Tablet PC Gains Widespread Support From Healthcare Industry

SAN DIEGO, Feb. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Months after its official launch, Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP Tablet PC Edition continues to receive positive support within the healthcare industry, Microsoft Corp. today announced at the 2003 Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference and exhibition in San Diego at the San Diego Convention Center. Across the healthcare industry, medical professionals, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and healthcare software vendors are deploying the Tablet PC for its innovative benefits of unlimited mobility and versatility.

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Tablet PCs combine the full power of the Windows XP Tablet PC Edition operating system with the capability to use to a digital pen in addition to a keyboard or mouse. Approximately the size of a medical chart, the Tablet PC can be carried like a clipboard and offers medical providers the capability of a powerful mobile PC that enables wireless real-time data input while interacting directly with a patient.

"The Tablet PC is being readily adopted in the healthcare industry because of the enhanced flexibility it offers," said David Lubinski, general manager of the Healthcare Industry Solutions Group at Microsoft. "Through its innovative digital ink and pen-based input, providers can make notes on medical charts in their own handwriting or annotate digital images. The Tablet PC will be a valuable tool in the fast-paced practice of medicine by helping medical providers automate many paper-based processes and streamline the practice of medicine."

Abington Memorial Hospital, a not-for-profit, 508-bed community teaching hospital in Pennsylvania that has implemented Eclipsys Corporation's SunriseXA advanced clinical software, will be one of the first Eclipsys customers to use the TabletXA mobile clinical solution. TabletXA will provide highly mobile clinicians with access to the powerful knowledge and information of SunriseXA to further improve productivity and patient safety.

"We are excited about the opportunities TabletXA will offer our hospital by allowing us to provide a cost-effective, mobile solution for our physicians, nurses and other clinicians to care for patients," said Alison Ferren, CIO of Abington. "Our migration to TabletXA began as part of our patient safety initiative."

SunriseXA is delivered as Web services-based components built on the Microsoft .NET Framework around a comprehensive workflow framework, so patient information goes to one place -- streamlining workflow for all medical providers and clinicians. Ferren noted that Abington's implementation of Eclipsys' SunriseXA effectively builds on the universal computerized physician order entry actively used at the hospital.

A PC That Medical Providers Can Use in More Ways and More Places

In addition to Eclipsys, Microsoft vendors and Tablet PC "early adopters," Allscripts Healthcare Solutions (AHS) and Stentor Inc. joined Microsoft in developing applications that run on the Windows XP Tablet PC Edition operating system.

AHS, a provider of modular electronic medical records (EMR) software and clinical solutions for physicians, demonstrated TouchWorks for the Tablet PC at Microsoft's worldwide launch of Tablet PC last year, and several customers have already started implementing the new technology in their practices. A number of AHS customers plan to roll out Tablet PCs in the near future.

Stentor, a San Francisco-based medical informatics company, has developed a version of its medical information and image management system for Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. The enterprise distribution system, iSite Enterprise, enables the immediate delivery of diagnostic-quality images to the desktop computer of every physician in a healthcare network. With the availability of iSite Enterprise for the Tablet PC, physicians will have instant access to digital images and patient information throughout the hospital, saving time and improving patient care.

Other physician practice management software vendors have physicians currently using the Tablet PC in their practices. Amicore Inc., a physician practice improvement company, has initiated a beta project. By end of 2003, Amicore plans to have more than 1,000 doctors using its Tablet PC-based solutions.

Dr. Robert Oliverio, an internist using Amicore's solution on a Tablet PC, said, "The Tablet PC is like your entire desk, but you can take it with you while you practice medicine. Doctors have access to lab work, medical record reports and all the things they need for patient care in one place. The average paper chart weighs more than the Tablet PC, and you have instant information at your fingertips without having to thumb through pages in a patient chart."

Greenway Medical Technologies Inc., a provider of integrated practice management and EMR software solutions for physicians' practices, has deployed Tablet PCs in two physician practices, and will migrate the Tablet PC to 12 additional practices within months. Greenway is aggressively deploying the Tablet PC after conducting focus groups that found physician adoption rates increased when Greenway's PrimeChart EMR system was implemented on the Tablet PC platform. Physicians cited ease of use, increased screen space, enhanced clarity of screens, improved stylus response to "tapping," operating system speed and accuracy of the embedded InkEdit handwriting recognition as factors influencing their preference.

Gentiva Health Services Inc., a leading provider of home healthcare services in North America, is currently piloting the Windows XP Tablet PC in a three-phase program. Gentiva believes that the Tablet PCs powered by Microsoft Windows XP will not only be a replacement for laptops in the business ranks of the corporation, but also may be the long-sought answer to field workers' paperwork blues.

"The Tablet PC technology has the potential to make a dramatic difference to our nurses," said Bob Creamer, chief information officer and senior vice president for Financial Operations at Gentiva. "This type of technology could give our company a competitive edge for recruiting and retaining nursing staff, which is crucial to delivering good service to our patients."

Prominent Pharmaceutical Companies Deploy the Tablet PC

Aventis, a global pharmaceutical company employing nearly 70,000 people with a network that spans 127 countries, found potentially significant benefits when it evaluated the Tablet PC running Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition as a new productivity tool for the lab and the field.

"In our global environment, Aventis knowledge workers are often managing diverse activities in different parts of the world," said Peter Loupos, vice president of Aventis Information Solutions at Aventis. "We are in the knowledge-creation business, and it is the speed and quality with which we generate and deliver knowledge that will provide a competitive edge. Tablet PCs and their wireless capabilities have the potential to make this knowledge available to the worker wherever he or she is."

More information about Windows XP Tablet PC Edition can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/tabletpc/ .

Founded in 1975, Microsoft is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software -- any time, any place and on any device.

NOTE: Microsoft and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

For more information on Microsoft Healthcare: http://www.microsoft.com/healthcare/

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