Color PDAs for Wireless LANs?

David Macfarlan asks: "My father owns a small medical practice and has always desired to get information to himself and his patients rapidly. With recent advancements of 802.11b and powerful Pocket PC's he's developed an itch for information-on-demand through a wireless handheld (preferrably color) while he is in the examination room. A database for the knowledge he's looking to access already exists, and can be queried via any browser. He has approached me on implimenting a system of reliable, fast PDA's which could deliver a browser-based wireless access (within 100 feet) of this system. Is there anyone who has experience with the PPC's, and could offer any suggestions as to which is best suited to such an application?"

Comments

ViewSonic's Airpanel

[acer123]

It has a much bigger screen than a pocket PC (perfect for showing charts, illustrations, etc). It is already wireless and would connect directly with your existing server. It is really just a mobile touchscreen monitor
[viewsonic.com]

Screen Size

[ddeyoung]

I've done work for several dentists and they seem to all be interested in the latest and greatest (while not always excited about paying for it).

From the discussions I've had, they have all said that they would prefer something with a decent size screen that's wireless. When I showed them my PDA's browser, they all seemed to think it was too small.

I think something like this would be more useful. It has a PCI slot allowing a choice of wireless cards, etc. Also the Viewsonic listed above looks nice...

Siemens Simpad SL4

[repvik]

It can use 802.11b, GSM 900/1800, GPRS, Bluetooth, HSCSD and HomeRF. It's got a 8.4" TFT touchscreen (800x600 with 65535 colors), has serial, IrDA, smartcard and pccard interfaces.

What more do you need? :)

Watch out for HIPAA! Fines of $25,000 - $250,000

[Nonesuch]

The HIPAA regulations provide some rather severe penalties for privacy violations.

The privacy provisions of the federal law, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), apply to health information created or maintained by health care providers who engage in certain electronic transactions, health plans, and health care clearinghouses.

In HIPAA, Congress provided penalties for covered entities that misuse personal health information.

• Civil penalties. Health plans, providers and clearinghouses that violate these standards will be subject to civil liability. Civil money penalties are $100 per violation, up to $25,000 per year for each requirement or prohibition violated.
• Criminal penalties. Congress also established criminal penalties for certain actions such as knowingly obtaining protected health information in violation of the law. Criminal penalties are up to $50,000 and one year in prison for certain offenses; up to $100,000 and up to five years in prison if the offenses are committed under "false pretenses"; and up to $250,000 and up to 10 years in prison if the offenses are committed with the intent to sell, transfer or use protected health information for commercial advantage, personal gain or malicious harm.