With doctors treating more patients and hospitals facing pressure to be more efficient, companies like Apple Inc. and Research In Motion Ltd. see an opportunity. For example, Palo Alto, CA-based Stanford Hospital & Clinics started a trial with Apple and Epic Systems Corp., a provider of healthcare information systems, to test software that will let medical staff access patient charts on Apple's iPhone. Stanford is studying ways to use the devices to reduce the risk of error as patient care is increasingly handed off from one doctor to another.
