“We decided to launch a ‘Blue Button on steroids’ to give our users choice,” said Jeff Donnell, president of NoMoreClipboard. “While the Blue Button effort embraced by organizations like the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Medicare enables veterans and Medicare beneficiaries to download health information, it does so in file formats which fall short of the interoperability standards required for certified electronic health record vendors. We added CCD, CCR and PHR extract formats to our Blue Button module, so patients can download a file that could be shared with anHIE, an electronic health record system, or another healthcare IT application that embraces standards-based interoperability protocols.”

“Like others who have adopted the Blue Button initiative, our users can download a human readable ASCII text file or a .pdf, which is inherently valuable” added Donnell. “Since we have been exchanging structured electronic data with other healthcare IT vendors for years at interoperability events and in the marketplace, we are enabling our users make their data available in formats that can be parsed – making discrete electronic data available for consumption. This reinforces our commitment to giving consumers a portable, interoperable personal health record designed to liberate, rather than imprison, health information.”

For more information on the Blue Buttoninitiative, please visit http://bluebuttondata.org. Blue Button, the Blue Button logo, and the slogan “Download My Data” are registered Service Marks of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), an agency of the United States Government and are used by permission of VA.

“Our goal at Indian River Medical Center is to continually improve the outstanding healthcare we provide in our communities, while at the same time expanding the services we offer to our employed and affiliated physicians,” said William Neil, CIO, IRMC. “RelayHealth will help us to better engage patients in their healthcare for improved outcomes, while creating a compelling value proposition for physicians: less paper and enhanced efficiency.”

Neil continued, “As a community with a large number of seasonal residents, it’s vitally important that Indian River Medical Center can securely share patient information locally and with physicians in a seasonal resident’s summer home area – without regard to which EHR a physician uses, or even if they do not have an EHR. RelayHealth’s vendor- and payer-neutral solution enables physicians no matter what system they use to share information.”

IRMC will provide its physicians and patients with RelayHealth’s proven, bi-directional, closed-loop orders and results, secure messaging, and patient engagement services. IRMC also plans to connect to the state of Florida’s Health Information Exchange (HIE) through RelayHealth.

“Hospitals and health systems face a number of challenges managing health information. Disparate EHRs, connectivity with enterprise, community, regional and national HIEs and the ability to effectively engage patients in their care are some of the more pressing challenges that robust, secure connectivity can help address,” explained Jeff Felton, president, RelayHealth. “The right interoperable connectivity is key to addressing these issues. RelayHealth provides the technology and flexibility that will enable IRMC to address physician alignment, manage care coordination and better prepare the organization as they work toward meeting meaningful use objectives.”

That leads me to another key point: Without doctors using EHRs, you’re not going to get buy-in from patients to use personal health records to manage their own health. When patients are relatively healthy, encounters with healthcare providers are few and far between. Starting a PHR to track very occasional vaccinations or even to record a yearly exam isn’t a high priority for a lot of people unless it’s super easy to do. That means having data available from healthcare provider to load into a digital record, not typed by hand by the patient. And it also means giving patients a reason to visit a PHR more than once a year, if that.

Ms. Kolbasuk McGee makes a great point with this statement.  If Personal Health Records are going to become widely accepted they need to be routinely populated by someone other the record owner.  Making the data available directly from the health care provider’s EHR makes the most sense, but there are other options, including health insurance providers who could also provide enough information to make the personal health record easier to maintain for the end-user.

Taking this a step further it should be possible to have some of the new breed of small, in home, medical monitoring devices begin to communicate directly – not only with Personal Health Records, but in some instances, directly to the physicians EHR.  Imagine if each time you took your blood pressure your health records were updated.  Wouldn’t it be convenient if the medical alert devices that are currently in use around the world were able to communicate with and directly update your health records?

We’re just beginning to scratch the surface of how these electronic records will be able to securely communicate, but from the perspective of the personal health record having the health information automatically entered by someone other than the record holder is a great way to get started.

You can read the entire Information Week article here.

MedeFile International, Inc., a provider of Internet-enabled Personal Health Record management solutions, today announced that it has recently enrolled Medical Specialists of the Palm Beaches, Inc. (MSPB) in its innovative Quality of Care Program.  This unique initiative provides for MedeFile to partner on a revenue-sharing basis with established medical practitioners, and to educate patients on the benefits and advantages of adopting theMedeFile system as their personal health record management solution.

MSPB is the largest group of doctors serving Palm Beach County, Florida with more than 75 physicians on staff and 30 medical facilities in operation.  ”MSPB is proud to provide its patients access to an innovative organization like MedeFile and its powerful and easy-to-use PHR solution,” stated Manny Fernandez, Chief Executive Officer of MSPB.  ”We feel the services MedeFile can provide our patients will allow for a more comprehensive and complete assessment of a patient’s medical history. Having timely access to this information is critical in providing the best care possible to our patient population.”

The addition of the NoMoreClipboard PHR will provide Healthx with self-service communication and data integration portals that serve more than 130 payer organizations and 39,000 groups. “More than 12 million individuals use our applications to enroll in health plans, manage benefits and improve their health and wellness,” said Mitch Hansen, Healthx Executive Vice President. “Adding the NoMoreClipboard PHR to our cloud-based offering enables our health plan and employer clients to provide a valuable tool to their covered populations – helping them organize, manage and share their family health information.”

“Healthx has carved out a powerful position with medium-sized health plans, health system payer organizations and self-funded employers,” said Jeff Donnell, President of NoMoreClipboard. “The NoMoreClipboard PHR is a great complement to Healthx self-service portals, and Healthx shares our vision of giving consumers access to health information in order to improve communication and coordination of care while reducing unnecessary healthcare cost. We have integrated our PHR into the Healthx application suite, creating a seamless,single sign-on consumer experience.”

In addition to providing its electronic health record functionality, Enterprise Health will integrate with several internal systems, enabling LLNL employees to interact with the clinic to schedule appointments, share medical information securely and participate in their wellness programs. Medical information documented during a clinical encounter also can be sent to the employee’s secure personal health record (NoMoreClipboard) in the event they need to have it available for use outside of the LLNL facilities.

“As part of the LLNL health team, I am pleased that we will be able improve the quality of care we provide to our employees and operate more efficiently by automating several manual processes and integrating our legacy systems with Enterprise Health. Our medical staff will have full and easy access to all of the clinical information they need, and our employees will be able to communicate with the clinic online through the corporate network,” said James Seward, MD, Medical Director for LLNL. 

“We are very happy that LLNL has selected MIE as their provider for clinical and occupational medicine systems that will help improve the health and wellness of its employees.  LLNL is known as one of the most innovative research facilities in the world, we are very pleased that LLNL chose our secure, patient-centered healthcare IT solutions,” said MIE’s CEO Bruce Lisanti.

In their announcement MMR also announced the launch of four new products and services at the HIMSS Conference and Exhibition in Las Vegas last week. These include presentations of certified EMR systems developed by UST Global and demonstrations of new software developed with Interbit Data that will allow hospitals and other clinical facilities to use a Meaningful Use certified solution with MEDITECH’s Electronic Medical Record to instantly make health information available to patients securely over the Internet using the MMRPatientView portal. The Company also showcased its patented signature MyMedicalRecords Prepaid Personal Health Record card on its new apps for handheld devices and tablets. To protect its intellectual property values, MMR filed patents covering the prepaid card application, the handheld app and the Interbit Data MEDITECH application as part of the Company’s health IT patent portfolio well in advance of introducing them at the show.

According to Robert H. Lorsch, Chairman and CEO of MMRGlobal, “The MyMedicalRecords prepaid PHR card helps consumers easily understand what a Personal Health Record is as a service that has value for the entire family. Prior to introducing the PHR card, consumers did not have a familiar basis for understanding the importance of having a Personal Health Record and how it can help reduce medical costs and save lives. As a result of our launch to retail, which started at the Consumer Electronics Show in January and continued to healthcare professionals at the HIMSS conference last week, the Company believes it will sign contracts for more than 500,000 cards to be delivered this year, and that is just the beginning. MMR plans on distributing its branded, personalized prepaid PHR cards everywhere that healthcare products and services are sold including pharmacies, hospital gift shops, health supply stores and mass merchandisers throughout the U.S.”

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MMRGlobal, Inc. has announced that it will debut its MyMedicalRecords Personal Health Record and Emergency View portals as custom mobile and tablet apps for Android devices at the upcoming HIMSS Conference & Exhibition in Las Vegas, February 20-24, in booth 2062 www.himssconference.org. The announcement comes just after the Company introduced its telemedicine portal this month with Alcatel-Lucent’s ng Connect at the Consumer Electronics Show.

MMRGlobal’s launch of the Android Personal Health Record applications marks a major step forward in the Company’s planned launch of its Web-based products and services on Verizon devices connected through Verizon’s Visual Voice Mail System, or an MMR Lifeline telephone number. The Company has already moved a significant portion of its Lifeline telecommunications network to Verizon where it currently is hosting more than 48,000 Lifelines.

The mobile app will feature the patented MyMedicalRecords Personal Health Record in an intuitive, mobile-ready configuration along with icons to access MMR’s patented Emergency View. Using Verizon’s Visual Voice Mail, a user can use their cell phone number interchangeably with their MyMedicalRecords Lifeline number, making the Android app a comprehensive emergency health information network for the entire family.

In addition to receiving health information and other important documents by upload, fax or voice, the mobile app will enable the user to utilize their camera-equipped smartphone to take snapshots of images for seamless upload directly into the their MyMedicalRecords PHR account. The app will also enable the recording of video messages for communication of the patient’s health information, prescriptions, contraindications and more in the event of an emergency where the user cannot communicate with emergency personnel. Each MyMedicalRecords account also includes four password-protected “MyEsafeDepositBox” folders so that users can securely store uploaded receipts, insurance documents, wills, advance directives, financial records, tax returns and copies of other important documents such as a driver’s license or passport directly into the application at no additional charge. The new mobile app will be followed by apps for the iPhone and iPad.

The app will also have a voice signature login capability in addition to traditional touch screen interface. Also included in the app will be calendar and Rx reminder capability similar to those already in a MyMedicalRecords account. A “My Insurance” folder is being designed to speed up the admitting process in an emergency. All the features of the MyMedicalRecords Personal Health Record will be designed into the app, including direct faxing with its own dedicated fax number, or in the case of Verizon, linked to Verizon Visual Voice Mail. Also in development, along with the new Android app, is global search of an entire user’s account, including the contents of encrypted PDF files. An “Emergency Contacts” section features a list of phone numbers for emergency contacts. The App will also be designed to easily link to Internet research sites such as WebMD, iTriage, and the like. The Company believes that the combination of features and benefits combined with the telemedicine portal will make the MyMedicalRecords Personal Health Record the most advanced, fully-functional PHR in the market today.

“We are very excited to be introducing the MyMedicalRecords prepaid card to healthcare industry leaders, retail buyers and wholesale distributors attending the Consumer Electronics Show,” said Robert H. Lorsch, MMRGlobal Chairman and CEO. “In 1995, I co-founded SmarTalk, one of the largest providers of prepaid calling cards in the world. I also invented and patented swipe activation at retail. I led a sales team that sold hundreds of millions of prepaid calling cards through retailers worldwide. MMRGlobal will draw on that experience to offer our MyMedicalRecords Prepaid Personal Health Record card. In fact, one of my primary objectives at the show is to meet with many of the manufacturers’ representatives that I worked with in the past and bring them on board to sell the prepaid Personal Health Record card. This program’s success will rely on the right sales organization and their relationships with retailers. And the team I will build for MMR is the best of the best. At a time when government mandates are requiring that Americans have access to an online PHR in less than two years, I cannot think of a better time to launch a prepaid Personal Health Record card at retail.”

Built on proprietary, patented technologies, every MyMedicalRecords.com account includes a personal “Lifeline” telephone number that at the option of the user provides FREE unlimited voice and fax mail services bundled in a user’s account. The Lifeline is designed to be used by all of one’s doctors and healthcare providers to fax in medical records, which are then automatically viewable in the user’s password-protected online account with a copy automatically sent to the subscriber’s personal e-mail account at their option. The Lifeline number can also be used for outbound faxing at no additional charge and for recording and storing confidential voice messages. Users can also upload and download documents and medical images directly from their computer.

MyMedicalRecords.com makes it easy for consumers to import medical records from all their healthcare providers regardless of the medical records system being deployed. In addition to securely storing medical records, a MyMedicalRecords account includes a “MyEsafeDepositBox” inside at no additional cost. That feature allows consumers to conveniently manage copies of all their other important documents, such as insurance policies and claims, birth certificate and powers-of-attorney, in one safe place ( www.myesafedepositbox.com ). MyMedicalRecords.com also features a patented Emergency Login to enable emergency medical personnel to access potentially lifesaving information in an emergency or disaster when every second counts, while all other information in a user’s account is protected from view. Each MyMedicalRecords account covers a family of up to 10 members and is bilingual in English and Spanish.

During CES, the MyMedicalRecords.com Personal Health Record will also be demonstrated in the Alcatel-Lucent Booth #3141 in the South Upper Hall with its strategic partners, Alcatel-Lucent and ng Connect. MyMedicalRecords joins more than 80 members of ng Connect in the multi-industry open innovation program founded by Alcatel-Lucent.

The eHealthcare Leadership Awards received more than 1,200 entries in 2011 and websites were rated on Internet excellence and how they compare to similar websites in their group classification. The awards are sponsored by Strategic Health Care Communications, an organization that supplies marketing, communications and business development information to health care organizations through its two publications, Strategic Health Care Marketing and eHealthcare Strategy & Trends.

The Organizational Commitment award was one of four top eHealthcare Leadership Awards Kaiser Permanente received. The awards distinguish health care websites that best support business objectives.

Kaiser Permanente also received these significant awards:

–  Platinum award for Best Site Design – recognizes Kaiser Permanente’s award-winning federal employees’ enrollment website. Developed in collaboration with Propane Studio, the website is an example of how interactive design can guide users through the complicated process of choosing and enrolling in a health plan that is right for their family,health and budget needs.
–  Gold award for Best Health Content – recognizes the Kaiser Permanente physician-approved health content featured on kp.org, including the Health Encyclopedia, Drug Encyclopedia and articles covering a broad range of health conditions and healthy lifestyle topics.
–  Gold award for Best Intranet – recognizes Kaiser Permanente’s internal social network, IdeaBook, and how it successfully increases workforce productivity and satisfaction and reduces administrative costs.

“Kaiser Permanente’s Web presence is part of the integrated care experience. We focus on making it easier and more convenient for members to manage their health and the health of their families online,” said Anna-Lisa Silvestre, vice president of online services. “This focus gives us a clear direction on how to best develop our websites and innovate in ways that will support members in reaching their health goals.”

More than 3.7 million members currently use Kaiser Permanente’s personal health record, My Health Manager on kp.org, to engage their care teams and become more actively involved in their health care. In 2010 alone, Kaiser Permanente members viewed more than 25.8 million test results and sent nearly 11 million emails to their physicians through My Health Manager.

“We know that enabling fast and easy communication between members and their physicians strengthens relationships. IdeaBook was meant to do something similar within the organization itself,” said Miles Appel, executive director of Kaiser Permanente Internal Web Capabilities. “Through IdeaBook, Kaiser Permanente employees and physicians are able to collaborate, exchange ideas and knowledge, and simply get to know each other. It’s created a great sense of community and enhanced collaboration.”

With more than 28,000 Kaiser Permanente employees registered, IdeaBook users can create blogs, discussion groups, communities of interest, and share documents and videos. Since its launch in 2009, users have:

–  created more than 3,000 groups
–  posted more than 28,000 documents
–  started more than 19,000 discussions
–  created more than 7,000 blog posts

The most active IdeaBook groups focus on Kaiser Permanente mobile initiatives, technology innovations, brand news, neonatal intensive care units and employee wellness.