Portrait of Leon Rodriguez

Privacy, Security, and Electronic Health Records

Leon Rodriguez | December 12, 2011

Health care is changing and so are the tools used to coordinate better care for patients like you and me. During your most recent visit to the doctor, you may have noticed your physician entering notes on a computer or laptop into an electronic health record (EHR). With EHRs comes the opportunity for patients to receive improved coordinated care from providers and easier access to their health information. It’s a way to make it easier for everyone to be better informed and more involved in the patient’s health care.

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Portrait of Dr. Doug Fridsma

Standards Are Not Optional

Dr. Doug Fridsma | December 7, 2011

Recently we’ve heard that we need to reduce optionality in the standards being developed as part of the Standards & Interoperability (S&I) Framework, and we are listening to the health information technology (health IT) community.

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Portrait of Damon Davis

U.S. Surgeon General’s Healthy App Challenge

Damon Davis | December 6, 2011

Do you have mobile app ideas or have one already developed? The Surgeon General’s Healthy App Challenge invites developers to submit their health, wellness, and fitness mobile apps for review by an independent panel of reviewers selected by the U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Regina Benjamin. The panel will be supported by the Office of the Surgeon General, and the ONC Innovations Office and Consumer e-Health program. Winners will be announced at a public event in late January.

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Portrait of Wil Yu

How Health IT Tools Can Help Prevent a Million Heart Attacks and Strokes

Wil Yu | December 1, 2011

In late September 2011, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology Dr. Farzad Mostashari announced the launch of the ‘One in a Million Hearts’ Investing in Innovation challenge in a post on this blog.  The challenge supports the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Million Hearts initiative, which aims to prevent one million heart attacks and strokes–two of the top causes of death in the United States–over the next five years.

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Portrait of Nancy-Ann DeParle

We Can’t Wait: New Steps Encourage Doctors and Hospitals to Use Health IT to Lower Costs, Improve Quality, Create Jobs

Nancy-Ann DeParle | November 30, 2011

When doctors and hospitals use health information technology (health IT), patients get better care and we can all save money. This results in less paperwork for billing, medical records, and prescribing; easier coordination of care among doctors, nurses, and pharmacists in hospitals and outpatient settings; and better reporting on quality of care. Thanks to President Obama’s leadership, the number of physicians using this important technology to help patients get better care and save money has more than doubled,

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