An interesting trend seems to be emerging in the health information technology (HIT) sector. Most programs and applications often found on clunky desktops that took up a great deal of space have now been imported to smaller and more portable solutions. The new-age medical device is quickly becoming the smart phone.
One only has to look toward Logical Images' (Rochester, New York) VisualDX application for evidence. The program has been around for nearly ten years – March of 2001 to be exact – but it expected to get a boost in sales and in use because of its ability to be used as an Apple (Cupertino, California) iPhone application, with future use coming on other so-called “smart phones.“
The company revealed the VisualDX mobile application last week during the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS; Chicago) conference held here in Atlanta.
“Since HIMSS, there has been a dramatic uptake in queries about the application,“ Art Papier, MD, CSO, of Logical Images told Medical Device Daily. “It's so much easier to communicate the value of the application now that it can be used on an iPhone. It's really opening up that mobile physician market for us.“
Papier said it speaks to the “immediacy“ and “urgency“ that most physicians face when it comes to treating patients.
VisualDx Mobile serves as a decision-support tool that addresses the challenges many healthcare professionals face when diagnosing dermatologic and other visual conditions, the company said.
The application integrates physician-reviewed clinical information with more than 18,000 medical images from physician and institutional collections showing the variation in disease presentation through age, stage, and skin type – a feature the company said is entirely unique to VisualDx.
“Our mission is to enable physicians to recognize what skin disease the patient suffers from,“ Papier said. “A lot of times the physician might not know what the skin disease is, but with our solution the physician can see examples and come to a determination of what the disease is and more.“
During the HIMSS conference, Papier punched up the application on both the iphone and a computer model near the company's presentation booth to show off its capabilities.
The application displayed examples of deadly lesions that were only seen in other countries. It also displayed, in glaring detail, extremities suffering from a particular kind of skin-disease.
Papier said that with the application, clinicians can compare these images to wounds or infected areas on their patients to visually validate a diagnosis or quickly access must-know clinical information such as next steps in management and patient care, diagnostic pearls, best tests, and ICD-9 codes on the spot.
The company said the application's flexible interface gives clinicians the option to quickly search by diagnosis name or build a list of relevant diagnoses based on a patient's symptoms.
“Our customers have wanted the ability to take VisualDx with them anywhere they go – from a patient's bedside to a consultation with a colleague – but still have access to the tool's unique features, and VisualDx Mobile does just that,“ Papier said. “Branching VisualDx into the realm of mobile medical apps is an exciting new avenue for Logical Images and an integral step in advancing the accuracy and quality of healthcare.“
The company's products also include Skinsight, an online consumer skin health and wellness resource. Logical Images has developed a comprehensive digital medical image library which includes 60,000 images representing all ages and skin types.
This extensive collection is the foundation for the VisualDx and VisualDx Mobile professional tools and the Skinsight consumer tool – designed to speed disease recognition for faster, more accurate decision making and patient understanding.
The applications have been used in more than 1,300 sites across the country and Papier said the products are continuing to grow in the market.
“These applications bring incredible excitement and a wealth of imagery to physicians,“ he said. “Now physicians are asking saying they want this and are asking how to get it. It answers the questions how we bring the visual world of dermatology to the world of healthcare.“
Omar Ford, 404-262-5546;