Archive for 2007
American Health Information Management Association Launches PHR Initiative
October 17, 2007
AHIMA has announced its initiative to educate the public about Personal Health Records. It will include TV and other media ads later this year and next year. Neil Versel notes that this will be an uphill battle since adoption of PHRs by the public has been slow. However, this kind of initative is just what is needed and may create a tipping point. AHIMA will be training state and local chapters on PHRs so there is potential for a small army of speakers and educators on this topic. The MyPHR website has basic information about the range of PHRs without recommending a particular one. I wish, however, that there was a bigger push for online records which are secure and carefully evaluated.
Share this:
Web 2.0 Presentation on Slide Share
October 16, 2007
My presentation given in June on Web 2.0 in Health Care has been posted to Slide Share. Slide Share is a simple and nicely designed site to do just that.
Thanks to the Patient Advocate for posting it.
Share this:Blog Spam
October 9, 2007
Because I am being spammed in both comments and trackbacks, I have turned both off temporarily. In spite of blacklisting and blocking IP addresses, I have not been able to defeat the spammers.
Will let you you know when I turn comments back on.
Has anyone else experienced this?
Email me.
Share this:More on Health Vault
October 7, 2007
The e-Care Management blog gave a more detailed analysis of HealthVault and a comment adds to this. He tells us not to go to the HealthVault website because we will be confronted with sparse and confusing information. Partly this is because Microsoft in their FAQ says that it is not a PHR, but a ” personal health technology platform that lets you gather, store and share health information online.”
The real potential for this tool appears to be the remote monitoring or monitoring a condition through a partner’s website. There may also be potential to pull in information from other PHRs or personal health information stored in other systems. But that remains to be demonstrated. Let’s hope Microsoft begins to clarify their offering as time goes on.
Share this:Microsoft Health Vault PHR and Search
October 5, 2007
In an announcement today, Microsoft lauched Health Vault, their PHR with a catchy name. They did a few things right: coined a name that represents security, partnered with some major health care institutions and applications to add credibility and launched search at the same time. They are also promoting connection to various devices with the tools, offering device drivers. The plan is to allow data transfers from other web tools and health data from providers, according to the New York Times.
This is an interesting offering worth more exploration. I plan to set up an account soon and try out the features. Some of the search features are similar to MedStory which they acquired earlier but display the top hit article, such as, from the Mayo Clinic as well as search results and sponsored results. Try atrial fibrillation, for instance.
And by the way, they beat Google to this market.
Share this:Medicine 2.0 Blog Carnival
October 4, 2007
I’m on this blog carnival which is hosted by Clinical Cases and Images.
Check out the talk on Health 2.0 posted by The Efficient MD.
Share this:Health 2.0 as a Verb
October 4, 2007
Jane Sarasohn-Kahn writes in her column in iHealthbeat, that “Health 2.0:It’s Not a Noun, Its a Verb, a Movement.” It was good to meet Jane in person at the Health 2.0 conference after reading her columns regularly. She asks Why the interest now? The answer is not one single factor:
- consumers are searching online for health information
- they are building communities online
- there is a demand for transparency
- customers are comfortable with IT and embracing Web 2.0
- learning from health 1.0 (ordinary content websites) and the ability to rapidly and cheaply develop new applications.
Maybe this is something more than a passing trend with this kind of convergence going on.
Share this:Social Networking Models
October 3, 2007
The San Francisco Chronicle posted an article on health 2.0 stating that, “Online health care startup companies are modeling themselves after social networking Web sites.” The article featured:
- Dailystrength.org, which has 500 support groups
- ZocDoc.com for online physician or dentist booking
- RateMDs.com
- ICYou.com the YouTube of health care
- PatientsLikeMe – discuss and track the details of treatment options especially for neurologic illness
Read the complete article here: For these startups, patients are a virtue
Share this:AHIMA to launch PHR campaign
October 2, 2007
The American Health Information Management Association is unveiling a promotion of PHRs to the general public at their annual meeting starting the 8th of October. “AHIMA believes patients should be in control of their personal information and that the association is well-placed to help them develop PHRs.” according to Modern Healthcare. They find that patients with chronic conditions are particularly in need a of a PHR because of the amount of data and paper they must manage. Part of the campaign will be through their website, MyPHR.com. The site is one of the best to educate the general public but stays neutral on the best type of PHR. This is unlike the new HIMSS position statement on PHRs which has specific recommendations, however, these are not yet for the lay public.
Share this:Project Health Design Blog
September 28, 2007
I came across the blog by the Project Health Design of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation recently. Besides taking note of the Health 2.0 conference, they have interesting posts on RFID PHRS, cell phone access to PHRs and others. A post from August discusses PHR fragmentation. This is certainly a persistent obstacle to adoption. The comments are equally enlightening – the need for connectivity, not more PHRs and perhaps connectivity enabled by xml.
This blog is worth monitoring by RSS – as is the content on the Project Health Design website itself – a portal for PHR information.
Share this: