Alan Dabbiere, co-founder and chairman of AirWatch, an Atlanta-based provider of smartphone and mobile device management solutions, is looking for one successful mobile health program to help change the course of healthcare.
He thinks a $100,000 donation to Virginia’s Inova Health System may move that effort along.
“We want to see one real successful home run right here,” said Dabbiere. “Once the healthcare industry understands the value of the smartphone, all of a sudden the value proposition changes dramatically.”
AirWatch’s donation will go toward the northern Virginia-based health system’s Telemedicine Institute Mobility Programs. The three programs targeted for support are a home health pilot program, in which home health nurses will be provided tablets in an effort to improve the quality of care and connectivity; a telestroke program, in which neurologists will be given mobile technology and software designed to improve their stroke response times and administer medication in a more timely and efficient manner; and a program designed to study the impact of mobile technology on physician inpatient productivity at Inova Fairfax Hospital’s Neuroscience Intensive Care Unit.
“We’re looking at small investments in the right place to get seed projects started,” said Dabbiere, who noted AirWatch provides monitoring, management and support services for several hospitals, including Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. “Devices, essentially, in healthcare are becoming alive, and we want to see them become the catalysts for change. … Electronic medical records really require mobility.”
“Hospitals right now, they run with an emergency room mentality,” he added. “There are gaps in their forward-looking thinking, in some instances.”
Inova, with more than 1,700 licensed beds in seven hospitals, the Inova Heart and Vascular Institute and many other settings, is billed as a largest not-for-profit healthcare system serving northern Virginia and the Washington D.C. area.
“Inova is very much know for innovation,” said Dabbiere.
“AirWatch and Inova share the same commitment to excellence in patient care,” said William Jackson, director of Inova’s Adult Critical Care services, in a press release. “This very generous gift underwrites critical services, which will positively impact the diverse community we serve. By utilizing the technology made possible by this grant, the Inova Telemedicine Institute’s response to patient evaluation, intervention and care is greatly enhanced while assisting physicians and caregivers with respect to timely treatment and increased productivity.”
