Sprint, PalmOne target health care

Sprint on Monday said it has signed an agreement with PalmOne to develop mobile services for health care providers. Using Sprint's PCS phone network, PalmOne's Treo 600 smart phone and third-party applications, health care organizations will be able to enter and access data more easily and cut administrative costs, the companies said. The Treo includes a color screen, the Palm 5.2.1 operating system and a Video Graphics Array-quality camera. It supports wireless functions such as e-mail, instant messaging and Web browsing.

Initially, applications for the health care sector will focus on making patients' records more accessible. Besides being able to access, track and record patient information at the point of care, hospitals will be able to more easily submit that data to mandated administrative systems.