Hospital sees return on Apple iPad investment in 9 days - report
Recent studies have demonstrated the popularity of the iPad among physicians, and now a new report describes how one hospital found that Apple's tablet can pay for itself in just nine days of use.
At a healthcare information technology event last year, one unnamed hospital's Chief Information Officer revealed that his organization saw a return on investment (ROI) on its iPad purchases in less than a week and a half, according to Forbes' Dan Munro. Munro, founder of iPatient and a frequent commentator on healthcare IT, reports that the time to full return on investment was so low that the CIO initially believed the hospital's board might not believe the figure.
The CIO relating the story did so as part of a larger healthcare IT panel and wished to remain anonymous, according to Munro. Tasked with testing the effect of a pilot program in which iPads were deployed to a select group of healthcare workers, the CIO used time-motion analysis to track worker movements and clinical workflow. These results were then compared against the hospital's known labor costs, showing that the time and effort saved in the pilot program paid for the cost of the iPads in nine days.
The figure, according to the report, was so low that it would have been compelling to the hospital's board even were it two or three times higher. The hospital has since rolled out iPads for staff use throughout the organization.
Apple devices are remarkably popular among physicians and hospitals, with a recent survey finding more than two-thirds of physicians choosing the iPhone over Android smartphones. The iPad, according to the same survey, is the most popular tablet among healthcare professionals.
Due to the passage of the Affordable Care Act, health organizations must soon integrate technologies like e-prescribing and electronic health records (EHRs) into their operations or risk losing access to certain funding. The popularity of the iPad is leading many EHR vendors to develop or consider iPad-native versions of their products in order to enable better mobile operation for their clients.
Not all test runs with Apple's tablet have proved as successful as the one Munro describes. A 2011 pilot by Seattle Children's Hospital found each of the clinicians involved returning the device, saying it wouldn't fit into their everyday workflows. At the time, the physicians complained that the electronic medical record systems simply weren't configured to work smoothly on a touchscreen interface.
The year prior, though, a number of Chicago-area hospitals reported that they had seen tremendous success integrating the iPad into their workflows.
Apple has continually touted the iPad's usefulness in a healthcare setting, even writing up profiles of the device in use at Medtronic. The iTunes App Store currently has dozens of apps aimed at helping healthcare professionals with imaging, patient education, medical education, and reference.
At a healthcare information technology event last year, one unnamed hospital's Chief Information Officer revealed that his organization saw a return on investment (ROI) on its iPad purchases in less than a week and a half, according to Forbes' Dan Munro. Munro, founder of iPatient and a frequent commentator on healthcare IT, reports that the time to full return on investment was so low that the CIO initially believed the hospital's board might not believe the figure.
The CIO relating the story did so as part of a larger healthcare IT panel and wished to remain anonymous, according to Munro. Tasked with testing the effect of a pilot program in which iPads were deployed to a select group of healthcare workers, the CIO used time-motion analysis to track worker movements and clinical workflow. These results were then compared against the hospital's known labor costs, showing that the time and effort saved in the pilot program paid for the cost of the iPads in nine days.
The figure, according to the report, was so low that it would have been compelling to the hospital's board even were it two or three times higher. The hospital has since rolled out iPads for staff use throughout the organization.
Apple devices are remarkably popular among physicians and hospitals, with a recent survey finding more than two-thirds of physicians choosing the iPhone over Android smartphones. The iPad, according to the same survey, is the most popular tablet among healthcare professionals.
Due to the passage of the Affordable Care Act, health organizations must soon integrate technologies like e-prescribing and electronic health records (EHRs) into their operations or risk losing access to certain funding. The popularity of the iPad is leading many EHR vendors to develop or consider iPad-native versions of their products in order to enable better mobile operation for their clients.
Not all test runs with Apple's tablet have proved as successful as the one Munro describes. A 2011 pilot by Seattle Children's Hospital found each of the clinicians involved returning the device, saying it wouldn't fit into their everyday workflows. At the time, the physicians complained that the electronic medical record systems simply weren't configured to work smoothly on a touchscreen interface.
The year prior, though, a number of Chicago-area hospitals reported that they had seen tremendous success integrating the iPad into their workflows.
Apple has continually touted the iPad's usefulness in a healthcare setting, even writing up profiles of the device in use at Medtronic. The iTunes App Store currently has dozens of apps aimed at helping healthcare professionals with imaging, patient education, medical education, and reference.
Comments
Originally Posted by AppleInsider
Due to the passage of the Affordable Care Act, health organizations must soon integrate technologies like e-prescribing and electronic health records (EHRs) into their operations or risk losing access to certain funding.
Oh boy… I have a… political question. Would it have paid for itself this quickly were this not the case? Or was the potential loss of funding not taken into account?
Either way, a nine day investment return is absolutely insane. This really ought to spur every hospital in the country into buying iPads.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AppleInsider
..... revealed that his organization saw a return on investment (ROI) on its iPad purchases in less than a week and a half, according to Forbes' Dan Munro. Munro, founder of iPatient and a frequent commentator on healthcare IT, reports that the ROI was so low that the CIO initially believed the hospital's board might not believe the figure.
Uh... AI, you (and/or Munro) mean to either say that "payback period is so low..." or "ROI is so high....".
A doctor can't do THAT on an iPad!
A doctor can't do THAT on an iPad![/quote
Man...you Apple haters are pathetic! Lol
Um you could easily open the PowerPoint file in Keynote...
Quote:
Originally Posted by macinthe408
To be released in 12 days: Microsoft Surface commercial showing a doctor in need of PowerPoint on his iPad, throwing it in a can, then grabbing a Surface to show patient, "10 Things You Need To Do To Get Your Cholesterol in Check" slideshow, all while also checking his e-mail!
A doctor can't do THAT on an iPad!
But iPads have not been Beta Tested Blue Shirt Approved! Clearly they are not fit for use.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GregInPrague
Um you could easily open the PowerPoint file in Keynote...
Or you could fix your sarcasm detector.
Correct but when PowerPoint crashes on the first slide they'll throw their surface into the trash, go get their iPad and use keynote instead.
In related news, hospitals that have opted for Android tablets reports that after a full two years, they have still not recouped their investment on the Android tablets, and news has recently leaked that each Android tablet has actually cost each hospital $394,255, due to lawsuits stemming from various patient deaths, caused by malware and viruses, in which patient records became randomly shuffled and mixed up on the Android tablets. There was a rogue ER nurse that was rooting the tablets and downloading new OS builds each night, until that fateful night when everything went wrong.
A patient who was admitted for a left broken ankle ended up getting open heart surgery, which ended up being fatal and another patient who was suffering from a case of the flu ended up with a missing penis after mistakingly undergoing a sex change operation. The patient with the missing penis, once an avid Fandroid, has now completely seen the error and folly of their cheapskate ways, and is an avid and happy Apple user today.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jungmark
They must be playing doctor because everyone knows iPads are just toys. /s
I would love to have had an iPad when I was playing doctors and nurses as a kid... or was that mummies and daddies? What the heck, not sure that even an iPad would have added to the moment.
I am not holding my breath, however. The state of EMR software is an embarrassment for this great country. When Jobs was still alive (and fighting for his life in the hospital), I kept hoping he would look over at the EMR solutions in use and find he was naturally offended by the horrible state of things. Then, my fantasy went, he would call up Larry Ellison and swear they were going to use industrial strength Oracle backend databases merged with an Apple designed interface to put all these lousy EMR solutions out of business. A pathetic fantasy I admit, but people in Hell do dream of ice water.
I'm sure all the hospitals will reduce their costs instead of pocketing the extra savings......................................................................
If this really is right I'd call the iPad investment the no-brainer business decision of the year.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GadgetCanadaV2
I'm sure all the hospitals will reduce their costs instead of pocketing the extra savings......................................................................
85% of hospitals in the US are non-profit or government-owned. So, no, most of them wouldn't be "pocketing" anything. It's far more likely that the amount saved will be reinvested back into the hospital itself.
Of course, the productivity isn't about the device alone, but the software on it. Give people iPads with pad software and you won't see success.
I have no doubt that tablets are the future of electronic healthcare, but I'm calling BS on the 9-days.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wiggin
The only way this 9 days is even remotely true is if the hospital already had a fully online system, wireless infrastructure, etc, and people simply weren't using it for one reason or another (ie, they didn't have terminals in each exam room or some other critical flaw that prevented use of the system). In other words, they already spent a ton of money on a system that wasn't properly deployed in the first place and the iPad was the missing piece that made it work. I have no doubt that tablets are the future of electronic healthcare, but I'm calling BS on the 9-days.
And what exactly would this anonymous person gain by lying about it? It's not as if themselves or their hospital are going to gain fame and fortune over this since their identity was kept anonymous. So unless you're positing some sort of Apple shilling conspiracy, I don't see why we should believe what this person is saying isn't true.