This section is an archive that focuses on applications of technology -- hardware and software -- in integrated and collaborative care. Look for articles, links to downloadable Open Source social networking software and other articles of note. If you have a content suggestion for this section, or would like to become editor of this section, please contact David Hunter.
Survey highlights IT gap between general, psychiatric healthcare
by Molly Merrill, Associate Editor
via Healthcare IT News
Posted: June 30, 2009
WASHINGTON – Lack of financing has caused mental health and human services to lag far behind general healthcare in access to health information technology, according to a national survey of more than 400 organizations.
The Behavioral Health/Human Services Information Systems Survey was conducted by the Centerstone Research Institute on behalf of the Mental Health Corporations of America, National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems, National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare and Software and Technology Vendors Association and involved 440 organizations representing varied segments in the behavioral health and human services field.
The survey revealed that mental health/addictions services spend only half as much as primary care on healthcare IT and employ only about a third as many IT professionals. Fewer than half of all behavioral health and human services providers have fully implemented clinical electronic record systems.
What Technology is Needed to Improve Care: EHRs or Registries?
By RICHARD SCOVILLE
via The Health Care Blog
Posted: June 22, 2009
I spent a couple of days last week (June 10-11) at a conference co-sponsored by the HRSA Center for Quality and the NIH National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities at which twenty of the highest-performing community health centers from the HRSA’s long-running Health Disparities Collaboratives (HDCs) described their accomplishments in improving primary care. They were stunning.
These health centers were not fresh-faced newcomers to the improvement collaborative du jour, but rather grizzled veterans who joined the HDCs ten years ago, have stuck with the method, and by now have embedded quality improvement deeply into their day-to-day operations and organizational culture.
Internet-Based Therapy Effective in Treating Depression
via theMobileHealthCrowd
Posted: June 15, 2009
In a discovery that could lead to new treatment approaches for depression, researchers from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) have shown that internet-based therapy programs are as effective as face-to-face therapies in combating the illness.
Patients in a clinician-assisted internet-based treatment program experienced rates of recovery similar to those achieved by face-to-face therapy, the research found.
The Real Reason Why Doctors Don’t Want To Adopt EMRs, And What To Do About It
via better health
by Dr. Val
Posted June 9, 2009
Have you ever been ignored by someone who was texting or otherwise engaged in a digital conversation? Did you feel that the person was being rude and unresponsive to you? If your answer to both of these questions is “yes” then you will understand the real reason why some doctors don’t want to adopt electronic medical records systems (EMRs).
As sappy as this may sound, most physicians were drawn to medicine because they wanted to help people, save lives, and improve the quality of life for those suffering from disease. Even after we’ve been beaten up by our training programs, and weighed down by debt and the mountains of paperwork required by a broken healthcare system, most of us still retain that do-gooder kernal inside us - we genuinely care about our patients.
Video: The Importance of Keeping a PMR/PHR
via Healthcare and Technology: Innovation at the Intersection Blog
by Deborah Leyva
February 21, 2009
The Importance of Keeping a Personal Medical Record Heath Video
Personal
Health Records provide an opportunity for individuals to acquire a
comprehensive view of their clinical history that can be used by
physicians or healthcare practitioners to better manage their care.
There are possibly some efforts under consideration, to integrate PHRs with EHRs in practices.
The Future of Human Health: Seven Very Short Talks That Will Blow Your Mind
via Stanford News Service
February 18, 2009
Seven Stanford researchers deliver 10- to 20-minute talks about their research:
NYT - February 10
So it looks as if the nation’s taxpayers are going to spend about $20 billion to accelerate the use of computerized medical records. In his press conference Monday night, President Obama went out of his way to explain why that money belonged in the economic stimulus package. It is, he said, a job-creating investment in both the present and the future that will improve the quality of care and save lives.
But in a letter delivered Tuesday to the White House and Congressional offices, 50 of the nation’s leading experts in electronic health records — most of them physicians themselves — warned that “an historic opportunity to achieve quality and efficiency gains through health information technology will be lost,” unless the government channels the spending carefully. READ MORE HERE
Virtual Communities May Help Psoriasis Patients Cope
BOSTON, Jan. 19
For patients with psoriasis, online communities provide an important
source of education and psychological and social support, a survey
showed.
Nearly half of respondents (49.5%) reported an improvement
in their quality of life and 41% said the severity of their psoriasis
had improved since joining an online support group, Alice Watson,
M.B.Ch.B., of the Center for Connected Health and Harvard, and
colleagues reported in the January issue of Archives of Dermatology.
Dec. 16: Colorado has become one of the first states in the nation to demonstrate that electronic health information can be securely shared between hospitals and health care organizations at a statewide level. This data exchange will benefit more than 1 million Coloradans.
HealthBridge Receives National Award for its Innovative Collaborative Communities Model
eHealth Initiative, a national organization dedicated to improving health care through information technology, honored HealthBridge and other community organizations at its Annual Meeting for efforts to make sharing electronic health information easier and more financially sustainable in several communities. HealthBridge was honored for its collaborative communities model for health information exchange.
"Healthcare providers in the Greater Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky tri-state area have been leaders in a national movement to transform patient care through the use of information technology and connectivity," said Robert Steffel, CEO for HealthBridge. "HealthBridge is pleased that our community has received recognition for its innovative model and the work to expand that model into other communities like Bloomington, Indiana and Springfield, Ohio."
By Stephen Beller, PhD
Saturday, December 13, 2008 -- In my past two posts, I discussed why health information technology's (HIT's) potential is not being realized, and why it has thus far failed to deliver strong return on investment. I now focus on describing what has to be done to change things around in 2009 and beyond.
SANTA CLARA, Calif., Dec 11, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Today, at its fourth-quarter board meeting, the Open Health Tools (OHT) Foundation approved a new project in principle for the development of server-based technology designed to create interoperability among disparate health information systems.