More than 40 million U.S. residents who have a smartphone actively use a wellness or fitness application on the device, according to a survey by Parks Associates, MobiHealthNews reports (Dolan, MobiHealthNews, 2/3).
On April 27, 2004, President George W. Bush proclaimed a bold goal for the nation: "Within the next 10 years, electronic health records will ensure that complete health care information is available for most Americans at the time and place of care, no matter where it originates. ... These electronic health records will be designed to share information privately and securely among and between health care providers when authorized by the patient."
More than 10 years later, most observers within the U.S. health care system and the health IT industry would agree that this goal of interoperability has not yet been achieved, and may not even be within clear sight. Although pockets of interoperability exist, the EHR systems used by inpatient, outpatient and ancillary providers generally cannot exchange patient data electronically, sometimes even among systems developed by the same EHR vendors. Although myriad interoperability standards exist on paper, real world connectivity between individual EHR systems still requires extensive custom interface development, attended by large and often prohibitive costs.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Burwell announced this morning an important Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) funding opportunity, which is part of a Department-wide effort to achieve the safe and secure exchange and use of electronic health information to improve health and transform care as outlined in the Shared Nationwide Interoperability Roadmap, Connecting Health and Care for the Nation: A Shared Nationwide Interoperability Roadmap Version 1.0.
CMS announced plans to issue a rule that would update the meaningful use program to give eligible providers and eligible hospitals more flexibility in meeting program requirements, Healthcare Informatics reports.
Lawmakers in Congress are circulating a revised draft bill intended to develop a regulatory framework for FDA's oversight of health IT, FierceHealthIT reports (Bowman, FierceHealthIT, 1/26).
The Federal Trade Commission released a report highlighting the public health benefits of devices that can transmit health data to the Internet, as well as the security and privacy risks that could come along with such technologies and undermine U.S.
The FDA for the first time approved a set of mobile applications that will allow providers to monitor glucose levels in real-time for patients with diabetes, the Washington Post's "To Your Health" reports (Dennis, "To Your Health," Washington Post, 1/24).
HIMSS NCA Lunch and Learn Webinar - "The Importance of User Experience in Health IT"
The first lHIMSS NCA unchtime webinar of the 2015 will take place on Wed, Feb 25, 2015 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM EST and will focus how to understand what users want and how they want it, and design and build tools and apps that actually get used.
The FDA released final guidance on how medical device manufacturers can better protect patient information, Clinical Innovation & Technology reports.
The American Medical Association released a framework outlining eight priorities for making electronic health records easier for providers to use, Modern Healthcare reports (Conn, Modern Healthcare, 9/16).
Apple is in talks with electronic health record provider Allscripts, as well as several hospitals to determine how hospitals could use its cloud-based health information platform known as "HealthKit," Reuters reports (Farr, Reuters, 8/12).
During a news conference on Sunday August 10th, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) discussed the lack of regulations over data collected by wearable health-monitoring devices, Long Island Newsday reports (Ngo, Long Island Newsday, 8/10).
Medical experts told members of Congress that health IT solutions, such as electronic health records, are falling short in efforts to improve patient safety, Healthcare IT News reports (McCann, Healthcare IT News, 7/18).
An electronic health record company has developed an application that allows physicians using Google Glass to store patient data on a cloud-based storage and collaboration site, Reuters reports.
California-based Drchrono is calling the application the first "wearable health record."
While most physicians support the switch from paper to electronic health records, many say the timeline to make the transition is happening too fast and are calling for changes, Politico reports.
More than 33% of physicians have recommended mobile health applications to their patients, according to a new Manhattan Research survey, MobiHealthNews reports (Comstock, MobiHealthNews, 5/29).
On Friday, James Thaw, president and CEO of Athens Regional Medical Center in Georgia, resigned following the poor implementation of a new electronic health record system, Modern Healthcare reports.
The health care industry is divided over a proposed rule released earlier this week by CMS and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT that would give providers an additional year to upgrade electronic health record systems to meet reporting requirements for Stage 2 of the Medicare meaningful use program, Modern Healthcare
Some of the nation's top hospitals struggle to create a strong online presence and offer patient-centered websites, according to a new report from Evolve Digital Labs, Becker's Hospital Review reports.
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