Health

Mayo Clinic, Microsoft deepen health record ties

The Mayo Clinic on Tuesday said it will build a personal health record service based on Microsoft's HealthVault technology.

The product, Mayo Clinic Health Manager, will initially focus on general pediatric and adult health issues, immunization records, pregnancy, and asthma. In the coming months, the clinic will add tools to help manage chronic conditions, such as Type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure.

"Mayo Clinic Health Manager can help patients share information more easily with their doctors and manage their own health better between office visits," said Mayo Clinic doctor Sidna Tulledge-Scheitel, who also serves … Read more

Obama picks Virginia technology leader for CTO post

This post was updated several times after 12:30 PDT with industry reaction.

President Barack Obama, in his weekly address Saturday, announced the appointment of Aneesh Chopra to serve as the nation's first chief technology officer.

Chopra, who is currently Virginia's secretary of technology, "will promote technological innovation to help achieve our most urgent priorities--from creating jobs and reducing health care costs to keeping our nation secure," Obama said.

At the same time, Obama also announced the appointment of executive and management consultant Jeffery Zients to be the administration's chief performance officer. Zients, along with … Read more

Obama announces e-health records for vets

The Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs are creating a joint electronic medical record system to allow the two departments to share administrative and medical information, President Obama announced Thursday.

The Joint Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record project will track soldiers' lifelong medical histories beginning the day they enter service.

"Currently there is no comprehensive system in place that allows for a streamlined transition," Obama said. "That results in extraordinary hardship for an awful lot of veterans," such as lost records or delays in processing disability claims.

The VA is currently grappling with a … Read more

Taking your health records online

roundup Many companies are working on efforts to make patients' medical records available on the Internet.

Wireless industry wants in on health care stimulus money Wireless industry is hoping it can reap the rewards of billions of dollars being spent on health care technology as part of the economic stimulus package. (Posted in Wireless by Marguerite Reardon) April 7, 2009 4:00 AM PDT

Google Health expands deal with CVS Customers of CVS' pharmacy will now be able to import their prescription records into Google Health. (Posted in Beyond Binary by Ina Fried) April 6, 2009 12:48 PM PDT … Read more

Google Health expands deal with CVS

Customers of CVS' pharmacy will be able to import their prescription records into a Google Health account as a result of an expanded deal between the two companies. The deal was announced Monday.

An earlier deal already allowed workers whose company uses CVS Caremark to handle drug benefits to use Google Health to store their drug records. The new deal expands this to customers of CVS' network of retail pharmacies.

"We now offer all of our consumers the ability to download their prescription and medication history into their Google Health Personal Health Record, whether they are CVS/pharmacy customers, … Read more

N.Y. hospital taps Microsoft to digitize records

In a win for Microsoft's health care business, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital said it will use the software maker's technology as part of a push to make digital health records available to its patients.

The hospital system will start making health records available online, initially to cardiac and cardiothoracic patients. Customers can view their records online, opt to copy them into a personal health record and then, if they wish, share that record with other health care providers.

"These really are the patients' records," said Aurelia Boyer, a former practicing nurse, who now serves as NY Presbyterian's … Read more

Intel, GE chiefs announce health tech alliance

Updated on April 2 at 7:45 a.m. PDT with additional information throughout.

General Electric CEO and Chairman Jeff Immelt and Intel CEO Paul Otellini on Thursday jointly announced an alliance to market and develop home-based health technologies to help seniors.

The technologies will help seniors live independently and help patients with chronic conditions manage their care from their home, the companies said.

GE Healthcare will sell and market the Intel Health Guide (PDF), a care management tool designed for healthcare professionals who work with patients with chronic conditions.

The market for "telehealth" and home health monitoring … Read more

Health care user experience: If it ain't broke, don't fix it?

About four weeks ago, I went for an annual physical and had standard blood work done. I was told to call back in a week, and of course I forgot. Today I had a message that said: "Hello, this is Dr. XX's office, please call us back at xxx-xxx-xxxx." That was it--the person didn't identify herself and also didn't say what the call was for. When I dialed the number, I was expecting to be told that I owed them money. But actually, the woman on the phone had no idea why she had called … Read more

Webware Radar: Teens in Tech acquires Youth Bloggers Network

Teens in Tech, a blogging network that's written by young adults, announced Friday that it has acquired Youth Bloggers Network for an undisclosed sum. According to a post on the Youth Bloggers Network blog, both companies "decided that by joining forces, our projects could help each other vastly." Going forward, the combined company wants to create unique Wordpress themes, e-books, coupons, and a variety of community features "to slowly transform Youth Bloggers Network into a social network for young and teen bloggers."

Kardia Health Systems, a company that was formed to commercialize the Echocardiography Information … Read more

Put the squeeze on your New Year's resolution

Remember your New Year's Resolution? No? It's not surprising that you don't. It's not the type of thing you want to remember anyways. Well, today is your lucky day and I'm here to remind you what it was. It was to lose 10 pounds, right? Well, no wonder you let that one slip. Losing weight is no fun. Except if you do it right, there is no need to sacrifice flavor. Drinking juice is certainly a delicious and healthy way to help you to get back in shape in the coming months--if done in moderation.… Read more