Intel seeks bigger presence in health care market

The microchip maker is developing specialized tracking hardware for clinicians. But there's no word on its release date or its cost.

By Tyler Chin, AMNews staff. March 27, 2006.

Intel Corp., has announced plans to develop two specialized computer devices for the health care market, including a souped-up tablet personal computer for physicians and nurses.

In a Feb. 27 press conference in San Francisco, Intel, the Santa Clara, Calif., company that sells the microprocessors that power a majority of the world's PCs, unveiled a prototype computer device offering the normal functionality of a tablet integrated with several technologies and peripheral devices.

The tablet, a portable computer about the size of a 8½ x 11 sheet of paper but thicker, includes built-in radio frequency identification and bar code readers. The RFID technology, which manufacturers and retailers are starting to use to track inventory, is used by hospitals and nursing homes to track mobile equipment, prevent newborns from being abducted and prevent vulnerable patients from wandering off.

The prototype Intel has developed, however, potentially could enable physicians to pull patient data from an electronic medical records software system soon after they enter an exam room. That's because when doctors get near patients, the RFID reader would pick up the radio signal transmitted from the tag identifying them, said Louis Burns, a vice president and general manager of Digital Health Group, a business unit Intel formed in a year ago.

Hospitals also could use the RFID or bar code reader to avoid medication errors and match the right patient to the right medical procedure such as a blood transfusion, Burns said at the press conference. The device, to be tested this year at hospitals around the world, will enable doctors to use a built-in camera, as well as wirelessly connect to and capture data from medical devices such as stethoscopes and securely transmit those data to colleagues over the Internet.