Memorial Hermann Healthcare System Using IPhone with Microsoft Exchange and More

I remember when the phone first came out, I wondered how long before Outlook Exchange would be supported, and we didn’t have to wait too long as it seemed it was within a year or so if I remember correctly.

This hospital chain in Houston has also adapted the IPhone for use and it works directly with Exchange for email, spreadsheets, etc. Obviously their infrastructure was already built around Microsoft products, so it appears that the solution made everyone happy from IS to the doctors who use them. There is a video at the site and the one application features is Airstrip OB where the doctor gets up in the morning and checks the status of his patient, from the IPhone, so no guesswork on his part there as he has all the information at his fingertips. Airstrip also has several other software programs available for the IPhone, cardiology and imaging are a couple additional program options. BD

Based in Houston, TX, the fourth-largest city in the U.S., Memorial Hermann serves a metro area of more than five million people, providing everything from air ambulance services to a chemical dependency treatment center.

“Health care is a very real-time business,” says David Bradshaw, Chief Information, Planning, and Marketing Officer at Memorial Hermann. “We need anywhere, anytime computing, and iPhone is the best platform for the applications we’re choosing.”

Secure Access to Medical Data

With its built-in support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, iPhone fits in flawlessly with Memorial Hermann’s existing infrastructure. “For me, that tight integration with Microsoft Exchange is very important,” says Dr. Robert Murphy, Memorial Hermann’s Chief Medical Informatics Officer.

“It's as if you had the Outlook client on your iPhone,” Bradshaw agrees. “Accepting meetings, looking at email and attachments, downloading spreadsheets. It’s seamlessly integrated into our Exchange network.”

iPhone security features such as remote wipe and passcode protection keep patient information confidential while remaining transparent to users. “The security technology is absolutely not in question,” Dr. Murphy says. “Our security team has looked at the iPhone, and it not only meets the standards, it exceeds the standards.”