First there was tulip mania, circa 1637. More recently there were tech stock and real-estate bubbles. Now, enthusiasm for the iPad as a game-changing health IT device is swelling like the string section in a romantic movie score.
The Washington Post business section did its part on Sunday to stoke iRational exuberance, running an article under the banner "With the iPad, Apple may just revolutionize medicine."
According to the piece, which originated with Slate's The Big Money column:
This isn't just hot-new-toy fever sweeping the mediverse, though: If the iPad becomes as ubiquitous in medical facilities as the iPod is everywhere else, it could usher in billions of dollars in savings, according to Blackford Middleton, chairman of the Center for Information Technology Leadership and corporate director of Clinical Informatics Research & Development at Partners HealthCare System.
The writer, Martha C. White, speculating that Steve Jobs was inspired to create a medical-friendly tablet while recuperating from liver transplant surgery, concludes that the iPad "appears to be the booster shot the health-care industry needs."
Maybe. Then again, with spring upon us, is anyone in the market for tulip bulbs?
John Pulley
John Pulley has written the Health IT Update blog since May 2011. Prior to becoming a regular contributor to Nextgov, he covered technology for Federal Computer Week and Government Health IT magazines. He has written about government for Federal Times and Air Force Times, as well. Pulley has worked in journalism for more than 20 years. He began his career covering local government for regional newspapers. In addition, he served as a writer and senior editor at The Chronicle of Higher Education for seven years. In 2006, he founded The Pulley Group, an editorial services agency.
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