The companies' investment is expected to more than pay off as the device is projected to cut insurance costs by encouraging doctors to prescribe cheaper brands of medication. Each doctor will receive the device preloaded with software that can be customized to reflect his or her specialty - internist, pediatrician, obstetrician. He or she fills out an onscreen form detailing the patient's complaint and the diagnosis. If the doctor decides to refer the patient to a specialist for more tests, the device will give out an immediate list of physicians within the health-care alliance. Often, Edelson explains, harried doctors refer patients to a specialist without checking whether that doctor is part of the patient's health-maintenance organization.
Doctors also use the device to prescribe drugs.
If there is a cheaper alternative, the device informs the doctors. They can then agree, disagree, or decide that they need to get more information. Over time, as more and more data is captured from different parts of a health-care alliance, a virtual patient record comes to life. The company has created a series of translators that can interface between different databases, say the X-ray lab in a hospital and the drug benefit company in another state. The next step is to expand the pilot program to Philadelphia, Chicago, and San Francisco and possibly beyond.