With 50 percent of consumers saying they want a personal monitoring device prompting them to make improvements in their health, could a marriage between mobile devices and personal health records completely change the way health care is delivered in the United States? It can and it will, according to a brief issued by the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions. Read »

The maker and distributor of the MedFlash Personal Health Management System plans to kick off September with the release of the system's first mobile Web app. Called MedFlash Mobile, officials at Palm City, Fla.-based Connectyx are saying the first phase of this new enhancement will deliver emergency information to MedFlash members through the existing Web browser on their mobile phones. Read »

Google Health on Tuesday endorsed an industry-wide Declaration of Health Data Rights, an initiative launched by HealthDataRights.org aimed at improving patients’ access to their health data. While the move makes for good headlines, it probably won’t amount to much beyond keeping PHRs in the news as the Obama administration goes all out trying to sell the need for a new health care system. Read »

In a recent blog post, I referenced health plans using a variety of electronic strategies—provider-patient communications tools, payer-provider connectivity systems, e-prescribing, financial incentives—to drive physicians deeper into the electronic health environment. As if to balance the equation, the federal government now plans to develop an online personal health record model designed to help the public better understand PHRs. Read »

Following near-record attendance at HIMSS09 last month, it seems most of the health IT industry is focused on how ARRA funds will be used to get physicians to adopt electronic medical records. But as a recent article in Health Plan Week points out, the bigger question relates to how the industry will bring together the different health records now being used by physicians, payers, hospitals and consumers in a way that creates a truly integrated electronic environment. Read »