Download - 46. CliniCom Part 3
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H.I.S.-tory byVince Ciotti
2011 H.I.S. Professionals, LLC
Episode # 46:
CliniComPart 3
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Another Insiders View As we saw the past 2 HIS-tory episodes, CliniCom was an amazing
start-up vendor of bedside nursing systems, that pioneered RF
telecom, bar-coding and handheld devices over 25 years ago.
After Don Gilchrists fascinating input last week, I received a
treasure-trove of pictures and insights from another early CliniCom
team member, Marjorie Rodell, who led software development:
- If you look at the CliniCare
terminal (on right) you'll see aprecursor to iPad 20 years earlier.
-(granted Apples software is incredible
more user-friendly, but the basic devicepictured on the right was amazingly
prescient. The stylus is even reminiscent
of Apples first breakthrough PDA the
Newton, killed by Jobs after
Doonesbury mocked its character non-
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Marjorie sum up the 3 main breakthroughs of CliniCom:
It is interesting to think back on this time when we had to
provide the terminal device, the RF network and the bar-
coding methodology, because none of it existed then. Wewere the first to recognized that nurses were mobile.
- There just weren't open
mobile solutions then and
we believed that you had
to provide the whole
solution. CliniCom had a
patent on a frequency-
hopping RF protocol, but
getting it to work inhospitals without lots of
interference was a real
challenge both to install
and for ongoing support.
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Other CliniCom Insights
CliniCom had courageous, creative and loyal customers who were
the visionaries and risk takers of that time. They stuck with usthrough the challenges with RF, barcode glue and early stage
software glitches that would not be tolerated today and pushed us
in directions that Peter Gombrich probably never dreamed of.
Medication administration, as we foundout, forced nursing and pharmacists in
hospitals to cooperate in ways they were
not accustomed to. For example, the
specific times associated with QID had to
be specified per nursing station. We also
had a great sales team (see next page)
and a great services team who made
sure that those of us in development
paid attention to our customer needs.
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CliniComs Sales TeamThe one guy I recognize below is Brian Higgins, in the middle of the
bottom row he went through my PEP class at McAuto in 1981!
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Bill Brehms Contribution As Don Glichrist mentioned last week, Peter Gombrich left CliniCom
early, and Bill Brehm of Gerber-Brehm (IFAS) fame then led the way. Bill led ClinCom
through an
amazing growth
spurt, resulting inits first profitable
year in 1992.
By 1994, CliniCom
had grown in 10
years to over 100
clients with an
annual revenue of
$35M, which
caught the eye of
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Another Acquisition! Charlie McCall of HBOC fame in Atlanta. HBO was riding incredibly
high on its stock in the 90s buying up HIS vendors, and CliniCom
became the basis of their Pathways line of clinical systems.
The Pathways Care Manager suite
expanded on CliniComs emphasis
on nursing functionality, which grew
over time to encompass almostevery aspect of nursing, from TPR,
I&O, Assessments to Care Plans.
Eventually renamed Horizon, the
pioneering nursing systems ofCliniCom still run today in hundreds
of hospitals who are reading the
latest press releases on HERM, and
wondering whats on the horizonfor this paragon of clinical systems.
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Thanks Marjorie! So whats Marjorie doing these days? I first met her when she was
running the consulting division of the Sisters of St. Francis Health
System in Indiana for CIO Bill Laker back in the late 90s. SSFHS was aheavy user of HBOCs Pathways, and pushed it to its limits, just as
Marjorie pushes her Kawasaki Ninja 250 (pictured below) to its!
Through her consulting
firm, SMG Inc, she helpsvendors learn from her
many years at both
CliniCom and
HBOC/McKesson, whereshe led clinical software
development, and can
be reached at:
970.948.5837