PALM SPRINGS, CA – After 25 years, the fate of the Towards the Electronic Patient Record (TEPR+) show and conference may be in doubt, but its organizer says he knows where the future lies.

C. Peter Waegemann, CEO of the Boston-based Medical Records Institute, which organizes TEPR+, says the healthcare field will be dominated by applications for mobile devices and services, such as smart phones, cell phones and PDAs. Whether TEPR re-invents itself to focus on this field, chart a different path or fades into the sunset, he says, remains to be seen.

"We're still working that out," he said one week after the Feb. 1-5 conference, held on its 25th anniversary in Palm Springs, Calif.

The conference drew roughly 800 people, well below the thousands who had attended past events (the 2008 show in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., drew an estimated 2,000 people). Waegemann said he received good feedback from attendees on the quality of the conference, but the time has come to shift the focus away from electronic medical records.

The future of TEPR+ may be intertwined with the mHealth Initiative, Inc., a non-profit advocacy group launched by MRO at the start of the conference. The organization, incorporated in Massachusetts and led by MRI Vice President Claudia Tessier and Waegemann, will focus on disseminating the latest information on health applications through mobile devices.

"mHealth applications will save money, improve the quality of care and provide greater efficiency," said Tessier, a former executive director of the Mobile Health Care Alliance (MoHCA). "The mHealth Initiative will show the healthcare industry how this is possible. Through mHI, we will create a roadmap for the new health ecosystem based on mDevices, new software, new interoperability solutions and secure wireless transmission."

Waegemann has been touting cell phone use in healthcare IT for years, since he helped found MoHCA in 2006. At that time, the effort was focused on developing applications for personal health records. Last August, MRI launched the Center for Cell Phone Applications in Healthcare (C-PACH), designed as a membership-based clearinghouse and collaboration center that would study the advancement of such applications.

"Recognizing the need for potential value of an independent not-for-profit organization to lead efforts promoting development and adoption of mobile technologies in healthcare, Medical Records Institute's Center for Cell Phone Applications in Healthcare is passing the mHealth torch to mHealth Initiative Inc.," he said.

mHealth Initiative is scheduled to host an mHealth Seminar on March 31 in Boston and will schedule workgroup meetings in June and September. The group's first conference and exhibit, "Mobilizing Healthcare," is slated to take place Dec. 9-10 in Boston.

While several presentations at TEPR+ focused on the development of mobile healthcare applications, two other themes emerged at the conference: the evolution of consumer-directed healthcare and the integration of clinical IT solutions with financial products and services. Waegemann said both subjects could be part of any TEPR-related activities next year.