June 18 - 5:05pm EDT   MacSpeech has launched MacSpeech Dictate Medical, providing speech recognition and dictation software for medical professionals on the Mac platform. The software is designed specifically for medical and dental professionals and support staff, allowing dictation of text directly into applications and practice management systems. The software can issue numerous commands by voice, on the Macintosh, using an included, digitally enhanced USB headset/microphone. MacSpeech Dictate understands and supports vocabularies for more than 54 medical and dental disciplines and specialties, including general medicine, cardiology, dentistry, OB/GYN, pediatrics and others. [full story]

April 6 - 8:20pm EDT   Medical image processing software OsiriX has been updated to OsiriX 3.5, with better rendering quality, a 3D-MPR viewer, support for 16-bit MIP images, multi-threading capabilities and more. The software is dedicated to viewing DICOM (.dcm) images, commonly used in the medical field for MRIs, CT, PET, Ultrasounds and other visual output devices. OsiriX can view other visual formats like Tiff, JPG, PDF, AVI, MPEG and QuickTime files. It supports multidimensional views, including standard 2D and 3D views and medical dimensions like 4D (3D plus temporal views) and 5D (3D plus temporal and functional views). [full story]

February 13 - 5:30pm EST   In brief: A new file transfer service has been launched that allows clients to transfer large files at speeds greater than standard FTP transfers. Alternativly, a new partnership has been announced between National Electronic Attachment and MacPractice. This partnership will bring new functions to MacPractice's software that will allow clients to submit documents such as x-rays electronically. On another note, a presentation earlier this month demonstrated the functionality of the new Cumulus/Quark Publishing System integration. [full story]

December 11 - 2:25am EST   Edge Health Solutions will use Allscripts' enterprise version of ePrescribe in its future Mac-based medical software. Allscripts ePrescribe software provides prescription-ordering support for Mac users. The move comes as a 2009 electronic prescription initiative is about to begin, where physicians who prescribe medications electronically will be paid up to 2 percent of their annual Medicare billings, while physicians who fail to use the technology may be penalized an equal amount after 2012. [full story]

November 10 - 8:55pm EST   MacPractice has launched its MacPractice Kiosk Interface with signature pad (link is temporarily inactive) for the company's MacPractice MD, MacPractice DDS, MacPracticeDC and MacPractice 20/20 medical software. The kiosk is a customizable paperless solution for medical personnel to take registrations, health histories, consent forms and other medical records electronically with electronic signature support. The interface synchronizes with other MacPractice software, sending signed and filled forms from the kiosk Mac to the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) or Electronic Dental Record (EDR) in MacPractice MD or DDS. [full story]

October 24 - 9:05pm EDT   MacPractice, which supplies Mac-based software for doctors, chiropractors and dentists, has updated its medical records software. MacPractice EMR now allows doctors to record patient visits with procedure codes and diagnoses, simplifying the billing process. The company says it has also improved the process of creating and sharing narrative medical reports. [full story]

September 15 - 7:30pm EDT   McGraw-Hill Professional and Modality have joined forces to bring Zollinger's Atlas of Surgical Operations to the iPhone and iPod touch. The surgical reference applications are designed to provide medical students, residents, and surgeons with instant mobile access to step-by-step surgical procedures. Many of the included procedures provide narrated animations adapted from McGraw-Hill's AccessSurgery, an online surgical education resource that outlines each step from Indications and Preoperative Preparation to Closure and Postoperative Care. [full story]

August 28 - 3:20pm EDT  ComChart Medical Software is attempting to promote the use of Apple computers within the medical community by offering a free license to use ComChart EMR for the remainder of 2008. ComChart EMR was designed in the office of a practicing physician and has been designed to be intuitive for other physicians. It allows the user to preform various tasks such as schedule appointments and keep medical records. It has been made in a way that allows users to customize almost every feature meaning a user can adapt the program to help with their specific needs. The application has most recently been updated to work with the iPhone, adding specific support for iPhone users accessing EMR's web interface. [full story]

July 15 - 7:25pm EDT   Sandisk on Tuesday introduced the "WORM," or "Write Once Read Many" SD card for professional uses such as storing evidence in police investigations, court testimony, medical records and electronic voting. Sandisk claims original data written to WORM cards are "effectively locked" and there is "no physical way to alter or delete the files." If stored properly, the company claims, WORM SD cards have an archive live of up to 100 years. [full story]

June 17 - 3:30am EDT   OsiriX has released version 3.2 of its open-source medical and scientific imaging software, boasting improved performance and a host of new features. Based on the VTK, ITK and decmtk software development kits, OsiriX is fully natively compliant with the DICOM standard for medical images, as well as JPEG, TIFF PDF and AVI. In addition to an already extensive feature set, most notable developments in version 3.2 of the software include 80 percent faster rendering speed than previous versions and the return of 64-bit support on PowerPC G5-based systems. The full list of new features as documented in the release notes, is as follows: [full story]

June 13 - 9:30am EDT   MacPractice Inc this week announced the fruit of a recent collaboration with National Dental Inc, manufacturers of specialist cameras to the dental sector, introducing the first USB 'intraoral' camera for Apple-based dental practitioners. The DocPort Macro Intraoral camera comes complete with Mac OS X specific Macpractice DR photo software, and the option for a 'foot pedal' for ease of use. [full story]

June 3 - 12:20am EDT   Developer of MacPractice DDS, and Suni Medical, Imaging, Inc. announced a collaboration to develop a MacSensor solution, comprised of the newly introduced SuniRay sensor and MacPractice DR (Digital Radiography/Photo) software. The new SuniRay dental sensor uses the latest CMOS technology, and delivers high image quality with maximum diagnostic capabilities for dentists. SuniRay’s ergonomic design and rounded corners ensure easy positioning and optimal patient comfort. [full story]

December 17 - 9:55pm EST   OsiriX Medical Imaging Software today was updated to version 3.0, adding, among other things, Leopard compatibility and exclusivity. The new version has been revamped to include both a new, intuitive user interface, and vastly enhanced application performance. The radiologist-designed software has several new third-, fourth-, and fifth-dimension navigation features that have been added. OsiriX is a completely open source project, distributed under the Open Source General Public License. [full story]