I learned Wednesday that health care technology purchases account for over 30% of CISCO’s business revenue. CISCO and its partners provide technology tools that track people, information and equipment, enabling better health care management, and hopefully, better and more affordable health care. The day focused on four related topics – security and compliance, wireless technologies, unified communications and RFID technologies.

Security and compliance – Keeping ahead of HIPPA regulations and electronic payment requirements was a major concern of providers. The key to success is to put a plan in place and to systematically pursue that plan. The emphasis was to show strong and credible efforts to meet the regulations and to address any shortcomings.

Wireless technologies – Vendors were displaying cool “star trek” communicators that allowed hands-free communications throughout the hospital, allowing staff to contact specific people or teams of people, depending on the need.

RFID – These devices enable the hospital to track people, equipment and devices so that they are in the right place at the right time. These devices, tied to GPS technologies, allow staff to be able to find what they need, when they need it.

Unified communications – Bringing all of these systems together is a critical task so that information is not lost or does not have to be re-entered into multiple systems.

I was a bit disappointed that there was very little discussion about home health care devices and practices. Maybe at their next seminar!