Just an occasional post when I come upon a few interesting reports that are worth a download. This week we have a few.
First we have:
Effective Healthcare Identity Management: A Necessary First Step for Improving U.S. Healthcare Information Systems
Publication Date: March 2009
- Click here to download the brief.
Government policy makers are looking carefully at the best ways to improve the efficiency of information systems in the healthcare industry. Much emphasis has been placed on the need for electronic health records for every American, and at ways to exchange those records at the regional, state and national levels.
But this is putting the cart before the horse. Such an effort must start with the accurate identification of each person receiving healthcare services or participating in healthcare benefit programs. Next, there must be a way to uniquely and securely authenticate that person across the healthcare system, including over the Internet, in a secure and privacy sensitive way.
This brief introduces the current problems with healthcare identity management, security and privacy, and proposes leveraging existing federal standards and technologies already used in other government identity programs. The Healthcare and Identity Councils of the Smart Card Alliance, a non-profit public/private partnership organization whose members include healthcare providers, government users and technology providers, prepared the brief.
More here:
http://www.smartcardalliance.org/pages/publications-effective-healthcare-identity-management/
One possible approach to identity management from a group with a vested interest! Useful analysis of the issues however. The link to a .pdf is in the citation.
Second we have:
Industry Players Align to Support Microsoft's E-Health Strategy
Perot Systems and Philips Healthcare support Microsoft's efforts to build interoperable e-health solutions.
CHICAGO, April 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Today at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) 2009 Annual Conference & Exhibition, Microsoft Corp. released an updated version of the Connected Health Framework (CHF) Architecture and Design Blueprint and additional solution accelerators in the Connected Health Platform (CHP) to help customers and partners deliver interoperable next-generation e-health solutions. In addition, leading healthcare solution providers Perot Systems and Philips Healthcare are supporting Microsoft's commitment to deliver to customers e-health solutions built on the CHF and CHP strategy.
"In today's IT environments, heterogeneity is a reality, and we recognize that collaboration is critical to building and managing technologies that will work well for customers in these environments," said Tim Smokoff, general manager of the Worldwide Public Sector Healthcare division at Microsoft. "CHF and CHP were born out of feedback and best practices from customers, partners and services providers such as Perot Systems and Philips Healthcare, and now as they enrich their offerings, we can further refine our tools to better respond to healthcare industry needs."
Collaboration Provides Healthcare Solutions Now
Information technology is a key asset for governments and healthcare organizations around the world facing an uncertain economic climate and needing to implement cost-effective solutions. Microsoft's CHF and CHP are free resources that healthcare organizations and partners are using to maximize the benefits and reduce the cost to design, build, deploy and operate solutions supporting the needs of patients, families, care professionals and healthcare providers.
Perot Systems is one of the largest providers of consulting, business process and technology-based solutions for global clients, including five of the top 25 U.S. health systems, more than 1,000 hospitals and 70 health insurance organizations, plus leading healthcare supply chain and retail pharmacy companies.
"Our healthcare clients expect the solutions we deliver to align with their cost and quality improvement requirements. This requires solutions that are adaptable, scalable and interoperable," said Chuck Lyles, president of Perot Systems' Healthcare Group. "We focus on developing e-health applications that adhere to these principles, and we were pleased that through the creation of CHF and CHP, Microsoft is offering the industry a means to collaborate on these best practices. As CHF and CHP continue to grow in content and adoption, the time to develop and the quality of e-health solutions that provide tangible business value should improve."
"We believe that this is an essential approach, because most healthcare systems use hardware and software platforms acquired from multiple vendors over a long period of time," Smokoff said. "By focusing on interoperability, our goal is to bring value to past and future IT investments by developing solutions that can work well in heterogeneous environments, evolve over time and serve the needs of healthcare organizations to improve patient care."
Philips Healthcare recently introduced the IntelliVue Clinical Information Portfolio (ICIP) Critical Care solution. The solution streamlines clinical workflow, helps improve financial outcomes, and ultimately helps improve and save lives through facilitating compliance to evidence-based medicine guidelines for critical care. ICIP Critical Care is built on Microsoft technology and supports the guidelines outlined in the CHF Architecture and Design Blueprint guidance and the CHP manifestation.
"Providing clinicians with timely and relevant clinical decision support solutions that analyze and interpret patient data -- when, where and how clinicians need that care-specific information -- is key to improving clinical and fiscal outcomes," said David Russell, vice president of marketing and chief marketing officer, Healthcare Informatics for Philips Healthcare. "Microsoft is making it easier for Philips to accelerate interoperability and ease of use by making available valuable guidance and tools as part of the Connected Health Platform that we can use and innovate upon to build solutions for our customers. With everyone on the same page, the opportunity to develop truly collaborative and innovative solutions exponentially increases."
Updated CHF Provides More Comprehensive View of Industry, Additional Tools
The CHF provides solution architects both a business pattern and a reference architecture to design and build healthcare and associated systems in a platform-agnostic way. Since published in 2006, the Microsoft Connected Health Framework Architecture and Design Blueprint and the associated Connected Health Platform have been downloaded more than 20,000 times and are widely used by healthcare providers and independent software vendors in more than 30 countries.
Version 2 of CHF targets lifelong well-being and covers the full continuum of care -- from the individual to health professionals, health institutions and payers. Because health is not about just hospitals, this version of CHF has been updated to do the following:
- Support both social care and lifelong well-being scenarios.
- Focus on the needs of families, care professionals, care providers and the funders of care services.
- Include the use of federation methods for identity management, authentication, authorization and data integration.
- Enable legacy applications to participate in the service-oriented architecture of the CHF.
- Provide more use case examples and step-by-step design guidance.
Coupled with the revised guidelines of CHF, the Connected Health Platform helps health organizations maximize the benefits and reduce the cost of designing, building, deploying and operating the Microsoft platform and its infrastructure capabilities in their solutions or environment. CHP contains more than 55 architecture, design and deployment guides, tools and solution accelerators such as the Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise Cross Enterprise Document Sharing reference implementation and the Common User Interface component.
More information and downloads of the Connected Health Framework Architecture and Design Blueprint and the Connected Health Platform guidance, tools and solution accelerators are available at http://www.microsoft.com/HealthIT.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
Website: http://www.microsoft.com/
The full release is here:
http://sev.prnewswire.com/computer-electronics/20090406/SF9464506042009-1.html
Microsoft is moving quite quickly in the healthcare space. These documents are worth reviewing indeed. The links are in the release.
Third we have:
Financial Incentives, Quality Improvement Programs, and the Adoption of Clinical Information Technology
James C. Robinson, Ph.D., et al., in Medical Care
April 2009
Physician use of clinical information technology, such as electronic medical records, can positively impact the management of chronic illnesses. Yet clinical IT adoption by physician practices has lagged behind other market sectors. A study published in the April 2009 issue of Medical Care and co-funded by the California HealthCare Foundation investigated the roles of direct and indirect incentives in accelerating clinical IT adoption among independent practice associations (IPAs) and large medical groups.
Document Downloads
Financial Incentives, Quality Improvement Programs, and the Adoption of Clinical Information Technology (121K)
More here:
http://www.chcf.org/topics/view.cfm?itemID=133912
The link is in the citation.
Fourth we have:
HHS Clarifies Genetic Info Protection Law
April 8, 2009
The Department of Health and Human Services has issued guidance on the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act that covers implications for investigators and institutional review boards.
.....
For a copy, click here.
--Joseph Goedert
More here:
Important stuff for those interested in this evolving and important area.
Fifth we have:
New Interview on E-Health Records with Dr. Ashish K. Jha of the Harvard School of Public Health on Talking Technology
Leroy Jones, Jr. has posted a new podcast interview with Dr. Ashish K. Jha of the Harvard School of Public Health on electronic health records and health information technology.
Washington, DC (PRWEB) April 10, 2009 -- Leroy Jones, Jr., a political commentator and government affairs consultant based in Washington, D.C., has recorded another episode of his podcast series, "Talking Technology with Leroy Jones, Jr."
The latest installment features an interview with Dr. Ashish K. Jha of the Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Jha, who is an associate professor on Health Policy and Management and also a practicing physician at Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston, recently co-authored "Use of Electronic Health Records in U.S. Hospitals," which was published in The New England Medical Journal.
Among other topics, a primarily focus of Dr. Jha's medical research is "Information technology among other tools as potential solutions for reducing medical errors and disparities while improving over-all quality." Dr. Jha addresses electronic medical records and other health information technology, especially as it related to improving the overall standard of American healthcare. The full interview is available as a podcast here: http://www.technicaljones.com/2009/04/ehealth-records-new-show-1.
Dr. Jha also addresses:
- Issues around electronic medical records and security
- Penetration of effective medical record systems
- Improving medical efficiency and reducing medical errors
- Roadblocks to healthcare reform
- The economic stimulus plan as it relates to healthcare
- Effects of the new administration on healthcare reform
More here:
http://www.prweb.com/releases/electronic-medical/42009/prweb2315494.htm
This is important material and is worth a listen.
Last we have:
Deloitte Survey Finds Healthy Consumer Demand For Electronic Health Records, Online Tools and Services
Privacy and Security of Personal Health Information Still Major Concern
CHICAGO, April 6 /PRNewswire/ -- As health care providers determine how they will take advantage of the $19 billion allocated in the stimulus package to help jumpstart advances in health information technology (HIT), consumer appetite for electronic health records (EHRs), online tools and services is also growing, according to the results of the 2009 Deloitte Survey of Health Care Consumers (www.deloitte.com/us/2009consumersurvey).
While only 9 percent of consumers surveyed have an electronic personal health record (PHR), 42 percent are interested in establishing PHRs connected online to their physicians. Fifty-five percent want the ability to communicate with their doctor via email to exchange health information and get answers to questions. Fifty-seven percent reported they'd be interested in scheduling appointments, buying prescriptions and completing other transactions online if their information is protected. Technologies that can facilitate consumer transactions with providers and health plans, like integrated billing systems that make bill payment faster and more convenient, are also appealing to nearly half (47 percent) of consumers surveyed.
More here:
There are all sorts of reports and resources available from the site referred to in this text.
So much to read – so little time – have fun!
David.
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