Google has launched a medical category for Android.

Great news for medical providers…iMedicalApps is reporting that Google has finally launched a medical category for apps in the Android Marketplace. One year after Apple launched its iPhone, it added a medical category for healthcare professionals to its app store. Google’s Android Marketplace, on the other hand, has been much slower to segment the healthcare category into consumer health apps and healthcare provider medical apps. The apps in Google’s new medical category appear to be categorized correctly.

Physicians steadily increase EHR adoption

Results from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s annual survey of  provider practices show that 50.7% of the physicians who responded use at least partial EHRs in their offices, only slightly higher than the 2009 figure of 48.3% even as the Health and Human Services Department dangles the prospect of paying out billions in incentive payments starting in 2011 to healthcare providers who become meaningful users of certified EHRs.

Commercial electronics in the military?

The military, spearheaded by the U.S. Army, is currently planning to issue Android and Windows-based phones to its troops and is also examining the possibility of connecting these devices into combat networks in the field via the Joint Tactical Radio System. The exact nature and tactical use of smartphones remains in question and some are questioning the applicability of using commercial grade devices in the field without considerable ruggedization and security modifications.

Even still, the service is moving forward issuing smartphones to its personnel in garrison through its Go Mobile program and related efforts.