Interesting Respironics Offering

[Slinky]

I haven't heard of anyone who's sleep doctor or DME supplier has taken advantage of this one.

EncoreAnywhere

http://encoreanywhere.respironics.com/

[psychomamma]

looks really cool -- I couldn't find anywhere that says how much it is, though! Did you?

[6PtStar]

Someone posted data a while back and if you looked at the bottom it said generated by Encoreanywhere. Don't remember who it was now. I did not know what it was at the time. One of the RT's that frequents the board mentioned it also. My problem is that I do not see a way to let the patient get a copy as well as the Doctor. The report that was posted looked just like what we get fron Encore Pro or Viewer, just no card. Might be nice if we could set it up and have it sent to us. Do you think Respirionics might allow that.

I did not see a price either. Maybe it is free, you think?????

Jerry

[Wulfman]

Slinky,

If you do a search on it, you'll find about 2 pages worth of posts.


Den

[dsm]

Just worked thru the videos - this is really just EncorePro as a web based app rather than a stand-alone app. It doesn't really offer much more.

The data is collected from a smart card or a modem just as it is today. There is no web access to customer cpap units that I can see (that was my 1st thinking).

So what it offers is a hosted service that DMEs RTs can use rather than having their own computer. They only need a browser to access it.

DSM

[kteague]

Well, someone's using it, if I remember correctly. Mike@TibroMedical brought it up and there was lengthy discussion. My understanding was that the DME has access to the data and that particular one said he sends it to both the doctor and the patient. I don't have a full understanding of it, just didn't get the idea the patient had any access other than to upload their data.

What seemed to me to be a valid pro in that discussion was the convenience for those not in close proximity to their providers. Just out of curiosity, I think I'll call my DME and ask if they use it.

[Slinky]

Resmed has similar w/their ResTraxx. I don't see that patients have access to data from either. I just thought it was interesting that they've developed this type of data communication that bypasses the patient yet again. Its like w/one hand they give us the advanced patient menus via the LCD screen IF your doctors who don't have the slightest idea that access to those advanced patient menus is available but must be ordered turned on by them - and in Respironics' case provides patient software (EncoreViewer) - and then on the other hand turn around and develop a system to lock out the patient yet again. Sometimes the medical profession disgusts me so much I could cuss up a storm!!!

[dsm]

RE hosted services or SaaS (Software as a Service). In IT, this is seen as the future of software.

Someone takes an application (like Encore Pro), designs it to work with a web browser, then offers it as a hosted service for a small fee per month which means the users (RTs & Sleep clinics) don't have to maintain their own IT infrastructure & personnel (which may be as simple as a desktop PC, but can get quite complex in a large clinic).

The hosting company offers Service Level Agreements as to backup & recovery (always a big problem for clinics with their own PCs). In an era when computer virii seem out of control & where the hosting service operator can better supply expertise to protect the data gathered & saved, SaaS makes pretty good sense.

Gartner (in IT industry they speak as god) say that SaaS will be a multi-billion dollar industry within a few short years. The economies of scale are making it so.

SaaS is both an alternative to outsourcing of IT and a replacement for in-house IT infrastructure. Can be accessed from work or home or on the move. Just need a browser.

DSM

[Slinky]

On the one hand we have those saying that we will be experiencing internet brownouts by 2010 and probably a complete breakdown by 2012, due mostly to iTune, & the videos, etc. On the other hand we have President Obama wanting the medical profession to move medical records, etc. online. Are there TWO internets??

There are those hackers who just enjoy creating mischief, yet the powers that be want us to move our medical and financial transactions online.

Guess you can tell I'm one of those "old fogies" who aren't into techonology any further than necessary and has to be dragged into the 21st century way of doing business whilst kicking and screaming and fighting it every inch of the way.

[dsm]

Slinky

I hear what you say re the Internet, but there was a time (1940s-50s) when the same applied to betting your business on the telephone system.

Today & for quite a few years, business has depended on telephony to conduct business. The phone system became so ubiquitous it became a critical part of business. Well, the reality today is that the Internet & its descendants, are replacing telephony. May people today make a phone call that is actually ip traffic over the net. VoiP is the technology behind this & it is considered a given that analogue telephony is dead but hasn't quite lain down yet (but will).

Even TV as video delivery is shifting to Internet technology.

So the heart of the issue with the Internet is that it become ubiquitous (which it already has) and that the infrastructure be able to carry the load and that it can grow and scale as demand advances. In some respects the Internet as we know it, is still quite young & has massive amounts of growth yet to come.

So think telephony of the mid 1900s & what that did to change how people communicate & how business became conducted & that is what is happening re the Internet. A massive revolution that swallows data telephony, mail system (letters), Faxing (really dying rapidly), TV (video delivery), radio (music & speech), local IT infrastructure (becomes SaSS), banking, buying (online auctions etc:), paying taxes (many countries implementing online tax returns), voting (this is a bit more into the future), etc:, etc:, etc:.

Our future will be dictated by the available Internet and personal communicators (put more simply, Browsers and iPhone like devices).


DSM

[Slinky]

Huh?? I think I got the gist of what yer sayin' but a lot of it was over my head, dsm. I think I'm hopeless.

[JoyD.]

.

. . . With simple actions you can change patient pressure settings, . . .

Yikes . . . sounds like "Big Brother" would be watching and messing around with our carefully tweaked settings

[6PtStar]

.
Yikes . . . sounds like "Big Brother" watching and messing up our carefully tweaked settings

That the way i felt when they gave me a wireless modem and said to set it within 10 feet of my bed so that during my sleep it will connect to my pacemaker and send a report on how I am doing to the rest of the world. Hummm maybe that is what keeps wakeing me up during the night!!!

Jerry

[dsm]

Huh?? I think I got the gist of what yer sayin' but a lot of it was over my head, dsm. I think I'm hopeless.

Slinky,

Put simply. The Internet is unstoppable in terms of changing how we communicate & conduct business. The previous world where
tv radio movies music telephony libraries etc: etc: were all separated technologies & entities, is giving way to integrated multi-media
based on internet infrastructure & traffic.

We mere plebs are here for the ride.

Part of our future consists of doing our daily work with a terminal running a networked web browser & an iPhone like device in our
pocket.

DSM

[kteague]

Jerry, and to think I was amazed how I could hold the telephone receiver and magnet to Mom's chest and they could read her pacemaker. Guess that system is antiquated now.

I've accepted that times and technology are ever evolving. Just not very comfortable with it all. Seems it's about as secure as a house of cards.