Trend Spotting
JOHN MCLENDON has been Bayfront Medical Center’s CIO and VP since 2002. He has an MBA and more than 20 years of IT experience, 10 of those in healthcare. Prior to Bayfront in St. Petersburg, McLendon was systems director for a 30-hospital system in Phoenix. He shares his thoughts on issues affecting healthcare technology. “For many reasons, hospitals are becoming paperless and filmless,” he says. Among those reasons: patient safety and satisfaction, clinical and business efficiency and cost savings.
 Paving the way, he says, are two technologies: Electronic Medical Records (EMR) and Picture Archival and Communications System (PACS). A third trend has emerged involving biomedical device and data integration with the EMR.
EMR systems generally have the ability to not only store the data, but they can also have powerful “clinical rules” engines designed by physicians and other clinicians. Based on each patient’s information, rules are applied and notification flags are triggered. “Integrated, rules-based systems with real-time clinical data repositories have become vital health-care technologies,” says McLendon.
Most hospitals have a PACS or will soon, and while X-ray film may soon be a thing of the past due to PACS, the trend is to take digital imagery a step further. “There is a desire to capture, archive and retrieve other images from surgical procedures (i.e., heart catheterization) to lab specimens (microscope images). The addition of these images to PACS databases should make the EMR more powerful and streamline the delivery of care,” he says.
Another trend involves biomedical device technologies. Stand-alone or “dumb” bedside devices (i.e., heart monitors, ventilators, IV pumps) were the norm for years. Bayfront is working with two partners to auto-mate the flow of real-time data from bedside devices directly into the EMR. Nurses and physicians in ICU/CCU will soon be able to view this data in one place. “This virtually eliminates any potential transcription errors made during manual charting,” he says. “It quickly moves data into our EMR system where the clinical rules can be applied giving our physicians and other clinicians real-time access.”
Thinking Big
Intuit recently selected Clearwater’s Think Partnership’s ‘KowaBunga MyAffiliateProgram’ for its Quicken and QuickBooks affiliate programs. Affiliate marketing essentially promotes online businesses, and the affiliates are rewarded for performance.
Think Partnership – formerly CGI Holding Corporation – specializes in interactive performance-based marketing and related Internet technologies. Rachel Honoway, VP marketing, says that over the last few years the company acquired several online marketing firms. The 300-employee company employs 70 in Clearwater and the balance in Utah, New Jersey and Canada. “While we recently cut back at our search marketing firm, we are growing in offline advertising, search network and affiliate marketing.”
Think (Amex:THK) reported $52.9 million in revenues for the nine months ending Sept. 2006. CEO and president Scott Mitchell (http://thinkpartnership.com) said in a November press release he expects revenues to exceed $100 million in 2007.
Intellon’s Cash Infusion
Intellon (www.intellon.com) of Ocala says that 12 major service providers in Europe and Asia are now using its HomePlug ICs (integrated circuits) for in-home Internet Protocol Television distribution (IPTV).
Founded in 1989, Intellon designs ICs for power line communications for home networking, networked entertainment, commercial and broad-band over powerline (BPL) applications. Rick Furtney, president, says the 104-employee company has four major products. “We are achieving a tremendous amount of market momentum with those products, particularly capitalizing on the continued trend of convergence, home networking and of high-definition video content to the home.”
Intellon has 23 patents (domestic and foreign) and a multitude pending. It recently raised $18 million and plans to use the cash to accelerate rolling out more products and continue to gain market share, of which Furtney says it already has 90 percent. Intellon’s investors include a who’s who of companies: Samsung Ventures, BCE Capital; Comcast Interactive Capital; Fidelity Ventures; Goldman Sachs; Intel Capital; Motorola Ventures. Intel-lon doesn’t disclose finances, but Furtney says it is growing revenues and hitting all of its growth objectives – about 20-25 percent annually. Its technical employees include hardware, software and electrical engineers, and, says Furtney, the company is always hiring.
Fortress’s Coup
Oldsmar’s Fortress Technologies (www.fortresstech.com) recently won a contract with General Dynamics to implement secure wireless communications on next-generation replenishment ships for the U.S. Navy. This contract is a coup. It is one of the first major wire-less awards since the Navy lifted its ban on wireless networking. “Previously the Navy had a moratorium on wireless products, but our solution set allowed them to feel comfortable with wireless security networks,” says Janet Kumpu, CEO and president of the 100-employee firm. The company has gained 30 employees since featured in this magazine two years ago (Jan-Feb 2005), and Kumpu says it will have an aggressive ramp-up in growth this year.
Doctors’ Advice on Vista
Scott Hair of Digital Doctors warns PC users to do their homework before upgrading to Microsoft Vista. Indeed, he says that, while it has the potential to offer significant benefits, consumers and small businesses should be aware of potential problems their machines may have with the new operating system.
He says Vista promises more user-friendly graphics and display, beefed-up security, upgraded multi-tasking capabilities and powerful Google-like internal search capabilities. “However, even computers purchased recently, which may carry a certificate for a free upgrade to Vista, may experience software compatibility problems. This is a whole new sandbox, and software programs are like children,” says Hair. “Sometimes they just don’t play well with others.”
Digital Doctors (www.digitaldoctors.com) was founded four years ago by Hair, a West Point grad with a computer engineering degree. Based in Bradenton, it today has four offices (Sarasota, Manatee, Hills-borough, Pinellas) and a staff of 13. His wife Jaden, a marketing consultant, of course does the marketing while Scott is in charge of technology. Hair says Doctors is “very profitable. We went from zero four years ago and I am sure we’ll be a close to a million this year (in revenues).”
Tech FYI
Gainesville’s Artificial Studios (www.artificialstudios.com), an in de-pendent videogame developer, is releasing CellFactor: Revolution, an action-packed first-person shooter developed in conjunction with Immersion Games … Sarasota’s Donzi Marine, a 43-year-old manufacturer of high-performance boats and offshore center consoles, has launched a new consumer Web site (www.donzimarine.com) … Orlando’s PayPerPost (www.PayPerPost.com), an advertising marketplace to reach loggers, videographers, photographers, podcasters and social networks, is acquiring “select” assets of Performancing LLC, operator of Performancing.com, an Internet community site for professional bloggers
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