I saw this type of equipment at the HIMSS show in Dallas. The ROI is mostly around allowing the physician to “visit” more patients without having to leave their office. But, as a robot its pretty limited functionality (usually just a traveling video conference link).

Given the low cost for a videoconference workstation and the need for network connectivity in the patient room anyway, I can’t help think that there’s an alternative based on just placing videoconference equipment in every patient room. The doc would just connect from room to room as needed, which is much faster than having to wait for the robot to navigate between rooms, and avoiding the risk of hitting something or the maintenance cost for the mechanics of the robot. It’s probably a faster install with the robot from a single doctors’ perspective, but if patients are going to accept this type of “visit” you could probably build it into the infrastructure of the facility without too much cost, also.