UTAH TECH WATCH - - by David Politis - - 5/18-20/96 Edition

One regional healthcare provider is using technological know-how to succeed
where Hillary Clinton failed: lowering healthcare costs while providing
superior medical care.

This past week I paid a visit to the Salt Lake City headquarters of IHC
Home Care, a service of Intermountain Healthcare. Although most passers by
would hesitate to give the low-lying building off 21st South a second
look, the technology demonstrated to me there is revolutionizing the way
IHC provides services to its home care patients.

In the past, says Tanya Nutt, R.N., the average home care nurse could
"admit" two new patients per day into IHC's system. Today, with the help
of technology, Nutt can admit three each day.

Handheld computers

Through a partnership with Atlanta-based Patient Care Technologies and
Massachusetts-based Data General, IHC is now beginning to implement new
handheld computers throughout its 18 facilities in three states.

The PtCT handhelds are roughly eight inches long, one inch thick and weigh
about a pound.

Powered by four AAA batteries, the PtCTs are controlled by a basic array of
electromechanical buttons or keys for data input and manipulation. Each
PtCT has a liquid crystal display area capable of displaying up to five
lines of type.

Although the PtCT software is DOS-based, the handhelds can interface
directly between IHC Home Care's AS/400 minicomputer or any PC connected
to the AS/400. Additionally, the PtCTs are designed to allow remote
downloading of data via a special modem connection.

And last, but not least, the PtCTs are designed to take a beating. I know,
because I personally dropped a working one from four feet in the air onto
modest carpeting glued to a poured concrete slab.

Okay, I did ask permission first.

But even after the six-inch bounce off the floor, the PtCT continued
operating as if nothing had happened.

Training techno neophytes

IHC Home Care began its initial training on the PtCT handhelds last
October, with first field usage beginning in February.

Prior to her training this year, however, Nutt was a computer neophyte.
"I'd never used a computer before," she explained.

Previously, Nutt and her clinical colleagues would spend hours recording
notes and data by hand onto paper forms after each patient visit or prior
to admitting. The documents were then submitted to data entry clerks at
each facility to be keyed into the computer system.

"We spent a lot of time writing stuff down," Nutt said. "It was very time
consuming. Tiring."

With the new technology, Nutt finds she saves about 2.5 hours of effort for
each patient she admits into IHC's Home Care system. Such time savings
allows nurses in IHC's urban centers to admit as many as three patients in
one day instead of the previous two per day.

Benefits and costs

Increased efficiencies driven by technological advances are not without
cost, however, and the PtCT system is no exception.

According to Laurel Drysdale, home care systems analyst for IHC, the cost
for the PtCT system, including software, training, updates and
approximately 350 handhelds was close to $1 million.

"In the urban areas, we expect a payback in less than two years -- double
that in rural areas," Drysdale said.

Today, PtCT handhelds are being used in six Utah facilities: three in
Southern Utah, two in Salt Lake County and one in Utah County. System wide
implementation of the PtCTs is projected for completion by the end of
1997.

Although one patient called to complain that her nurse had "spent the
entire visit playing on her computer," the overall response from both
patients and care givers alike has been very positive.

"I haven't had any patients complain about it," Nutt said. "I sit next to
them and show them how it works.

"They see it as something like a Nintendo Gameboy, something their
grandchildren might play with."

And for her part, Tanya Nutt is no longer a computer neophyte.

"My eyes were opened (after using the PtCT)," she explained. "This is the
wave of the future."

A marketing communications consultant that specializes in high-tech and
life sciences clients, David Politis welcomes column ideas at 801-569-2592
or via the Internet at dpolitis@politis.com.
 
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