Liquid Data and the Health Information Economy: Is 2011 Finally the Year?

What a difference three years makes. It seems quaint now that in the 2008 NEJM there were concerns raised about the flow of health information onto the web. Back then there was but a faint trickle of what could be entered, mostly by hand, and accessed on the web. Before HITECH and health care reform, exchanging health data online seemed blasphemous to many hospitals, patients, and physicians alike.

Fast forward to today and where we are now:

• Around 75% of physicians have smart phones (the web in their pocket), and will reach 80% in 2012.
• Major vendors have opened or are preparing to open their APIs in some fashion.
• Almost every major EHR vendor has or is working on an iPad application (a web tool).
• HealthVault has already begun to receive info via The Direct Project for the Care360 EHR.
• Connectivity and interoperability are quasi-law.
• Web-based EHRs have come to the forefront for many practices.