By Ina Fried, 10 September 2007 09:36
NEWS
Inside a business, software with a good user interface can improve productivity. Inside a hospital, it can save lives.
That's the premise behind a new collaboration between Microsoft and the NHS that seeks to develop a common design for clinical software. Microsoft isn't trying to prescribe the entire software design, but is proposing some commonality in terms of where on a screen medications are listed and what types of information about the drug are listed.
Tim Smokoff, general manager of Microsoft's health care unit said: "It is kind of like when you get into a car. Every dashboard looks different, but they are all kind of the same."
By standardising on a common way to display medical data, Microsoft hopes the industry can make a dent in the 600,000 errors that take place in US hospitals each year, many of them from medication mix-ups.
A 2005 study showed that the most high-tech hospitals in the country have mortality rates seven per cent below those of other hospitals. But separate research, published the same year, found that high rates of drug errors can still occur in computerised hospitals.
The user interface project is part of a broader health care initiative at Microsoft, which now has 600 people in the area, up from 200 workers just two years ago. The company touts its $1bn in health care revenue, though the bulk of that is from sales of Windows, Office and Windows Server.
Microsoft is not alone in eyeing health care as a booming opportunity. Google is focused on many of the same areas as Microsoft and Intel also has efforts under way that parallel some of Microsoft's notions. Smokoff says Microsoft supports its longtime chip partner's efforts, but the two are not working together.
"Intel has their own initiative in this space," he said. "We're supportive of their initiative, but we are not partnered with them."
In addition to work on tools for hospitals, insurers and drug companies, Microsoft is also focused on tools for consumers.
There, efforts centre around the notion of a personal health record. The idea is that there would be an open standard that would allow all kinds of information - medical device data, prescription information and other patient records - to be maintained in one electronic file.
Central to the vision, Smokoff said, is the idea that the information would be owned by the individual. "Look for some announcements within the next couple months on how we take that to market," he said.
Microsoft has also been making acquisitions in the health care arena. In February, the company bought Medstory, a health-based search company with tools that were recently integrated into the search feature on MSN's health and fitness page. On Google, Smokoff said, the first result for earache is a rock band by that name. With Medstory's tool, you get a list of relevant results in six categories, including medications, related diseases and possible tests and procedures.
Last year Microsoft acquired patient database company Azyxxi. And Smokoff said to expect more purchases from Microsoft.
Comments
There are 6 comments. Join the discussion
1. anonymous
Adds a whole new meaning to the term "Blue Screen Of Death".
2. Graham Coles
So microsoft are proposing some commonality across medical systems.
Let me guess - they should all be running Windows ...
When exactly did they start running the NHS, and could this explain the mess they've been getting themselves in?
3. Roger Huffadine
Drugs+MS=scary cocktail.
I would have thought that user interface specifications of this kind were the responsibility of the Department of Health and certainly not Microsoft.
Alternatively ECMA could form a Task Group to produce an International Standard - thus ensuring that increased staff mobility incurs fewer re-training costs. Microsoft have an EXCEPTIONALLY poor record of user interface design and specification - try using the MS Word keyboard shortcuts in MS Excel or Powerpoint to discover just how dangerous MS shortcuts can be.
4. Graham Coles
I think I've figured out what their contribution will be, having just had word crash on me trying to print a document created by word (talk about an omen).
I can't imagine this would cause problems if it were a prescription being printed. I also expect this dialog box could be what they want everyone to implement in vital health care systems:
"Microsoft Hospital has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.
If you were in the middle of treating a patient, the information you have just entered might be lost."
(And with a pun that bad, I won't even bother mentioning worms and viruses ...)
5. Simon Allen
The General Manager of Microsoft's - Health Care Unit, is called 'Tim Smokoff'????
If the NHS ask Msoft to 'help' with the design of their systems, then they must have been smoking something ...
6. anonymous
As someone who installs various vendor software in hospitals I can assure you that there is a huge need for standardization in this space and since government hasn't been able to pull this off I am fine with industry stepping in. Some docs practice at more then one hospitals and they go nuts trying to learn the various programs.
There are some very bright people working in the health care group at Microsoft from both high-tech and medicine. One of their huge advantages is their ability to invest an endless amount of money and with Peter Neupert (formerly from MSN) is back from drugstore.com I would expect them to move rapidly into the consumer side of the house although they probably still don't realize that women driving technology now.