For Hospitals, There's No App For That

Hospitals are usually eager to embrace the latest medical technology, but the road to deploying tablet computers has been bumpy. iPads have been available since April 2010, but less than one percent of hospitals have fully functional tablet systems, according to Jonathan Mack, director of clinical research and development at the West Wireless Health Institute, a San Diego-based nonprofit focused on lowering the cost of health care through new technology.

"We're really lagging behind in the U.S. in using electronic medical records on mobile devices like iPads," Mack says. The federal government is giving hospitals financial incentives to implement electronic records systems, which can cost a health system between $2 million and $16 million, depending on size, says Mack...