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healthcare integration

90 points posted to Healthcare by hodsondds Jan 30

I am a dentist. Currently there is very little intigration between dental software programs and vendors of products such as digital cameras , digital x-rays , intraoral cameras , paperless charting programs , internet links to share chart information and X-rays, the list goes on and on. Each dental software vendor have their own proprietary codes that they will not share with other companies. The links they provide are cumbersome to use and seem designed to discourage the use of all but a few products provided by "sister" companies.Perhaps Dell would consider envolvement in this field.

zanlok
Jan 30		 Do you mean something like the Point of Sale sytems that Dell offers with cash trays, etc? I used to work on management software for dental practices. Probably too small of a market for Dell to actually get into. Still, it was worth asking them to consider it.
jervis961
Jan 30		 Actually Healthcare is a big field to get into. This idea could go towards more than Dentistry if they wanted but Dell isn't a software company. They could get together with a partner to build the software.
zanlok
Jan 30		 Well, most people at that software company (and this was years ago, so don't quote me) were always of the mind that it was a hard market to crack. These medical-related insustries are generally already pretty entrenched in their existing systems. I'm not saying it would be a bad idea, but it could be difficult to implement. Sure, facilitating integrations with charting systems and patient data would be nice. But a consultant can help you put that together, as well. Do you need one? =P
hodsondds
Jan 30		 The problem for the software guys is the software companies like PracticeWorks , Denrix Eaglesoft do not share integration codes. At present, they say they will enentually bring their own product to market . Unfortunately, it is often inferior to other products available.It limits our choices. This is not a good thing when it comes to providing the best service possible for our patients. the healthcare industry is gigantic. It would provide a very profitable return fof any company that could help put the pieces together.
zanlok
Jan 30		 One of the big problems we were working on for our software was networking, especially WANs. I can only imagine that with HIPAA in force, that this has become even more problematic. Integration codes for what? ..devices like scanners? Those should be readily obtainable from the manufacturer. Except that of cource PracticeWares may like to cooperate with Dentrix for kickbacks?

P.S. If you really do have a good idea, don't give it to Dell. Start your own business :)
phubert
Jan 31		 My last dentist had Macs. That was a two person practice with lots of staff and an appointments system on the Mac network throughout the office (every chair, as well, of course).

My current dentist (someone I RETURNED to) used digital xray, stored on a Windows LAPTOP, carried from chair to chair as needed. The dentist mentioned above still used FILM... so ahead in one way behind in another.

But of course, jervis961 is right... this is a software supplier issue... not a hardware manufacturer issue. And, healthcare software, generally, has been VERY problematic at times (thinking now of some IT disasters at hospitals)
phubert
Jan 31		 Well, zanlok, I can't see Dell running with this one, but even some -association- of local dentists (local to hodsondds) could start such a business... HIRING the IT people needed to develop the software, once they had created a good definition of the needs.
zanlok
Jan 31		 Well, I've done it before. And there are lots of issues, like I said.

The problem is actually not that difficult. Even a 'team' of one coder with a really good specification could probably finish a good v1.0 in 18 months. I would tend to want to build it in C# against MS-SQL with a 2003 server for XP workstations so that it had general appeal. If several (say a dozen) dental practices could be brought on board for an extended ßeta program (like 12 months free) thereafter, then you could certainly build a business. Some VC from a merchant banker or a collaboration of dentists would be in order. As long as there was probably three million dollars in the startup fund, you could start building a customer base through word of mouth and earning market share. As is common, this would be about a five year process to profitabillity.

If someone wanted to hire me, I'd take the coding part of the job on a 2-year contract and carry the product to, say, a 2.1 version. But, I wouldn't want to build up the clientele myself. After the first 6 months of development, there would need to be an auxiliary team available QA/support and sales personnel available to cover a lot of the initial groundwork. And really good employees would be an absolute requirement for any possibility of success.

I'm obviously not the only one out here who understands business or software. Anyways, the more monopolistic blitz approach undertaken by companies like Dell could be successful as well. I am just not seeing Dell want to diversify their portfolio into this arena. The maze of compliance issues in these medical industries is a whole jungle that requires undivided attention and such a venture would no doubt be better employed by a business unit with experience in that arena.
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