QRS Diagnostic Makes High-Tech Medicine More Accessible, Affordable and Mobile with its Patented Medical Device Technology
QRS Software-based Medical Devices in Computer Cards Reduce the Complexity and Cost of Diagnostic Testing
MINNEAPOLIS, MN (PRWEB) January 7, 2004--The 325,000 primary care physicians
in the U.S. are on the front lines contending with the central challenge of our
health care system: providing quality care at an affordable cost. They need
convenient, reliable and reasonably priced devices for diagnostic testing and
patient monitoring. Founded in 1994 and headquartered in Plymouth, Minn., QRS
Diagnostic designs and develops software-based medical devices, built into
computer cards, which cost 25 percent to 50 percent less than traditional device
products.
“QRS is a medical device company that thinks and acts like an
information technology company,” says Spencer Lien, founder and chief executive
officer, QRS. “We apply our patented technology to convert standard computing
devices, like laptops and PDAs, into portable, upgradeable and affordable
medical devices.”
The Problem: The Complexity and Costs of Medical
Devices--
Grappling with government and managed care payment constraints,
primary care physicians (those in general practice, family practice, pediatrics
and internal medicine) must uphold quality while managing costs. To cover
practice overhead and maintain their incomes, they strive to see more patients
per day. If they could readily and effectively perform more diagnostic tests in
their own offices, primary care physicians could maximize the clinical value of
office visits, improve quality, and enhance convenience for patients. They could
also reduce costs and increase their share of revenues by performing tests for
many patients themselves, instead of always referring them to specialists. And,
instant access to test results enables primary care physicians to communicate
more effectively with specialists when they do refer their patients for a
consultation.
Yet, many primary care physicians still do not perform
diagnostic procedures such as spirometry and electrocardiography. Why? Most
medical devices are not designed for primary care physicians. They are too
cumbersome, too complex, and too costly.
The QRS Technology Solution:
Computer Card Medical Devices--
QRS uses its innovative technology to
design and develop medical devices that streamline and simplify the collection,
interpretation and communication of precise physiological data. QRS enables
primary care physicians to cost-effectively practice high-tech medicine while
delivering the accuracy that specialists and hospitals demand. The company
focuses on the unmet needs of primary care physicians while offering
cost-effective device alternatives for hospitals as well as the approximately
50,000 specialists in the U.S. who practice cardiovascular medicine.
QRS
holds two patents on the design of medical devices contained in Type II (PCMCIA)
PC Cards and Compact Flash (CF) Cards for Windows(R) CE-based handhelds and
Pocket PCs, including the HP iPAQ™. “We build the intelligence of physiological
data acquisition and analysis into computer cards,” explains Lien. “QRS computer
cards, with integrated sensors (such as electrode leads for EKGs), slide right
into off-the-shelf laptops, Pocket PCs and PDAs. This makes them work as fully
functioning medical devices, and that’s the key to the mobility and
affordability of our products.”
Portability, as well as affordability,
is an advantage. In the offices of primary care physicians, it is often
infeasible or too costly to maintain dedicated procedure rooms for bulky,
stand-alone diagnostic testing machines. Physicians can carry QRS devices in
their lab coat pockets. Because they are software-based, QRS devices are not
only mobile but easily upgradeable, which reduces long-term device costs.
Moreover, QRS eliminates the need to purchase and support separate, stand-alone
machines for different diagnostic procedures, since a single laptop or PDA can
support all QRS computer card devices.
“With QRS, I was able to buy two
computer card devices, for spirometry and electrocardiography, for less than the
price of an EKG machine,” says Patrick O’Malley, D.O., O’Malley Family Medicine,
Oconomowoc, Wisc. “When I want to monitor a patient’s heart or test their lung
function, for initial diagnosis or follow-up, it’s easy to do myself. I just
plug the QRS card into my notebook PC. It’s simple and fast. And, I don’t have
to wheel in a big, unwieldy machine to do the tests.”
Computer Card
Medical Devices: The QRS Diagnostic Product Line--
Spirometry is
essential in the diagnosis and treatment of conditions such as chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma. According to the American Lung
Association, about 12 million Americans have COPD, and asthma afflicts an
estimated 20 million to 25 million people in the U.S. SpiroCard(R) from QRS
Diagnostic is a software-based spirometer contained in a computer card. Weighing
less than two ounces, SpiroCard is the smallest and lightest spirometer on the
market. Yet, SpiroCard exceeds the accuracy standards of the American Thoracic
Society (ATS), and independent testing has verified that SpiroCard is actually
more precise than spirometers that are more expensive.
“SpiroCard offers
frontline physicians a useful, reasonably priced way to practice
state-of-the-art medicine,” says Patrick Zook, M.D., St. Cloud Medical Group,
Saint Cloud, Minn.
“SpiroCard from QRS Diagnostic was my first choice
because of its accuracy, flexibility, mobility and ease-of-use, and
affordability,” says Tom Mayer, C.R.T., C.P.F.T, director of the Lung Health
Clinic at Academic Medicine, Inc. (AMI), a seven-physician group practice in
Kirksville, Mo. “With its reasonable price, SpiroCard enabled me to get our lung
health clinic started with very low overhead costs.”
OxiCard(R) is QRS
Diagnostic’s pulse oximeter that provides instant, noninvasive measurement of
pulse rates and oxygen saturation in the blood. The device is built into a
Compact Flash (CF) Card and weighs only 2.4 ounces. SpirOxCard(R) is the only
combination spirometer/pulse oximeter. It measures pulmonary function and
monitors blood oxygenation with one convenient device contained entirely in a
computer card.
Nick Ausaf, D.O., Lakefront Center for Family Medicine,
Sebring, Fla., uses SpirOxCard in his practice. “To meet patient expectations
and provide quality care, I want to utilize diagnostic tools, like spirometry,
that are appropriate today for primary care, but I must also control overhead
costs,” he says. “QRS offers the affordable, high-quality technology solution
for diagnostic testing that I envisioned for my new practice, and their computer
card devices have proven to be reliable and easy to use.”
Universal ECG™
is a lightweight, portable, 12-channel diagnostic electrocardiograph device, a
critical tool in the diagnosis and treatment of heart problems, including
Congestive Heart Failure (CHF), which affects nearly 5 million Americans.
“It’s so fast and easy to perform EKGs with the QRS card that I have no
need for a technician. Patients appreciate that it takes only a few minutes to
put on the leads and run the test,” says Sam Sugar, M.D., Sunrise Lifestyle
Centers, LLC, Northbrook, Ill. “For a small to moderate-size practice, it’s an
excellent choice for office-based diagnostic
electrocardiography.”
Another physician who finds Universal ECG to be the
right solution for primary care is Steven Mussey, M.D., Mussey, Sarber and
Associates, P.C., an internal medicine practice in Fredericksburg, Va. “We were
trying to find a heart monitor we could afford, and the price of Universal ECG
was far better than a stand-alone machine,” he says. “I just plug the card into
my laptop, attach the leads, and get accurate results.”
QRS continues to
employ its patented technology platform to expand its product line. QRS will
release its BPCard™ blood pressure device in 2004. VitalsCard(R), which
integrates blood pressure, body temperature, pulse oximetry is in
development.
Managing Diagnostic Data: Complementary IT Solutions from
QRS--
Office Medic(R), a patient information management system that
delivers real-time diagnostic testing, complements QRS medical devices. With QRS
computer card devices, Office Medic provides caregivers with the flexibility and
mobility to perform accurate diagnostic tests on any standard desktop or laptop.
Test data is acquired and accessible in seconds at the point of care. The
software allows full on-screen viewing of real-time graphs and reports and
provides easy access to automatically stored records.
Office Medic
International enables physicians worldwide to take advantage of QRS medical
devices and patient information management software. It offers seven language
choices: King’s English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Portuguese
(Portugal), and Portuguese (Brazilian).
Office Medic Integrated Data
Management System (IDMS) provides the full advantages of a network solution. It
is a patient information management system that provides real-time diagnostic
testing, centralized digital data storage, rapid report retrieval and data
sharing, and remote connectivity. With Microsoft SQL Server 2000, Office Medic
IDMS turns clients on a network into full-function medical devices simply by
sliding a QRS computer card device into an existing network workstation.
Physicians and nurses can perform tests on any standard client and then access
and analyze the results from anywhere on the network.
Office Medic also
interfaces with electronic medical record systems (EMRs) to offer added
functionality and value for physicians. QRS has partnered with Amicore, Andover,
Mass., to interface with Amicore Clinical Management, a comprehensive clinical
workflow and EMR solution. “We use Amicore Clinical Management and QRS devices
to automate administrative and clinical tasks in our practice,” says Robert
Hughes, M.D., Primary Care Medical Center, a seven-physician group practice in
Murray, Ky. “With the interface, we will achieve even greater increases in
productivity.”
QRS Mobility, Reliability and Affordability: Advancing
Home Care--
Today, the mobility, reliability and affordability of QRS
devices also advance diagnostic testing and patient monitoring for disease
management and home health care. According to Barb Johnston, R.N., clinical
nurse specialist, Kaiser Permanente, Los Angeles, Calif., “the devices developed
by QRS Diagnostic provide an opportunity for improving disease management for
patients with asthma, CHF, COPD and other conditions.”
Texas Children’s
Hospital (TCH), Houston, is an internationally recognized, full-service
pediatric hospital, the largest in the U.S. The lung transplant program at TCH
uses SpiroCard and Office Medic to remotely monitor patients’ post-transplant
lung function after the children return home. “Decreased pulmonary function is
an early, and critical, indicator of possible graft malfunction,” says George B.
Mallory, M.D., program director. “At-home spirometry with digital data storage,
remote monitoring and automated communication ensures follow-up
care.”
QRS Diagnostic: The Right Technology Propels Fast
Growth--
With the basic soundness of the company’s business strategy and
the strength of its patented medical device technology, QRS Diagnostic is moving
forward. QRS ranks 25th among Minnesota’s fastest growing technology companies,
according to the Deloitte & Touche Technology Fast 50 program. The Fast 50
rankings are based on percentage growth in revenues from 1998 to 2002. QRS
achieved 300 percent revenue growth over the past five years.
“To rank on
the Deloitte & Touche Technology Fast 50, companies must have phenomenal
revenue growth in the five-year period,” says Ron Hafner, Deloitte & Touche
partner. “QRS Diagnostic has proven to be one of the fast-growth success stories
in Minnesota, and we applaud their success and vision.”
# # #
Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/1/prweb97059.htm