Healthcare Tech and the World: A Discussion About the Impact of Medical Automation on Healthcare

A Continuing Series of Podcasts from Perot Systems on the Impact of Technology on Healthcare 


PLANO, Texas, Feb. 27  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Edition 22

Host: Dr. Kevin Fickenscher - Executive Vice President, International Healthcare for Perot Systems healthcare group

Guest: Dr. Robin Felder, Professor of Pathology at the University of Virginia, and Co-Founder and Member of the Board of Directors of the Medical Innovation and Transformation Institute (MITI), Loudoun County, Virginia

What: Healthcare Tech and the World: A Discussion about the Impact of Medical Automation -- one of a series of podcasts presented by Dr. Kevin Fickenscher of Perot Systems

  When: This podcast will be available for download on February 26, 2009
  Where: http://www.perotsystems.com/MediaRoom/podcasts



Perot Systems continues its series of podcasts with a forward-looking discussion about the increasing role medical automation and information technology will play in the transformation of healthcare.  In this episode, Dr. Kevin Fickenscher discusses with Dr. Robin Felder the impact that new automation technologies will have in the provision of healthcare across the globe.

The following quotes from Dr. Felder are highlights of the podcast:

Regarding the economic impact that automation can have in hospitals: "Laboratories (for a) simple 500+-bed hospital, for which there are about 247 of them in the nation, can reduce their costs by more than $5 million annually, by simply incorporating automation in sample-handling.  Pharmacies are savings hundreds of millions of dollars by employing robots to not only dispense pills quickly and efficiently, but also to take care of the inventory. Even greater savings can be realized by deploying system wide automation," stated Dr. Felder.

On the impact that medical automation can have for care of the elderly: "It's a well established fact that for every month that we delay the entry of elders into nursing homes in the USA, we save approximately $4 billion.  We showed that we could reduce the cost of caring for elders by 75 percent by properly deploying technology. . .The benefits are that not only do the elders feel safer and get better quality of care, minute-to-minute, but also the care-givers -- the nurses and nurse practitioners and aides -- that work with the elders feel less burdened and strained," commented Dr. Felder.

On how telemedicine and medical automation can be used at the global level:  "Telemedicine, when properly deployed, will allow technology to autonomously and automatically gather, interpret, and help individuals follow healthy life styles.  Only when a patient hasn't complied with a healthy lifestyle will the medical system come into play to attempt to motivate individuals to get back on track and stay healthy.  The goal is to allow the health system to focus on those individuals who are truly sick and more efficiently bring them back to a state of wellness," stated Dr. Felder.

Information about Dr. Robin Felder:

Dr. Felder received his B.S. in Chemistry from the College of William and Mary and his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Georgetown University, and did his postdoctoral work at the National Institutes of Mental Health. Dr. Felder has published over 180 basic and clinical research articles, fifty medical automation research articles, fifteen chapters and reviews, has been awarded twelve patents, and has twenty patents pending, and had edited three textbooks on medical automation. He has also served as a member of the editorial boards of Clinical and Experimental Hypertension, Laboratory Information Management, Advance News for Administrators of the Laboratory, and Clinica Chimica Acta.  He has received awards such as the Fogarty International Fellowship, the Young Clinical Investigator Award from the Association for Clinical Scientists, and the Young Investigator Award from both the American Federation for Clinical Research and the American Physiological Society. Dr. Felder founded the Association for Laboratory Automation, and was founding Editor of the Journal of the Association for Laboratory Automation, and cofounded the Medical Innovation and Transformation Institute in Loudoun County, Virginia

Information about Dr. Kevin Fickenscher:  Dr. Fickenscher is a recognized senior physician executive and healthcare thought leader.  He has extensive experience in healthcare management, and holds an international reputation as a dynamic, visionary, and strategic leader in the healthcare industry.  Dr. Fickenscher's bio can be found at:

  http://www.perotsystems.com/speakers/Kevin_Fickenscher_MD.htm

  About Perot Systems


Perot Systems is a worldwide provider of information technology services and business solutions. Through its flexible and collaborative approach, Perot Systems integrates expertise from across the company to deliver custom solutions that enable clients to accelerate growth, streamline operations and create new levels of customer value. Headquartered in Plano, Texas, Perot Systems reported 2008 revenue of $2.8 billion. The company has more than 23,000 associates located in the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Asia Pacific. Additional information on Perot Systems is available at http://www.perotsystems.com/.

This press release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. For factors that could affect our business and cause actual results to differ materially, please refer to our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2007, as filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and available at http://www.sec.gov/, as updated in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed after such Form 10-K, for additional information regarding risk factors. We disclaim any intention or obligation to revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future developments, or otherwise. 

http://www.perotsystems.com/MediaRoom/podcastsDATASOURCE: Perot Systems Corporation



CONTACT:  Jonathan Moss of Perot Systems, [phone],





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