Cisco unveils HealthPresence Platform

Cisco Systems is bringing together its TelePresence video collaboration technology and unified communications products to create a platform to enable better patient care in virtual settings, reports eWeek.

The platform is designed to enable greater doctor-patient interaction when face-to-face meetings aren't possible. In some cases, these immersive video collaboration sessions can be preferable to face-to-face meetings, as when it is necessary to bring in specialists from varying locations to consult on a case, say Cisco officials.

It is also intended to aid patients in rural and underserved areas where medical attention or particular expertise is scarce.

Microsoft is readying another piece of its healthcare software and service platform, states ZDNet.

The latest component is a SharePoint-based offering called HealthVault Community Connect, due out in the third calendar quarter of this year. Community Connect will manage medical-records-processing workflows, providing automation on the patient entry and discharge fronts.

The 'Community' in the name of the new product isn't a reference to social networking. Instead, it refers to the 'community' of the patient, the hospital and the patient's caregivers outside the hospital, according to Microsoft.

Symantec has unveiled a hosting service designed to let healthcare providers store, archive, and share their medical records, writes CNET News.

The company's Symantec Health service is designed to help hospitals and healthcare companies offload the costs and internal resources used to house medical records.

As healthcare firms are forced to keep more image-based files, such as lab tests, for longer retention times, their storage costs have soared, says Symantec. The Symantec Health service will offer an alternative cloud-based storage environment where companies can budget and pay only for what they need.