Project HealthDesign: Rethinking the Power and Potential of Personal Health Records is moving to phase two of its PHR design project. Funded by the
Pioneer Portfolio of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, with additional support from the California Healthcare Foundation, the project is made of nine teams of technology designers, health experts, researchers, and others who are designing applications for PHRs that go beyond storing medical records and are tailored to specific health needs and consumers’ busy lives. Participants are now in the second phase of the two-part, 18-month, $4.4 million initiative. In the next six months, they will test prototypes of their personal health tools with target populations. Beyond facilitating the design of specific health applications, the process is yielding valuable insights about how patients interact with health technology. Designers are learning that: using PHRs for medical record keeping is only the tip of the iceberg; the need to make day-to-day observations about diet, physical activity, sleep, pain levels, etc. -- which is consistent among most patient groups -- lends itself to common design approaches to record, store, and analyze this information; and successful PHRs and their applications need to mesh with the tools that consumers already rely on in their daily lives. For more information about Project HealthDesign and an update on what the grantee teams are designing, visit www.projecthealthdesign.org.
The H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute has selected Azyxxi, the Microsoft unified health enterprise platform, to aid in its development of personalized cancer treatment programs. Azyxxi will be used to assimilate large quantities of diverse data, including electrocardiograms, magnetic resonance imaging scans, dynamic angiograms, ultrasound images, and, ultimately, genomic information, providing a visual gateway for instant access to the information, and allowing researchers to make and prove their hypotheses within minutes instead of months. Personalized medicine holds the promise to better align patients with treatment programs, and Azyxxi will help in the mining of data that allows Moffitt to make appropriate clinical and scientific discoveries, setting the stage for relating genetic information to clinical practice.
SK&A has announced the availability of NPI Verified, a service that enables health care marketers to quickly acquire and append federally mandated National Provider Identifier numbers. SK&A is the only source of telephone-verified NPI numbers. The company’s health care databases are continuously updated as new NPIs become available or as provider data changes. Health care marketers will submit their lists to SK&A for verification against SK&A’s master database. SK&A will append NPIs using their proprietary matching and scoring technology. SK&A will also enhance databases by filling in missing elements such as fax and phone numbers, practice specialties, affiliations or other contact information. SK&A maintains a source database of more than 830,000 physicians, dentists and other prescribers at their office locations.
Futurist and inventor Raymond Kurzweil will be presented the Future of Health Technology Institute’s annual award at its 12th summit for his invention of a portable machine that the blind now use to read everything from menus to novels. The K-NFB (Kurzweil-National Federation of the Blind) Reader took root more than 30 years ago, but, in contrast to the recent portable model, the early Kurzweil Reading Machine was about the size of an office copier. Also speaking are clinical psychologist Margaret Morris of Intel discussing the Mobile Heart Health project, which uses cell phones and on-the-body sensors to give people coaching in the flow of daily life, and Benjamin Miller of the University of Rochester who will demonstrate his saliva diagnostic tool that might one day give people important health feedback in their own bathrooms. Registration for the 12th annual Future of Health Technology Summit at the MIT Faculty Club on Sept. 25-26 is available online at www.fhti.org.
Ingenix has announced that it has signed two agreements with Aetna to provide electronic data interchange (EDI) services. With these agreements, Ingenix will provide clearinghouse services, as well as next-generation managed EDI services that allow health care providers and other bill submitters to transmit data directly to Aetna. Ingenix and Aetna have entered a five-year agreement to launch Aetna EDI Connect, a free direct-connect website that allows health care providers and other bill submitters to directly transmit batch and real-time transactions to Aetna without the need for clearinghouses or third-party intermediaries. The Ingenix Connectivity Director platform is the technology foundation for Aetna EDI Connect. The website is available to all submitters whose practice management systems can transmit files conforming to Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) standards. In addition to enabling the Aetna EDI Connect website, Ingenix expanded its agreement to provide Aetna with clearinghouse services for electronic transactions through 2012. Defined under HIPAA, these transactions include professional and institutional claims and encounters, ERAs, real-time eligibility verifications, claim status checks and referral authorizations.
Mirixa Corporation, a leading developer of innovative clinical and interactive technology solutions that facilitate pharmacist-based patient care services, today announced that Russell J. Ricci, MD has joined the company's board of directors. Dr. Ricci, former general manager of IBM's health care industry, has held a broad range of senior level positions spanning the health care industry including technology organizations, health systems, health care providers, pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers, service providers, nonprofit organizations and trade associations, and governmental and research institutions.
The Continua Health Alliance, a group of technology, medical device, and health and fitness industry leaders unveiled the key components of its first set of technical guidelines to help establish a market of connected personal health and fitness products and services, making it possible for patients, caregivers, and health care providers to more proactively address ongoing health care needs. The first set of guidelines, due out early 2008, are based on proven connectivity standards and will help to increase assurance of interoperability between devices, enabling consumers to share information with care givers and service providers more easily. Manufacturers of products that meet these guidelines will be permitted to use the Continua Health Alliance certification logo to promote their products. The logo will clearly identify certified products, making it easy for purchasers to choose products that work together seamlessly.
The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) Board of Directors has appointed Kevin B. Weiss, MD, MPH, as the organization's new president and chief executive officer. Weiss will take up his new duties Dec. 17, 2007, and will join ABMS' Board of Directors. He succeeds retiring president and CEO Stephen H. Miller, MD, MPH.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida (BCBSF) has chosen Benefitfocus to provide a complete Web-based billing solution and invoice consolidation for its group operations. BCBSF’s expanded partnership with Benefitfocus will offer a total electronic billing solution for its health, life, disability, dental, long-term care, and third-party administration product lines. With this interactive and efficient Web billing platform, BCBSF will reduce costs by replacing paper-based processes and deliver a single invoice for all products. This new process will permit viewing, adjusting, and paying from a single invoice. BCBSF is one of the largest Blues providers serving approximately 4.1 million members.
Health Level Seven (HL7) has announced the appointment of John Quinn as Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Accenture and HL7 have reached an agreement in principle and Quinn, who is CTO of Accenture’s U.S. Provider Practice, will immediately assume the responsibilities of CTO of HL7. A final agreement with Accenture will be signed within the next few weeks.
SureScripts announced the formation of the Prescriber Vendor Advisory Council, a group of 10 executives representing vendors of third-party electronic prescribing and electronic health record software from across the U.S. The council will advise SureScripts on programs designed to increase the adoption and use of electronic prescribing by physicians in the U.S. Members of the council include David Pearah of Allscripts; Cameron Deemer of DrFirst; Raj Dharampuriya of eClinicalWorks; Edward Bayliss of MedPlus; Ken Tarkoff of RelayHealth; Chuck Frederick of eMDs; Steven Saitsky of NextGen; Mark Wiggins of RxNT; Sumit Nagpal of Wellogic; and Curtiss Hurst of Zix. As part of its mission, the Council will provide insight on key variables that are known to impact a physician’s decision to begin ePrescribing and their level of satisfaction once they start including technology design, education, support, and conversion.
QuadraMed Corporation announced the completion of its acquisition of the Misys Computerized Patient Record (CPR) assets of Misys Healthcare, a division of Misys plc at the previously announced purchase price of $33 million in cash. Misys CPR, an award winning clinical information system, will be initially renamed QuadraMed CPR as QuadraMed completes the integration of the CPR business. Additional financial information with respect to the transaction will be made available in connection with QuadraMed’s public company reporting obligations within the next seventy-five days.
Northrop Grumman has been awarded a contract by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to help the agency modernize its services, improve health care quality, and reduce costs. Northrop Grumman Information Technology (IT) sector is leading a team that will compete with 15 other contractors for task orders under the 10-year, $4 billion Enterprise System Development (ESD) indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract. CMS will use the ESD contract to acquire IT services and solutions including new applications, systems maintenance, and legacy systems migration. The scope of work includes planning, design, development, testing, implementation, operations, and maintenance for CMS automated systems and business application software.
ReachMD, XM radio channel 157, is an innovative new media business providing advanced health care communication tools, information, and continuing medical education to physicians, health care professionals, and caregivers. ReachMD features experts from the field in all specialties and is able to reach a much greater population of the medical community. Programming is original and continuously changes on a regular basis. Beginning in October, ReachMD will begin a new 6 month series called Advances in Women’s Health, hosted by well known OB/GYN Dr. Lisa Mazzullo. Additionally, the month of October will be children’s awareness month. The original programming provides a platform to reach doctors of multiple specialties and low prescribing doctors that pharmaceutical companies often times do not have the time or means to reach out to, which accounts for more than fifty percent of untapped markets.