CRM News: Healthcare

Halo Report Illuminates Angel Investor Trends
March 08, 2012

Now is a good time to be a startup looking for funding, suggests the Halo Report, which provides data and identifies trends affecting early stage entrepreneurs and investors. Angel Resource Institute, Silicon Valley Bank and CB Insights collaborated in the development of the report. Most notable among its findings: The median round size for angel group investments grew to $700,000, an increase of 40 percent over 2010.

Avaya Gives Sneak Peak of Upcoming Healthcare Apps
February 21, 2012

Avaya has provided a sneak preview of several healthcare IT-based mobile applications it will be rolling out later this year. These include Avaya Mobile Activity Assistant, Avaya Flare Communicator for iPad, and other collaborative service offerings in telehealth and social media. Healthcare is one of Avaya's chief verticals, said Sanjeev Gupta, general manager of Avaya's Healthcare Solutions group.

WebMD Looking a Little Green Around the Gills
January 12, 2012

It has been a rocky week for the medical news website WebMD, and it appears that the remainder of 2012 may be equally tumultuous. On Tuesday, WebMD CEO Wayne T. Gattinella resigned, and the company announced it was not looking for a buyer after all. It informed shareholders that 2012 revenue could clock in at 2 percent to 8 percent below 2011's revenue.

Virtualization and Cloud Technologies: A Prescription for Healthcare
November 14, 2011

How can virtualized desktops and thin clients help with digital records management and healthcare industry compliance and privacy requirements? Let's find out how Rhode Island-based CharterCARE Health Partners has embraced private cloud and virtual desktop infrastructure to support its distributed, 579-bed community-based health system.

IBM Aims to Whittle Big Data Down to Size
October 27, 2011

IBM debuted industry-specific data analytics tools for the healthcare and communication sectors at its Information on Demand conference. These packages are part of IBM's drive to help companies manage their information processes and data storage needs as efficiently as possible. For the communications analytics appliance, IBM is leveraging the technology it acquired through Netezza.

More Legal Woes for Google
July 13, 2011

In 2010, Google admitted that when collecting Street View photos around the world it also collected data from unsecured wireless networks. That led to a bunch of lawsuits. Recently, U.S. Federal Judge James Ware refused to dismiss a class action lawsuit based on allegations that Google violated the U.S. Federal Wiretap Act by collecting unsecured WiFi data when taking Street View photos.

Google's No Bellwether for Healthcare Cloud Services
July 08, 2011

Google's recent decision to abandon its Google Health program has raised new questions about how far the healthcare industry is willing to go down the cloud computing path. The reality is that Google's decision was not a reflection of the healthcare industry's resistance toward cloud computing, but simply a change in Google's corporate priorities.

'Someone With' Offers Central Hub for Breast Cancer Patients' Product Needs
May 09, 2011

You may not know it, unless a friend or relative has had treatment for breast cancer, but it is the little things that can kill you during recovery -- or at least make you very sick. Little things as in commercial brands of toothpaste or mouthwash. A patient undergoing chemotherapy must use medicinal versions of these products, which can be surprisingly difficult to locate.

Mobile Health Apps, Part 1: Taking Your Life Into Your Own Handhelds
April 14, 2011

With every passing day, smartphones are melding into our personal lives -- almost without our notice. One of the most striking changes in how the ever-tinier handhelds are augmenting our lives is through mobile apps -- most especially healthcare apps. At first, healthcare apps seemed mainly a novelty.

Avaya Helps Hospitals Keep Closer Tabs on Patients
February 25, 2011

Avaya has made enhancements to several Avaya Healthcare Solutions products -- adding tools to automate patient outreach for chronic disease management and follow-up. Built on Avaya's workplace collaboration and patient care lines, the new products were unveiled this week at the 2011 Annual HIMSS Conference and Exhibition. "Avaya has been selling into the healthcare space for a while," said Sanjeev Gupta, head of the Avaya Healthcare Practice.

Clouds Go Vertical
January 14, 2011

I'd like to take this space to elaborate on one of the predictions for 2011 I made last month. I suggested that community clouds aimed at specific vertical markets and supply chain relationships would become more prevalent, as various organizations recognized the value of sharing cloud resources and services with their peers.

Bill Clinton Warns Dreamforce Crowd About Wikileaks Threat
December 09, 2010

Former President Bill Clinton's keynote speech Wednesday at Dreamforce 2010 in San Francisco was delayed because his flight came in late, so Salesforce.com Chairman and CEO Marc Benioff got entertainer Stevie Wonder on stage to talk about his life. When president Clinton finally appeared almost an hour late at 5:50 p.m., Wonder introduced him.

Microstrategy Mobile Enables Industry-Specific BI App Development
October 22, 2010

At the beginning of July, MicroStrategy rolled out MicroStrategy Mobile -- a platform designed to allow companies to extend their on-premise business intelligence application to the mobile environment. The following day, VHA, a provider of supply chain management services to reduce healthcare costs, rolled out its own iPhone app built using MicroStrategy Mobile.

Antenna Aims to Help Pharma Reps Pocket More Sales
October 08, 2010

CRM applications for the pharmaceutical vertical are complex and highly tailored for this unique space. Building a comprehensive mobile CRM app that takes into account the varying needs of a pharma rep, therefore, would be a major undertaking. Antenna Software, which offers a mobile CRM app called "Antenna AMP Pharma Sales," skirted that issue by building a mobile user interface.

Health IT: The Race Is On
August 20, 2010

A $30 billion information technology market is hard to pass up. That's why the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' program to invest that huge amount of money in health records technology has received a lot of attention in the IT vendor community. That's normal. What's unusual is that Congressional hearings followed on the heels of new regulations in a matter of mere days.

Healthcare's Great Wireless Transformation
August 19, 2010

About 15 years ago, I had an office next door to Barry Green. At the time, our businesses had nothing in common. I was a wireless analyst and he was in healthcare. I recently got a call out of the blue from Barry asking for my help in evaluating an opportunity. When I took a look at what he was doing, I realized the world has changed dramatically. Our previously unrelated businesses of wireless and healthcare were crashing together.

To Your Health: Intel and GE's Joint Venture
August 10, 2010

There's interesting food for thought in Intel and GE's 50/50 joint venture focused on developing management solutions for people in independent and assisted living situations, as well as those with chronic diseases. The new company will combine assets of Intel's digital health group and GE Healthcare's home health division and build on the healthcare alliance they announced in April 2009.

CRM's Pivotal Role in Driving Healthcare Reform
August 06, 2010

The U.S. government's $642-million program to encourage the use of electronic health records through federally created Regional Extension Centers will involve a two-tiered effort featuring customer relationship management technology. The REC program is one of several federal initiatives promoting electronic health records.