IBM Code Helps Healthcare IT Providers Create Real-Time, Interactive Software

Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM Corp. announced it is donating new software code to help healthcare and other industries work on shared content in real-time, on the web. The code is from IBM Project Blue Spruce and will be donated to the Dojo Foundation's Open Cooperative Web Framework (OpenCoweb).

Developed in the IBM labs, Project Blue Spruce allows people to simultaneously interact and update content in real-time via a web browser on computers and the Apple iPad and includes video chat. Researchers for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are using the IBM code to help analyze health records of patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPDGene).

iTel Companies Inc. ( iTel), a early stage private healthcare IT company based in Scottsdale, Ariz., has created a mental health offering called iTelepsych.com using the Blue Spruce Project code. It allows patients to virtually meet and communicate with mental health providers via HIPPA-compliant video conferencing for real-time medical treatment from any location with an Internet connection. In addition, medical professionals can expedite critical decision making by simultaneously manipulating data and collaboratively discussing brain images and lab results.