Mobile healthcare news: August, 2006

- Gary Thayer, editor

August 31, 2006 -- (MobileVillage) -- Following is mobile healthcare news for August:

Epocrates has added new safety and monitoring sections to its mobile drug reference guide. The new sections prominently display black box warning information, which is the FDA's most severe drug-associated warning. The FDA requires black box warnings for some medications that present a significant risk of serious or life-threatening adverse effects. Epocrates also added a new safety and monitoring section that includes information on monitoring parameters, common for drug classes such as cardiovascular, psychiatric and neurologic agents.

For ordering information see epocrates.com. For general product information, see the company's summary page on MobileVillage.

MedAptus has released version 7.0 of its Electronic Charge Capture software. A major component of this latest version is Physician Workstation, a Web-based charge capture tool designed to mirror MedAptus's handheld-based software in terms of functionality and overall user experience, says the company. Physician Workstation is also interchangeable with MedAptus' handheld and Tablet PC versions of its Charge Capture, according to MedAptus.

MedAptus says that Electronic Charge Capture 7.0 also allows for integration with the vast majority of Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems via a single sign-on and sharing of captured patient charge data. Version 7.0 also includes an improved Rounding List feature designed to expedite charge capture for physicians treating inpatients, hospitalists and consulting providers. The Rounding List aims to simplify patient look-up and assignment, by allowing for the creation and management of concurrent patient lists for use and editing by medical staff.

Another enhancement to the handheld-based version is an expanded "Find Patient" feature that permits physician-users to search their organization's entire MedAptus database, as opposed to only the smaller database residing on the device. For more information, see medaptus.com.

Skyscape has launched RxPlan, which contains formularies for over 4700 health plans, including Medicare Part D and Medicaid. It continuously updates the status of over 12,000 drugs, and enables RxPlan prescribers the ability to offer choices based on patient health plan coverage. RxPlan integrates with close to 50 Skyscape drug information resources and 300+ mobile information resources.

Designed for Palm, Pocket PC, Windows Mobile PDA's and Windows PC's/TabletPC's, RxPlan searches by drug name, drug class or clinical system and allows the prescriber to browse drug lists within each formulary, giving the status of the drug coverage and automatically selecting possible alternatives for a more favorable option for the given patient.

Skyscape also recently launched Skyscape CME, a program for earning Continuing Medical Education credits. Based on the Point of Care (POC) model of Continuing Medical Education formalized by the American Medical Association (AMA), Skyscape CME lets physicians earn credits while performing their daily clinical duties. Most state licensing boards and specialty organizations in the United States require physicians to participate in at least 50 CME credits per year in order to maintain their medical license. The AMA has standardized educational requirements for physicians through its AMA Physician Recognition Award Category 1 CreditTM program.

Skyscape CME resources that have been approved from its evidence-based portfolio include:

* Griffith's 5-Minute Clinical Consult
* Harrison's Manual of Medicine
* Harriet Lane Handbook
* RxDrugs™: Drug Dosing Information
* Outlines in Clinical Medicine
* American College of Physician's PIER (Physicians' Information and Education Resource)
* Current Practice Guidelines in Primary Care
* Medical Letter's Handbook of Adverse Drug Interactions
* Bakerman's ABC's of Interpretive Laboratory Data
* American Academy of Pediatrician's Red Book 2003
* Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
* AJCC Cancer Staging Handbook & Calculator

For additional information, see Skyscape.com or see the company's summary page on MobileVillage.

USBMIS has added two new PDA references: one is the first in a line geared toward nurses, and the other is geared toward front-line medical staff.

The company says its PDA edition of McGraw-Hill's Nurse's Pocket Drug Guide contains all of the same content as the print edition with additional electronic features such as notes and bookmarks. The Nurse's Pocket Drug Guide includes methods of drug delivery, drug interactions, laboratory test results, specific nursing issues, important patient education issues, information on herbal drugs, and other features.

USBMIS OutbreakID is for those who stand on the frontlines as the key agents for the early detection of disease outbreaks. It includes chemical and biological weapons, emerging infectious diseases, foodborne illnesses, occupational diseases, zoonoses, and arthropod-borne infections. A relational database of 199 diseases, this application was built for queries. The user can find all the diseases that match selected criteria, choosing from among the following: 137 signs & symptoms, 15 syndromes, 102 jobs, 102 activities, 39 epidemiological factors, and 16 regions of the world.

For more information, see usbmis.com.