• PC World
• »Phones
• »Smart Phones

The Wired Alternative: ParkStone Medical

Staying in Sync for Better Health Care

Doctors, lawyers, engineers, and other professionals often need mobile access to their data and thus are excellent candidates for handheld applications. But these apps needn't be wireless to be effective.

Consider ParkStone Medical Information Systems. The company--formed by internist Glenn Parker, M.D., and software designer Lewis Stone--makes software that helps doctors manage medications, referrals, diagnostic tests, and documentation for their patients.

Last fall, ParkStone rolled out a new Pocket PC product through IBM's Global Healthcare channel. By the end of the year, roughly 2100 physicians nationwide were using it to check on-the-spot whether a medication they wanted to prescribe was covered by a patient's health insurance. They could also investigate whether the drug might interact with foods or with other drugs.

The heart of the system is an SQL Server database that consolidates constantly updated information from health plans and pharmaceutical companies. On the handheld end is a homegrown mobile application--"as easy to use as a microwave oven," Stone says--that can be synced with the server periodically.

Doctors receive the service at no charge, since insurers and pharmaceutical companies foot the bill. The insurance companies like the program because it streamlines their review process. Drug makers appreciate the fact that it provides physicians--who drive 85 percent of the nation's health care costs--with detailed information on all of the company's latest medications.

Next Steps

Now Stone and Parker plan to go wireless. Aether Systems, a provider of wireless and mobile data products in Owings Mills, Maryland, created a wireless version of the product that is slated to enter beta testing this year. It supports true client-server architecture, meaning that the Pocket PC and the server swap messages only when the handheld client requests it. Otherwise, the Pocket PC works without a wireless connection, storing tens of thousands of patient medication histories locally.

"The great thing about the system," says Aether's corporate vice president of health care solutions Steve Bass (no relation to PC World's columnist), is that by identifying potential drug interactions, "it's out there saving lives every day."