Motion Computing

The Motion C5 from Intel and Motion Computing is designed for doctors and nurses. Tablets have been better-received in hospitals than among the general public.

San Francisco -- The age of digital health care may be just dawning, but technology companies are quickly lining up to replace yesterday's paper medical charts with tomorrow's electronic medical tablets.

Intel Corp. and Austin, Texas-based Motion Computing in February introduced the latest entry into the race, a new type of tablet PC designed specifically for nurses and doctors.

At a news conference at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center, Intel and Motion executives described the $2,200 Motion C5 computer as a steppingstone toward digital health care.

"It puts medical information literally in the hands of clinicians right when they need it," said Intel Corp. chief executive Paul Otellini.

The book-sized device comes with a built-in bar-code scanner for tracking patients and medications, video and still cameras for documenting patient problems, and RFID tracking technology.

It can store, access and update patient medical records wirelessly from anywhere in a hospital. It also is spill-resistant and easy to disinfect.

Company officials say the device will help nurses cut down on paperwork, freeing them to spend more time with patients. It also aims to reduce medical errors and improve overall efficiency in hospitals.

Other companies have tried -- and failed -- to persuade nurses and doctors to switch from paper charts and prescription pads to portable computers.

But tablet computers generally haven't lived up to the hype for most users, in part because of their high costs compared with notebook computers that generally can do more.

A few years ago, after Microsoft Corp. introduced the operating system for Windows-based tablet computers, some analysts predicted that as many as 14 million of the devices would be sold by 2009.

Today the projection is closer to 3.5 million, according to Roger Kay, a longtime PC industry analyst who runs the consulting firm Endpoint Technologies Associates Inc.

While tablets clearly haven't lived up to their promise with the general public, they have been well-received in particular markets, including the medical industry, Kay said.

President Bush, among others, has promoted the idea of electronic medical records as a way to reduce errors and bring down hospital costs. By some estimates, the nation's hospitals could save $80 billion a year if they all switched to electronic record-keeping.

Motion CEO Scott Eckert said, "Tablets work if you've got an application that really pulls out the value of the tablet," adding that "medical information clearly fits into that."

Eckert said his company's tablet is different from anything else available because it is the only such device that combines a full-featured PC with a bar code scanner, camera and other features.

As a result, he said, it can replace the computers on wheels -- medical professionals unaffectionately call them COWs -- that clog the hallways of many hospitals today.

According to Eckert, the total cost of all the equipment found on typical COWs can top $10,000, significantly more than the Motion device.

In addition to reducing problems with transcribing notes or misadministering medicines, the devices can improve nurses' productivity, according to officials at the UCSF Medical Center, which has been testing the tablets.

"Things that improve safety and productivity are key for us," said Mark Laret, CEO of the medical center.

For Intel, working with Motion helps fill out a piece of the semiconductor maker's strategy to push deeper into health care technology, one of several industry "platforms" it is targeting.

"We believe very much that [health care] is ... one of the remaining applications for technology," Otellini said. "We're just scratching the surface of the potential of what can be done here."

-- This article is a reprint from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.