PALM SPRINGS, CA – Thomas Giannulli, MD, is hoping that physicians who are hesitant to invest in full-blown electronic medical records systems will at least buy an iPhone.

Giannulli, the CEO of CareTools, is at the leading edge of one of the more popular technological crazes of the past few years. His Westlake Village, Calif.-based company has developed iChart, an application specifically designed for Apple's popular do-it-all smartphone that allows physicians to download and use all the functions of an EMR through a simple "touch & tap" interface.

"You don't have to add anything else," he said. "We've taken away every barrier (that doctors might have or think of) to using an EMR."

CareTools' iChart application has been on the market for about five months, said Giannulli, and is generating 100 new users a month. This week it was named a runner-up in the "Hot Products" award competition at the Medical Records Institute's Towards the Electronic Patient Record (TEPR+) show and conference in Palm Springs, Calif.

The iChart application is offered for a one-time fee of $139.99, with Web service offered for $99 a year after that (the first year is offered free of charge). The product is compliant with products certified by the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT) and features iNotes, iBilling, iPrescribing and iLab Reports. There's also an interface with Allscripts products.

Giannulli said iChart was created specifically for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and the company is keeping an eye on smartphones being developed by Palm and Windows.

"We'll probably be the first on those platforms, too," he said.

The company is now working on an interface with Microsoft's HealthVault platform and is developing inbox capabilities for PHRs. Giannulli hopes to develop more uses for lab data and coordination with hospital data.

"The last mile is in the doctor's hand," he said.

The proliferation - and popularity - of healthcare-related applications for mobile devices has been one of the key themes of this week's TEPR conference. The show and conference, which attracted roughly 750 people, has included presentations by Giannulli as well as executives from Diversinet, All One Health Group, WellDoc, BeWell Mobile Technology, Leap of Faith Technologies and M*Modal.

C. Peter Waegemann, CEO of the Boston-based MRI and executive director of the Center for Cell Phone Applications in Healthcare, said earlier this week that more than 120 healthcare IT vendors have developed products for mobile devices like cellphones, smartphones and PDAs. He said the cellphone has developed from the "forbidden gadget" in the hospital to a physician's most popular tool.

On Sunday, MRI officials launched the mHealth Initiative, Inc., a Boston-based, non-profit advocacy group designed to explore and push the latest information on health applications through mobile devices (mDevices). Members of that initiative were scheduled to meet this morning in workshops - on the final day of the TEPR+ conference - to plot the organization's goals and future.