WHAT: Technology Foresight is a biweekly column written by futurist Robert Mittman. It is carried exclusively on iHealthBeat (www.ihealthbeat.org), a new, daily, online news source that focuses on the impact technology and the Internet are having on health care.

The first column, "Smart Stuff Gets Smarter, Smaller, More Powerful," focuses on motes -- tiny, barely visible devices that can be used to measure temperature, pressure or the presence of a chemical as well as many other characteristics in the environment. Mittman forecasts that motes could make their way into the health care field through personal health alert devices, biohazard sensing, or wireless ICU systems among other functions.

WHY: Health care in the United States has always been quick to adopt new clinical technologies, but slow to adopt information and administrative technologies. Yet, many of the information problems that health care experiences have long been solved in other domains and if applied to health care, would allow the industry to run much smoother. Technology Foresight will provide insights into how technologies developed in other domains can aid in health care.

WHO: Robert Mittman, a senior research affiliate at the Institute for the Future, is available to speak to the media. With 18 years of experience helping organizations anticipate and shape their future, Mittman brings creative approaches to facilitation, foresight and strategy.

WHERE: Technology Foresight is carried only on iHealthBeat at www.ihealthbeat.org.

iHealthBeat (www.ihealthbeat.org) is published daily by the Advisory Board Company for the California HealthCare Foundation. It is a free, online news service that delivers the latest developments on the impact of technology and the Internet on health care.