The Always On medical market won a big endorsement today from a San Francisco research house, FocalPoint Group, which advised hospitals that the technology is ready to lower costs and improve care.

The study projects that more than $7 billion will be spent on wireless data applications in the United States by 2010. Technologies, including WiFi, RFID, cellular, and low-rate ZigBee modules will be used to improve asset tracking, patient monitoring, and emergency response situations. In each case, these technologies are being implemented in health environments today and are expected to restructure the ways in which hospitals are organized and to handle patient needs.

In terms of the work I've been writing about these are fairly primitive applications. Track the medicine in the pharmacy, give doctors on call instant access to records they can read, that kind of thing. We're not yet talking about wireless monitoring of patients, or following those patients after they leave the hospital.

Despite this we're talking about huge savings:

With the vast majority of hospitals relying on paper-based systems, more than 770,000 Americans are injured or killed every year from adverse drug events, costing between $1.5 billion to $5 billion annually. Personal digital assistants (PDAs) can improve the legibility of drug orders while patient-worn wireless bracelets communicate information about drug allergies or deadly drug interactions -- potentially saving the healthcare system billions. In addition, long-range wireless transmissions and electronic patient records provide more complete and continuous data feeds about patient history, health and activities.

So what is holding things up?

• HIPAA -- My doctors are still not computerized, none of them. They're afraid of being held responsible for what they write. Fear is keeping American medicine in the 19th century.
• Liability -- Anything that goes into a patient has go through FDA approvals, and no matter how simple or sound that process results in immense liability potential. My big fear is that these costs are so much greater than the basic technology cost that those who finally bite the bullet will deliberately go with non-standard gear, in order to protect markets they must work so hard to create.
• Incentives -- Despite the immense costs of the present system, the cost of change appears higher.

People are dieing, and more go without health care every year in America, yet a big part of the solution is staring us in the face.

When will someone grab this opportunity?