Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
What might change this? Certainly outcome-based contracting may have a large
impact on deployment but what will improve the usability and acceptability of the
technology itself? What will lead to greater success in changing patient behaviors?
All current telehealth technologies represent, to one degree or another, an intru-
sion of “foreign” devices into the home. To an elderly person this can be threatening
or intimidating. Suppose the patient's interface to this new technology was through
something far more familiar, their TV? People use them on a daily basis. The screens
are large enough that even the elderly can easily read them. Digital TVs are really a
specialized computer. Most are now capable of being connected to the Internet.
Some even provide an “app platform” but the user interfaces tend to be very poor
and getting to the apps involves leaving the “TV world” and going into a quite dif-
ferent space that is unfamiliar to the user. What if these limitations were overcome
and the app and TV worlds were seamlessly integrated? TIVO has gone some dis-
tance down this road, but not very far. If, as is widely rumored, Apple and/or
Microsoft introduce TVs would they not go much further? Microsoft has developed
a new app layer for Windows 8 that is claimed to work seamlessly across
Smartphones, tablet computers and regular PCs. Might the TV be next?
I think this is highly likely, even if Apple and Microsoft do not actually build a
TV. Both already offer a device to turn an existing TV into an app platform. Microsoft
may be further down that road for health since they have HealthVault and their
Windows 8 app platform is said to work with their XBox, a device most people think
of as a game console but that is clearly capable of doing more. They also produce a
device called Kinect that could potentially allow people to control their TV with
gestures. Kinect might also be a future part of in-home behavior imaging. In fact,
thanks to a startup called Equiso, we may not have to wait for these giants. They
claim to have developed a $69 USB stick that can turn any TV into a SmartTV. [
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For patients at home, could the TV be the long sought gateway to better health?
Understanding and Improving Process
A few health informatics vendors have placed significant emphasis on workflow and
process automation and I've profiled some of them. At least one enterprise software
solution is also based on process.
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However, these are the exceptions, and health-
care is not nearly as sophisticated in designing and optimizing clinical processes as
some other industries, so much remains to be done.
At Georgia Tech I have been involved in two research efforts directed at bringing
novel technologies and approaches to the understanding and optimization of clini-
cal processes. The first of these efforts began at Georgia Tech's Tennenbaum
Institute under the leadership of Bill Rouse. The basic idea is to use the modeling
and simulation technologies already commonplace in other domains to gain a better
