I had several colleagues who flew in from China for this event (yup, that’s how famous SingLive is) to support us as there are numerous delegates from China (amidst several  countries).

Of course, the best part is still the networking. Catching up with old friends who move on to different companies while making new ones sparked off several collaboration potentials as well as marketing opportunities – I’m a firm believer of creating a win-win situation. I reckon if you help enough people, they will return the favor when you really need it. Worked extremely well for me so far

So in all it was a long and tiring day but the good news is that while other big modality vendors are not exhibiting this year due to budget issue, my company (well, the one I work for) remained not only robust but drew in more interest than ever! Feels good to be (an important) part of the winning team

Interestingly, a conversation with a friend working in a large famous medical grade provider (starts with a B, no prizes for guessing the correct answer though) commented on the large market potential of a side ‘business’ that I have been trying to get a partner with.

It ached alittle as I see numerous commercial opportunities on this aspect every other day but keep having to turn it away as the partner I’ve identified wanted to hold on the discussion till April. (But I guess they have their rights). The good news I have on this? Well I am now thinking of Plan B to capture these opportunities

Still tune for more on Singlive 2009 – Day Two and this side ‘business’ idea of mine

Ramblings: Marquis Who’s Who in Medicine and Healthcare

I was informed by the selection committee from Marquis Who’s Who back in November 2008 that in review of my achievements, I was being considered for inclusion in 2009-2010 Edition of Who’s Who in Medicine and Healthcare which is scheduled for publication in August 2009.

I felt extremely honored to receive such recognition as the Marquis Who’s Who is one of the most recognized biographical dictionaries (there are several who’s who rip offs, Marquis is one of the few recognized worldwide).

Earlier this week, I was informed officially via mail  to verify my biography for publication (the print directories are used as a reference tool by researchers, journalists and medial professionals, it is almost almost found in public libraries) and I must say, the feeling was pure cloud nine

So there you have it, I’m now a “Who’s Who in Medicine and Healthcare” and this little acheivement seriously motives me to spend more time on binaryHealthCare.com as well as to publish more papers

Ramblings: Of HIMSS Asiapac 09 and SingLIVE 2009

Two major conferences will take place next week in Asean, HIMSS AsiaPac 09 and SingLIVE 2009.

HIMSS AsiaPac 09 is held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from the 24th -27th Feb while SingLIVE 2009 is held in Singapore from the 26th Feb – 1st Mar.

Now those familiar with the geography of this region will know that both locations are relatively near (its 1 hour by plane) and I was initially (back in 2008) very very very excited about attending these two events in Feb 2009, the excitement lasted till the official dates were released – there is a clash of schedule.

As such, I have to forgo HIMSS AsiaPac 09 and stay guard for SingLIVE 2009 because

• It is one of the most prestigious cardiology event in Asia
• I am organizing (and in charge of) the exhibition booth for my company (my day job)

On a side note, I wrote a press release on the ECG Management System under my product umbrella as well as an advertorial on an Enterprise IT solution that will be showcased at HIMSS, so I guess I am still ‘connected’ somehow….

I personally feel sad that I cannot be physically present for HIMSS AsiaPac 09 as I had missed HIMSS AsiaPac 08 (I attended the one for 2007) and this particular event it not just the biggest healthcareIT event in the region but also an opportunity for me to catch up with old friends working across the different companies (and across different countries).

Ah well, I guess it can’t be help. Do drop me an email if you are coming to SingLIVE 2009 and want to catchup.

More on SingLIVE 2009 coming up on the days to come.

Ramblings: PACS Data Mirgation

“PACS Data Migration”, what a ‘dirty word’  :)

I’ve been through my fair share of Data Migration, from a PACS replacement when I was working as a Imaging Informatics Systems Administrator in a hospital, to proving advice consultancy as a Consultant, to providing methodology and applications from a solution provider point of view. Every data migration is unique and always posed a challenge.

Why is it a challenge? Well my friend, that question warrants an entire series of articles by it self but I’m not going to reinvent the wheel anytime soon. However, if you have questions on Data Migration philosophy or methodology, feel free to email me.

I was reading the (wonderful) posts on the PACS Admin yahoo groups and someone mentioned a free data migration tool (yes, you read it right – Free!).

In view of a potential free tool, I check out the company – Laitek (which I have no affiliation to) and according to their web portal, Laitek performs data migration services either directly for hospitals or as a subcontractor to replacement PACS vendors, they will develop a migration proposal based on the hospital’s individual needs and a technical investigation of site requirements.

The website posed some very interesting read on the concepts of PACS Data Migration and the company’s approach to theses concepts. The free tool is intended for small scale data migration and has a limitation of 10,000 studies (not bad if you ask me), there is a download page that requires registration (here), do update this post on your experience and thoughts if you try the tool.

Software analyzes medical images while ‘thinking’ like a doctor

To reach a breakthrough in computer analysis of medical images, University of Waterloo engineering Prof. Hamid Tizhoosh and his colleagues had to acknowledge a shortcoming that is hard for engineers to admit.

Engineers like consistency and objectivity, Tizhoosh says. There have to be rules for everything that are the same for all users and subjects.

But humans don’t work that way. Their judgments are inherently subjective.

That’s why previous attempts to electronically analyze medical images to doctors’ satisfaction had failed. No matter how finely tuned its algorithms, there was simply no way to design a computer program that could identify objects the way a given person saw them.

Tizhoosh says his team has overcome this difficulty by merging years of research on artificial intelligence with the field of medical imaging. The result is a computer program, Segasist, that gradually learns a doctor’s biases and preferences until it can think just like that doctor when analyzing an image.

The results have been promising enough to earn a $750,000 venture capital investment for Omisa Inc., the spinoff company created to commercialize the technology.

Incorporated last spring, the company already has five employees and will open its first office in Toronto next week.

Omisa stands for Omni-Modality Intelligent Segmentation Assistant. Segmentation refers to the identification of objects, such as organs, lesions and tumours, from an MRI, CT scan, ultrasound or similar image.

Because existing computer programs do such a poor job at segmentation, doctors often have to pick out objects themselves using programs like Adobe Photoshop. This can be time-consuming when dealing with many images.

“You see highly qualified surgeons sitting in their offices using the mouse and manually clicking point by point where is the tumour for those images,” Tizhoosh says.

The professor first became aware of the problem when he was working on his PhD in Germany in the 1990s. Part of a project to improve the quality of images for radiation therapy, he saw how difficult it was to meet physicians’ demands.

“The way doctors do this cannot be put into equations,” he says. “The information was ambiguous or vague.”

The Iranian-born Tizhoosh came to Canada in 2000 and joined UW a year later. He developed the Omisa technology over the next several years with the help of graduate students.

In 2006, a $25,000 Ontario Centres of Excellence grant helped the team develop a prototype.

Tizhoosh turned to the university for help commercializing the technology. The university will receive 25 per cent of Omisa’s revenues in exchange for its role.

Last year, intellectual property consultant Jacqueline Csonka-Peeren, a veteran of electronics manufacturer Celestica Inc., was hired as Omisa’s president.

In December, venture capital firm First Leaside Visions LP of Uxbridge invested $750,000 in Omisa.

“We felt they had a great product that could demonstrate both cost savings and better outcomes in the health-care system,” says Douglas Hyatt, a consultant with First Leaside. “We felt that with our money and other funds they were able to raise, they would be able to do their development work throughout this time and will have a market open to them when we pull out of this recession.”

Omisa has hired a programmer to turn the prototype into a commercially viable piece of software. The company expects radiologists to try out the software this summer.

The goal is to have the software ready for the Radiological Society of North America convention in Chicago next fall.

Clinics and hospitals would be the target market for the software.

The technology could have applications in fields outside of medicine, such as astronomy and mining, Csonka-Peeren says.

Source: http://news.therecord.com/Business/article/483989

Updates: “I got Skype”

So it isn’t exactly the latest cutting edge innovation nor something I’ve used the first time but with the world gets ’smaller’ by virtue of being more connected through the Internet, I guess its time I adopt it more seriously.

I’ve never really been a heavy user of instant messengers (which really started off the video conferencing faze) except at work where I need to communicate constantly with colleagues all over the world), I simply use emails to communicate with oversea friends, if in need, there’s always the mobile phone.

But that was then and here is now, I’ve made it a personal commitment to adopt skype in order to be more ‘reachable’ and my skype ID is adam.chee, ‘drop in’ if you need to say ‘Hi’.

Ramblings: MCQs on Imaging Informatics from an Imaging Technologist’s Perspective

I embarked on a mini-project a few weeks back, developing a set of Mulitple Choice Questions (MCQs) for an academia friend of mine (from the Indian Medical University that I am working with).

As the intended audience are Imaging Technologists, I wrote about 45 questions, aimed at enforcing the basic concepts of medical imaging informatics. While working on the MCQs, I also wrote a few for PACS Administrators but forced myself to stop as I don’t have the time to complete it (the Core Body of Knowledge is too wide) but I’ll definitely embark on the pet project once discussions with the relevant organisations are firmed (so there are motivation for me to complete them).

In the meantime, I’m going to make these MCQs available if you are requesting it for a relevant purpose (e.g. an educational institute), subjected to agreement with my academia friend of course.

ACR, ARRS to integrate organizations

I guess the recent merger faze in the medical imaging business has caught on with the relevant professional society (not that its not beneficial) .

Both executive committees / governing boards of American College of Radiology (ACR) and American Roentgen Ray Society (ARRS) have agreed in principle to integrate while maintaining traditions and cultures of each (maybe different chapters under the same organisational umbrella).

Results of the integration will see the following changes

• Educational missions of both ARRS and ACR will be integrated
• ARRS will be developing and delivering scientific and educational programs for members of ACR and ARRS
• ACR will take the lead in the areas of government advocacy, economics and health policy, quality and safety and clinical research

ACR and ARRS hopes that with this expansion, they would be able to enhance  services  for respective members and devote resources to new programs to help meet needs of radiologists and medical physicists nationally and internationally.

How when will this merger take place? Well, the proposal will be presented to the ARRS membership in April for consideration, if approved, the new framework will take effect July 1.

Not a bad idea if you ask me, there are simply too many professional societies out there with huge overlapping ‘mission and vision’, although mergers are no guarantees for success, it might prove beneficial for their member’s pocket (there are many of us who spend a small fortune” yearly maintaining our list of professional memberships)

Ramblings: The opportunities for Healthcare IT in Asia……

As an advocate of effective applied informatics in healthcare for the Asia region, it might sound like I’m blowing my own trumpet when I keep saying the “The potential for Healthcare Informatics is colossal and the growth is right here in Asia Pacific“ but over the years, its pretty evident that I’m correct (well, along with the other thousand others who are now singing the same tune).

In my day job, I work as a Product Manager covering Cardiology Informatics (I’m also involved with Radiology, Orthopedic and Enterprise IT segments) for Asia and part of my job includes (among many many other things) conducting technical product training for our sales representative (internal as well as authorize dealers).

The most recent trainings I’ve conducted includes;

• Vietnam
• Malaysia
• Singapore
• Philippines

In addition, I’ve got China lined up next, personally, I see the regional role as a huge advantage as I get to interact with people working at the ground level at each of these countries and get first hand knowledge of the ongoing as well as opportunities to educate / share my knowledge.

As part of my training, I (almost) always have to include a 2 hour overview session on the basics of medical imaging informatics where I cover the concept of RIS, PACS, DICOM, HL7, IHE and workflow (I know 2 hours is a little short but its only an overview). Touching on the topic of education in healthcare informatics, I was recently approached by a rather renown Medical University in India to help develop the curriculum of an upcoming post graduate program (still in the midst of discussion, there are many more initiatives but I will keep them undisclosed until things firms up) and in all honesty, I feel very honored because it has always been my career goal to teach (hopefully in university) when I retire

In addition, I realize that I should spend more effort on binaryhealthCare.com because working on it on a leisure basis has yield so much success, imagine what will happen if I dedicated more time towards it.

Of course, its not going to be a solo effort and I am in process of initiating some collaborative partnerships (although my first attempt came back and told me to wait till April (he has no ideas how many commercial and branding opportunities has flew away for him, maybe I’ll drop him another email later this week).

And for those reading this, if you are interested in joining me in advocating healthcare informatics, please contact me, regardless if you are an individual working in a hospital, vendor, research, academic, consulting, training or an organization (commercial or not-for profit), I’m sure we can work out a win-win situation with either www.binaryhealthCare.com or www.DoYouCHIU.asia

For those who have contact me before, I’ll approach you formally once I got my plans sorted out (but feel free to email again if you want to). This year will be a year of change, lets make it work

HIPAA privacy rule fails to protect patients, hampers health research

A recent study conducted by Institute of Medicine (IOM) and sponsored by;

• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
• American Cancer Society
• American Heart Association/American Stroke Association
• American Society for Clinical Oncology
• Burroughs Wellcome Fund
• C-Change

shows that HIPAA Privacy Rule does not adequately protect the privacy of personal health information and hinders important health research discoveries. Well, this kind of defeats the purpose of implementing HIPPA eh?

IOM has also called on Congress to develop a new approach to protecting personal health information for research, suggesting that factors including privacy, data security, and accountability standards uniformly to information used in all health-related research regardless of who funds or conducts the research.

Should the existing policies remains in place, the committee recommends a series of changes to improve the rule and the guidance that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) gives on how to comply with it.

The original article can be read here.