personal health records

> The federal mental health parity bill continues to progress, with the pivotal House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee holding a hearing on the matter. Article

> Aetna is rolling a program under which patients will have physician-specific pricing information. …

This week, Aetna has launched a big-bucks consumer advertising campaign designed to promote use of Web-based personal health records. The health plan is pulling out all of the stops, including national television spots and …

> A expectant mom is caught in a legal war between her OB/GYN and the hospital where he once practiced. Article

> A physician blogger targeting a consumer audience advises patients to work hard at building their own personal health records. Blog

> New …

> Norton Healthcare, Louisville, KY, will spend $100 million over the next five years to beef up its clinical cancer care. Report

> NBC News examines online personal health records. Video

> Medicare Part D a boon for Pharma, managed care companies.  …

Press Release: Less Than 25% of Medical Privacy Complaints Merit HHS Investigation

Perhaps in counter to a recent power grab by large employers, health insurance industry trade group America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association of America have released their own model for a portable personal health record. The new standards call for creating a Web-based personal health records--maintained, not surprisingly, by insurers--that are transportable from one insurance plan to another with little trouble. The records will include …

Two Silicon valley firms have joined the founding fathers of a huge new effort to build personal health records for employees, aimed at reducing healthcare costs through improved care process efficiencies. The group, which now includes Intel, Applied Materials, Wal-Mart, BP America and Pitney-Bowes, will shortly announce that they are investing in a non-profit called the Omnimedix …

A group of large U.S. and European companies have announced plans to create digital employee health records linking hospital, physician and pharmacy data. By linking this data, these companies hope to help consumers better coordinate and drive their own care. The companies, which include Intel, Wal-Mart and British Petroleum, are beginning the effort by developing a joint records standard. Later, each plan to kick in $1.5 million to construct a joint "data warehouse" for storing the …

Research by IDC Health Insights finds that personal health records are "barely on the radar" for consumers. Even among consumers who frequently use computers and the Internet, usage rates are low. More than fifty percent of the respondents researchers talked to were "unaware" of the PHR concept. Author Marc Holland notes, "PHR software is a high-potential market, but for it to truly flourish, the industry needs to do a better job of educating consumers about what these products are and …

A coalition of health plans led by Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association and America's Health Insurance Plans said it is launching a pilot program that will offer personal health records to consumers. The move appears likely to satisfy critics within the industry who have called for insurers to do more to encourage IT adoption. Privacy advocates, however, may be displeased by the implications of allowing insurers to share data on patient medical histories.

- read this article from Modern Healthcare