standardization

The Defense Department’s goal to save medical dollars and deliver the best health care possible has made strides in its first 100 days, the director of the new Defense Health Agency said. Read More »

Access to information and the ability to integrate and use information has changed how individuals book travel, find information about prices and products, and compare and review services. Information can empower individuals, but health care has lagged behind other fields. It is unconscionable that in 2016 most patients are unable to obtain their entire medical record unless they print it out. While progress has been made in the last several years to support patients’ access to their information through various electronic means, such as Blue Button and patient portals, this is not sufficient to make patients first-order participants in their care, their health and their research efforts...

Read More »

Government officials are reluctant to issue mandates on standards and interoperability for health IT devices and applications -- but advocates say that's exactly what healthcare needs to promote innovation and improve patient care. Read More »

An important milestone for global e-health standardization has been achieved with final approval of a new standard that will better enable interoperability between e-health devices. The standard - Recommendation ITU-T H.810 - contains Continua Health Alliance's Design Guidelines providing "Interoperability design guidelines for personal health systems". Read More »

In response to mounting evidence that use of electronic medical record systems may cause unintended consequences, and even patient harm, the AMIA Board of Directors convened a Task Force on Usability to examine evidence from the literature and make recommendations. This task force was composed of representatives from both academic settings and vendors of electronic health record (EHR) systems. Read More »

I've noticed a trend of late.  A significant number of standards efforts are being pushed forwards by funded projects, instead of through unfunded initiatives.  I'd call them "volunteer-led" initiatives, but in an SDO, there are few real volunteers.  I get paid by my employer to participate in standards activities, as do most people I know who are involved.  It is simply a matter direct vs. indirect economic benefit. Read More »

A coalition of healthcare stakeholders convened by Health IT Now called HHS and its departments to eliminate information blocking so that providers can effectively aggregate patient EHRs and advance interoperability. The letter from organizations including the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), AMIA, DirectTrust, and athenahealth requested HHS issue a proposed rule that takes existing laws, standardization, patient health data access, and other complicating factors into consideration...

Read More »