[rninformatics]

March 17, 2008

Hospitals Invest in Bedside Internet Systems for Patients
Hospitals increasingly are installing Internet systems in an effort to help patients gather health care information that can help smooth their transition to home recovery, the New York Times reports.

According to the Times, the belief is that online access will make patients and visitors happier and less likely to bother providers. In addition, hospitals say that Internet access helps them attract patients and compete against nearby facilities.

However, only a small fraction of the country's approximately 6,000 community hospitals provide bedside Internet systems, in part because of the high costs.

TeleHealth Services, which has installed Internet systems in about a dozen hospitals, charges about $3,000 per room for computer hardware and software, according to George Fleming, CEO of TeleHealth's parent company Telerent Leasing Corporation. GetWellNetwork, which provides bedside Internet service to about 50 hospitals, charges $3 per patient per day for the computers and software needed for bedside Internet access.

Executives said that pharmaceutical companies, online medical publishers and other medical advertisers might be willing to share their advertising revenues with hospitals and technology vendors in exchange for prominent placement on patients' bedside computer screens (Tedeschi, New York Times, 3/17).