Brian T. Horowitz

Microsoft has announced it will integrate encrypted e-mail functionality into its HealthVault personal health platform. The new feature allows doctors to exchange messages with patients using the federal Direct Project’s security standard for developing HIEs (health information exchanges). Patients can receive a full view of their medical history from doctors and use electronic communication to […]

With states mandated to operate interoperable health insurance portals by 2014, Microsoft has rolled out the infrastructure for its state HIX (health insurance exchange) platform, the company announced on Feb. 8. While an HIE (health information exchange) allows health care providers to exchange EHRs (electronic medical records), an HIX is an online market for purchasing […]

Searching for online health information was the third most popular Web activity for Internet users behind e-mail and using a search engine, according to a new study by the nonprofit research firm Pew Internet & American Life Project. Eight in 10 Internet users researched health information online, Pew reported in its Health Topics survey, conducted […]

Bill Gates has taken on the fight to end polio in his third annual letter, published online by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Founded in 1994 as the William H. Gates Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation aims to improve public health in developing countries. Gates, the Microsoft chairman and co-chair of the […]

National health care IT leader Dr. David Blumenthal announced Feb. 3 that he will step down from his post this spring to return to his career as a professor of medicine and health care policy at Harvard University. President Barack Obama appointed Blumenthal as the national coordinator for health information technology in March 2009. Congress […]

When a president touts face-to-face video chats between doctors and patients in a State of the Union address, as President Obama did Jan. 25, it’s clear that telehealth has made strides as a real option for doctors, pharmacists and patients, particularly for military veterans in rural areas. Telehealth allows health care professionals and patients to […]

Researchers at Stanford University in California have released a report saying that electronic health records may not improve patient care, even if they include a feature called clinical decision support. CDS is a software function that provides alerts or reminders to doctors on how to care for patients. Dr. Randall S. Stafford, associate professor of […]

Each year, caregivers provide an estimated $375 billion worth of uncompensated aid to family members, according to The National Alliance for Caregiving. Mobile applications such as those that monitor medication compliance and track locations using GPS could make this job easier, and caregivers are increasingly embracing these innovations. The alliance and United HealthCare have released […]

We’ve seen self-service kiosks become ubiquitous at banks and at airports. Now they’re reaching the waiting room of doctor’s offices. CTS (Connected Technology Solutions), which makes the Patient PassPort Express kiosk, reports that it has achieved 5 million patient check-ins on its machines from 2007 to 2010. The company began pilot use in 2006 and […]

Cloud computing provider Covisint, a division of enterprise software firm Compuware, has announced a deal with Greater Tulsa Health Access Network to build an HIE (health information exchange) in the Tulsa, Okla., metropolitan area using Covisint’s ExchangeLink cloud platform. Greater THAN is a nonprofit northeastern Oklahoma consortium of 50 health care organizations, including physicians, hospitals, […]