A Medical Device Daily

Medical Informatics Engineering (MIE; Fort Wayne, Indiana) reported that it will become a partner in Google Health (Mountain View, California), which was previewed to the healthcare IT community at the HIMSS08 Conference in Orlando last week by Google CEO Eric Schmidt, is currently being piloted at the Cleveland Clinic and is expected to be released to the public in the near future (Medical Device Daily, March 3, 2008).

The Minimally Invasive WebChart electronic health record portfolio from MIE will be fully integrated with Google Health, and enable consumers and physicians to share information electronically. MIE products are completely Web-based, giving physicians secure, anytime/anywhere access to patient records without significant up-front investment. In addition, WebChart is tailored to fit the workflow of each practice and each physician, minimizing practice upheaval.

MIE also offers m.i.EMR, an electronic medical record for small and solo practices looking for a low-cost EMR with basic functionality. This version of WebChart is an ideal EMR entry point for many physicians at only $100 per clinician, per month.

Google Health gives patients the ability to collect, store and manage their medical records online, said MIE executive vp Peter Norder. As tech-savvy patients begin to actively use Google Health, they will quickly realize that most physicians still use paper-based medical records. Some patients will ask their physicians to adopt electronic health records systems that are fully interoperable with Google, or may even gravitate to physicians who have already done so. Physicians, in turn, will seek out solutions like WebChart that are affordable, flexible, accessible and interoperable.

In other agreements: Biolase Technology (Irvine, California) a dental laser company, and Henry Schein (Melville, New York), a provider of healthcare products and services to office-based practitioners in the combined North American and European markets, reported that the parties have renewed their multi-year distribution agreement.

Biolase s sales and service organizations will work closely with Henry Schein in the marketing, sales and service of all professional Biolase dental laser system products, including the Waterlase MD the company calling it the industry s leading all-tissue dental laser system and the fast-growing ezlase diode laser system.

Henry Schein remains the exclusive distributor of the complete line of Biolase dental laser systems, accessories and services in the U.S. and Canada. The new agreement calls for certain commitments to sales and marketing investments and milestones, as well as performance guidelines.

Biolase will provide training support to enable Henry Schein to provide basic services through its comprehensive service network. It said it also will promote Henry Schein Financial Services as its exclusive leasing/financing partner.

Bergman said, Through our customers, we have now seen firsthand how the patient experience is being transformed by the suite of Biolase products.