They said the time is right to enter into this market, given improved technology and lower costs to deploy systems. Ricci pointed to current healthcare-industry problems including prescriptions written for incompatible drugs, or delaying treatment by waiting for tests that that are unnecessary or that have already been performed. The hope, Ricci said, is that physicians will be able to file prescriptions from wireless devices on the fly, and check medical histories on online databases. Technology can solve many of these problems, he said. IBM's healthcare efforts make up a multi-billion dollar global business.
Doctors are some of the most technologically illiterate people out there.
If you look at medicine, it's way behind in movement into technology. Michael LeConey, analyst with Gilford Securities said. Some analysts were skeptical, however. There are still strategy issues that have to be resolved,'' Mike Davis, an analyst with advisory firm Gartner Group, said of the Pfizer alliance. Another analyst, who asked not to be named, said it still may be difficult to get those physician practices that already use a service to convert.