"iPhone has already served as a great platform for medical applications…The [iPad] tablet can pave a whole new way for medical applications and the way we interact with our doctors."

High-tech excitement over Apple's new tablet computer, the iPad, includes the prospect of improved healthcare efficiency. Although Apple has singled out e-book applications and games in its demos, the blog world has forecast the iPad for the healthcare industry.

Jason Wilk who runs tinyComb, a site specializing in technical news, reports that Apple is already targeting the iPad as a cheaper alternative to existing communication devices used in healthcare settings. The Apple tablet would be half the cost (about $1,000) and half the weight (1.5 lbs.) of the Motion Computing C5 Mobile Clinical Assistant platform i9s, which was designed for the healthcare industry.

He says, "You can certainly bet the iPhone will interact very well with the tablet, so syncing information back and forth with your doctor via both devices should be a breeze."

To read the entire article in HealthLeaders Media, go to: http://www.healthleadersmedia.com

“67.6% of those ages 60 and older who lacked the capacity to make required decisions at the time of death had established an advance directive, according to a report in the April 1 New England Journal of Medicine.”

According to Maria J. Silveira, MD, MPH, of the VA Center for Clinical Management Research, patients who documented their wishes for only limited care or comfort care received it in 83% and 97% of cases, respectively. Silveira's group concluded in the NEJM paper, "Data suggest that most elderly patients would welcome these discussions."