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What does Skyscape do? |
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Skyscape is the leading provider of interactive, intelligent mobile solutions for healthcare enterprises and individual practitioners. Skyscape utilizes its patented ART™ (Advanced Reference and Transaction) technology infrastructure to create and provide compelling, dynamic, high-value solutions for handheld devices that reflect and support the intuitive thought processes of the medical practitioner. Skyscape's solutions significantly improve the quality and efficiency of medical decision making-at the point of care-by enabling doctors to diagnose illnesses, determine treatment, prescribe medication, identify drug interactions, calculate dosages and perform all the necessary steps involved with quality patient care. |
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How does Skyscape's technology help medical professionals? |
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Skyscape provides medical practitioners with the up-to-date information they need on their handheld devices to enable them to make informed decisions at the point of care. Skyscape solutions are revolutionary in their ability to allow medical practitioners to use handheld devices to support their decision making as rapidly as their minds can move from topic to topic. Skyscape's patented technology, SmartLink™, allows doctors to view information in context while moving from researching an ailment, to the drug appropriate for the treatment of the ailment, to checking on the interactions of the drug quickly, interactively and without changing applications or distracting their train of thought. The new Skyscape MedStream platform enables doctors to easily integrate dynamic information into their decision-making process via intelligent mobile channels that include dynamic information from newsletters, journals, the Web, etc. |
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Who benefits from Skyscape's technology? |
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Healthcare enterprises and medical practitioners benefit from Skyscape technology. Currently, Skyscape is focused on providing trusted medical reference information from publishers, such as McGraw-Hill, Pearson Prentice Hall, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Facts and Comparisons, F. A. Davis, Thomson and Elsevier Health Sciences, in context for handheld devices to the medical community. The company's new MedStream platform compliments these offerings by providing dynamic content and updates via intelligent channels-ensuring users always have the most up-to-date information at their fingertips. More than 230,000 doctors, nurses, physician assistants, residents and other medical practitioners across the country are using Skyscape's trusted solutions to make informed decisions at the point of care. For example, individual and communities of medical practitioners at Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Stanford Medical School, Partners Health System, Duke University, Mayo Clinic and Kaiser Permanente rely on Skyscape in their daily activities.
While Skyscape's first applications are focused on the medical industry, the company's technology can easily be adapted to benefit other mobile professionals such as attorneys, engineers and accountants.
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What makes Skyscape's technology different? |
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Skyscape's patented ART Engine, MedStream platform, SmartLink capability and Smartab ™ user interface make it the only company to be able to provide, on handheld devices, trusted medical reference information from world-wide publishers, in context as medical practitioners use it. Unlike other companies, Skyscape uses proven texts, such as the Handbook of Pediatric Drug Therapy, the Physicians' Desk Reference, Griffith's 5-Minute Clinical Consult and the Washington Manual of Medical Therapeutics, and electronically enhances them to take advantage of the features and functionality of handheld devices. |
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What is MedStream and what functionality does it add? |
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MedStream is Skyscape's new dynamic mobile device delivery platform which provides medical practitioners access to dynamic information, such as FDA newsletters and alerts, in-context on their handhelds. MedStream offers intelligent mobile channels of information such as medical journals, newsletters and FDA drug alerts from which a user can select. MedStream enhances the handheld experience through an intelligent channel mechanism for providing access to frequently updated in-context content in a customizable format.
What really sets the MedStream information apart is it is seamlessly integrated into the user's reference material. For example, if there is a news flash on a specific cancer treatment, a user doesn't have to review all alerts to find it - a link to it will automatically appear when the user is reviewing the cancer information and SmartLinks to MedStream. No other product provides this functionality. This enables medical professionals to practice at a higher level of expertise and have the information they require to make the most informed decisions at their fingertips.
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Would users be able to choose which channels they want? |
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Yes. The information from MedStream is available on an "opt-in" basis. Once a user selects the channels, the content will be automatically sent to the PC. The handheld is automatically updated every time the user syncs to that PC. Information from MedStream SmartLinksT with other Skyscape-powered information and is regularly updated, providing the most current information at the point-of-care. |
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Can hospitals use MedStream to distribute information to PDA users? |
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Yes. Hospitals and other organizations can use Skyscape's new MedStream platform to disseminate important information, such as best practices and hospital guidelines to all employees with PDAs. This will reduce costs and streamline hospital operations and help ensure all activities are done in accordance with procedures. |
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How much does MedStream cost? |
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The MedStream platform itself is free to all customers. The price for each channel varies from channel to channel. The MedWatch, CDC and Skyscape channels are free of charge and other free channels and tools will be available soon. Information from medical journals and newsletters will be available by subscription only.
Content from the Skyscape MedStream server is available as individual channels or as a bundle of four channels with new channels becoming available every month. The MedWatch, CDC and Skyscape channels are available for no charge. Additionally, users can subscribe to channels such as Drug News Weekly and DrugLink on an annual basis. Group purchasing options and student discounts are available. Pricing for institutions seeking to utilize the MedStream platform to disseminate custom information varies depending on the frequency and type of update and on the content itself.
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How much does a reference cost? |
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Skyscape-powered references for handheld devices typically cost the same as the hard-copy textbook, but include improved, integrated handheld functionality-such as Skyscape's interface and SmartLink capabilities. Students, residents, medical groups and institutions may qualify for group discounts. |
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How can I purchase Skyscape's references and MedStream? |
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Customers can purchase trusted Skyscape-powered references from the company's Website (www.skyscape.com) or from eResellers such as Handango, pdaMD.com, CollectiveMed.com and PalmGear.com. MedStream subscriptions are available on the Skyscape Website and will be available on our eReseller sites soon. |
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How is what Skyscape does different than e-Books? |
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Skyscape references are more than e-books. The beauty of Skyscape solutions is that, unlike static books and e-books, users can combine information from different publishers and sources onto their handheld devices and access it in an integrated, in-context way - structured by topic and section - through a single interface. Unlike e-books, Skyscape's unique patented SmartLink technology enables users to find the content they need quickly and easily within and between information sources such as newsletters, journals and traditional references, as information is dynamically integrated based on the context of the users' need. |
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Are SmartLinks the same as hyperlinks? |
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No, SmartLinks are much different than hyperlinks. Hyperlinks are static references to pieces of information. Skyscape's SmartLink technology dynamically brings users directly to the information they need, and most importantly automatically interlinks logically related topics in different medical references or information sources-such as new research on drug interactions or a new treatment-as they become available without having to manually update or add hard links. This happens invisibly to the users, who just know they can refer to the most up-to-date information in seconds. This means when new content is added, it is automatically available in the proper context for use by the mobile professional, therefore, the value increases exponentially as medical reference information is added and the integrated medical information repository automatically expands. |
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How many references can I fit on my PDA? |
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With the ever-increasing amount of memory being added to PDAs, it is safe to say that users can use up to 100 Skyscape references on their PDAs either in main memory or an expansion card. The number of references a user purchases varies. Some users may only purchase one or two references for handy access while working on the go, but the benefits of Skyscape's applications truly start to shine as users install more references and build up a medical information repository which supports their thinking across many subject areas and allows them to increase their expertise in their field. |
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Is Skyscape a wireless technology? |
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Skyscape continually evolves its technology architecture as newer technologies become robust, accepted and pervasive. While Skyscape's platform has always had the ability to support wireless networking, we are focused today on mobile technology. Skyscape will enable its wireless capabilities when the current wireless networks become robust enough to provide the critical information doctors need at the speeds they require. |
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Does Skyscape software work with all handheld devices? |
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Yes, Skyscape software runs on handheld devices such as Smartphones and on Palm OS®, Pocket PC and the Windows CE® Platform. In the future, Skyscape's software will be adapted to new platforms as they become more accepted. |
