Palm, Inc. has signed a two-year agreement with healthcare solutions provider McKesson, in a move to maintain its strong foothold in the healthcare sector.

The two companies will collaborate on sales and marketing campaigns as well as pursue future technologies for the healthcare industry. Palm handheld devices will deliver McKesson’s Horizon MobileCare solutions, which allow healthcare professionals to access critical information residing in legacy systems.

The Humility of Mary Health Partners (HMHP), in Youngstown, Ohio, is the first healthcare organization to take advantage of the Palm/McKesson partnership.

Over 50 attending physicians and residents at HMHP are using the McKesson Horizon MobileCare Rounding applications on a variety of Palm devices, including the Palm m125 and the Palm m505.

Instead of carrying bulky patient charts, physicians can now access patient information, including patient census, demographics, and laboratory, radiology and transcribed reports, on their pocket-sized device.

When commenting on the solution, Chuck Folkwein, HMHP’s chief information officer, said, "Our physicians needed an easier, more portable way to access vital patient information," enabling them to be more efficient and effective with their time, and most important, with their patients.

"We’ve had tremendous physician acceptance with Palm handhelds," Folkwein said. "Providing the mobile component to the enterprise system at HMHP was the important element that was missing."

HMHP’s assistant director of trauma services Dr. C. Michael Dunham, concurs with Mr. Folkwein, saying, "I use the Palm handheld-based Horizon MobileCare Rounding applications every time I conduct patient rounds. My pockets aren’t big enough to carry all the information I need. Now, I have it all at my fingertips without leaving the patient’s side."

For more information: http://www.palm.com