NAVIS will link the entire office — from topography to accounting

Nidek’s new NAVIS software and hardware will now link all the office technology into one unit to make a comprehensive patient management system.

Issue: June 1, 2000

In the day and age where business entities are trying to make their offices more efficient, Nidek Inc. (Fremont, Calif.) has introduced the Nidek Advanced Vision Information System (NAVIS) for use by physician practices.

NAVIS technology was created to link all the possible aspects of patient records into one central system. It allows doctors the opportunity to manage a wide variety of patient data and to document comments and drawings into printable electronic patient charts.

It also can link together patient personal data, history, the objective exam, refraction data and imagery with data regarding accounting, insurance and scheduling.

A database and management system

---With NAVIS, physicians should more easily gather the data from an imaging device or refraction device and come up with a treatment and management plan for the patient.

NAVIS is a database and management system capable of storing patient and family history information. It stores not only optometry and ophthalmology information, but also cardiovascular questions, psychiatric, neurological and ear, nose and throat questions. It also will store general medical condition information.

Nidek claims the NAVIS technology can link up all the office procedures and clinical procedures from one driver and is accessible to any station.

For example, for a patient who is being treated to NAVIS, this platform can be used to transfer the data directly from the refraction system. The idea is to simplify the system to where a patient walks in, gets refracted, turns their head the other way, gets laser in situ keratomileusis and walks out with new vision.

With NAVIS, physicians should more easily gather the data from an imaging device or refraction device and come up with a treatment and management plan for the patient, according to the company. When the patient comes back for their second and consecutive visits, physicians can see if their treatment plan is actually working and can make adjustments accordingly.

Besides the greater efficiency that NAVIS creates when using the current instrumentation in an eye care practice, it can actually improve the performance of some systems through NAVIS application software.

One of the future pieces of software is image restoration. This software technology restores images deteriorated due to defocus, movement and various types of noise. This technology can be applied to many different types of images, from fundus to anterior segment.

Links to other manufacturers

NAVIS technology’s true upside, however, is its ability to network to other manufacturer’s technology. It can use the data from competitors and plug all the information into the system to download.

“It will hook up to just about anything,” Nidek assistant director-diagnostic/NAVIS Ron Kaiser said. The system is based to run with a Windows 98 system, and Nidek is welcoming other hardware and software vendors to write application software and add-on modules for NAVIS.

Nidek decided to change from a closed system to an open system, under the belief that other companies have made the mistake in the past to make their own vision-oriented software themselves, with in-house only connections and algorithms.

Among the Nidek instruments that can be connected to the NAVIS system is the 3Dx/NMV and NM-100/D fundus cameras, the AR-600/600A and ARK-700A autorefractors, the LM-970 and LM-990A lensmeters, the SL-1600 and SL-250 slit lamps, the RT-2100 refractor, the NT-2000 and NT-3000 tonometers and the US-2500 (B-mode) and US-3300 (B-mode) ultrasound equipment.

Other non-Nidek equipment that can be hooked up to the NAVIS system are fundus cameras like the CR6-45NM/f from Canon, the Kowa VX-1 and the Zeiss FF450. Among autorefractors is the Canon RK3/RK5+, the Humphrey HARK599 and the Tomey AR1000 and RC1000. The Humphrey LA350 and the Tomey TL 1000 lensmeters can be attached. The specular microscope SP series by Konan and the Tomey EM 1000, and the confocal microscope ConfoScan2 can all be linked to NAVIS.

In addition, the Nidek ARK10000 wavefront analyzer for custom excimer ablation is currently under development and requires Food and Drug Administration clearance in the United States and will tie into the NAVIS technology. Mr. Kaiser said that wavefront technology by other companies is expected to tie in just as well.

The NAVIS technology is not just limited to refractive surgery; it is tailored for numerous applications including general optometric or ophthalmological use. In the future, Nidek expects it can be linked up to other clinical uses, modalities and applications.

Mr. Kaiser said the hardware and software unit will likely cost under $10,000, but if the doctor has the right computer equipment already, the purchase of the software alone can be made. Nidek has stated that any updates that occur during the first year will be provided free with the initial purchase, and subsequent updates are expected to be relatively inexpensive.

For Your Information:

Ron Kaiser can be reached at 75651 Westinghouse Drive, Fremont, CA 94539-7474; (510) 353-7705; fax: (510) 226-5750; e-mail: ron_kaiser@nidek.com; Web site: www.nidek.com. Mr. Kaiser is the assistant director-diagnostics/NAVIS for Nidek Inc.