Hospitals are beholden to the RVU system only because that is how they get paid by the government.

WSJ: Scott Gottlieb: The Doctor Will Not See You Now��He's Clocked Out

But even by this suboptimal RVU-based measure, there are a number of well-done studies that all show that productivity declines, sometimes substantially.

FORBES: Hospitals Are Going On A Doctor Buying Binge, And It Is Likely To End Badly

Most hospitals, including public companies like HCA Holdings, Inc (NYSE:HCA) track productivity by borrowing from the RVU system that Medicare uses to set reimbursement rates.

FORBES: Hospitals Are Going On A Doctor Buying Binge, And It Is Likely To End Badly

The R-Series dodges some of the higher end features, but some still include 3D, WiFi, RVU and the Sony Entertainment Network suite of apps including Netflix, Hulu Plus and more.

ENGADGET

Medicare assigns each clinical procedure a different RVU and then multiplies this figure by a fixed amount of money to arrive at how much it will pay a doctor for a given task.

WSJ: Scott Gottlieb: The Doctor Will Not See You Now��He's Clocked Out

As cited in the earlier press release, DirecTV has released Genie DVRs loaded with RVU that pushes video directly to TVs and even the PS3 in the past year, providing one example of the tech in action.

ENGADGET: Intel demos 'headless' 6-tuner cable gateway for Comcast

DirecTV paired its HD interface with the five tuner, RVU ready HR34 Home Media Center DVR back in March, so what will it do next to take advantage of the multiroom boxes with five tuners and massive hard drives?

ENGADGET: DirecTV HR34 DVR 'Genie' recommendations and autorecording get previewed ahead of fall launch