Ron Rajecki

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota?s 10,000 employees and family members are part of a new pilot program testing the insurer?s Online Care Anywhere program. The program is designed to allow patients access to medical care from home or work via computer or phone.

Aetna and WellPoint are the first national health plans to earn certification for electronically exchanging administrative data using the Council for Affordable Quality Healthcare Committee on Operating Rules for Information Exchange Phase II rules.

Remote monitoring of patients in intensive care units was not associated with an overall improvement in the risk of death or length of stay in the ICU or hospital, according to a study.

The federal government can encourage physicians to buy electronic health record systems, but it is the vendors and hospitals that affiliate with doctors that ultimately will determine whether they adopt them, according to a new report from healthcare market research publisher Kalorama Information.

California launched an online resource designed to help consumers decide which preferred provider organization is best for them.

The Medical Group Management Association says many medical groups may not achieve "meaningful use" and will not qualify for the EHR incentives if the criteria are too burdensome.

Collaborative care delivered via telephone benefitted patients with depression after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery, according to a study recently published in Journal of the American Medical Association.

The Department of Health and Human Services plans to award $80 million in grants to develop and strengthen the health information technology workforce.

The Connecticut attorney general's office is investigating the loss of health information of 446,000 state residents by managed care company Health Net and the company's six-month notification delay.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development Distance Learning and Telemedicine Program has announced the funding of 111 projects in 35 states via $34.9 million in grants designed to expand access to health care services and increase educational opportunities in rural areas via telecommunications, computer networks, and other resources.

Physician smartphone adoption rates will experience significant growth over the next few years, according to the latest physician report from Manhattan Research. Currently, 64 percent of U.S. physicians own smartphones, but this rate will increase to 81 percent in 2012, according to the report.

Companies that work with healthcare organizations and handle private patient information are largely unprepared to meet the new data breach-related obligations included in the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act.

Google has launched a Web site, www.google.com/flushot, to help people locate the locations nearest to them at which H1N1 and seasonal flu vaccines are available.

Doctors in the United States and Canada lag behind other countries in the use of electronic health records, according to responses of 10,000 physicians in 11 countries queried for the 2009 Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Survey.

The former head of Google Health has launched a new website, Keas.com, in an effort to provide individualized care plans.

The state of Rhode Island has launched a new system for tracking H1N1 flu that uses prescribing data provided by pharmacies throughout the state via a secure electronic link. Enabled by the state's e-prescribing and the digital healthcare infrastructure, the system is believed to be the first of its kind.

A new study published in Health Affairs finds that hospitals that disproportionately care for low-income patients are falling behind in adopting electronic health records.

GE Healthcare has launched a new business unit designed to improve healthcare systems connectivity for clinicians and patients.

The American Medical Association has launched AMAfluhelp.org to improve physician-patient communication and the coordination of care.

Several entities will receive more than $90 million in funds from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for efforts involving electronic health records (EHRs) or informatics it was recently announced.

Merck & Co. has released iPhone applications for the professional and consumer editions of its Merck Manual.

Microsoft has launched a new Web site, www.h1n1responsecenter.com, with a self-assessment tool to help individuals with flu-like symptoms determine whether their illness is severe enough to warrant immediate medical attention, and whether they are at risk for developing severe disease. The site also offers practical advice for those with flu-like symptoms.

After a successful pilot program in the Seattle area, a website that matches cash-paying patients to healthcare providers is slated to launch nationwide on November 2.

Patients are willing to use e-mail and physicians' websites to communicate with their doctors in an effort to save time, as long as they do not have to pay for the ability.

More than 140,000 (23 percent) of all office-based physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants in the U.S. are now using electronic prescribing, according to Surescripts. At the current pace, the company projects, the total number of health care professionals prescribing medication electronically via its network this year will more than double from the 74,000 active electronic prescribers who used it at the end of last year.

Users of Google Health who have scheduled telehealth consultations with physicians or mental health therapists via MDLiveCare will be able to share medical records with their doctors before the appointments and receive records from the doctors after the appointments, thanks to a new collaboration between the two companies.

Health-care information technology (HIT) has the potential to cut costs, increase access and improve quality in the U.S. health care system, according to results of a Harris Interactive survey of a nationwide sample of 2,200 adults aged at least 18 years commissioned by the Career College Association and TechAmerica.

Abnormal results on outpatient imaging tests sometimes may not receive timely follow-up even when clinicians receive and read results in an advanced, integrated electronic medical record system, according to a report in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

A new Web initiative to be launched in Ohio by several health plans is designed to benefit patients and practices by reducing the time, effort, and expense associated with the paperwork required for office visits.