Kaiser Permanente has announced the launch of its latest mobile initiative — a full featured “Health Management” app for iOS.

Like its other mobile offerings, the new app allows members to access many of the same tools already available via its “My Health Manager” tool on kp.org.  Members can email their providers, check lab test results, order prescription refills, manage appointments and more — all from their iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches.  This latest move comes on the heals of Kaiser making the largest electronic health record system in the world accessible via smartphones with the launch of its mobile-optimized website m.kp.org.

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It was announced during this week’s HIMSS conference that Verizon, Motorola and BoxTone are teaming up to develop secure solutions for Android-based devices and applications with the aim of making the platform suitable for health IT implementation.

The jointly created offering leverages BoxTone’s automated “Enterprise Mobility Management” (EMM) software platform on select Motorola devices,such as the DROID RAZR and DROID RAZR MAXX smartphones, as well as DROID XYBOARD 10.1 and 8.2 tablets, all of which leveraging Verizon’s 4G LTE network.  As such, healthcare organizations can now “reliably deploy Android-based mobile devices and apps that are designed to help them meet strict compliance requirements, including privacy measures outlined in the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).”

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GlobalMed, a company providing real-time healthcare delivery systems, has introduced a new enterprise-wide cloud-based solution that delivers visible and invisible light medical images to any Web-connected computer, tablet or smartphone.

Showcased during the HIMSS conference, the new solution — dubbed CONi — allows a physician to enter a SOAP Report that can be saved for later modification or “Finished” and placed into the patient’s medical record.  Once finished, the doctor’s notes cannot be altered or deleted.  In addition, patients and their guests can be given passcode access to their medical images with a limited amount of information.  The images are never resident on computers or mobile devices for security and patient confidentiality.

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Integrated Document Solutions (IDS) has announced that it will debut five new apps during next week’s HIMSS conference in Las Vegas.

According to a company press release, all five apps focus on “unifying worklists and improving accessibility.”  The apps allow providers to wirelessly authenticate verbal orders, dictate patient encounters, remotely sign reports, and document appropriate billing levels among other things.  The apps work across Android, iOS, Blackberry, and Windows Mobile devices.

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According to new survey data out from market research firm the NPD Group, 75 percent of the small to medium healthcare practices polled are looking to buy tablet devices in 2012.

This is despite a somewhat contradictory report published recently by the West Wireless Health Institute that said less than one percent of hospitals have fully functioning tablet systems in place as we enter 2012, citing lack of development in EMR apps and others that don’t give physicians the same experience they’re used.

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Ottawa Hospital has captured the attention of the entire healthcare industry, and with good reason: They now have 3,000 iPad devices rolled out for implementation. CIO Dale Potter has committed to buying several thousand more iPads in 2012, saying that his “gut feeling” about the technology is strong. “I told our CEO he should fire me if this doesn’t work,” Potter tells TabTimes.

The TabTimes article offers several suggestions that CIOs in the U.S. should consider as they think about mobile device issues for their facilities. In particular, CIOs would be wise to focus on:

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Adobe called it quits on development of the mobile browser version of Flash Player.

Adobe has announced that Flash Player 11.1 will be the last version of Flash for mobile devices. Although the company promises to continue fixing critical bugs on this last version, most of Adobe’s focus is shifting instead to HTML5 and Adobe Creative Cloud.

Why is Adobe making such a bold move? The lead of Adobe’s developer relations Mike Chambers explains this shift with five main reasons.

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