PEORIA MAGAZINE April 2023

software can be used with virtually any ultrasound device and works on both mobile devices and desktops.” Mean while, it also improves billing procedures, as when doctors are trying to save lives, they often aren’t thinking about what documents insurance companies need. ‘A SMALL LIGHTWEIGHT PROBE ABOUT THE SIZE OF YOUR PHONE IS GOING TO BE AN ULTRASOUND MACHINE’ — Dr. John Wipfler “The insurance companies that are going to reimburse a hospital for a procedure want proof of what you did. So, you need a picture of the heart. You need a picture of that spleen that ruptured,” explained Wipfler. In addition to streamlining the ultrasound workflow, Exo is producing

real-time images of whatever vital organ is in distress, which is critical for someone in Wipfler’s line of work. “Why would you want to listen to the heart when you can see the heart and see what’s going on?”

a handheld ultrasound device that Wipfler says OSF St. Francis should be using soon. He predicts that within 10 years, 90% of the world’s doctors will be carrying these devices instead of stethoscopes. “Whether you’re a cardiologist, OB GYN, a family doctor, or ER doctor,” you’re “going to be carrying a small lightweight probe about the size of your phone and the probe is going to be an ultrasound machine,” said Wipfler. That probe will link up wirelessly with a phone or tablet, which will display

Mark Welp spent many years doing TV journalism in the Peoria market before coming on board at WTVP PBS as a senior content producer

APRIL 2023 PEORIA MAGAZINE 91